Diversity Goes Beyond Demographics and

¶ … diversity goes beyond demographics and now includes ideology, political positions, religions, ethics, and philosophy." To test this hypothesis, an examination of the current practice of diversity in the workforce would need to be conducted. The best approach would be to conduct a survey of workplaces with respect to the content of their diversity policies. H2 is "Despite advances in labor laws; women, blacks, Asians, and Hispanics are still underrepresented in managerial positions." With this hypothesis, the term "underrepresented" would need to be defined.

Ideally, the issue would be given greater contextual consideration as well, given that labor laws are only one of a wide range of factors affecting minority participation at the management level. The survey used does not address the issue of minorities in management at all. To test this hypothesis, the definition of underrepresentation would need to be statistically tested against levels of different minorities in management positions. Again, this would require a survey of different companies.

H3 is "Diversity awareness training that includes the newly expanded definition of diversity would be helpful in promoting equitability in managerial positions." There are two questions that somewhat address the issue of training (Q035 and Q073) but in both cases these are questions answered by students rather than by workers at a company. There is no linkage made between the two questions asked and the promotion of equitability in managerial positions.

To test this hypothesis would require a study comparing a group of organizations that offer their employees diversity training vs. A control group of companies that do not. These two groups would both be tested with respect to the representation of minorities in the workforce. There are four research questions that were asked. In general, none of these questions was answered in the research.

The first question was: "Which elements should be considered in the new definition of diversity?" This question could be answered without much input from the surveys, as ultimately the answer is a subjective one. However, this question was not answered in Chapters 3 or 4. The second research question was "How important are these new dimensions to diversity as compared to demographics?" Given that the new dimensions were never determined (see RQ 1) this question is not addressed.

When the time comes to address this question, it is worth noting that there are two views on demographics as a means of measuring workplace diversity. The first is that demographics are a sufficient means for their own sake -- pulling people up, etc. The second is the business perspective, based on the idea that diversity is beneficial to the firm. Under this perspective, demographic criteria are a proxy for concepts such as different values and belief systems.

Businesses benefit from hiring more minorities not because the office looks more balanced, but because minorities offer different perspectives and ideas. The third research question was "What role does culture play in the definition of diversity?" This is a fairly subjective question. It could be answered on the basis of the literature review, but is not addressed in the survey. The business perspective as noted in the discussion of RQ2 would imply that culture is important.

To answer this question properly, however, either study of academic literature (HR journals, sociology journals or management journals) could be conducted, or businesses could be studied/HR practitioners interviewed. The fourth research question was "Why are women, blacks, Asians, Hispanics, and other persons of Caucasian decent considered fewer times than those in the majority race for managerial positions?" This question does not make sense.

I presume what you meant was "non-Caucasian." Bear in mind that Caucasian refers to people from the Caucasus Mountains; "European descent" or "non-Hispanic white" are more accurate, the latter being the one used by the U.S. Census Bureau. Lastly, the hypothesis mentioned in the Methodology chapter is stated as "that faculty/staff members and first year university students will experience this diversity differently due to differing expectations, differing levels of individual exposure and differing subcultures.