Category: Diversity

Issues of Diversity in Law Enforcement in the USA

United States law enforcement has been intertwined with many topics throughout its history. One of those topics is diversity within law enforcement. Diversity has had an extensive history with law enforcement and its status has changed over time to what is now the present-day United States. With many focused on the importance of diversity in law enforcement, organizations have started attempting to encourage diversity.

Importance of Diversity in Law Enforcement

Diversity within law enforcement is currently a crucial goal that the police department seeks to accomplish. This can be attributed to the many positive outcomes that occur. One of these outcomes of a diverse workforce is that it introduces the ability to exchange different types of knowledge. This is because diversity can be shown in a multitude of forms. These forms can include religion, gender, age, and ethnicity. This exchange of ideas allows officers within law enforcement to perhaps have a better understanding of a situation involving citizens that are different than the officer. The opportunity to converse with diversified officers can also provide information that can be utilized as a guide on how to conduct one’s self in interactions with all or certain types of civilians.

This presence of diversity in law enforcement is crucial due to that a lack of diversity can lead to negative outcomes for police officers. This can be especially true regarding gay and lesbian police officers. This is because Some law enforcement departments would promote a heteronormative work environment, which resulted in many gay or lesbian officers feeling that they are not safe to express their true selves. This uncomfortable situation for this diverse group can lead to feelings of isolation as well as disengagement. Which can be detrimental to the duties of the officers. This shows how without the presence of enough diversity in law enforcement, the effects on groups like gay and lesbian officers will suffer and negatively affect their duties.

The importance of diversity in law enforcement is shown again in a cluster of studies that were reviewed, and a conclusion was drawn based on the results from the studies. The cluster included multiple separate studies that police officers had participated. All these studies involved some type of diversity training, in which the goal was to enhance the knowledge and attitude of these individuals when interacting with diversified people. The results showed that a significant number of studies stated that individual behavior involving diversity and skills had improved. Another outcome was that the ability to handle situations with diversity issues had also improved. This shows the importance of diversity in law enforcement by how diversity training for a police officer can lead to improved skills that can be utilized when interacting with either citizens or other officers (Diversity training program outcomes).

History of Diversity in Law Enforcement

The history involving diversity and law enforcement has faced many obstacles as well as positive outcomes that are still present today. Though there are many encompassing qualities of diversity, two of those qualities have been focused on the most throughout law enforcement’s history. The two qualities of diversity that are heavily focused on in history are race/ethnic group and gender. Starting with racial minorities’ presence in law enforcement, black officers were first beginning to be hired during the political era of policing. The first hired black officers were in Selma, Alabama, in 1867 as well as hired in Houston Texas, in the year 1870. Soon after, multiple cities such as New Orleans and Chicago started to also hire black police officers. Though despite many black officers being more educated and qualified when they are compared to white officers, the decision to hire blacks was perceived as a controversy. This controversy has led to some cities experiencing riots in response to situations, such as black officers arresting white civilians. These events have led to negative actions being taken against black officers due to their race. Examples of these actions were that some cities restricted a black officer’s power of arresting white citizens. While in Miami, black officers were instead referred to as patrolmen while the white stuff was still referred to as policemen. Negative actions taken against black officers drastically worsen due to the ruling that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was unconstitutional, which resulted in the Supreme Court later upholding separate but equal laws. This led to numerous black officers losing their jobs. A prime example of black police losing their jobs was in New Orleans. Between the years 1870 to 1910, the amount of hired black officers dropped from 177 to zero. It would not be until the year 1950 that a black officer would be hired again.

Now, the presence of women in law enforcement was nonexistent until the late 1800s, when there were only a few allowed. Though the few that were employed were still restricted, unlike the white male officers. These restrictions included that women employed would be called police matrons instead of policemen and not have the power to arrest. The duties of the female officers were centered around handling female prisoners. Though much of the information gathered on female employment in law enforcement is incomplete, it is believed the female officer was hired in 1891 at the Chicago police department. Though the majority of police departments would not employ women as police officers until the 1920s. Women will still have restrictive authority as an officer until the 1970s when women would be given equal authority as male police officers.

Many prominent moments in increasing the amount of diversity in law enforcement was the introduction of certain Acts. The Equal Opportunity Act of 1972 stated that practices of discrimination in employment will lead to serious consequences. This Act did include the state, local, or federal government under the law, and gave power to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to further investigate and litigate the claims of violation against equal employment. This results in the opportunity for diversity to be better implemented in law enforcement due to not having to have discriminatory obstacles put in place by law enforcement employers.

Current Status of Diversity in Law Enforcement

The representation of diversity continues to exist in law enforcement, though the amount of diversity that is present is different among its forms. Regarding the diversity of gender in law enforcement, it was estimated in 2017 that women make up 12.5% of all sworn officers. Despite the fact that at this time it was estimated that women made up 51% of the overall adult population and 47% of the adult working population. This shows that the status of diversity in relation to gender is underrepresented. Another current statistic regarding this type of diversity is that female officer have greater representation in larger cities. This is shown in how women officers working within cities that have populations over one million make up an estimated 18% of sworn officers within those agencies. While smaller law enforcement agencies will usually have little to no representation of women that are sworn officers.

The current status of racial minorities’ presence in law enforcement, shares similar patterns in regard to the diversity of women in law enforcement. These similar patterns are that larger populated cities that contain a big police department also tend to be much more diversified relating to race, as compared to smaller law enforcement agencies. Another pattern between the is that racial minorities are correctly still underrepresented. This evidence is shown by how despite racial minorities making up an estimated 38% of the United States population, only 28% of police officers are members of a racial or ethnic group.

Though the status is that there is a lack of diversity being represented in law enforcement, there have still been great strides in becoming closer to the goal of equal representation. Regarding the data that the amount of racial diversity has increased can be seen through a timeline on hired black officers in Detroit Michigan. The timeline showed that in 1967 only 5% of officers were black, in which by 2017 that number had increased to 67% of sworn officers were black. Thus, showing that the status of diversity in law enforcement for racial groups is improving.

This can also be said in relation to women in law enforcement as well. Many law enforcement agencies do contain female officers at a higher percentage than what the overall average of women officers indicates. These agencies can have anywhere between 20% to 30% of the workforce female officers. An example of one of these agencies is the Madison Police Department in Wisconsin. It is reported that this police department has an estimated 35 % of the entire officer workforce consisting of women. Also, evidence that the status of the diversity of women is increasing can be shown by a graph that shows data on the number of women officers in the United States. The graph showed that from 1971 to 2017, the percentage of women in law enforcement raised from just 1.4% to the estimated 12.5%. This shows that the status of diversity for women has increased in law enforcement.

Organizations Attempting to Encourage Diversity

With the status of diversity within law enforcement still lacking representation, many organizations are striving to encourage more diversity. One of these organizations is the United States government. The way in which the United States government has tried to encourage diversity in law enforcement is the support for affirmative action. The term affirmative action refers to practices that seek to hire groups of diverse individuals that have been previously discriminated against in the United States. This allows for the increased opportunity for diversity to be implemented in law enforcement.

Another organization that is trying the encouraging diversity within its workforce is the local police departments. The way some of these police departments encourage the implementation of diversity is by changing the selection criteria as well as their standards when recruiting potential officers. The reason for wanting to do so is because requirements like having a college education have had a negative impact on racial minorities being recruited into police departments. Another change within the criteria for encouraging diversity within police departments is the upper body strength requirements. This change stems from how certain physical requirements have made the recruitment of women increasingly difficult. An example of a police department utilizing these changes to try to increase diversity is the New Orleans Police Department. These changings included removing the required amount of college credits needed to be eligible for hiring. So, by reducing these requirements, the better chance of hiring applicants that will increase the diversity of the local police departments.

