Organizations that avoid swallowing these strategies whole but integrate them with the best features of their existing approaches should be able to spot and capitalize on innovation opportunities faster, and then more quickly establish profitable ways to deliver the benefits of the innovation to those needing them. Christopher Barlow is assistant professor of organizational behavior at Stuart Graduate School of Business. From Education to Practice. In the July 1999 Fortune magazine, several CEOs of highly successful companies voiced their opinion on this issue. Rich McGinn, CEO of Lucent Technologies, said, Diversity is a competitive advantage.
Different people approach similar problems in different ways.
Ivan Seidenberg, CEO of Bell Atlantic, addressed the need for more diversity of thinking. If everybody in the room is the same, you ll have a lot fewer arguments and a lot worse answers. The issue as we move to the next millennium is not the value of diversity but how to manage it. The increase in workforce diversity is a matter of record. However, feelings of alienation among women and people of color, as evidenced by a high number of lawsuits, are also prevalent.