Diversity Paradigms

Diversity programs try to create a positive work environment where no one is advantaged or disadvantaged, where “we” is everyone, where everyone can do his or her best work, where differences are respected and not ignored, and where everyone feels comfortable.

There are several different methods or paradigms for managing diversity: the discrimination and fairness paradigm, the access and legitimacy paradigm, and the learning and effectiveness paradigm. The discrimination and fairness paradigm, which is the most common method of approaching diversity, focuses on equal opportunity, fair treatment, recruitment of minorities, and strict compliance with the equal employment opportunity laws.

Under this approach, success is usually measured by how well companies achieve recruitment, promotion, and retention goals for women, people of different racial/ethnic backgrounds, or other underrepresented groups.

The access and legitimacy paradigm focuses on the acceptance and celebration of differences to ensure that the diversity within the company matches the diversity found among primary stakeholders, such as customers, suppliers, and local communities. The basic idea behind this approach is to create a demographically diverse workforce that attracts a broader customer base.

Although the discrimination and fairness paradigm focuses on assimilation (having a demographically representative workforce), and the access and legitimacy paradigm focuses on differentiation (having demographic differences inside the company match those of key customers and stakeholders), the learning and effectiveness paradigm focuses on integrating deep-level diversity differences, such as personality, attitudes, beliefs, and values, into the actual work of the organization. One sign that a company hasn’t yet created a learning and effectiveness paradigm is that people withhold their opinions for fear of being seen as different.

Finally, unlike the other diversity paradigms that simply focus on surface-level diversity, the learning and effectiveness paradigm focuses on bringing different talents and perspectives (that is deep-level diversity) together to make the best organizational decisions and to produce innovative, competitive products and services.