The Loudest Duck By Laura A. Liswood

Diversity is a wonderful asset to an organization and brings with it many benefits. Employees bring in their own personal experiences and knowledge to the team (Burns & Kerby, 2012). Having diverse teams allows for the possibility to fix a problem or perfect a process by using different employee’s experiences and past knowledge to find solutions. A diverse workforce can drive economic growth and capture a greater share of the consumer market (Burns & Kerby, 2012). With diversity as a core value, the recruitment pool is widened to find the most qualified candidate and reduces employee turnover as a result. An organization can be highly competitive with a diversity initiative by adapting to a changing environment (Burns & Kerby, 2012).

Regardless of how diversity is defined, it is an issue that is sweeping the nation. By the 21st century, racial and ethnic minorities will constitute 25% of the U.S. population, affecting the makeup of the U.S. labor force (7). By the year 2000, women will constitute 47% of the total workforce and the average age of the workforce is expected to increase from 36 in 1986 to age 39 (7). If the corporate society does not address the issue by learning how to manage diversity, they will fail.

The article details what it calls “barriers” in the career lifecycle that result in the impediment of either hiring or the promotion of a diverse workforce. These barriers can occur at recruitment, hiring, and promotion stages in the career lifecycle. (Matthies 1) Recruitment barriers include the low numbers of diverse applicants due to the lack of outreach programs designed to bring awareness of the employment availability to minorities and women. Hiring barriers include failure to meet standards

Whether you are a business manager or a CEO, a new employee or a seasoned worker, a teacher or a student, this book offers something new for everyone in a field where almost nothing new has been offered in such a long time. Simply doing more and more of what we have been doing for so long, in the name of diversity and inclusion and equity, won't get us where we need to be. It isn't more diversity that we need. What we need is a better and different diversity, one that unpoisons the well, and one that works equally for all of us, whether among ourselves or among

In the article “If There’s Only One Woman in Your Candidate Pool, There’s Statistically No Chance She’ll Be Hired”, the authors Stefanie K. Johnson, David R. Hekman, and Elsa T. Chan discuss how unconscious bias toward the status quo hinders diversification in the workforce despite diversity initiatives. To provide a potential solution for the workforce’s diversity problem, the authors conducted three studies which they changed the status quo among final job applicants. The authors concluded that when there are at least two minorities or women in the finalist pool instead of just one the status quo is changed resulting in the favorable candidate being a minority or a woman.

The purpose of the diversity audit project is to teach students how to analyze and measure diversity efforts of potential employers and as potential customers. In this globalizing world these skills are more important than ever. Many companies are making changes to diversify their employees and their customer base; this project is focused on investigating one company’s efforts. After this project students can expect to have gained a deeper knowledge of how to measure a company’s level of diversity and analyze its effects on both employees and customers.

Diversity is what makes people different, not just culturally but in human differences. Having a multitude of differences in the workforce gives an organization the ability to use many ideas to reach a common goal. A person could say that a diverse group of people together in one room can accomplish greater achievements than a room filled with the same types of individuals. Managers understand the concept of diversity, and how important diversity is to the success of a company’s ability to implement programs that continue to develop a harmonious and diverse workplace. The recognition that diversity is a reality in the workforce has generated an enormous amount of activity over the years among leaders in business, government, and civil

Diversity is of the utmost importance to an organization, as it increases the organization’s ability to adapt to the ever changing environment of the modern world. Today, diversity is a requirement for success and long term growth. Diverse companies have a comprehensive understanding of their customer’s needs and better internal talent due to a more extensive search of the labor market for qualified candidates. Moreover, diverse perspectives lead to innovation, and innovation leads to prosperity. Inclusion of unique perspectives avoids barriers and anxieties that would otherwise stunt a company’s growth. Furthermore, Studies show that companies with diverse board members tend to have greater success than

The general line of reasoning is that if we learn to incorporate each other’s diverse traits and characteristics in the workplace, we can then use these differences to foster an innovative environment, which will give the company a competitive advantage over the competitors that do not accept workforce diversity. According to the Allied Academies International Conference, “Diversity is rapidly becoming a common practice among companies due to the increasing number of minorities entering the job market today. As these groups become more prevalent throughout companies, upper-level employees are facing numerous challenges when determining what changes must take place to create a positive working environment for everyone. Management is responsible for the development and implementation of effective policies directly relating to diversity to ensure the acceptance of minorities into the workplace and to aid in minorities’ success through equal opportunities and treatment.” (Marcia L. James, 2001, Academy for Studies in International Business Proceedings)

When an organisation proactively seek to attract a diverse pool of employees, they are more likely to identify the most suitable skills and experience (Donaldson C, 2006). In contrast, employers that limit diversity parameters effectively limit the number of employees they can have which can have a detrimental impact on the organisation.

The first thing to acknowledge about diversity is that it can be difficult. In the U.S., where the dialogue of inclusion is relatively advanced, even the mention of the word “diversity” can lead to anxiety and conflict. Supreme Court justices disagree on the virtues of diversity and the means for achieving it. Corporations spend billions of dollars to attract and manage diversity both internally and externally, yet they still face discrimination lawsuits, and the leadership ranks of the business world remain predominantly white and male.

population. Companies need to focus on diversity and look for ways to become totally inclusive organizations because diversity has the potential of yielding greater productivity and competitive advantages (SHRM, 1995). Stephen G. Butler, co-chair of the Business-Higher Education Forum, believes that diversity is an invaluable competitive asset that America cannot afford to ignore (Robinson, 2002). Managing and valuing diversity is a key component of effective people management, which can improve workplace productivity (Black Enterprise, 2001).

The essay “Living Like Weasels” written by Annie Dillard exemplifies her reaction with a weasel that causes her to change her perspective on life as a whole. Dillard goes back in time to about a week ago to where she has an unexpected encounter with a weasel. She further goes onto discuss facts about weasels and how they always act upon their instincts. Dillard believes humans and weasels live two different lives through their brain use; this is best explained through the quotation, “She explores what is means to live in necessity, as weasels do, and what it means to live confronting choice, as human beings ineluctably do” (Dillard 118). Upon writing this, Dillard explains that we have something to learn from weasels, in that we should act more upon our instincts. Although Dillard exemplifies that we should act more upon our instincts, I believe we should confront our choices and think through our actions unlike weasels do. Later, Dillard explains why we should behave more like weasels based on her own personal story, but through my own personal story I believe we should think before we commit to certain actions.

Diversity can be defined on two (2) multidimensional basis namely “demographic and human capital diversity”. However, diversity is a management process where varying views and perspectives are harnessed into strategy decisions that would help managers address business plans for a diverse customer base and encourage innovative judgment (Slater et at., 2008). In view of the ever-changing business environment, and the need to meet and surpass the organizational goal, the drive for diversity by companies is key to a sustainable market share and competitive advantage. In diversity management as researched by Robinson, and Dechant (1997), companies adopt gender, ethnic, age, sexual orientation and physical differences in driving the concept of diversity in their organizations. However, Slater et al., (2008) posit that for diversity as a concept to be achievable and forms part of an organization’s culture, there must be a purposeful commitment from Lanx’s senior management, accountability from line managers and training programs designed to achieve its benefit. Hence, the commitment to diversity by organizations and its human capital are strong sources of its competitive

When we put different people together – which diversity inherently does, we have to go to the next step, move beyond diversity and be conscious of who we are and others are. Only then can we get the true value of that diversity, make the workplace fair, keep the pipelines flowing, and have more effective global companies. (p. 134)