Our commonalties give meaning and purpose to our differences. In fact, it is our commonalties that make it so important for us to responsibly manage our differences. If we did not share some basic interests, purposes, and vision we would not find ourselves working side by side in the first place and would find ourselves with no reason to be interested in similarity or difference. Therefore, diversity efforts must focus on both difference and commonalty and, especially, the relationship between the two. We must move through difference to commonalty before we can truly develop diverse populations into communities of learners and workers.
Difference refers to variety in ideas, perspectives, opinions, temperament, and personality.
Perceived differences are usually the source of interpersonal difficulties, although we often mistakenly attribute interpersonal conflicts to diversity. Importance of Diversity to Organizations Diversity is important because the relative complexity of an organization and the strength of the network that holds these complex relationships together are the resources for responding to and understanding the business environment. Their employees should reflect the rich pool of knowledge and ideas that are the life-blood of successful organizations. In short, diversity is essential to sustainability because of the potential that complexity creates. Recognizing and Understanding Differences Recognizing and understanding differences has been at the core of some past diversity efforts.