Diversity Briefings Newsletter, Today's Online Edition

Welcome to Diversity Briefings: 12/6/2010

Volume 1, Issue 23. Published Each Monday - Friday

Welcome back to Diversity Briefings. I hope you are enjoying each issue of this newsletter. Please feel free to resend this Diversity newsletter on to friends and colleagues. If you would like to subscribe to receive daily updates, the form for Diversity Briefings is below. Also, if you have some extra time, take a look at the new diversity glossary, upper left on this blog site. Take Care and Good Reading!

Susan Klopfer, editor and publisher

P.S. FREE GIFT inside today's issue! Remember, You can subscribe to Diversity Briefings here

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Editor of Vogue's Italian edition celebrates black and brown women and fat ones, too Washingtonpost.com - MILAN - Franca Sozzani, the editor of Vogue Italia, has taken the lead on one of the most fraught topics in her industry: diversity. She did so in reaction to runways that, in the past few years, h...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/23/AR2010112306379.html?sid=ST2010112703372
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Poverty on the Rise in America
Newamericamedia.org - Final Call,News Report,Starla Muhammad, Posted: Dec 03, 2010 (FinalCall.com) - For millions of her citizens, the American dream seems elusive as more fall into poverty each year.While most statisti...
http://newamericamedia.org/2010/12/poverty-on-the-rise-in-america.php
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Measuring up multiculturalism: The yardsticks may differ
Deccanherald.com - China blocked UN sanctions on 3 Pak-based terrorists:WikiLeaks 103-year-old Brazilian architect composes samba music Artists make folding Taj Mahal replica in Gujarat Be prepared to us...
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/117822/measuring-up-multiculturalism-yardsticks-may.html

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First Muslim Pro Hockey Player Great For Teaching Diversity
Clintcora.com - First Muslim Pro Hockey Player Great For Teaching Diversity #nhl #muslim #islam #islamic #hockey #diversity — Since the NHL hockey team Toronto Maple Leafs needed help in a big way, they called u...
http://www.clintcora.com/blog/?p=3831

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Companies question value of diversity training
Boston.com - Corporate diversity training has taken a beating in recent years.First, research surfaced that suggests that it doesn’t help much. Then, other studies began questioning whether it actually hurts. A...
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/brookline/articles/2010/12/05/companies_question_value_of_diversity_training/


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FREE GIFT http://www.quoteactions.com/a/profile/841

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Companies Must Manage the ‘ISMs’ When Working With Diversity

Susan Klopfer writes

-- “We have some great new and positive ideas for restructuring our sales workforce, ultimately helping our entire company to get through this recession. But there is so much resistance to diversity that I can’t implement all of our plans and I am coming to you for some help. How do I encourage our sales division to make these changes?”
--Sales Vice President, Rema, describes her dilemma to members of her company’s special change management team during their weekly meeting at WXYZ Company.
--“Diversity is always a tough area of change,” says Pete, a team member who initiated its organization five years earlier. Pete had taken diversity management classes in college, becoming a devout follower of diversity gurus R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr. and William Sonnenschein. He persuaded his company’s CEO to organize this group that advises other managers as they implement change throughout the organization. “We call this time of most resistance during any change project as being in the Delta,” he explains to Rema.
--“We know you’ve worked hard to get everyone behind the sales restructuring project, and it was especially critical that you considered the diversity component in these changes,” another group member, Marilyn, joins in.
--“But I am not surprised that you are encountering serious resistance from line managers, employees, and even senior managers. Resistance typically rises from many sources.”

Continued --
http://diversitythoughts.blogspot.com/p/companies-must-manage-isms-when-working.html
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Feel free to pass this Diversity Briefings Newsletter on to your co-workers and others. Thank you for visiting the Diversity Briefings website. Please note that the information located on our site is general and not intended to provide specific legal advice. You should consult with an attorney and not rely on any information contained herein regarding your specific situation.

## End ##
Keywords: cultural diversity, manage and value diversity, diversity training, diversity education, workplace violence, workplace, employment, diversity, disability, inclusion, ethnic, racial, gender, multiculturalism, immigration, lgbt, racism, discrimination, new civil rights movement, civil rights, feminist, latinos, Native Americans, hostile workplace, harassment

Diversity Briefings: 11/03/10

Welcome to Diversity Briefings: 11/03/2010

Volume 1, Issue 10

Group Klopfer Diversity Consulting

Welcome back. I hope you are enjoying these diversity stories and links.