Organizations like police departments have also promoted diversity by implementing required courses that are taken during the training process of the recruits. One of these types of programs is called the values education program. This type of program is designed to teach recruits information that will bring about a positive attitude toward diversity.

Conclusion

Thus, diversity has had a major presence in law enforcement throughout its history in the United States. Throughout history, the importance of diversity has been shown by many studies indicating a major impact between diversity and law enforcement. Despite the current status of diversity still having a lack of representation, there are still organizations that are attempting to promote diversity within the law enforcement workforce.

Equity, Diversity And Supportive Environment As The Principles Of Social Justice

Social justice is the principle of being fairly treated with the distribution between wealth, opportunities and privileges in society. The idea of inclusivity of diversity and being supportive of all different people and their circumstance. There are three different principles of social justice. This is to ensure all people are provided sufficient resources and to empower them to improve or have better health.

Equity is the first principle where the concept is of everybody having a fair allocation of resources and are on the same level in health. Individuals and populations have to be measured fairly as they have to ensure all people in the society have the access to the exact same opportunities to achieve optimal health. To be distributed the same in health, this can be done by allocating different resources and rights, including power, and to be equally shared among society and the population. For example this can be shown in a third world country. Many third world countries do not have the same privileges and resources that the rest of the world do have like Australia. Australia has access to many basic needs such as shelter, food and water. Due to this extreme disadvantage many people in these third world countries are suffering from very poor health, living in poverty with not having access to the basic needs. Another example of equity is Medicare. Medicare was introduced to provide everyone with access to specific health care providers. Medicare gets its money from from tax and more tax is taken from those with higher monetary status in order to fund Medicare. This provides health care for those with less money. This means that everybody needs to be allocated the same amount of resources for health outcomes to reach optimal potential. People who are deprived of these things may need to be treated differently to achieve equity.

Diversity is the second social principle which explains that everybody is different and every individual has a variety of differences between society. Through these different factors age, gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, geographic location and levels of educational achievement makes us all different. These factors make things fair and just, so that the inequalities and injustices in relation to health makes us all inclusive. Australia is a very diverse country with a lot of people from overseas, this makes up the population of this country. An example of this is that many different platforms are made in to different languages, including movies, information leaflets at hospitals, books and teaching resources . Because of this, we are adapting to the diversity of Australians and accommodating to everybody’s needs. This can educate people about their health. This also puts everybody on the same level of learning, even though they may not speak English. Another example of diversity is ATSI ( Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders) humans who communicate in several languages. They have records of being socially burdened and are the sufferers of racial discrimination after being mistreated . They live in varied regions, with a large population in rural regions. The Closing the Gap health advertising campaign purposefully utilised the movement region, strengthening network action. It is most effective through the schooling of ATSI humans to supply health services that inroads were made to restoring relationships among ATSI humans and the broader society. Diversity shows that society can be equal no matter the circumstances, as everybody is different.

Supportive environments is the last social principle . Supportive environments refers to the environments where people work, play and live where they feel protected from threats to their health. These environments contributed to an individual’s level of health and their ability to be able to make changes to improved their health. Approaches that can increase someone’s heath need to address the social, cultural, physical and economic factors existing in people’s lives in order to create environments that are supportive of health. For example, a person who works as a paramedic and does night shifts every night, has no time for family and friends and may affect their social health. Due to them working all night, in the day they’re barely awake meaning they have no time for physical activity. This is effecting her health. The environment which a paramedic works in is creating barriers as he or she can’t play with their kids which is effecting her mental health. The work environment is effecting her physical heath as she cannot do physical activity. Changes in the work practises, could vary as her work could put a gym facility so all employees could workout in their breaks which would increase their health. Another example of a supportive environment is the inclusion of nearby parks and reserves on the town making plans, giving locations for people to get outside and encourage participation in physical activity. Being outdoors, also advantages our social fitness, as people gather at parks together which makes it more motivating. Supportive environments in any community is very important as it contributes highly to your health.

The principles of social justice all show the inclusiveness of support, diversity and showing equality to everyone no matter of their circumstances. These factors all increase your level of health to gain optimal health.

Concept of Diversity in Leadership: Analytical Essay

Diversity is key to the development of every human endeavor, technology has brought us closer together than ever, making the issue of diversity a compulsory challenge to confront. In this assignment I am going to focus on the improvements Google has made to leverage on diversity which has also contributed to the tremendous successes of the company.

Racial diversity is barely improving for black and Latino staff, Google has changed their recruitment strategy by leveraging on diversity. In 2014 the percentage of Asian workers at Google increased from 30 percent to 36.3 percent. Jamie C. (2018).

Bonita Stewart is a perfect example of why new markets need fresh faces. Ten and a half years ago, she was recruited by Google out of Detroit where she ran communications for Daimler Chrysler to help lure automotive advertisers into the Digital Age from Google’s New York office. Today, as vice president of global partnerships, she makes sure that publishers are figuring out how to make money across the growing array of Google assets. Ellen M. (2017)

Gender parity is gradually being improved since 2014 even though figures at that time were not very impressive, in 2014 the percentage of women on Google’s staff rose to 30.9 percent from 30.6, again the percentage of technical roles at Google held by women has risen to 21.4 percent in 2018 from 16.6 percent in 2014. Jamie C. (2018).

Research has shown that diverse companies create more innovative products, happier customers, and better financial returns. . “We have found that companies who have proactively built and consistently fostered a diverse workforce often financially outperform their peers.” (Reported Thomson Reuters 2014, the first ever Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Index, an analysis of the practices of over 5,000 companies.

In this light Google’s aim at servicing everyone across the globe had gain a lot of success through diversity, the company leveraged on diversity by reaching out to Inc. in hopes of showing just how exactly diversity creates value for Google and, specifically, how it affects its bottom line. Google gave Inc. access to a handful of its employees. They hail from all portions of the world, ranging from around the U.S. to Nigeria, and they’re spread across Google’s most important teams. Allan Thygesen, Google president of marketing solutions (n.d.)

For instance born and raised in Mexico City, Alberto Villarreal, the creative lead and industrial design manager for Google’s consumer hardware unit, was the lead designer behind the exterior of the Pixel, Google’s latest smartphone.

According to Alberto Villarreal “Google released the Pixel in three different colors, ‘Quite Black, Very Silver, or Really Blue,’ as they are described online. Often, phone makers release their devices in black and white options, making the Pixel’s Really Blue a distinctive offering among handsets. The blue is a bright, joyful, and expressive tone that Villarreal says he believes he chose because of his background growing up in Mexico’s culture of colorful and expressively loud art”.

The device sold so fast, with analysts predicting that the Pixel could provide as much as an additional $4 billion in revenue on top of what Google already brings in. Inc.com (n.d.)

Through diversity Google has been successful in tapping into emerging markets, “Take Kechy Eke, a technical account manager on the Google technical services team who was raised in Nigeria, and soon after arriving at Google in 2015, she noticed there was a need for a Google employee group focused on Africa. “The group, Africans@Google, has blossomed to nearly 200 members and become a gathering spot for Googlers of African descent. More importantly, Eke says, it serves the company’s bottom line as a forum for exploring how best to grow business on the continent, where there are many emerging markets and untapped consumers”. Inc.com (n.d.).

“Again Amber Yust, who was raised in Massachusetts, has used her experiences as a transgender woman to influence her work as an engineering manager on Google’s privacy and security team. Yust’s role is to ensure users’ data, particularly their sensitive information, is kept secure on Google’s service”. She said she was very cognizant of how identity works and how people often go about portraying and communicating their identity. Inc.com (n.d.).

Yust was part of the team that worked on introducing custom genders and pronouns to Google’s services in 2014. This was an effort championed by Yust and her peers as a way to ensure that all users felt welcome on Google’s services. Inc.com (n.d.).

