And more women and people with disabilities will be on the job." (Cited on "Building and Maintaining a Diverse and High Quality Workforce," 2000, Diversity Guide Homepage) Cons

The difficulties of creating a diverse workforce in proportion to the larger population should not be underestimated, however necessary a more representational workforce may be. First there is the question of what 'America' is the workplace mirroring -- that of the regional population, if it is a small company, or that of the international community that a multibillion dollar enterprise strives to serve? Proportional representation must be judged in relation to the type of company, its outreach, and the pool of available competent workers.

Secondly, a highly diverse environment may undercut the benefits of a cohesive organizational culture, if steps are not taken to continue to create a sense of common purpose. Thirdly, too strictly relying upon proportionality can result in hiring persons simply for the sake of increasing an organization's diversity quotient, without truly changing the culture of the organization.

Solution

Ideally, creating a more diverse culture at an organization that includes, but is not synonymous with more diverse hiring practices, is ideal. One must strive to "create a company brand that communicates the diversity of the organization. Employees, customers, suppliers, and stakeholders will like it." (Boyd, 2006) Support from higher level members of the organization is critical: "inclusion as part of the organizational strategic plan," and sensitivity training were deemed to be two vital elements of success in creating a diverse workforce that benefited the company as a whole and furthered...

(Wentling & Palma-Rivas, 2006)
Increased productivity enhances all employee's positive feelings about diversity. A 1998 study, by Covenant Investment Management rated the performance of the Standard and Poor's 500 on a series of factors relating to the hiring and advancement of women and nonwhites and found the annualized return for the 100 companies rated lowest in equal employment opportunities issues averaged 7.9% compared to 18.3% for the 100 companies that rated highest in their equal employment opportunities. (Lauder, 1998) Although diversity may mean slightly different things for different companies, ultimately increasingly the representational nature of all companies will yield human and financial dividends if done in the spirit of inclusion and organizational improvement, rather than adhering to a fixed set of numbers.

Works Cited

Michael Boyd. (2006) "Achieving Diversity in the Workforce." CIO Magazine. Retrieved 12 Aug 2006 at http://www2.cio.com/analyst/report310.html

Building and Maintaining a Diverse and High Quality Workforce." (25 Jun 2000) Diversity Guide Homepage. Retrieved 12 Aug 2006 at http://www.opm.gov/Diversity/diversity-2.htm#sec2-1

Melissa Lauber. (1998) "Studies show Diversity in the Workplace is Profitable." Retrieved 12 Aug 2006 at http://www.villagelife.org/news/archives/diversity.html

Wentling, R.M. & N. Palma-Rivas. "Current Status and Future Trends of Diversity Initiatives in the Workplace: Diversity Experts' Perspectives." MDS-1082 Study. Retrieved 12 Aug 2006 at http://vocserve.berkeley.edu/Summaries/1082sum.html