Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 3, 1993 TAG: 9309300009
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ELLEN FORMAN FORT LAUDERDALE SUN-SENTINEL
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That was the theory behind a series of corporate-change programs known as diversity training.
As women and minorities joined corporate America, many of them became frustrated in their efforts to rise in the ranks. Their ideas weren't heard in meetings. They weren't invited to the golf course, where top management often shared inside tips with up-and-comers. As a result, they often got passed over when the big promotions went out.
Many women and minorities hit the glass ceiling and left the corporation. Top management, they found, wasn't paying attention.
Corporations, it seemed, were focusing on recruitment of women and minorities, but giving little attention to hearing their ideas and promoting them. Diversity programs were designed to change that by opening people's eyes to hidden biases and creating new communication channels. Its proponents envisioned benefits for both workers and their companies.
But what began as a promising concept has hit bumpy times. In some quarters, diversity programs are under attack as a politically correct assault on white males. In others, diversity issues were quickly dumped from the agenda as companies hit financially tough times.
Only one-third of corporations in a survey by the Society of Human Resource Managers have conducted diversity training. Most are large corporations; medium and small companies haven't begun the programs.
Nearly three-quarters of all programs are a day or less in duration, and less than one-third rate the success of the program through performance evaluations, tracking grievances or changes in attitudes, the survey said.
Diversity training "isn't as widespread as we thought it might be," said Benson Rosen, chairman of the management department at the University of North Carolina and a co-author of the study.
"We were surprised at how short the programs are," Rosen said. "We questioned where they could be effective, if a great number of them were so short."
Yet many large companies say their programs have been successful in helping them recruit and retain a diverse work force and management structure.
In more than a decade of focusing on diversity, Ryder System has seen steady progress in the recruitment of women and minorities - first into staff jobs, then into the field and finally into senior management.
"The days of having a 12-person board with 12 white males are over," said C. Robert Campbell, executive vice president for human resources and administration for Ryder.
Ryder's diversity program has enjoyed success by focusing on minorities and women. But consultants, trainers and others involved in diversity say that, while racial and gender are a large part of what makes people different, they aren't the only part. Many programs emphasize that people of the same race or sex can have different outlooks - relating to their career and family goals, age and tenure within the company - that come out in the way they behave at work.
For example: Does the worker who leaves every night at 6 p.m. have a chance of advancement if all his colleagues stick around late to chat? Can liberals and conservatives, old-school types and new-wavers all feel free to contribute to project teams?
In essence, how can people with many different backgrounds and talents work together most effectively to produce the best possible products?
These are some of the issues that are integrated into successful diversity training programs.
"The real diversity is the hidden things that are more difficult to deal with: differences in how people are raised, education and technical orientation, values regarding labor versus management, loyalties to the area," said Karen Riches, employee relations manager for the city of West Palm Beach, Fla.
While some say an honest exchange helps clear the air and helps relationships in the long run, others say feelings are hurt, and relationships are wounded. These people may turn against the programs, saying they do more harm than good.
"I wouldn't be surprised if there was a growing white-male backlash," said R. Roosevelt Thomas, president of the American Institute for Managing Diversity, a nonprofit group at Morehouse College in Atlanta, who began working with corporations a decade ago.
"Traditional approaches to diversity involve doing things for others and excluding the white male. That's not how we define diversity. Diversity includes everyone in the work force. It's not, `Here are the white males, and then everyone else is diversity,' but that's what everyone thinks.
"We're creating an environment where the needs of white males and everyone else are being met, so you can use the talent people bring to the workplace. It's not about watering down culture so it works for another group and less well for the dominant or historical group. It's making it work for the group and others," he said.
by CNB