Not Everybody Will Always Understand You and Agree – It’s Not Because They’re Wrong
Let’s start with something some psychologists might consider “common sense” -mandatory diversity and sensitivity training, particularly in the areas of prejudice and race. It stands to reason that getting people to sit together and talk about common issues should be a good way to make things better for everybody. As we have seen above in the first finding of the Robbers Cave Experiment, that approach has proven as likely to make things worse as it was to making things better. There are more recent examples that agree.
In more recent times there has been a virtual explosion in diversity and sensitivity training course, suppliers and programs. Have things gotten better as a result? There is at least one author who makes a case that it not only has not made things better but also it has on too many occasions made it worse.
Borrowing from the Amazon “blurbs” about author Pamela Newkirk’s latest book (Diversity, Inc. – The Fight for Racial Equality in the Workplace – October 20, 2020 Bold Type Books) –
Diversity has become the new buzzword, championed by elite institutions from academia to Hollywood to corporate America. In an effort to ensure their organizations represent the racial and ethnic makeup of the country, industry and foundation leaders have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to commission studies, launch training sessions, and hire consultants and diversity czars. But is it working?
n Diversity, Inc., award-winning journalist Pamela Newkirk shines a bright light on the diversity industry, asking the tough questions about what has been effective—and why progress has been so slow. Newkirk highlights the rare success stories, sharing valuable lessons about how other industries can match those gains. But as she argues, despite decades of handwringing, costly initiatives, and uncomfortable conversations, organizations have, apart from a few exceptions, fallen far short of their goals.