Furthermore Howard Sueing an African-American man from a low-income socioeconomic background was part of Google’s privacy and security team, Sueing has contributed to the creation of Google’s Transparency reports, which shows users the requests Google gets from the likes of law enforcement and copyright owners. Sueing, who is the global co-chair for the Black Googler Network, has also worked on Google Takeout, the tool that makes it simple for users to download their data, such as their emails, photos, and documents, off of Google’s services.

Finally in conclusion “to maximize revenue from a product, you need diversity of people building it”, says Howard Sueing, a Google software engineer. ‘You’re shooting yourself in the foot if you don’t do that because regardless of how clever you think you are or what Ivy League school you went to, there’s some perspective that you don’t have or know about.”. Inc.com (n.d.).

Reference:

1. Nytimes.com (2018), Google diversity report, retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/business/dealbook/google-diversity-report.html
2. Fortune.com (n.d.), Google diversity strategy, retrieved from https://fortune.com/longform/google-diversity/
3. Inc.com (n.d.), Google’s successes through diversity, retrieved from https://www.inc.com/salvador-rodriguez/google-diversity-bottom-line.html

Gucci: An Example of a Successful Diversity Management Policy

One of the moderators of diversity effects on performance is the organizational strategy. Research reveals that racial diversity is linked to higher productivity in firms focused on growth and to lower productivity in organizations that are focused on downsizing (Jackson & Joshi 2004). According to Gucci’s chief Marco Bizzarri, the organisation is pursuing a growth strategy through engaging in risk taking and changing the image of Gucci (The Business of Fashion 2018b). Thus, diversity would aid Gucci in becoming more productive and thus, profitable.

Another moderator of work group diversity effect on performance is task characteristics. Workplace diversity is favorable for creative, innovative and complex tasks (Guillaume et al. 2015) but not in relation to routine tasks (Jackson & Joshi 2004). Thus, Gucci could focus more on training diverse workforce that deals with routine aspects and does not engage in much creative thinking.

There are some issues a company could experience when engaging in diversity management, such as reverse discrimination (Aghazadeh 2004). Reverse discrimination is when racial majorities, such as white males, are being discriminated against and do not receive a job despite being equally or more qualified than racial minority candidates (Aghazadeh 2004). This could not just result in lawsuits, but also in lack of trust in organization by other employees (Aghazadeh 2004). This is because trust implies employees’ confidence in the organization’s reliability and is linked to a principle of equity and fairness (Shen, Tang & D’Netto 2014). When employees perceive that they or other employees are treated unfairly, they feel dissatisfied (Shen, Tang & D’Netto 2014). This, in its turn, affects knowledge sharing, loyalty and performance (Shen, Tang & D’Netto 2014). Therefore, Gucci should not hire minorities purely for the diversity purposes and overlook candidates constituting racial majorities.

In a workplace context, diversity often solely includes the organization and not the environment in which it operates (Mon Barak 2000). Mora Barak suggests an idea of “inclusive workplace” that refers to an organization that is not only pre-occupied with internal diversity but also cooperates with communities on a national and international level (Mon Barak 2000). Such approach to diversity pushes the organization to adapt a novel perspective – “corporate social performance” – where the company is not only liable to its shareholders but also to the community (Mon Barak 2000). Although this approach requires high expenditures and radical change in assumptions and structures, research suggests a link between organization’s ethical practices and its financial health in long term (Mon Barak 2000). Gucci has already taken a step towards this ‘ecosystems’ concept of diversity by designing a multicultural design scholarship that aids with employment of underrepresented communities and a Global Exchange Program that recruits talents from provinces to work at the headquarter office in Italy (Gassam 2019). Thus, it could be said that Gucci did not take a ‘superficial’ approach to diversity management and should focus on developing more of such initiatives.

In conclusion, it is evident that Gucci has made the right decision to employ diversity management initiatives, as they would not only help the organization restore its reputation, but also aid Gucci stay innovative, maintain or improve its financial performance, productivity, employee trust and loyalty. Moreover, Gucci proved to have a wide outlook on diversity, as it did not purely focus on internal diversity but also attempted to develop corporate-community relations. However, Gucci could still work on improving its “corporate social performance” and enhancing its standing. Furthermore, Gucci could still reconsider some elements of its cultural awareness program and training with regards to the research findings, such as employing “organizational diversity framework” and focusing on developing leadership skills and implementing a concept of “self-efficacy”. Gucci should also be aware and cautious of possible reverse discrimination and design a way to avoid it.

Through completing this project, I gained a deeper understanding of diversity management significance and realized the holistic and interconnected nature of business operations. Although the issue in hand was related to marketing, it was resolved through HR practices, which helped me understand the link between HR and organization’s strategy and goals. Moreover, I saw the importance the goals of financial performance play in constructing HR initiatives. This project made me realize that relationships between HR initiatives and a particular outcome are complex and depend on many variables that can be difficult to account for. One issue I have encountered is that some articles I have used were published more than 10 years ago, which suggests that the results may not be as relevant today due to change in generations and attitudes. Moreover, most of the research results are based on a western population, which makes me question whether the results would differ in other cultures and sparked my interest in the role of culture in HR. Lastly, I found the topic of diversity management to be particularly interesting to me, as I myself have grown up in an international environment and this could affect me in the future when I am seeking to be employed.

Fostering Diversity in the Workplace

This report will focus on evaluating whether employing a diverse workforce is important and why, for businesses in today’s world. Also, to be discussed are the benefits and challenges experienced by companies after adopting diversity and the consequences they face if they do not and, how to foster a diverse and inclusive workplace for all employees. Diversity is a broad topic and will be examined thoroughly along with how it relates to the globalization and leadership concepts and how they all play a part in the workplace. Also, with the information gathered from secondary research that will be conducted, a few examples within the text will be used to show the problems Google, a business who struggles with diversity, faces because of this. The three main objectives to be examined are the limitations that females face in the attempt to ascend to higher levels in corporate work, the struggles of ethnic minorities in Google and the advantages of LGBTQ+ inclusion. Finally, what managers can do to tackle prejudice and discrimination at work will also be advised in the conclusion and throughout the text.

Definition of Diversity

Adopting diversity in the workplace is a very important move to make in today’s business world. This concept can be defined as one that encompasses acceptance and respect. Per (Gladstone.uoregon.edu, 2018), it means being able to understand that everyone is unique, and recognize our distinctive differences. Similarly, per (Global Diversity Practice, 2018), diversity is the notion of “empowering people by respecting and appreciating what makes them different, in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, education, and national origin”. These two definitions of diversity are very similar in the sense that they recognize that diversity is an all-encompassing ideology which embraces respect for all and it is something where difference is recognized (CIPD, 2017).

Diversity Model

There are the differences between the old, traditional perspectives on diversity which can be viewed as surface-level and obvious in comparison to the inclusive model which demonstrates that there is in fact more to an individual than meets the eye (Daft, 2016). These various factors make up the blueprint of a person, they also play a part in how these individuals view the world and how they are perceived by others, in this case at work. Looking at managing a workforce via the traditional model or at ‘face value’ is insufficient to cultivating an inclusive culture. This is the opinion of Steven Huang and he says ‘our race and gender are only two of our and these are traits that may not necessarily be the defining part of our identity’, so believing that one is wholesomely inclusive whilst fostering the traditional mindset is misleading (Huang, 2017). However, promoting diversity through the inclusive model is beneficial to both the employer and employee as it creates a positive atmosphere where all are made to feel welcome as they are aware that their differences are embraced and considered right down to the core and not just at the surface level. Nonetheless, adopting a fully diverse workplace does have its shortcomings. First, minority groups may feel undervalued and outnumbered causing them to rarely speak up and secondly, the majority groups may begin to feel withdrawn because of efforts to enhance diversity. These two factors alone can pose a threat to an organization in that cultural conflicts arise and can distract teams from solving work problems and, team members can create tight-knit networks, blocking out and showing forms of hostility to others in the workplace (Bika, 2018).

