Pithos Internet Company is known for its innovative software products. The secret to Pithos’s success is in large part its ability to create a climate in which its smart and ambitious employees are motivated to work together to develop new ideas, products, and services. One consequence of the emphasis on freedom of expression at Pithos is a very open conversation among employees about the company’s diversity and inclusion programs. Some employees are very supportive of the programs, others think the programs should be more aggressive in trying to make the Pithos workforce more diverse, and yet others do not support the programs at all. Employees in this last group think the reason that nearly three fourths of the company’s employees are white and Asian men is that workers in these categories are simply more deserving of and better at their jobs. The diversity debate at Pithos is not mere water cooler talk. Much like the broader national debate in which it is taking place, it has become very hostile. 

Assume you are a senior human resources manager at Pithos. You embrace the company’s core values of collaboration, sharing of ideas, and freedom of expression, but you also wonder whether the diversity debate needs to be managed. Employing the lessons of this chapter, use the weight- of-reasons framework to identify steps you could take to ensure that the diversity debate at Pithos is healthy and productive.