Please feel free to resend this Diversity newsletter on to friends and colleagues. If you would like to subscribe to receive daily updates, the form for Diversity Briefings is below. Also, if you have some extra time, take a look at the new glossary, top left. Take care and Good reading!

Susan Klopfer

Susan Klopfer, editor and publisher

You can subscribe to Diversity Briefings here...

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Today’s New Diversity Topics: Wage discrimination Act Exclusive, Gen-X in the Workplace, Africa's Bushmen Surprise Science, India Shows Off Diversity, UK TV Lacks Diversity, HIV Diversity Award, California School Boards Lack Latino Members, Mental Health Issues and Diversity: Stigma Gets in the Way

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Third Circuit Rules Ledbetter Fair Pay Act Inapplicable to Failure-to-Promote Claims

A federal appeals court in Philadelphia has narrowed the reach of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (“FPA”), determining the protections afforded by the FPA are exclusive to wage discrimination claims and do not cover failure-to-promote claims against employers.

Continued --

http://www.jacksonlewis.com/resources.php?NewsID=3450

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Gen X in the workplace: Stuck in the middle?

The generational debate: youngsters want the ol' fogeys out of the way, while the boomers want to keep on working, taking offense at the mention of yielding to their children...Given that baby boomers tend to play things a little closer to the vest, are Gen-Xers best positioned to bridge both worlds?

Continued --

http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/leadership_playlist/2010/11/gen-x-in-the-workplace-stuck-in-the-middle.html

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Genetic researchers find a broad slice of humanity in one corner of Africa

Africa's Bushmen, also known as San or Khoisan, are among the most genetically diverse people in the world. Two Bushmen who live within walking distance of each other might have more genetic differences between them than a European and an Asian, says Stephan Schuster, a geneticist at Pennsylvania State University.

Continued --

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/56419/title/Decoding_diversity_in_Bushmen

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India Looks to Showcase Diversity When President Obama Arrives

WSJ: The President will be visiting the Taj Mahal Hotel as well as the former home of Mahatma Gandhi in Mumbai, what would you like him to learn about India while he is in your city?

Milind Deora: I hope he can try to get a sense of its diversity and contribution to shaping India’s political opinions not just today but also back in the day. Its diversity is in some ways what India is really about...

Click here to continue --

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2010/11/03/mumbai-mp-wants-to-show-obama-city%E2%80%99s-diversity/

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ITV schedules have a “remarkable lack of diversity”, chief executive admits

ITV chief executive Adam Crozier, addressing the House of Lords communication committee, said there was a “remarkable lack of diversity” in ITV1’s schedule compared with ten years ago, and warned that Contract Rights Renewal, a mechanism which restricts how the broadcaster sells advertising airtime, had led it to “chase higher rating programmes”, such as soaps.

Click here to continue --

http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/30153/itv-schedules-have-a-remarkable-lack-of

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Trans woman receives HIV award at diversity conference

JoAnne Keatley receives an award given by Kaiser Permanente honoring her work with California’s HIV patients at the 33rd annual Diversity Conference.

To continue click here --

http://www.baywindows.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=news&sc3=&id=112293

Still More Diversity Notes

Low diversity stifles California's education boards

While Latinos comprise nearly half of students in grades K-12, only 15 percent of school board members in California are Latino according to a report by the Cesar Chavez Institute, the community and action research center of SF State's college of ethnic studies.

Titled "Examining Latino Representation on California's School Boards," researchers found that while all board members are committed to improving schools, Latino board members were more likely than white members to focus on improving the academic achievement of African American and Latino students.

To learn more continue here --

http://xpress.sfsu.edu/archives/life/015690.html


Diversity Management Tip of the Day

People From Diverse Communities Too Often Fearful of Seeking Mental Health Treatment


Maria recently confided to her doctor that she was having a hard time at work because of her depression. He immediately referred Maria to a psychologist and she was able to start getting some benefit from therapy, combined with medicine from her physician.

Because Maria knows her problem didn't arise overnight, she recognizes it will not go away in a week or two. Even with medicine and therapy, her treatment will probably take at least a month before any significant results occur, her therapist says.

While Maria wants to talk to her boss about this matter, particularly since she is having some trouble adjusting to her medications, she is afraid of her boss's reaction.

"Lots of people really don't understand mental illness very well, so you had better keep this to yourself," Maria's mother advises.