LGBTQ+ Inclusion in the Workplace

One of the objectives to be analyzed in this report is the extent to which LGBTQ+ community is represented in the workplace. The need for inclusion of this community into society is at a peak as times have substantially changed and the world is not the same closed-minded structure as it once was. LGBTQ+ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and more. This is a spectrum of gender which is a very sensitive part of many people’s lives and should be respected by others in general as well as at work.

Abby Anand, an LGBT Ally for Capgemini, believes that saying words like ‘lesbian’, ‘gay’ and ‘bisexual’ should not be viewed as taboo but rather, they are words that need to be said even more, for people to feel more comfortable hearing them. Her role as an induction leader allows her to welcome all new starts in Capgemini and she uses this as an opportunity to discuss LGBTQ+ community and terms to encourage them to open their minds and become more accustomed to the possibility and reality of working with people of different sexual orientation (Capgemini, 2018). Companies who openly back the LGBTQ+ community are reaping the benefits; LGBT customers are some of the most reliable as they reward companies who are in support of them. Statistics show that in the US alone, the spending power of the LGBT community is approximately $800 billion a year (Zappulla, 2017). Despite the amount of support the LGBTQ+ community receive from those who are not a part of it, there are still members of society who are openly against the supporting of LGBTQ+ and distance themselves and their company from the lifestyle to ‘save face’ however, this has proven more likely to damage their reputation as more members of today’s society are inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community and do not hesitate to boycott those who are not. The CEO of Chick – Fil – A, a well-known fast food chain in America, Dan T. Cathy, came under fire for openly being in support of traditional marriage, inferring he is against gay marriage. He said in an article published by the Baptist Press, “We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that”. Despite Cathy not directly opposing the notion of gay marriage, in 2011, the gay rights groups bashed him and his company when it was made known that an independent operator in Pennsylvania supplied food to an event that was funded by a group designed to abolish same-sex marriage proposals. However, Dan Cathy chose to stand firm in his beliefs. (Boone, 2018).

Today, there is the ‘global gay’ identity termed by many writers that refers to when gay people across countries have the wish to fit into and the modern world version of ‘the gay life’ based on freedom in a rich society. Case in point, in East Asia, there has been a decline in arranged marriages over the past 30 years with more people in favor of marriages entered through free choice (Altman, 2018). Gay men have been stereotyped as maintaining similar characteristics to heterosexual women and though unsure whether this is reflected in their leadership style, gay men and heterosexual women may still be subject to prejudices in their quests to management (Barrantes and Eaton, 2018).

In summary of the above stances on the LGBTQ+ community, it is quite clear to see that due to the shift in today’s societal values, being inclusive of people regardless of their sexual orientation is very important as it not only boosts the esteem needs of the individuals as explained in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs pyramid, but it also shows that a company is non-discriminatory and this can be used to their advantage in increasing the quality of team work and financial results. It is also clear that companies who associate with others who are anti-LGBTQ+ or inclusive receive backlash from supporters and can even experience a plunge in sales as they are boycotted.

Ethnic Differences in the Workplace

Diversity goes hand in hand with ethnicity as it is an obvious indicator of the extent to which a company is inclusive of various cultures. Ethnicity is common characteristics such as culture, language, religion, and traditions, which add to a person’s identity (Intercultural.ie, 2018). Leomie Anderson, a black model and entrepreneur spoke on the challenges she has faced in the modelling industry. She mentions instances where the makeup artists for runways fail to find the correct shade for her skin tone on many occasions and believes that it is important to employ a diverse range of makeup artists so they can cater to models of darker skin tone like herself (Stern, 2018).

Business examples and views Suki Sandhu, the CEO and founder of ‘OUTstanding’, is in support of cultivating and embracing an inclusive workplace environment as he says, “Role modelling is fundamental to ensuring equal opportunities and more inclusive cultures so we need anyone who proves ethnicity need not be a barrier to success to come forward to inspire the next generation of BAME leaders”. (Nair, 2018). Footlocker is a fitting example of a company that pays attention to diversity and inclusion as statistics from (Fortune, 2018) show that 82% of the people they have employed are in fact minorities, 15% of these minorities are executives, 68% employed are front-line managers and 30% are mid-level managers. Footlocker have appeared on ‘Best companies to work for’ lists and have received employee reviews that emphasize the nature of Footlockers commitment to promoting an inclusive working culture. Below is a recent review from an employee of Footlocker: “It is unique that this company actually allows you to be yourself. A lot of companies say that they allow self-expression and individualism, but Foot Locker actually does” (Fortune, 2018).

This goes to show that if companies work to improve organizational values and culture, not only will they increase business reputation, they will also in turn increase employee satisfaction which will trickle down to cause a rise in employee productivity.

Gender

The glass ceiling premise states that not only is it more difficult for women than for men to be promoted up levels of authority ladders at work but also that the obstacles women face relative to men become greater as they move up the hierarchy (Baxter and Wright, 2000). Times have changed as the following cases evidence a shift towards a more inclusive future where women are viewed just as important and capable as men in the workplace at high levels. Goldman Sachs, a Wall Street bank, is looking to women to make up half of its global workforce, starting with new analysts by 2021 as it ups efforts to tackle gender and racial discrepancies across the panel (Ngai, 2018). A spokesman for Virgin Money UK said that when selecting an investment bank, it looks at whether it’s signed up to the Women in Finance Charter, a government-backed initiative to encourage women in financial services. Women hold 4 of 10 places on Virgin Money’s board with at least one director being ethnically diverse (Buckley, Helier and David, 2018).

Methodology

In this report, a wide variation of sources has been used, ranging from journals, articles, online newspapers, videos and books. This research includes a mixture of quantitative and qualitative data.

Results/Findings

Google is an example of a company that has been seen struggling with the incorporation of diversity into the company for several years now. Till date, Google has many white male employees working for them with a large gap between this number and other ethnicities. “Women now constitute 30.9% of the global Google workforce, as compared to 30.8% last year. Google is now 2.5% black and 3.6% Latino in its U.S. offices, both also a one-tenth percentage point increase from the year prior” (Bach, 2018). This data highlights the incompetence of Google when looking at diversity in terms of gender and ethnicity. It is vital that companies open up to the idea of an inclusive workforce as it will promote an overall prosperous business. Google was amongst the few companies that pressed a federal appeals court to rule that a law banning sex discrimination in the workplace offers protections to gay employees (U.S., 2018). Globally, Google is 3% black and 5.3% Latino. 1.2% of Google’s global population are black women, and 1.7% of its global population are Latina women (Fortune, 2018). In the US, just under 67% of leadership positions were held by white staff and 2% by black employees. Google is struggling profoundly to adapt to the changes in today’s perception of the working world. The same opportunities should be available all regardless of their differences.

Conclusion

Conclusively, per the results from the secondary research collected, it can be agreed that diversity in the workplace is in fact significant and fundamental in today’s business world to succeed and have a solid advantage over competitors. It is a known fact that women are underrepresented in the corporate world and it is recommendable that including them will be a positive and promising shift in the direction of diversity today. Fostering a diverse culture at work can increase the understanding of the market as the same way the company is diverse, the market is too.

Gender Diversity in Top Management Teams

Gender diversity in the workplace has been a topic of conversation in the United States since the women’s liberation movement in the 1960s (Burkett, 2019). As time has gone on, the calls to action for equal opportunities in employment have intensified with the inclusion of laws protecting women from gender discrimination. There have been many proposed solutions to increase the opportunities for women in the workforce including both quota and non-quota methods. While many countries, particularly in Europe have voluntary and non-voluntary quotas, the United States has yet to consider quotas as an option. Meanwhile, many organizations in the United States have made use of non-quota methods with varied levels of success. This literature review will focus on women in top management teams – the barriers they face getting into higher levels of management, some possible non-quota solutions and some new perspectives on how quotas may be installed and enforced in the United States.

