One fact is certain: diversity is here to stay.  The American work force--today and in the future--will draw heavily on women, American-born minorities, immigrants, youth and seniors, people with disabilities, and men and women with varied sexual orientations.  Indeed, the classic "American worker", a white, married, Anglo-Saxon male, must face the inevitable reality that he will soon be
the minority. 

In Sonoma County our population has been "lily white" in comparison to other California metropolitan areas.  But that's changing, and the demands for adjustments in managing a diverse workplace are increasing. 

 Company leaders are expected to manage this diversity and effectively operate an organization by using various actions and attitudes which will accommodate personnel of different gender, age, ethnicity, ability, race, and sexual preference.  Ignoring these necessary adjustments puts the organization at competitive peril.

In a homogeneous workplace, managers don't have to confront the personal limitations ingrained by a Euro-American culture.  In fact, managers usually aren't aware of these limitations.  they can fail to see the positive outcomes of diversity.  Then, when confronted with the need to change, they can miss the negative fallout from diversity-related actions.

     Here's a brief list of benefits from effectively managing cultural diversity.

•      Firms that integrate diverse workers create cost advantages over
       those that don't.

•      Companies with solid reputations for managing diversity win the competition
       for the best personnel

•      Insights and sensitivities improve global marketing, and marketing
       to subpopulations

•      Wide-ranging perspectives heighten creativity and improve problem solving

•      Multiculturalism leads to organizational  flexibility in responding to changes in
       the business environment

And here's another list, one of problems created when diversity is addressed.

•      People in the majority, who consider themselves fair, are angry over
       paying the price for historical errors they didn't commit

•      Traditional workers believe they've been treated unfairly when they're
       passed over for hiring/promotion/assignment to accommodate someone
       from a "special" group

•      Simplistic actions come across as tokenism, and are resented

•      Poorly-designed diversity programs ignore the ethnocentrism that occurs
       with subgroups, and the anticipated harmony doesn't appear

•      Cursory diversity programs, which skim the surface of issues, only raise
        awareness while leaving participants without tools for obtaining mutual
        understanding and cooperation

•      Explaining and forgiving transgressions as due to cultural difference leads
       to hostility and lack of respect from observers

     There are no easy solutions the conflicts inherent in cultural diversity.  But sound solutions can be reached if a company first:

     -- identifies that there are at least two sides to the diversity issue 

     -- realizes that a need for diversity training is likely to mean offering more specific,
         in-depth training, such as cross-gender training and cross-cultural training

     -- understands that training alone will not create a diversity program which is
         fully integrated into the organizational culture

     -- clarifies that diversity programs are not the same as affirmative action programs

     -- faces the current reality or future inevitability of a dramatically diverse workforce

     -- recognizes a diversity program as a benefit not a cost

     -- holds a strong leadership attitude which views diversity as strengthening the company

      -- implements activities with the mind set of anticipating conflict while continually
          monitoring and refining the diversity programs.

     -- designs bias-free human resource systems while confronting problems arising
         from heterogeneity.

Altogether, this means companies that intend to thrive will carefully assess their increasingly diverse workforces and make necessary adaptations.  A failure to manage diversity will result in missed opportunities for benefits.  A knee-jerk reaction likely will create problems.  

Trula Michaels LaCalle, Ph.D.
phone: 707-874-3284
e-mail: lacalle@Bellaii.com
Sacramento and Sonoma Counties, California, USA