Susan's article on Diversity continues here -- http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/Susan-Klopfer-7986/diversity-127391.php

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Feel Free to pass this Diversity Briefings Newsletter on to your co-workers and others. Thank you for visiting the Diversity Briefings website. Please note that the information located on our site is general and not intended to provide specific legal advice. You should consult with an attorney and not rely on any information contained herein regarding your specific situation.

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Diversity Briefings; October 26, 2010

Welcome to Diversity Briefings: 10/26/2010
Volume 1, Issue 5
Group Klopfer Diversity Consulting
Susan Klopfer, editor and publisher

Welcome to the fifth issue of this new online Briefing. I hope you are enjoying the stories. If you would like to subscribe to receive daily updates, the form is at the bottom of today's issue. Good reading!

Susan Klopfer

Today’s Topics: generational diversity; rule for FMLA; intellectual diversity; an attitude towards intolerance; diversity and collaboration; opting out; older staff; good leaders

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Benefits of Bridging the Generational Gap

People are living and working longer, and the workplace is developing a “generational diversity.” So how do you get people who watched television in black and white to relate to people who watch television on their cell phones? And vice versa?

To continue, click here

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=532009

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"Insights for Employers: Don’t retaliate against employees because they have taken FMLA leave. Not ever. Never."

Want to know why? Click here to get the answer:

http://www.fmlainsights.com/retaliation/scared-of-liability-for-fmla-retaliation-beware-of-bingo-workers/

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(diversity = liberal?)

Conservative and libertarian professors are becoming increasingly rare at colleges and universities, and this lack of intellectual diversity may be hampering the development of innovative solutions to the nation's problems.

To continue, click here

http://www.blogger.com/goog_986136544

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A 39-year-old Irish retired athlete, now a trainer, attributes his childhood in Scotland as a big factor in his attitude towards intolerance. "Being part of an immigrant family, in Glasgow, I was surrounded by intolerance all the time and it opened my eyes at an early age. I was brought up as anti-racist and anti-fascist, and have always wanted to get social justice for minority groups."

To continue, click here

http://www.blogger.com/goog_986136547

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The combination of diversity and collaboration can lead to a tremendous competitive advantage in business, a group of Orlando, Fla. college students and faculty were told Friday by Guillermo Novo, UCF alumnus and vice president of Dow Coating Materials.

To continue, click here

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2010-10-25/community/orl-ucf-dow-vp-speaks-at-ucf_1_diversity-cultures-ucf-s-college

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"Call it a glass ceiling, glass wall or a glass floor - there is still a barrier blocking senior women leaders in organizations. High-powered executive and professional women are increasingly opting out of, being bypassed, or otherwise disappearing from the highly professional workforce. While this exists, true diversity in organizations will not happen, at least in the U.S. and Canada."

To continue, click here

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201010/why-has-the-glass-ceiling-become-impenetrable

Still More Notes

Could a diversity of ages improve workplace motivation?

Interested in creating a workplace bristling with motivation and productivity? You may wish to hire a workforce with a wide age range, says Rachel Krys, campaign director for the Employers Forum on Age. Older staff can bring just as much fresh thinking to the table as younger people, asserts Kyrs as she reacts to a recent study by the Age and Employment Network which discovered that long-term unemployment rates for the over-50s are still high, despite a fall in the jobless total over the past quarter.

To learn more, continue here --

http://www.youatwork.com/128/section.aspx/581/Could-a-diversity-of-ages-improve-workplace-motivation

Diversity Management Tip of the Day

Effective Diversity Management Starts From Within; Self Awareness is Key

What makes an effective leader? Many diversity experts say that self-awareness is at the heart of strong leadership, and that good leaders stay ahead by working on improving themselves.

No matter how hard a person tries, we all have biases; we discriminate without even recognizing what we are doing. An important key is committing oneself to the lifelong practice of self-understanding such issues while comprehending the diverse world around us.

Continue this article by Susan Klopfer --

http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/Susan-Klopfer-7986/diversity-124929.php

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Feel Free to pass this Diversity Briefings Newsletter on to your co-workers and others. Thank you for visiting the Diversity Briefings website. Please note that the information located on our site is general and not intended to provide specific legal advice. You should consult with an attorney and not rely on any information contained herein regarding your specific situation.

