TNJ - July / August 2000 Editor's Note

Editor's Note
July / August 2001

Value in Differences
by Njeru Waithaka

A booming economy, a tight labor market and a number of well-publicized discrimination lawsuits have forced major American corporations—some of them traditionally loath to hiring Blacks and other minorities—to embrace diversity in the workplace.

The corporations have found out that diversity, which is an offshoot of the women’s and civil rights movement but has only been accepted by companies out of fear of lawsuits, can be a boon to a company’s productivity and growth because of its wealth of perspectives.

Unlike affirmative action, which is government - mandated and seeks the legal and moral paths to fulfill the promise of equal opportunity by increasing the number of minorities in the workplace, diversity is corporate-driven and is grounded in the value for quality. It thus seeks the advantages to be had by encouraging the blooming of talent and harnessing that talent for the greater good of a company.

The unfortunate thing about diversity is that it’s too amorphous and has benefited white women more than any other group of minorities. Members of other minority groups have benefited at the expense of Blacks who have been disenfranchised since slavery.

It’s, therefore, not just enough for corporations to open up to a culturally diverse workforce, which in the first place is only a palliative measure but more needs to be done particularly with the Black community. At its core, diversity is an issue of accessibility to jobs rather than an issue of open discrimination and hence it calls for a grass-roots-oriented attack on causes or barriers to jobs starting from the lowest rungs of education to the highest. Increased awareness at all levels should encourage job aspirants to pursue unhindered paths leading to their fields of interest.

After being castigated for discriminating against Blacks, the four major news organizations—NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox—have reached an agreement to increase the number of minorities and to come up with programs to facilitate that effort. NBC, which makes it to this issue’s cover, ought to be emulated for starting an internship opportunities program for traditionally under-represented groups. It’s good for the news media, an industry that has gone down ignominiously as one of the most racist in America, third only to construction and the fire department.

NBC’s diversity program, headed by Paula Madison, is backed by senior management, a necessary prerequisite for the success of such programs, and the news station has extended its policy to include companies doing business with it.

Inroads have been made elsewhere. Goldman Sachs recently announced that it will be offering six new grants—each of them more than $1 Million—to develop more minority programs. Coca-Cola, which has a sad history of dealing with its Black employees, has a tentative deal to settle the racial discrimination lawsuit filed by African Americans discriminated against in wages and promotions.

Differences can be intimidating but demographic projections show that minorities will make the majority of the U.S. population and the bulk of its workforce by the year 2050. It’s thus prudent for companies to go beyond opening up to demanding diversity in the workplace.

Click here for January 2002 Editor's Note - A Bright Economic Horizon

Click here for November 2001 Editor's Note - Initiatives Rigged in Controversy

Click here for April 2001 Editor's Note - The Good Competition

Click here for February 2001 Editor's Note - The Perennial Debate

Click here for January 2001 Editor's Note - The Beleaguered Media

Click here for October 2000 Editor's Note - Selling Out Cheaply

Click here for September 2000 Editor's Note - A Question of Trust

Click here for July / August 2000 Editor's Note - Value In Differences

Click here for June 2000 Editor's Note - Be Wary of Numbers

Click here for May 2000 Editor's Note - A Sobering Reminder