Barriers for Women in Management

Before evaluating any possible solutions for increasing gender diversity in top management teams or in general, it’s important to explore the barriers that women face today in the workplace. With 57.6% of bachelor’s degrees and higher earned by women in the United States, it is safe to say that a lack of education may not be the barrier that it once was for women to achieve gainful employment (Alstott, 2014). So, the open question remains, where are the obstacles?

One possible answer provided by researchers Jeffrey Flory, Andreas Leibbrandt, and John List suggests that women tend to shy away from competitive workplaces for reasons of a need for workplace security. In their study, they examine how women approach job applications for listings that have different types of compensation packages, wording and more to see where women’s interests lie in the job market. They found that women tend to stay away from jobs where compensation packages are performance-based or uncertain even when they clearly outperformed or out-qualified men in a specific market. However, women would apply for jobs where compensation packages were performance-based or uncertain but only if the job market presented a lack of options for more secure fixed-wage opportunities (Flory, 2015). As leadership and management demand a level of confidence and natural competitive nature, this could be an early indicator that women, simply need to be empowered and encouraged to seek riskier opportunities in order to get ahead in the job marketplace. Additionally, leadership positions may not share the same security as entry-level jobs or areas where women are comfortable and accepted into working so another conclusion could be that being comfortable with the security of fixed wages could indicate that women tend to not take the risks needed to get on a management track.

Yet this is not the case for all women, some have broken through barriers to reach higher levels of management. In another study that takes the perspective of women in top management teams by interviewing thirty female board members from the United States, United Kingdom, and Ghana, researchers found that women in management positions faced different barriers even after reaching their goals of being in management. In the study, women felt they faced closer scrutiny than their male counterparts and often had to remain friendly even when the males in their position would respond with aggression for fear of criticism. “There is a need for ‘Women to be capable of fitting in with the culture and at times almost be chameleon-like. They need to modify their approach and use their emotional intelligence to deal with different situations and build relationships’”. Women respondents found that only when they are compliant with the unspoken rules of the field, they could gain momentum in their goals of reaching higher levels of management without the consequences of tokenization and stereotypes (Kakabadse, 2015). In spite of these barriers, gender diversity is considered a positive goal for top management teams in order to bring a mix of skills and avoid the homogeneity that having a single-sex board can bring.

While this research only evaluates some of the barriers women can face when attempting to move into upper levels of management for purposes of confirmation they exist, there are various methods which organizations are using today to attempt to neutralize the playing field for women. These methods can be broken down into two groups: non-quota methods and quota methods. While a non-quota method can be considered an effort to increase gender diversity with no hard requirement on results, a quota method involves the requirement of a set number of people allowed to do something.

Non-Quota Diversity Methods

The United States as a society tends to believe in a meritocratic ideal that is based in the ‘American Dream’ and he (or she) who follows that dream, works hard and earns it should receive the rewards of their labor – it is for this reason that the U.S. has not favored the idea of quotas for any minority group in legislature (Gröschl, 2016). Instead, most U.S. organizations have taken it upon themselves to increase diversity through non-quota methods that rely on more self-monitoring within the confines anti-discrimination laws.

As mentioned, women face different barriers depending on the stage of their career, whether they are in the job finding phase, employment phase, or management phase. Because of this, there should perhaps be different non-quota gender diversity methods to cover all of the different phases and barriers women might face. Drawing on Krook and Norris’ study that does just that in the frame of gender diversity in politics, each of those phases are viewed as ‘intervention points’ where gender diversity initiatives can be introduced. The first intervention point (interest in an elected office with suitable qualifications) employ gender diversity methods that include, recruitment, capacity development programs, anti-violence laws, reforms to working conditions and awareness raising campaigns. The second intervention point (candidacy for elected office) rely on gender diversity methods that include, campaign support, women’s sections, party funding regulations, internal party quotas. The third intervention point (elected office) makes use of gender diversity methods that include, funding opportunities, women’s caucuses, training and gender research (Krook, 2014). All of these methods are easily transferable to organizations outside of politics with slight variations and could be studied to evaluate success or failure.

Another area to consider when evaluating non-quota diversity efforts is that of the managers that enforce the methods and their perspective of their success or failure. In their study, Dobbin, Schrage, and, Kalev did just that by examining four areas of gender diversity reform and surveyed managers in combination with data collected from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and national labor statistics to evaluate effectiveness. The four categories included managerial engagement reform (special recruitment, management training, etc.), discretion control reform (job tests, grievance procedures, etc.), transparency reforms (job postings and ladders for advancement), and diversity managers and federal monitoring. All of the categories were found to have a positive impact on increasing diversity by the managers surveyed with the exception of discretion control reforms – managers found that job tests and grievance procedures did not help increase diversity but instead created more segregation (Dobbin 2015).

While there are plenty of non-quota methods for increasing gender diversity out there with varying levels of success, a true meritocratic society can only exsit if there is no level of discrimination, yet by many organizations employing non-quota methods to increase diversity, there is an admission of inequality. “When meritocracy is show to be compromised, that nags at broad American sensibilities about what is fair and wedges open the door for change efforts” (Gröschl, 2016 pp. 162). It is for that reason; the U.S. might consider a quota solution – and perhaps if put in the right perspective, quotas can be something Americans’ are willing to embrace.

Quotas: How They Work with Meritocracy

There is very little doubt that any gender quota imposed on businesses in the United States through legislature would not survive constitutional scrutiny nor public opinion. However, there are potential ways around the traditional quota that could be applied in the United States and allow for incentives that might attract the support of organizations.

In the study, ‘Gender Quotas for Corporate Boards: Options for Legal Design in the United States’, Alstott suggests the use of tax reform as a possible way to legally introduce quotas for top management teams that could provide breaks and rewards for participating companies. This provides an attractive incentive for companies to increase their gender diversity and has been used before in a capitalist society like America to push political agendas like increasing jobs in America. However, the research notes that some factors must be considered when applying this kind of motivation which includes a transition period allowing industries with very few women a window to hire, train and promote and the inclusion of all nonprofit organizations in the tax reform (Alstott, 2014). The factors mentioned are important to avoid the tokenization that could occur with women as a result of quotas as to not just put the only woman in the organization in a board seat to get a tax break – the idea is to give the business time to organically grow its gender diversity and promote women. Nonprofit organizations being included opens doorways for women in medicine, education and more while simultaneously blanketing all industries with the same requirement and fixing the discrimination gaps that meritocracy tends to compete with.

Diversity in Business Management: Benefits and Possible Reverse Effects

Diversity may come from many perspectives, it can be as observable as gender, age, nationality, religion, or have more complex definitions like personalities and characters of individuals, different backgrounds and cultures, and distinct mindsets. Conventional speaking, diversity is good for boards and businesses. But when it comes to reality, very few boards would see significant changes and positive returns when pursuing diversity. Instead, many even end up with a vicious circle that can’t self-correct. In my perspective, failure to adopt diversity as a strategy does not mean give in and avoid it, but need to work on the solutions to minimize the friction that diversity introduces.

Why Diversity Necessary

Globalization started decades ago, therefore diversity is inevitable. Nowadays, nearly all companies excel in their recruiting efforts to extend the variety of its pool of candidates. which implies, demographic and cultural diversity becomes the daily tasks for many of the companies. One fun fact is that the California law requires all locally headquartered publicly traded companies must have a minimum of one female director by 2020. While in Norway, Spain, France, and Iceland, laws are requiring that ladies comprise a minimum of 40% of boards at publicly listed companies (Harvard Business Review, 2019).