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Diversity Briefings: 10/25/2010

Welcome to Diversity Briefings: 10/25/2010

Volume 1, Issue 4
Group Klopfer Diversity Consulting
Susan Klopfer, editor and publisher

Today’s Topics: constitutional issues in gay marriage; China moving closer to civil rights?; religious freedom of roomates; Juan Williams, Part II; Islam and peace, a conversation; too complicated for diversity?

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A federal law suit filed last year by two California same-sex couples (one gay; one lesbian) has raised constitutional issues in the gay marriage context and is unfolding in a momentous trial. In Massachusetts, another federal case tests whether a federal statutory provision that draws a sexual-preference distinction is constitutional; California sees advantages of immigrants

To continue, click here

http://healthnew.org/2010/10/same-sex-marriage-cases-go-constitutional/

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The world is watching China as its leadership works towards improving the human rights situation in the country and allows individual political and civil freedoms to flourish just as much as economic freedom, said a UN human rights official.

To continue, click here

Read more: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=452604&type=Opinion

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A civil rights complaint has been filed against a woman in Grand Rapids, Mich., who posted an advertisement at her church last July seeking a Christian roommate. The ad "expresses an illegal preference for a Christian roommate, thus excluding people of other faiths, according to the complaint filed by the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan.

To continue, click here

http://theblogprof.blogspot.com/2010/10/civil-rights-complaint-filed-against-mi.html

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A public opinion poll from the Los Angeles Times and the University of Southern California shows that 48% of voters who will be going to the ballot box next November 2 believe immigration is advantageous for the state.

To continue, click here

http://en.mercopress.com/2010/10/25/california-voters-support-undocumented-immigrants-as-advantageous?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily

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The uproar surrounding National Public Radio's decision to terminate Juan Williams' contract is partly a reflection of changing standards in journalism and an evolving understanding of the line between news analysis and commentary, according to one former media insider.

To continue, click here

http://www.blogger.com/goog_1080272004

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More Notes

Islam is a religion of peace, or it isn't? Imam Khalid Latif is a chaplain for New York University and Executive Director of NYU's Islamic Center. Last week, New York University hosted the Intelligence Squared Debates at its Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. Four panelists, two for and two against, presented arguments on the motion of "Islam Is a Religion of Peace."

Keep reading at http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/11/my-take-islam-is-a-religion-of-peace-or-it-isnt/?iref=allsearch

Diversity Management Tip of the Day

Aren't associated management problems such as resistance and conflict making diversity too difficult to adopt by most organizations? It's a good question to ask, and two popular diversity spokespeople state diversity is clearly possibile, as long as leaders are well educated in the requisite skills for managing it.

Consider the imaginary XYZ Company - a useful model for understanding diversity. During the last ten years XYZ has experienced at every level an increase in the number of women and people of color. One department, previously all male, transitioned to 35 percent female. Mid-management, formerly almost entirely comprised of white males, now includes 30 percent people of color - from African American to Latinos and members of the LGBT community…

Continue this article by Susan Klofer at

http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/Susan-Klopfer-7986/diversity-122620.php

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Feel Free to pass this Diversity Briefings Newsletter on to your co-workers and others. Thank you for visiting the Diversity Briefings website. Please note that the information located on our site is general and not intended to provide specific legal advice. You should consult with an attorney and not rely on any information contained herein regarding your specific situation.


You can subscribe to Diversity Briefings:

Enter your email address:


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Keep Up With Diversity News: 10/20/2010

Welcome to Diversity Briefings: 10/20/2010

Volume 1, Issue 2
Group Klopfer Diversity Consulting

Susan Klopfer, editor and publisher

Today’s Topics: mental health and disability, effective leaders, ADA & anti-discrimination, citizenship & immigration, “BFOQ,” Credit histories and hiring, mandatory harassment prevention training, EEOC & credit history, Diversity Management Tip of the day

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***The Justice Department announced that it has entered into a comprehensive settlement agreement that will transform the state of Georgia’s mental health and developmental disability system and resolve a lawsuit the United States brought against the state.

The lawsuit alleged unlawful segregation of individuals with mental illness and developmental disabilities in the state’s psychiatric hospitals in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Olmstead v. L.C. Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez called the agreement "the most comprehensive settlement that the Department has ever reached in an Olmstead case."

To continue “Justice Department Obtains Comprehensive Agreement Regarding the State of Georgia’s Mental Health and Developmental Disability System,” click here.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/October/10-crt-1165.html

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***What makes an effective leader? Many diversity experts say that self-awareness is at the heart of strong leadership, and that good leaders stay ahead by working on improving themselves.

