Dimensions of diversity

There is much lip service given these days to the concept of diversity in the workforce. The reason that it is “ lip service” is that many people only have a vague understanding of what a diverse workforce actually is and why diversity is highly important within the business world. There are a number of reasons why a diverse workforce is an effective workforce. On a baseline level, a workforce that incorporates various dimensions of diversity will never be a stagnant work force.

That is, when the people who make up the work force come from a multitude of backgrounds, there will be a variety of different perspectives offered on various business decisions. For example, if there is a question regarding how to market a specific product to a specific group of people, would it not be wise to have individuals from that specific group of people part of the decision making process regarding the actual marketing plan? It is surprising that there will be a number of companies that will actually exclude the targeted group from the planning stages.

This is terrible management and will only lead to a number of missteps and oversights that could have easily been corrected had a more diverse workforce been employed. Also, incorporating dimensions of diversity in the workforce is the moral thing to do. To have a workforce that is exclusionary is no different than a cancerous growth at the epicenter of the company. Lack of diversity will eat away at a company until it can not function and, in the modern era, a workforce that is not diverse does not belong in the modern era at all.