Why should you concern yourself with effective diversity management? In the past, many managers answered this question by saying that it was the “right thing to do,” or that they were seeing more and more people who didn’t look like themselves in the workforce, or that they felt they had to meet the organization’s requirement for working with diverse groups. However, today’s managers know that without effective diversity management capability, the strength of the organization is in jeopardy. Being effective at managing a diverse workforce helps lift morale, improve processes, bring access to new segments of the marketplace, enhance productivity, and improve the financial bottom line of the organization. In essence, it is good for business.
This pocket guide is designed to help you build diversity management skills to create a high-performing work environment. It should be used as an interactive workbook to test your skills; teach or reinforce diversity concepts and knowledge; and provide tools, processes, and techniques to use a diverse workforce to improve organizational performance. Whether you are launching a new diversity initiative, building a diverse work team, or planning a new, innovative product launch, you will find the information in this guidebook an invaluable asset for managerial and leadership development.
The true measure of the effectiveness of this book will be determined in large part by your willingness to read the information, try the exercises, internalize the information, and build on your learning. The first chapter will help you assess your skills in managing diversity and explain its importance to business performance. The next four chapters will help you learn diversity definitions, theories, and concepts that serve as a basic diversity learning foundation. The remaining chapters provide workplace applications for key diversity-related initiatives, strategies for boosting productivity, approaches for managing the diversity change process, and building blocks for a personal action plan.
As you read this guide, you will gain awareness, knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques that will help you improve your ability to manage diversity. This guide will help you test your diversity leadership awareness and knowledge, save management time, help you navigate difficult situations, provide techniques for teamwork, and improve your interpersonal effectiveness. In short, it is designed for anyone who would like to improve their personal diversity management and leadership performance as well as the performance of their organization.