An important key is committing oneself to the lifelong practice of self-understanding and comprehending the diverse world around us. No matter how hard a person tries, we all have biases; we discriminate without even recognizing what we are doing.

William Sonnenschein, a noted diversity expert and author, suggests overcoming this tendency by "waking up tomorrow morning" and "try wondering what prejudice you will discover during the day, what assumption you will make that will be proven wrong, what bias will affect your day."

To continue "Effective Diversity Management Starts From Within - Self-Awareness Is Key" click here.

http://bit.ly/bTa2s9

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***ADA differs from most other anti-discrimination laws in a significant way: it mandates more than "equal" treatment to ensure equal employment opportunity for individuals with disabilities.

The term "discriminate" includes "not making reasonable accommodations to the known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified individual with a disability who is an applicant or employee, unless such covered entity can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the business...."

To continue “The Benefits and Privileges of Reasonable Accommodation,” click here

http://shawvalenza.com/publications.php?id=283

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***As of October 15, 2010, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has received only 42,800 of the 65,000 H-1B non-immigrant visa petitions needed to meet the H-1B regular cap, and just 15,700 of the 20,000 visa petitions needed to meet the U.S. master’s degree cap, according to updated information released by the agency on H-1B non-immigrant visa petitions for Fiscal Year 2011 (beginning October 1, 2010).

To continue “USCIS Releases Updated Information on Filed H-1B Petitions,” click here

http://www.jacksonlewis.com/resources.php?NewsID=3430

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Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on sex and other criteria. But there are some defenses to discrimination. One of these is the "BFOQ" or bona fide occupational qualification.

To continue “Ninth Circuit Explains "BFOQ" Defense in Sex Discrimination Case”

Click here

http://shawvalenza.blogspot.com/2010/09/ninth-circuit-explains-bfoq-defense-in.html

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In 2011, most employers with California operations will have to retrain their supervisory employees on preventing unlawful harassment. California passed A.B. 1825 in 2004, requiring that employers provide harassment prevention training every two years.

To continue “How Legal Trends Will Impact Mandatory Harassment Training for 2011 in California,” click here

http://www.littler.com/PressPublications/Lists/Insights/DispInsights.aspx?id=160

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More Notes

EEOC looks into using credit histories in hiring

The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will look into the practice of using credit histories to screen employees. The hearings will be held in Washington, D.C. today. Check the Federal Register announcement which provides a phone number for the hearing officer.

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-25869.pdf

The House Financial Services Committee recently held hearings on H.R. 3149, the Equal Opportunity for All Act, which would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to outlaw reliance on consumer credit reports by employers in making employment decisions, including hiring.

http://www.dcemploymentlawupdate.com/2010/09/articles/discrimination-in-the-workplac/house-committee-holds-hearing-on-bill-limiting-employment-credit-checks/

Diversity Management Tip of the Day

"Say what?"

As soon as she left the graduation stage, diploma in hand, Jill received a whisper from her favorite professor, "Remember to be aware of the prevailing corporate culture, wherever you go."

Jill paused to wonder just what the professor was talking about, faintly recalling the word "culture" from her organizational sociology class.

Her professor was only concerned that her best student might have a tough time "fitting in" at any company in this rural, conservative state. Jill, an arty person, wears self-designed clothing, sports a tattoo and remains culturally close to her Louisiana Creole roots, reflected in her mixed language.

To continue “Managing and Valuing Diversity, The Top Talent Will Come To You” click here.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Value-and-Manage-Diversity---The-Top-Talent-Will-Come-To-You&id=5226960

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Feel Free to pass this Diversity Briefings Newsletter on to your co-workers and others. Thank you for visiting the Diversity Briefings website. Please note that the information located on our site is general and not intended to provide specific legal advice. You should consult with an attorney and not rely on any information contained herein regarding your specific situation.


You can subscribe to Diversity Briefings:

Enter your email address:


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Managing Diversity Means Listening to All Employees; Use Them Or Lose Them!

The XYZ Company is not living up to its promises. The thought comes to junior executive Greg J. as he walks back to his office following the second hostile encounter with his boss in two days. "And today is only Wednesday," he tells himself and shakes his head. When he took this job after graduating from business school six months ago, Greg believed he was going to work for a progressive company, one that knew how to manage diversity − not a traditional company "stuck back in the 50s.”

