Corporate success may depend upon the acceptance and implementation of a diverse workplace. Multicultural employees may struggle in an environment that, perhaps unintentionally, ignores them. Eliminating qualified people of diverse backgrounds from the corporate talent pool will hurt any business in the long run.
According to Anna Cabral, President of the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR), Hispanics will be the largest ethnic minority group in the United States by 2002. Today, this minority group makes up approximately 14 percent of the U.S. population. By 2050, that number should rise to 25 percent.
"The minority population is advancing very quickly, so that there will be no majority in any particular community in the very near future," Cabral says. "There are many different descriptions for what the U.S. will look like, but certainly, what's very clear is that there will be lots of different kinds of cultural communities existing side by side."
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White males unknowingly--or knowingly--continue to promote their own kind. |
Anthony J. Ipsaro, an educator and organizational consultant for Meridian Associates, agrees. "America really needs to go deeper into what we call diversity. The last 50 years have seen great strides in granting equal access to individuals and groups, regardless of race, creed, color, gender, age, or sexual orientation. But there is still more important and sophisticated work to do."
Corporate Diversity in America
Hispanics have made little progress on the corporate job front, Cabral says,
because many corporate diversity programs are designed specifically for the
African-American community. "Typically, we find that a lot of corporate
diversity programs are focused on the traditional black and white questions.
It's not for malice or anything; it's probably for lack of exposure or lack of
models to find a way to be more inclusive of other communities. In the
end," he asserts, "the solution to our problems is to open our eyes
and see that there are many other folks missing in this equation who are
important."
Ipsaro believes that workplace power positions and mentoring opportunities remain closed to women and minorities. White males unknowingly--or knowingly--continue to promote their own kind.
The Big Picture
The workplace seems to be an ideal environment to address diversity needs,
Ipsaro says, but diversity is marginal to corporate goals--successful products
and increased profitability. Diversity needs to be seen as the business plan,
essential to successful products and increased profitability. This is especially
true today, as companies go global and interact with different cultures and
clients.
If American corporations are to learn the lessons of true diversity, these companies must partner with other cultures at home and abroad. This might produce a "third culture" that brings forth the best of all involved, Ipsaro concludes.
Erin Flynn is a freelance writer and managing editor of Stephan Schiffman's Executive Sales Briefing, a newsletter for sales professionals in every industry. She has interviewed successful authors, business consultants, and sales experts