: There are a number of approaches and specific steps that can be taken to effectively manage diversity.

To begin with, a truly multicultural organization must be created.

After this foundation step is accomplished, then both individual and organizational level strategies and techniques can be employed.

Creating the Multicultural Organization

The foundation and point of departure for effectively managing diversity is the development of a truly multicultural organization. A multicultural organization has been described as one that:

Reflects the contributions and interest of diverse cultural and social group in its mission, operations, and product or service.

Acts on a commitment to eradicate social oppression in all forms within the organization.

Includes the members of diverse culture and social groups as full participants especially in decisions that shape the organization.

Follows through on broader external social responsibilities, including support of other institutional efforts to eliminate all forms of social oppression.

It is evident that the true multicultural organization is characterized by core cultural values and an ongoing commitment to eliminate social oppression throughout the organization. All members of diverse cultural and social groups are involved in the decision that shape the mission, structure, technology, psychosocial dynamics, and products and services of the organization.

The true multicultural organization as defined is the stated ideal of an increasing number of organizations, although most are still in transition. Moving towards and building a truly multicultural organization is perhaps the most important, but here are also some individual and organization level steps and techniques that can be used to effectively manage diversity. Unfortunately, to date, most of these diversity programs have fallen short of their objectives. Some individual and organizational approaches that may help make managing diversity more effective.

Individual Approaches to Manage Diversity

Individual approaches to managing diversity typically take two interdependent paths: learning and empathy. The first is based on acquiring real or simulated experience; the second is based on the ability to understand feelings and emotions.

Learning

Many managers are often unprepared to deal with diversity, because of their inexperience they are unsure of how to respond. To better prepare themselves managers must work hard to learn and experiences as much as they can about developing appropriate behavior. At the heart of this learning process is communication. Managers must openly communicate one-on-one with young and old employees, women, minorities, and those challenged with a disability in order to determine how best to understand and interact with them. In this way mangers can learn more about a diverse group’s personal values and how the individuals like to be treated. Mangers can also begin to develop a personal style that works well with each member of a diverse group.

In this learning process, managers can also encourage diverse employees to give them candid feedback regarding how they are being treated. In this way, when the managers does something that an employee does not feel is proper, the manager quickly learns this and can adjust his or her behavior. This form of feedback is particularly important in helping organizations gain insights to effectively manage diversity.

Empathy

Closely linked to the individual learning strategy is empathy, the ability to put oneself in another’s place and see things from that person’s point of view. Empathy is particularly important in managing diversity because members of diverse group often feel that only they can truly understand the challenges or problems they are facing.

Empathy is an important way to deal with more subtle problems because it helps the manager understand the diverse employee’s point of view. By learning how to empathize and by offering encouragement, guidance, and after-the-fact backup support, the manager can play an important individual role in more effectively managing diversity.

Organizational Approaches to Managing Diversity

Organizational approaches to managing diversity include a variety of techniques. Some of the most common involve testing, training, mentoring, and programs designed to help personnel effectively balance their work and family lives. The following sections examine each of these techniques.

Testing

A problem that organizations have encountered with the use of tests for selection and evaluation is that they are commonly culturally biased. As a result, women and minorities may be able to do the job for which they are being tested even though their test scores indicate that they should be rejected as candidates. Most tests traditionally used in selection and evaluation are not suited or valid for a diverse workforce. As a result, in recent years a great deal of attention has been focused on developing tests that are indeed valid for selecting and evaluating diverse employees.

One way to make tests more valid for diverse employees is to use job-specific