Greg and fellow students quickly adopted the ideas of R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr., one of America’s leading spokespersons on managing diversity and president of The American Institute for Managing Diversity, which Thomas founded in 1983 at Morehouse College.

Greg liked Thomas’s description of an awakening taking place regarding management in this country’s marketplace as the population moves to increased diversity. Managing diversity is an idea whose time has come as organizations and businesses are increasingly recognizing that a diverse work force is not more trouble for managers, but represents their greatest potential strength − when properly managed, he learned from Thomas.

“This awakening must have happened while I was over in Iraq,” Greg mused one day while going over class notes: “The manager who best understands it takes a diverse work force at all levels of the company, including senior management, best serves the organization,” his professor had lectured.

Greg and his classmates learned how the U.S. labor force “now and for the foreseeable future” will be largely composed of women, minorities, and immigrants. This group will constitute about 85 percent of the new entrants in the work force, according to a landmark study by the Hudson Institute.

They read in their professor's course syllabus that “Companies now realize they must attract, retain, and promote this full spectrum of people just to keep the business running. So great is their need that advice on the management of diversity has suddenly become a growth industry,” (borrowing a quote from Dr. Thomas’s classic book, “Beyond Race and Gender.”)

His business school even took heed to Thomas’s message, and its students represented a dramatic change, moving from mostly traditional young white males to the mid-sixties woman sitting next to Greg (who appeared even younger than the Laotian man sitting at the front of the classroom and still perfecting his English). Greg was a returning, disabled veteran, retraining from the field of education. This multicultural classroom with new ideas coming from so many unique perspectives had inspired and challenged the entire group of students, as well as the professor.

But now, back  at XYZ, Greg fully realized how this company’s attempt to force today’s reality into yesterday’s management patterns was seriously jeopardizing the viability of the entire enterprise.

Just this morning, Greg attempted to share ideas about a problem he observed with marketing a new product. “Maybe we should consider finding a new marketing firm, one that understood the Latino culture, since this product were be a perfect fit for Hispanic Americans newly immigrated to the United States,” he suggested. Greg knew quite a lot about this market, after graduating from Spanish language classes through the Army while a Reserve soldier, and studying cultural diversity, multiculturalism and the growing Latino population in the U.S. From this experience, he knew the XYZ product would be a shoe-in for working-class Latinos.

But Greg’s senior XYZ executive boss, even before Greg could finish his last sentence, quickly interjected he didn’t have time to hear such ideas, and that Greg was “stepping out of bounds” with this suggestion. Greg was hired as an accountant, afterall, and marketing was “not his problem,” he reminded the new hire.

Managing diversity, as a way of thinking, is new and very different from traditional business perspective. While the traditional focus has been on individual and interpersonal aspects alone, what is new is seeing diversity as an issue for the entire organization, even involving the very way organizations are structured.

The way organizations are managed and the way managers do their jobs is critical to diversity management. It is grounded “in a very special definition of ‘managing’; creating an environment that allows the people being managed to reach their full potential. At best, it means getting from employees not only everything you have a right to expect, but everything they have to offer,” Thomas writes.

Greg, a white male from the traditional “dominant culture,” had much to offer XYZ, coming from his unique knowledge gained from world travel and multicultural studies. But after this final incident, Greg knew he would never fill his true potential by staying with a company that had no time for his ideas.

“Their loss, my gain...” he sighed and began packing his personal belongings.
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By Susa Klopfer, M.B.A.
Diversity consultant, speaker and author

An excerpt from "Profit From Diversity: Getting Along With Others."
CreateSpace Publish Date: November 15, 2010 (National Education Week)

November Publishing Date Set For New Cultural Diversity Book

Profit From Cultural Diversity: Getting Along With Others by Susan Klopfer is set for publication by CreateSpace in both e-book and print book formats to coincide with American Education Week in the third week of November.

Author Susan Klopfer, M.B.A.

Read More --

Minorities disproportionately discharged for 'don't ask, don't tell' violations, reports Washington Post

U.S. military officials threw out hundreds of service members in 2009 for violating its "don't ask, don't tell" policy, including a disproportionate number of women and minorities and dozens of service members in "mission critical" positions, according to a new analysis of military data.

