Diversity

“I’m a white male aged 18 to 49, everyone listens to me, no matter how dumb my suggestions are.” This timeless quote, from Homer Simpson, is related to a real problem in organisations: the tendency to hire the same type of people over and over.

Besides the obvious issues around fairness and equality, organisations that do not diversify attract the same kind of thinking and behaviour even when they are keen to make changes to improve their competitiveness.

Managers respond to these issues by implementing diversity programs and appointing managers to promote this equality. All logical and sensible, right?

Allow me to provide a diverse response: wrong! Diversity programs could actually undermine organisational diversity, according to research.

This research showed that white males are especially unlikely to support actions that promote fairness and equality if they are also informed the organisation has implemented a diversity policy and training.

Even when presented with clear, objective evidence to the contrary, these participants maintained their belief that the organisation was fair.

The researchers suggest that these programs don’t promote fairness but, rather, create the illusion of fairness. That is, the mere presence of the program is enough to shape beliefs, not the program’s actual performance.

This belief isn’t limited to diversity programs. How often do people assume something is working simply because there is a program in place, such as when a process has been mapped, or a training program has been implemented? How often are any management practices evaluated to see if they work?

But don’t listen to me. I’m just another white male, aged 18-49, and people listen to me no matter how dumb my suggestions are.