February 27 2008 - Research by the non-profit RAND Corporation has found that companies recognized for their commitment to diversity may demonstrate best practice as identified in existing literature but do not always achieve a high degree of diversity in reality. Companies often opt for "surface diversity" by focusing on short-term recruitment to ensure a certain percentage of minority employees while neglecting comprehensive diversity management programs. Limited programs may result in a racially and ethnically mixed workforce but have limited success in promoting personal development and enhanced job satisfaction for all employees.
Lead author Jeff Marquis, a political scientist at RAND said:
"Numbers alone are an inadequate measure of diversity. To reap the true benefits of diversity - like enhanced productivity, profitability and overall job satisfaction - a company has to accept and integrate an inclusive diversity program into its social and business fabric."
The report entitled Managing Diversity in Corporate America compared the actual practices of eight successfully diverse companies ranked among Fortune magazine's "50 Best Companies for Minorities" against existing literature on motivations and effective strategies for achieving diversity. Researchers then compared these companies with six others ranked among Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" recognized for exemplary human resources departments, but not for their level of diversity. Companies were selected to represent a mixture of sizes, locations and industry types.
The study confirmed that leading diversity management firms were more likely than those recognized for superior human resources practices to support strong diversity initiatives. Best diversity companies cited motives related to enhancing business performance, while best human resources companies tended to identify motives like the enhanced work environment resulting from improvements in recruitment, retention and promotion.
Jeff Marquis commented:
"Much of the diversity literature places a huge emphasis on diversity as a way of improving a company's bottom line. The relationship between performance and profitability is an important motivator for companies to adopt comprehensive diversity management programs, even if it is not the case in every situation."
The study highlighted limitations in existing diversity literature, pointing out that it largely fails to take into account the individual nature of company goals, resources, number of employees, business locations, product lines and customer bases.
Researchers also found differences in implementation of best practices relating to leadership and methods of evaluation. Best diversity companies generally fulfilled all or the majority of best practices, while human resources companies fulfilled none or just a few.
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