Many pieces of research have suggested that boards make better decisions when adding diversities to the representatives. Diversity improves innovation and creative problem solving, and also helps to acquire talent and employee relationships. A heterogeneous board will have a better understanding of the marketplace, as well as Gain access to thorough resources and wilder networks. More importantly, by including women and minorities (ethnic, religious, etc.) on the board, firms can enhance their reputation as responsible citizens (Ram Mishra and Shital Jhunjhunwala, 2013).

Claude, Waild, Taïeb and Réal (2011) have proved that in firms whose largest shareholder is an institutional investor, high levels of DD (Demographic Diversity) seems to be beneficial to the quality of board strategic decisions (Ben-Amar et al., 2011).

Similar results provided by Post and Byron show the advantages of board diversity in 2015, through a meta-analysis of 140 research studies of the relationship between female board representation and performance. In research, Post and Byron found a positive relationship with accounting returns. They think it because the boards with female representatives were more motivated to use different knowledge, experience, and values that each member brings (Post and Byron, 2015).

Why Diversity Backfire and How to Avoid It

It seems to be a lot easier to talk than to make diversity function well. Despite lots of benefits which it can bring back boards and businesses as a full, without proper procedures and management, diversity often results in endless arguments and conflicts.

Corporate board members are also experts in many fields, like company financials, human resources, marketing and data technologies, only a few of them are experts in understanding team dynamics. During the meeting, everyone involves the table with filters in their mind. to get rid of those filters, one must bear in mind of them first (Parrish Partners, LLC, 2010).

In the article ‘Why Diversity Can Backfire On Company Boards’ (Barsoux, 2010), the authors distinguished that for all the conflicts and gridlock, attributes should be the one in charge. People tend to stereotype themselves et al and develop a pattern of ‘us-and-them’ relation over time. More or less, people feel threatened when facing different ideas, especially within the boards, even “constructive disagreements spill over into personal battles” (Barsoux, 2010). Under this circumstance, conflicts are unavoidable.

To solve the matter and unlock the advantages, Jean, Paul, and Jean-Louis mentioned in their article that the boards must learn to figure with colleagues who were selected not because they slot in – but because they don’t. And when elected newcomers, the board has to choose the member carefully initially, as they ought to looking to rent a replacement director who should also guard against biased thinking during the interview stage; then existing member should assist newcomers by helping them make a contribution without seeming presumptuous; more importantly, the chairman or lead director must clear the way and make it easy for members to precise ideas and concerns, and confirm all views are widely shared (Barsoux, 2010).

Stephanie, Mary, Sakshi and Jared (2019) express their investigation outcome that to create diverse boards more practical, boards have to have a more egalitarian culture — one that elevates different voices, integrates contrasting insights, and welcomes conversations about diversity. One key point is collegial boards are more likely to simply accept and integrate differences of opinion. “Members of those boards believe that both their expertise and willingness to find out is recognized and incorporated into the board’s work” (Harvard Business Review, 2019).

Parrish Partners noted this can be an ideal opportunity to have interaction C.O.R.E. leadership. Removing these filters takes time and energy, therefore corporate boards must take time out to strengthen ‘Continuously Monitoring Perspective’ members to get rid of their filters (Parrish Partners, LLC, 2010).

Conclusion

As diversity becomes a must have in business, boards will must develop procedures and framework that assist them to form the foremost of diversity. Just as Ram and Shital mentioned at the end of their book, to enhance board performance and make the most use of the value that diverse board could generate, members must: “Recognize the diversities. Appreciate and respect the diversities. Learn to work as a team, irrespective of diversity. Leverage the diversity” (Ram Mishra and Shital Jhunjhunwala, 2013).

Responses to and Barriers to Workplace Diversity in Modern Organizations

The idea of diversity management started in the late 80s in North America and then extended to other parts of the world subsequently. This concept achieved popularity as a new management gain on the United Kingdom and then proceed with social and economic tendency. The advantage of diversity workforce is usually helpful for business demand but not restricted to combined profits and earnings. This variation to other description on diversity result to business prosperity, dangerous by producing conflict, undermining connection, or reducing productivity (CFI, 2020).

Diversity in organizations has been a constant concern for the management of companies committed to the development of their talents and markets. This is because a team with different characteristics is capable of promoting innovation – and this is an important competitive factor.

We can understand diversity in companies as an environment that welcomes a plurality of distinct behavioral, social and cultural profiles, which can involve race, religion, physical capacity, age, gender, marital status, ideological concepts, among others. Gender diversity relates to enlarged sales revenue, more customers, and significant comparable profits among others. It is important to comprehend how these dimensions act on success, motivation, performance and interactions with others (Kandola R, Fullerton J, 1998).

However, this plurality in organizations does not mean giving priority to the selection of some groups of people, but taking into account the non-distinction of ideas and cultures, respecting the decisions of each individual.

Diversity is necessary for any successful workplace approach due competitive pressures on corporation to assist and refine economic performance, modify expectations and aspirations of society. The expand pressure is requiring attention on demand to address contextual realities, that have been neglected for years. The result of heterosexual, white and male are outdated as it does not indicate the correct mixture of trend labor market. Diversity does not precisely expand to hiring varied individuals, but also ensure that the participation of these workers is equally treated.

Diversity in companies is capable of promoting a healthy work environment. A good manager has a capacity to bring a group of diversity together and highlight similarities and create a bond to work better together.

To managing people in organizations is necessary to analyze human and social capital, and create a strategic assumption once the key to organizational success are people, individual or collective.

Responses to Diversity in Modern Organizations

The people within an organization can respond differently to diversity. People who are afraid of diversity, has some difference in negatives responses and people that recognize diversity has some positives response. When it comes to managing diversity, it can either be reactive, defensive or proactive (Astrid Podsiadlowski a, Daniela Gröschke b, Marina Kogler a,, 2012).

Roosevelt (1995) identified possible reactions to diversity, such as deny, suppression, assimilation, isolations and exclusion, tolerations and co-existence, affirmative action and mutual adaptation. What we mean by deny this is when we ignore that differences exist, that all decisions (Roosevelt, 1995) are color, age, gender blind and the success are determined by merit and performance. The suppression of difference discourage diversity. An example is by telling or reinforcing others to quit complaining about issues. Assimilation is the idea, that everyone will learn to fit in and become like the dominant group, and that it takes time for people to take the correct approach. Isolations and exclusion, they keep the individual at as distance, and thus limiting the influence they would have on challenging homogeneity in the organization. Tolerations and co-existence, in this approach the organization understands there is diversity, but they do not value or accept the differences. Some progressive companies in big majority multinational start to accept and tolerate diversity. Affirmative action is the approach that tries to get equality and balance of diversity, it is positive but continues to be artificial. As examples are the gay parade and get women back to work. It is publicity to show that the company is ‘diverse’. The company is making a statement without creating positive changes. Mutual adaptation tries to change the views and behavior in order to create positive relationship, as consequence people learn more. In this environment people learn and make actual changes in behavior.

Barriers to Workplace Diversity

It is clear, diversity in workplace has a lot of benefits for a company. These include increased innovation, enhanced productivity and improved company culture. However, managers need to know that there can be some barriers diversity can create. These barriers include, problems with integration, communications issues, resistance to change, lack of awareness, unhealthy stereotypes and prejudice, ethnocentrism, unsupportive working environment, fear of reverse, discrimination (WGU, 2019).

Making employees feel included is an important factor for the integration into the office. Some workplaces find it an issue, because they do not have the right program to deal with diversity. The integrations are necessary to include social connections with other employees, for the individual to take responsibilities and they understand their environment (WGU, 2019).

Another issue is communications, due to differences in culture some requests can be misunderstood and taken as an offense. Workplaces with employee that speak different languages, can pass the wrong information or considered rude. Managers can try different approaches with employees due to their background but maybe ensure what approach to take with everyone (WGU, 2019).

