Diversity Training

Diversity training is mandatory to be a successful manager in the twenty first century. It requires that that effective work practices take place between different people. The labor force is becoming more different in terms of ethnicity, race, gender, disability, and the like. An appreciation and respect for these differences will make a better use of the organizations human resources. These skills can be used to deal effectively with some of the key challenges brought about by this increased workforce diversity. Groups composed of people from different backgrounds can be more innovative by bringing a multiplicity of points of views to bear on a problem. By being skillful in managing these types of different teams, firms can use diversity training to their advantage. Employee training can develop skills needed to improve organizational functioning by stimulating greater creativity, better problem solving, and greater system flexibility. These skills are also essential to avoid the potential downside of diversity such as garbled communications, conflict, and resentment.

The term diversity incorporates a wide spectrum of individual and group differences. On an individual level, each person is different when compared with all other people. In a sense, people are combinations of traits; an individual may be aggressive or passive, extroverted or introverted, flexible or rigid, loyal or inconstant, and so on. Groups of individuals share characteristics that distinguish them from other groups. Some of the characteristics, such as race, sex, and age cannot be controlled by the individuals involved, whereas others, such as occupation, political party membership, and religion, may be changed through conscious choice and deliberate effort. Although the attitudes, life interests, expectations, and norms of behavior of groups may differ on average, the differences between groups are smaller than the differences within groups. Classifying people into such typologies as black or white, and male or female, often leads to false stereotypes because it incorrectly assumes that group averages apply to all of the individuals in the group. A good employee training program will review where the true distinctions and characteristics of working with people lie.

A diverse employee base allows a firm or company to tap into profitable markets. Utilizing employees who are attuned to these markets may give the firm a competitive edge. For example: women, older Americans, African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans have more buying power than in the past, and they expect businesses to provide products and services to meet their needs. Many companies have offered diversity training programs and successfully improved their bottom line, within their own workforce, as well as tapped into the diverse population through the use of employee training and internal knowledge. As organizations become more diverse; mistrust, lack of understanding, and lack of mutual respect has lead to decreasing cooperation among employees and poor integration of individuals who are supposed to work closely with each other. It has also caused stress and interpersonal friction, making it difficult to reach agreement on issues. In extremes cases, open conflict and chaos has occurred.

It is easy to see why such diversity training programs should be incorporated into all new employee training classes. Lower level managers and employees are unlikely to take diversity seriously if they believe that senior level executives do not give the effective management of these differences a high priority. Some CEO's take an active role in clarifying such issues, while others merely make an internal announcement about such programs. Some company's have been known to produce three day workshops on the subject, leaving time for group assignments and projects to help each employee better understand the importance of respecting each others differences, and helping them to realize that differences between groups of people is indeed a good thing, and can bring about more satisfaction in a business or in a community than many other strategies for success. Besides measuring and rewarding diversity efforts, companies also offer developmental opportunities to managers and employees to improve diversity management. The most common activities are training, senior mentoring, apprenticeships, and learning labs.

Diversity training programs improve awareness of diversity issues. They educate managers and employees about specific cultural and gender differences to help them respond in the workplace. At an information services company, for example, workers attended an employee training workshop that focused on working together with people of different races, sex, religions, ages, social status, and disabilities. Besides improving customer service within the company, these workshops have increased the pool of employees for the company. Senior mentoring has also been implemented in some firms in which managers and senior employees are encouraged to identify women and minorities with promising careers. The mentor is responsible for coaching the employee, offering a nurturing environment and facilitating the employee's career progress. Apprenticeship programs groom prospective employees before they are hired on a permanent basis. Learning labs improve knowledge and insight about market niches of diverse client populations. All these programs help to facilitate a cooperative working environment. "Love thy neighbor as thyself." (Leviticus 19:18)

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