by Amarendra Bhushan
Diversity as a social condition is not new to the U.S. Founded by immigrants, the nation has always been an amalgamation of cultures and, as such, has undergone cyclical periods of discomfort as the world's melting pot. In the 1850s, for example, Chinese and Irish laborers were brought over to lay the tracks for the transcontinental railroad, which raised the ire of those who had arrived a hundred years earlier.
At the turn of the century, waves of immigrants arrived on American shores from Southern and Eastern Europe at a rate of a million a year. These unprecedented numbers caused American Federation of Labor president Samuel Gompers to complain in 1907: "Cheap labor, ignorant labor, takes our jobs and cuts our wages."
Today, men, women and families from Southeast Asia, Latin American and the Caribbean leave economic and political turmoil behind in hopes that America will provide a more secure future. And these immigrants face many of the same obstacles as their predecessors once they arrive.
Despite the similarities between current circumstances and those of earlier eras, a wide gulf exists that can be traced to the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Focused in its early years on racial equality, the movement widened its scope to include equality based on gender, age, sexual orientation and disabilities. And as members of these various groups struggled to be recognized, they developed a new sense of pride in what made them distinctive. This sense of pride, this valuing of diversity, has led the nation to where it is today.
The Numbers Speak for Themselves
Despite the nation's increasing heterogeneity, diversity is encountering varying degrees of resistance among different sectors of U.S. industry. But like it or not, diversity is not going to disappear. And as always, the workplace is the primary arena for social change.
Statistics graphically tell the story. Minorities, immigrants and women already make up more than 50 percent of today's work force. Workforce 2000, a landmark study published by the Hudson Institute and funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, further projects that:
* Immigrants, women and people of color will account for 85 percent of the net growth in the labor force throughout the 1990s.
* Women will account for more than 47 percent of the total work force, and 61 percent of all American women will be employed, by the year 2000.
* By the end of the 1990s, African-Americans will comprise up to 12 percent of the labor force, Hispanics 10 percent and Asians four percent.
* The U.S. work forcewill continue to mature. People 35 to 54 will represent up to 51 percent of the work force by the year 2000 while those 16 to 24 years old will decline to only eight percent.
Move Out of Your Comfort Zone
The 1980s emphasis on corporate culture added a new criterion to hiring standards. In addition to judging a candidate's job qualifications, companies have also attempted to evaluate whether that individual would be a "good fit." But the "good fit" factor often leaves a lot of room for personal interpretation.
"We've all heard, and some of us have said, 'I don't care who I hire - or work with - as long as they're the best qualified,'" observes Joan Steinau Lester, author of The Future of White Men and Other Diversity Dilemmas. "This of course brings up the question, how do we recognize the best?
"In real life, we all tend to hire people much like ourselves," she continues. "Those are the people we instinctively recognize as 'qualified.' They speak like us, walk like us, dress like us and have similar cultural references. These people are part of our world. We 'know' them. And we automatically know how to evaluate them.
"It's a stretch to see the qualifications of people who are different," admits Lester. "Unfamiliarity all too often means discomfort and even mistrust."
Ernest Drew, chief executive officer of chemical giant Hoechst Celanese, experienced firsthand the value of diversity when he attended a conference for the corporation's top 125 officers. Mostly white men, they were joined by 50 lower-level women and minorities.
Conference attendees broke into problem-solving teams, some mixed by race and sex, others all white and male. The primary issue was the impact of Hoechst's corporate culture on the company and what changes could be made to improve results. Listening to findings presented by each of the teams proved to be quite a revelation for Drew.
"It was so obvious that the diverse teams had broader solutions," he remembers. "They came up with ideas I'd never even thought of before. For the first time, we realized that diversity is a strength as it relates to problem solving. Previously, we just thought of diversity as the total number of minorities and women in the company - like affirmative action. Now we truly understand that we need diversity at every level of the company where decisions are made."
Not for Corporations Only
Battling to maintain profit margins and, in some cases, to just survive, many small firms have dismissed diversity as a challenge more relevant to large corporations. However, even if you live or do business in a relatively homogeneous community, you can be sure not everyone is alike.
"Small businesses, like any others, have to look at diversity from an internal and external perspective," asserts Anita Rowe, diversity consultant and co-author of Managing Diversity: A Complete Desk Reference and Planning Guide.
"Internal because you have staff and chances are good that people will differ from each other in some way, such as educational level, age, parental status or physical attributes.
"If people don't feel included and that their concerns are germane," Rowe warns, "the cost to your company can be high - in terms of commitment, satisfaction and high turnover (it's costly to recruit and train)."
A comprehensive 1993 study of U.S. workers' attitudes bears out Rowe's assertions. The first installment of a planned quadrennial survey, the privately funded National Study of the Changing Workforce found that perceptions of discrimination take a heavy toll on job performance. More than one-fifth of minority workers reported they had been discriminated against by their current employers. Those beliefs correlated with a higher tendency to feel "burned out," a reduced willingness to take initiative on the job and a greater likelihood of planning to change jobs.
From an external perspective, a diverse workforce can also provide a distinct competitive advantage for your firm and enhance its success in today's increasingly global marketplace.
"Conversely, if you don't understand the nuances of different cultures, you may be inadvertently slighting potential customers and missing out on new markets," notes Rowe. "Your lack of understanding can also affect existing relationships. Diversity is both a customer service and a business development issue."
This message was emphatically driven home when a Maryland biotechnology firm, seeking to relocate, recently rejected Des Moines, Iowa, for being too homogeneous. Iowa had offered the company $25 million in incentives. As it turned out, however, money wasn't everything.
Company officials on a scouting trip realized that almost all the faces they saw in Iowa were white and decided to turn down the generous offer. The failed deal cost the state 250 new jobs and potentially millions of dollars, graphically illustrating the powerful economic ramifications of the nation's diversifying work force.
"We were really wooing them," recalls Michael Reagan, president of the Greater Des Moines Chamber of Commerce, regretfully. "But then somebody in their group said, 'I think we may be uncomfortable here. We're used to all kinds of different people.'"
Far too often in the past, Reagan acknowledges, visiting business leaders were greeted by a team of white men, a mistake he vows will not be repeated.
Meet Amarendra Bhushan, A leading Strategic Human Resource Consultent, MBA from American university of athens, greece, also editing The European journal of NRI finance magazine (The TRIBUNE). As one of the leading article writer, and corporate hotel professional. Advisor to various organizations and hotels. He is an elected member of south Indian hotel and restaurant federation. Now staying at city of Athens Greece. Amarendra bhushan Dhiraj Athens, Greece PH-0030-6947667507 abdhiraj@mail.gr