Diversity is an offshoot of Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action. Equal Employment Opportunity was the original legal effort to insure that people had equal access to jobs regardless of their race, gender, color, creed, or national origin. Affirmative Action requires organizations to be proactive in their efforts to include people traditionally denied employment and fair treatment. Whereas EEO and AA are reactions to the problems in organizations and society at large, diversity is a proactive approach to improving both individual and organizational effectiveness and performance. Hiring policies may bring people into the organization, but if they don t find a welcoming environment, they won t stay.
Diversity is some form of thought control or political correctness.
It is ironic that the issue of thought control arises in this arena, because if we re really talking about diversity, we re talking about expanding the acceptable range of thinking and behaving. A monocultural organization, much more so than a diverse organization, is subject to charges of thought control, behavior control, action control, etc. Diversity seeks to free human beings so they can bring more of themselves to the work of the organization. Diversity is not about teaching personal values, but establishing norms and structures for an organizational code of conduct. It is about teaching the people skills that have become enormously important in enabling organizations to be dynamic, responsive, and successful.