Assimilation - achieving a demographically representative social order whose members treat others exactly the same
Diversity - accepting the varied approaches and perspectives of different group identities
Paradigms for Managing Diversity
By Victoria Walsh Cutherell
In a snapshot view of Thomas and Ely’s paradigms from The Harvard Business Review, we see the foundations of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. In moving forward to the next decade, we reach for a new and innovative paradigm that invites the shareholder to become a stakeholder.
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Discrimination-and-Fairness Paradigm
Thomas and Ely claim that due to prejudices and the need for affirmative action efforts, individuals look at diversity with the objective of fair treatment, equal opportunities, and compliance with government mandates. Success in this paradigm is measured through recruiting, retaining, and mentoring tasks and the diversification of the community. Though it addresses diversity in the group, instead of diversity in the individual’s actions, fair treatment and assimilation are obtained. This paradigm is limiting in “that its color-blind, gender-blind ideal is to some degree built on the implicit assumption that “we are all the same” or “we aspire to being all the same.”” (Thomas and Ely 39). In addition, diversification should not influence the organization or its culture. Individuals within the community “should operate as if every person were of the same race, gender, and nationality (Thomas and Ely 39). This mentality of ‘sameness’ perpetuates a feeling that individual differences do not count. Indeed, voicing a different opinion may be viewed as trying to bring inappropriate attitudes into the current environment. Finally, self-regulation and motivation are hindered when a person’s unique perspective is restricted. |
Access-and-Legitimacy Paradigm
According to Thomas and Ely, focusing on accepting and celebrating differences allows individuals and organizations to meet the needs of various demographic societies. By legitimizing diverse cultures and allowing individuals to access their heritage and traditions, new perspectives can be gained in multicultural environments when individuals learn how to create order through differentiation. Motivations for success are easily understood and supported but often only come about due to an immediate crisis. A successful use of this paradigm would lead to analyzing which culturally based beliefs, skills, and practices contributed to the achievement of a goal. The limitations of this paradigm is not recognizing the affect these differences have upon society and the failure to integrate these differences into mainstream society. Recognizing niche capabilities only leads to “differentiated pigeonholes without trying to understand” how the differences can be integrated into society. (Thomas and Ely 45). Changes may only be temporary or may cause groups to spin off into new niches that are separate from the original group. Finally, the end result of this paradigm may be that individuals feel exploited, devalued, and/or limited in acting outside of their specialization |
Connecting Diversity to Perspectives
Thomas and Ely believe an emerging paradigm needs to be created that incorporates both paradigms. Otherwise known as the learning-and-effectiveness paradigm, the emerging approach to diversification is to look at cultural background and to rethink tasks based upon the identity-group affiliations of the current environment. The purpose is to bring about a paradigm shift that links the mission and the actions of individuals within an organization. Success in this paradigm would be that individuals feel respected and their perspectives are heard with an open-mindedness. The hoped-for outcome would make use of both assimilation and differentiation in order to internalize differences. In the end, members of the organization can say, “We are all on the same team, with our differences-not despite them. (Thomas and Ely 51). Summary The emerging paradigm is based on integration of both the Discrimination-and-Fairness Paradigm and the Access-and-Legitimacy Paradigm. Fairness and assimilation focus on sameness. Meanwhile, granting Access-and-Legitimacy avoids discrimination. This paradigm shift provides for differentiation while focusing on uniqueness. The ultimate goal is to promote equality while valuing cultural differences. |
Eight Preconditions for Making the Paradigm Shift
Thomas and Ely
1. The leadership must understand that a diverse workforce will embody different perspectives and approaches to work, and must truly value variety of opinion and insight.
2. The leadership must recognize both the learning opportunities and the challenges that the expression of different perspectives presents for an organization.
3. The organizational culture must create an expectation of high standards of performance from everyone.
4. The organizational culture must stimulate personal development.
5. The organizational culture must encourage openness.
6. The culture must make workers feel valued.
7. The organization must have a well-articulated and widely understood mission.
8. The organization must have a relatively egalitarian, nonbureaucratic structure.
Thomas and Ely
1. The leadership must understand that a diverse workforce will embody different perspectives and approaches to work, and must truly value variety of opinion and insight.
2. The leadership must recognize both the learning opportunities and the challenges that the expression of different perspectives presents for an organization.
3. The organizational culture must create an expectation of high standards of performance from everyone.
4. The organizational culture must stimulate personal development.
5. The organizational culture must encourage openness.
6. The culture must make workers feel valued.
7. The organization must have a well-articulated and widely understood mission.
8. The organization must have a relatively egalitarian, nonbureaucratic structure.