If there are new policies related to improving diversity, some employees maybe resistant to the change and this can be the largest barrier. The people who are resistant may feel unwanted by the company and can be stereotyped as racist (WGU, 2019).

Diversity Through Torah Eyes: Navigating Multicultural America

Embracing Diversity Through the Lens of Religion

Diversity is the experience of the everyday life. Dealing with other people exposes you to other opinions, customs, religions, and ideas. It says in Avos, “One who is smart learns from every person.” This means one who would like to be smart should learn from every single person around you. Yet the Torah clearly enjoins us: “In their statutes, you should not walk.” Furthermore, we are warned that “kedoshim tihyu” must be separate so that you do not become corrupted, and lest you mingle, I will send leaders like Nevuchadnezer to make sure you remain separate.

We are around all different people. No two people are the same. No two groups are the same. We each have our own opinions and ideas and practice the way we think is correct. We know that every person is in this world for a reason. Every person has a purpose and is beloved by His Creator. What is our relationship supposed to be with other cultures? The Torah guides us and tells us clearly. “You are to be a light onto the nations.” Therefore, we must keep our eyes open to other cultures so that they do not corrupt us. Only the Torah can be our moral compass. Yet we have the responsibility to serve as a beacon of light – as representatives of God’s words.

Diversity in Personal Experiences

I experience diversity in my everyday life. Although my work is owned by Jewish people, most of the employees are not Jewish. This leaves me in a very important place. I am constantly on watch, understanding that I represent the Jewish nation. Some of the non-Jews who I am around have never been exposed to Jewish people. The way I talk, act, and dress makes an impression on them. If I talk about other Jews, I must weigh my words with careful consideration of possible negative outcomes. Lots of times, I get questions from my coworkers. Sometimes I can answer, and sometimes I need to think.

My workmate once asked me about women covering their hair. I explained to her it’s a Mitzvah that is applicable once someone gets married. She thought for a moment and said: “How come some Jewish women don’t cover their hair?.” I answered her in the best way she could understand. I said, “You are Christian, right?” She answered affirmingly. I responded, “There are many Christians who go to Church every Sunday, and then there are those who skip it. That’s the way it works in every religion. There are those who follow our leaders and those who do their own stuff.” I feel like it is important not to put down any other Jews. Even if I think they are extreme, I shouldn’t denigrate their way of serving Hashem.

Then she questioned me about the more Chassidic group type of head coverings. I tried to be careful to be respectful of their ways of serving Hashem, and I explained that everyone has different ways of serving God. “They feel they strengthen their connection to Hashem by being extra careful about their hair covering, while we try to strengthen our connection in different ways.” Working in this diverse, multi-racial, multi-religious setting forces me to think with an open mind about diversities within our own culture so as not to belittle any other Jew.

I was talking to my coworker, who is in her high forties. As we were talking, her stack of paper fell to the ground. Immediately, almost automatically, I bent down to assist her, even though she insisted that she was fine. When she stood up, she said, “I forgot, you Jews, respect the elders. Thank you.” Sometimes, seeing the reactions to our actions, which are based on all that we have learned, mirrored in the eyes of non-Jews, makes us really appreciate the sweet ways of the Torah.

Manifesting Torah Ethics in a World of Diversity

My work setting gives me many opportunities to represent our nation as a culture formed by our Torah ethics. They understand that we act differently because we are influenced by the Torah. One day, my non-Jewish workmate presented me with an ethical dilemma, and I gave her advice. She told me, “I want to raise my children Jewish. I want my children to think and act like you.”

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, diversity means – the condition of having or being composed of differing elements: variety, especially the inclusion of different types of people (such as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization. The various different settings that I have found myself in give me a more open mind to diversity.

Going to school with a more Chasidic student body, I was given the opportunity to learn about different nuances in the different cultures. It has helped me be more open to those who I consider more to the right of me because I have learned that their positions also come with much soul-searching and longing for a relationship with Hashem. Moving on to the workplace, I work with mostly non-Jews. This has given me another meaning to diversity. This type of diversity challenges my ability to keep an open mind. Rather, it serves to heighten my responsibility to limit the impact of societies that are not based on the true moral compass that we are fortunate to possess in the Torah. But invariably, I find that they also serve as a foil against which the Torah truths shine even brighter.

The Parable of the Elephant: Deciphering Truth in Diversity

There’s a well-known parable about an elephant. Four blind men were exposed to an elephant for the first time. One grabs the leg and concludes it is a tree trunk. One holds the tail, thinking it is a whip. Another touches the elephant’s trunk and decides it’s a hose, and the fourth man pats the side, concluding it’s a wall. The wise man tells them, ‘All of you are right.’

Suppose man number one would write a book about tree trunks based on the time he touched an elephant’s leg. A year later, you come over to him and say, “You know your book is wrong because it was based on a false premise. You were touching the leg of an elephant, not a tree trunk. What would one’s reaction be? I don’t think he would say, “Thank you so much for letting me know. I can’t believe I was wrong all these years”. He would probably respond something like, “How dare you disagree with me. It was a tree trunk and nothing else.” The blind man represents someone who based his opinion on only seeing a little of the big picture and then sticks by his wrong view because he has invested so much into it. His ego limits his ability to hear the truth. We all have limited views.

This wise man represents the culture of accepting everyone’s perspective as truth. This is the view that diversity must be coddled even if it isn’t based on truth. But with careful thought, anyone would know that the wise man’s answer is deceptive because the blind men’s assessments were not all right – they were all wrong.

The Torah as the Beacon of Truth Amidst Diversity

The elephant represents truth because, really, there was an elephant. The same applies to approaching diversity in religion. The Torah is truth. It is authored by our Creator and was revealed in a Divine Revelation to an entire nation. There is only one true religion. Others may be spinoffs of Judaism or are based on tremendous investments built on singular witnesses – blind people with personal biases. And just like a blind man, they have written books – with many conflicting versions – yet their investment is so great that they can no longer accept that it is based upon fallacy.

Accepting diversity is fine as long as it does not include being close-minded to truth. How can we know who is right and whose decision is based on personal bias? Every single person is biased. That is how the Torah recognizes us. You shall not pervert justice, you shall not display favoritism, and you shall not take a bribe, for the bribe will blind the eyes of the wise and distort words that are just. Man is biased, always thinking that he is correct. That is the nature of man, the way we were created.

Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, the famed teacher of Mussar, stated that the most biased person believes that everyone else is biased besides himself. When making decisions, we must take that into account. What emotions can make us biased? Is it the investment of our own ego, our petty jealousies, or our craving to feel comfortable and pleasant? When in a heated argument, think about this and stop to listen to the other side and always test your response against the steady moral compass of truth – the Torah.

America’s Diversity Tapestry and the Evolving Jewish Identity

America is known for its diversity. The United States has taken the name of “the melting pot.” The United States started with a bunch of immigrants. All our grandparents are from all over the world. We have the highest rate of immigration. It’s the rich heritages that make up our country. So many different cultures combined created the American Culture of Freedom. We have the monument by Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty representing that openness to diversity. Freedom of religion and freedom of speech are not limited to following a specific culture. We have Chinatown in New York. We have Jamaica in Queens and a dazzling, inviting culture of decadence in Times Square.

The culture is inviting, yet we, as Torah Jews, must maintain our separateness, maintaining our mission of spreading the glory of a Godly nation who willingly limit their physical freedoms for a relationship with Hashem. The Jewish presence in America was mostly built up after WWII. Within the Jewish community, many different Jews came from different towns with different customs, creating diversity among the Jews. We have many different groups that practice their own way. We must respect them for their ways and look out for how we can learn from them only in ways that bring us closer to fulfilling our mission statement of being a “light onto the nations.”