According to a report just filed by Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post, the Pentagon honorably discharged 428 service members for violating the gay ban in 2009, according to statistics reviewed by the Palm Center, a nonpartisan University of California think tank studying the impact of gays in the military. O'Keefe reports this figure is down from 619 discharged for violating the policy in 2008:

"Women account for 14 percent of Army soldiers but made up 48 percent of the Army's "don't ask" discharges in 2009, the study said. Six percent of the Marine Corp is female, but women accounted for 23 percent of its discharges. Among officers, the Navy discharged only two for violating the policy in 2009, and both were Asian. The Army discharged five officers -- two were African American, one was Asian and two were white, the Palm Center said."

O'Keefe's story continues --

Sesame Street and Diversity: AA, EEO and MVD: “How Is One Thing Not Like The Other Things?”

Hank, a new supervisor at the XYZ Company, has just been called into his boss’s office and told that excellence through diversity is one the company’s newest goals. Hank is to make this happen ASAP so that his boss can report back that “the diversity thing” is under control.

Unfortunately, Hank’s boss provides no further explanation and Hank is left alone and confused.

Hank is not alone. Over half of U.S. companies have little or no diversity plans in place, even though diversity is considered an important topic in today’s global economy. To achieve diversity excellence, what should Hank’s boss focus on and why?

For many supervisors and even executives, the term diversity still raises controversy, confusion, and tension when first introduced. What does diversity actually mean? Is it the same as affirmative action? Equal employment opportunity?

When many people like Hank and his boss think of diversity, without proper diversity management education they often fall into thinking about ethnicity and race, and then gender; however, diversity is much broader than these three terms. Dimensions of diversity include, but are not limited to: age, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, physical abilities/qualities, race, sexual orientation, educational background, geographic location, income, marital status, military experience, religious beliefs, parental status, and work experience (Loden and Rosener 1991, 18-19).

How these dimensions affect performance, motivation, success, and interactions with others becomes part of measuring an organization’s success in becoming excellent through diversity. Institutional structures and practices that have presented barriers to some dimensions of diversity should be examined, challenged, and removed in the process.

This is probably what Hank’s boss’s bosses were thinking about when they came up with the idea of excellence through diversity. It’s just too bad they did not include any education when trying to move their workforce in this direction.

If I were trying to help Hank and his boss understand what to do, I would explain they must both first understand that managing and valuing diversity (MVD) is clearly different from equal employment opportunity and affirmative action. When consulting with such businesses that are just beginning to value and manage diversity, I often draw on one of my favorite Sesame Street sayings -- How is one thing not like the other things -- to explain differences between MVD, EEO and AA. It is critical these distinctions be understood, because not understanding the differences is just one more barrier to change.

Quite simply, MVD allows for voluntary change while AA and EEO require obligatory change. This is because AA and EEO are legal processes that have the force of the law behind them.

AA and EEO involve individuals who belong to legally protected groups and who are further affected by others such as human resources or the judiciary. But MVD involves not only those groups but is even more inclusive and includes members of many social and cultural groups, even those members of the dominant group (usually white males).

Here’s another difference: MVD appeals to the broadening and more representative market and workforce. In turn, AA and EEP appeal specifically to those who value related legislation and goals.

Here is still another way to understand how “one thing” is not like “the other things”: MVD focuses on economic performance of the organization or business. A successfully diversified workforce broadens the company’s appeal to the global market and if managed well, can add to workforce flexibility in such areas as problem solving. On the other hand, AA and EEO focus on achievement of individuals in a legally protected class, making their focus far more specific and defined.

Finally, the purpose of AA is to ensure past discrimination is remedied and to prohibit future discrimination of legally targeted, protected groups. The purpose of EEO is to set and meet AA goals. While both AA and EEO are clearly critical to an organization’s legal operations, the purpose of MVD is quite different, that is to maximize economic goals that have no legal basis but are set by businesses and organizations for their benefit.

Today’s organizations and businesses, no matter their size or customer base, must learn to manage and value diversity. This first requires learning the difference between AA, EEO and MVD and then taking proactive steps to create and sustain an organizational climate in which the dynamics that harm performance are minimized and the potential to enhance performance is maximized. MVD is all about enhancing organizational performance by using every member’s abilities and by leveraging diversity as an organizational resource.

Will Hank and his boss succeed in attaining diversity excellence? The answer is quite possibly yes, if both are provided the proper MVD education and resources, starting, of course, with understanding “...how one thing is not like the other things.”
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Susan Klopfer, MBA, helps organizations discover and implement diversity plans. Visit Susan's website to learn about her free online workshop, Five Costly Diversity Mistakes Companies Make and How To Avoid Them. http://susanklopfer.com/