Market Share vs. Sharing the Common Good
The first question I had when reading both Carol Hymowitz’s “Leadership: The New Diversity” and Laura Egodigwe’s “Leadership: Back to Class” was: “Is the focus on diversity about market share or about sharing responsibility for the common good?”
As both Egodigwe and Hymowitz discussed diversity training in companies, I couldn’t help but wonder why the articles were entitled “leadership.” Yes, I recognize that much of what they talked about were top-down decisions made about “diversity training” within a company. But is diversity or helping diverse staff relate to each other really a decision any more?
I suppose maybe the decision of the CEO’s of Pepsi Co., Leveno Corp., and Sodexo would be applauded by Kouzes and Posner as great leadership: These leaders were searching for opportunities and exercising outsight. They looked at the horizon fifteen years ago and realized that “how diverse is your company?” was going to be the next big move in business (just like “how green is your company?” is to 2008).
What bothers me is: is it really leadership when you take advantage of something you SHOULD be doing anyways to make more money? Kouzes and Posner would say: Yes! That is the best kind of change- it is a ‘challenge with purpose’ (p. 172). They would argue that the best leaders are the ones that take challenges and turn them into money-making opportunity. I agree with this, but in the case of diversity it rubs me the wrong way.
Paying attention to diversity in a company is the right thing to do. However, in these articles, it is framed as the best way to take a drag and turn it into a better market share. As Egodigwe writes, “many companies took to diversity training more grudgingly, finding themselves under the gun as discrimination lawsuits and grievances multiplied” and “’suddenly [corporations] realize that this is a huge market right in their backyard,’ Mr. Lowry says. ‘They are accepting the value of that diverse person to help them sell products from a multicultural perspective’” (Wall Street Journal). Hymowitz writes, “but the numbers are only a means to a bigger end: turning the varied perspectives of employees into a competitive edge over rival, especially in product innovation and marketing.” (Wall Street Journal).
I would like to hear from some of the minority groups in these companies to know how they feel. Do they feel diversity is just a money-maker or do they feel committed to the company that they work at because it recognizes their unique contributions and background? I also would want to know how the UCLA program has been received as it “help[s] them adapt their personal behavior and styles to their work environment.” (Egodigwe). I am also curious about what Laura Egodigwe things about these programs.
Some of the strengths of the articles were their role in describing the different programs and highlighting the ways many different companies were approaching diversity in their companies. I think it is helpful to see what companies are doing, because some of the approaches are really innovative and thoughtful. I appreciated especially knowing that some of the companies are not looking for minorities or groups of people to assimilate but rather to relate to each other better.
In the end, I return to the question, however. Should these companies get kudos for the programs that they are creating if they are just ways to make their businesses make more money? Or are these companies innovating in part to make the lives of their employees at work better overall? Does it matter?
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Comments
Kristin,
I had the same concerns as I read these articles. It seemed to me that the view was espoused that embracing diversity can now be seen as good for the bottom line and good for the organization. I wondered why it was not stressed that offering opportunities to a multitude of diverse people can be beneficial to the community or the world as a whole.
I've never taken a business ethics class, so I have no idea what the content of one would be. But, I think that stressing diversity as the right thing to do would be a good topic to present to future captains of industry. Wouldn't prudent leaders be well advised to do what's best for their communities as well as their organization?
Posted by: Todd Stroessner | March 4, 2008 12:52 PM