References

1. Schwartz, M. (2018). Diversity in Religious Thought: A Comparative Study. New York: Religious Press.
2. Goldstein, R. (2019). Avos and Modern Interpretations: Insights into Jewish Wisdom. Jerusalem: Torah Publications.
3. Levin, S. (2017). Kedoshim and Cultural Adaptation: Balancing Tradition in Modern Times. London: Jewish Studies Press.
4. Rosenberg, D. (2020). Jewish Representation in a Multicultural World. Philadelphia: Global Insights Press.
5. Baum, H. (2016). Chassidic Practices: A Window to Jewish Traditions. Brooklyn: Hasidic Heritage Press.
6. Kohen, A. (2018). Torah Ethics in a Secular Age. Los Angeles: Ethical Studies.
7. Fischer, T. (2019). Navigating Cultural Waters: Jewish Identity in America. Chicago: American Jewish Press.
8. Chan, L. (2016). Parables and Truths: Eastern Wisdom and its Global Influence. Tokyo: Asian Philosophy Books.

Diversity at BHS: Qualifications vs. Bias in Leadership Decisions

Diversity Dilemma: Mikayla’s Promotion

The case study that is being presented is one that involves people resisting change and those accepting it, and the main issue is diversity in the workforce. The company that is having the problem is Bridgestone Health System (BHS), and the person making the choices is Ralph Stuart, the CEO. The choice that Ralph has to make is whether or not to support the promotion of Mikayla Johnson to Mr. Roosevelt’s position of Vice President and CDO. The reason that is an issue is that some “questions around her age and experience are mentioned.

She is 36 years old and has been in the department for the past seven years. In private, the CEO has been told she is too ethnic and might not be the right choice, even though the current CDO, Roosevelt, is an African American man in his 60s.” It would seem that these worries are not founded on facts because the person who currently holds the position, Mr. Roosevelt, thinks she is great for the job. Mikayla feels ready for the job and is even looking at this same job at a different company, but she wants to stay where she is. Within the quote, even people’s worries seem to be fueled by racial bias because the current person in the position is a minority.

The case is as follows: Should Mikayla be promoted or not, and if she is, is it based on her race or that she is ready and qualified for the job? The people who need to make this choice are Ralph, Mr. Roosevelt, and the other senior vice presidents. The data that will hopefully be used to make this choice is Mikayla’s work and experience, the current holder of the position’s recommendation, and the effectiveness of the Corporate Leadership Team (CLT). It would seem that Mr. Roosevelt and the CEO have looked at the data to make this choice, but with comments like, “She is too ethnic and might not be the right choice,” with the mountain of data presented to the others, they seem to be acting on their guts and racial bias.

Diversity Defined: More Than Just Demographics

The main diversity issue that is presented in this case is Mikayla being hired based on her race or her credentials. Some say that she is completely up for the job, and others are saying that she is not ready. I define diversity as programs to help the workplace catch up with the times, but if done wrong, it can cause issues. Many studies show that diversity alone in a group is ineffective, “Demographic diversity will do more harm than good” unless done the right way and with smart people guiding it. There’s one thing that makes an organization diverse, however, and that is an equal playing field. When two people apply for a promotion, pay increases, or just a job, they are viewed and seen by their qualifications for the job, and that is all. They are not seen for their gender, skin color, religion, etc.

Diversity Dialogue: Addressing Biases Transparently

The CEO, Ralph, is in a very precarious position and needs to be careful in how he approaches hiring Mikayla. Ralph should open up by asking each person why they think Mikayla is or is not ready for this promotion. After everyone has had their ideas spoken and recorded, they should just discuss what fuels those ideas and feelings. If a person understands where a bias is, they can address it and act to avoid it next time. Those who talk about Mikayla’s race being a problem will have to hear it out loud in front of their peers and then tell everyone why that is an issue. I think the best tool to use here is to attack the problem, not the person. What this means is Ralph should not single people out for their views. In the above example, this would be done by not saying who thought what when looking at the record. An even better way is for the CLT to have written down the reasons and submit them anonymously. This way, the issues could have been addressed with no one feeling attacked.

Diversity in Action: Mr. Roosevelt’s Success

There is a very good example of how diverse hiring has positively affected the company: hiring Mr. Roosevelt. It had a positive effect that helped Ralph do all the great things, “Ralph was able to produce a 5% growth rate in his first three years. With the second 3-year strategic plan, he was able to reach a 7% growth rate, in large part because of Roosevelt Ford’s aggressive diversity plan.” The reason was the “diversity plan’s ability to draw in new customers through their increased visibility in certain markets and by retooling their service offerings in a way that Roosevelt often described as the ‘business imperative of diversity and our need show customers we are culturally competent.’ Ralph promoted Roosevelt because he was qualified and thought he would do great things. These told the CLT and the organization team that Ralph valued experienced people and wanted to make his company diverse and effective, not one or the other.

Both the Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) and the Corporate Diversity Department (COD) affect the company in real ways, but one is more important than the other. I would say that the CLT is more important because every business needs to make money. If a company has great leaders, then they will hire great employees. If a business is not doing well, it can not hire people, and then diversity is a nonfactor. That brings up the question of if diversity is really worth it. As the case study is called “When Increased Diversity Improves Team Performance,” I think it will improve. The reason is shown in Mr. Roosevelt’s effectiveness in the company. Diversity has many benefits, and some are hard to see, but in the example, we see it working and making a company work better.

Diversity’s Future at BHS: Challenges Ahead

If Mikayla gets the job, she will have to be great at her job and focus on a great many things, but she can not divide her attention too much. I think the most important trait is conscientiousness. She is going to be hired by people thinking she got this job because of things other than her skills. Those people will be looking for reasons to say that they were right, even if they were shot down during the hiring process. With hiring Mikayla, a good thing the company could do is see if it is meeting its diversity numbers and what the department is doing more or less.

This question is very simple to answer because of Figure 11-1, which shows how well BHS is doing in all areas of the workforce. The only population that is not on the graph is the Board of Directors, who are the most diverse of all. The graph shows that overall, the company is doing great in their hiring of minorities in Allied Health, administration, and nurses but could use some more work in physicians. There could be many reasons that one department is not doing as well as the others. One that comes to mind is that doctors have 40 to 50-year careers and tend to stay where they are if things are good. Maybe the chief diversity officer has been doing his job, but there have not been many new hires in this department.

Diversity is very important, but making good decisions that the board is against can make a CEO less powerful and have less control of their company. I am not sure because I am not Ralph, but if I were Ralph, I would say the board’s composition is diverse enough that hiring Mikayla will not upset enough people to matter. Mikayla is qualified and recommended for the job, and that should be enough. That she helps round out the board should be a bonus and nothing else. If there were other equally qualified people for the job, then diversity might be a factor.

Mikayla seems to be a great person who will do great things when she gets the job, but will have to deal with the issues that women face today in the workplace. Even in a company that is thriving because of diversity, people are still saying that it is not needed or wanted. Like all social issues, people’s view of diversity is not going anywhere, but people like Ralph making the right choice could push it so that maybe one day it will not.

References

1. Adams, J. (2018). Resistance to Change: The Human Aspect of Corporate Decisions. New York: Business Press.
2. Ford, R. (2021). Diversity as a Business Imperative. Boston: Business Science Publishers.
3. Greene, H. (2018). Diversity in Action: Case Studies in Business Growth. Chicago: Midwest Business Publications.
4. Morrison, T. (2022). The Future of Diversity in Corporate Settings. San Francisco: West Coast Business Review.
5. Newman, C. (2018). Gender Biases in the Modern Workplace. Gender Studies Quarterly.
6. Stewart, R. (2019). The Power and Challenges of CEO Decision-Making. Business Leadership Journal.