The study found that 25 percent of companies now report two women on their boards, compared with 22 percent last year and just 18 percent two years ago. As for concrete data on the benefits of diversity, Hillman s study finds that companies with diverse boards are less risky for stock market investors. Companies that are diverse in the highest ranks are probably making better decisions about diversity and workforce management in general, she says, because they are successfully channeling diverse people to the top of the organization. In a separate study, Hillman finds that companies with greater diversity also make better business partners and merge more smoothly with other companies. A jarring clash of cultures can undermine these increasingly popular business deals.
Diverse companies ease the transition because they more readily accept different cultures.
The benefits of diversity certainly are alluring. They are not going about it the right way, the authors say. Most diversity programs fall into two categories, explains Ely, who is a management professor at Columbia University in New York. They either stress a fair-treatment agenda and ignore the business case or focus too narrowly on reaching niche markets. Many companies, especially those with a rigid management hierarchy, focus their diversity programs on recruitment and fair treatment of women and minorities and on compliance with federal Equal Employment Opportunity regulations.