Managing diversity…

It is an axiom of our times that our world is rapidly changing. With change comes not only a different view of the world, but also changes in language to name that “new” world. Old words take on new meanings and new words enter the vocabulary, resulting in another way of “seeing.”

It was not too long ago that as a nation we moved from an Agrarian Society concerned with conformity, through an Industrial Society concerned with nationalism and uniformity, to our present Information Society concerned with diversity within a global context, on our way to the Global Society of the 21st century with a planetary worldview. I Such cultural and political upheavals have given rise to knowledgeable players in the game of social change, while leaving most people as confused bystanders, desperately hanging on to a past, which in part is dysfunctional to the present and in many ways irrelevant to the future.

The needs of the 21st century demand a citizenry that is culturally sensitive and Internationally  focused, with an orientation toward the future rather than the past. Diversity is “in,” much to the dismay of defenders of the past, the likes of Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Dinesh D’Souza, E. B. Hirsch, Allan D. Bloom and Rush Limbaugh.

Globally the demographic landscape is changing such that more and more the corporate work place will be influenced by People of Color. This is that non-dominant, non-white status segment of the population, which, by virtue of the negative meaning placed on them, has been granted limited access as a group to the societal rewards of wealth, power and prestige, and whose value and contribution to society is continually minimized.

The purpose of this article is to explain what is meant by “managing diversity.” This is most important if businesses are going to be successful in this third millennium. But first an explanation of multiculturalism is in order as a basis for understanding the changes coming to our society, as it forms the basis for a model for understanding the “how-to” ofmanaging diversity.

Published by EdChange and the Multicultural Pavilion – http://www.EdChange.org/multicultural