Consider this: I helped create the diversity education program with my current employer. One of the things we talked about a lot was what our goals were for diversity education. We wondered whether it was better to at least have people behaving appropriately. Of course, our dream was that people become more accepting, which is perhaps a higher goal.

According to Konrad (2006), "many organizations have created diversity initiatives to address the demographic changes in the labor force and customer base, but few have achieved the goal of developing a truly multicultural organization" (p. 164). Konrad notes that prior to 1987, when the Hudson Institute published a major study on demographics in the workplace for the future (Workforce 2000), most organizations considered workplace diversity as an issue for "social science and public policy" (p. 166). However, after the Hudson Institute report was published, businesses began a shift towards building what is now known as the "business case for diversity" (p. 166). The business case for diversity tends to focus on the advantages to the organization of addressing diversity issues (ways to improve their own performance). That was certainly the approach we took in our organization. We believed that our job was to define expectations of behavior in the workplace -- and that ultimately, the person would have to decide whether s/he would change anything besides behavior. We focused very much on doing what was right for the business, downplaying the moral imperatives for doing so.

1) How do you define diversity?

2) What are the benefits to diversity?

3) Do you think that your organization is more likely to focus on the business reasons for understanding diversity or the moral reasons to embrace diversity? Why?