THERE'S PROBABLY no more
The problem is not the ends, but the means. As so often happens in American culture, a worthwhile goal may have morphed into a deadening tenet of political orthodoxy. Rather than preaching and demanding, companies ought to be finding concrete ways to encourage workers to buy into initiatives that increase the number of women and minorities in managerial positions.
There's another wrinkle to the current state of diversity training, according to the study. Employees can usually sense a hidden agenda in management directives. In this case, it's the credible suspicion that at some companies mandatory diversity training is more about protection from lawsuits than about raising the profile of minorities.
Let the numbers do the talking. A comprehensive review of data from 830 mid-size to large U.S. workplaces found that mandatory diversity training was followed by a 7.5 percent drop in the number of women in management and a 12 percent decrease in the number of black men in such positions.
By contrast, voluntary diversity training focused on specific organizational skills, such as mentoring relationships, produced positive results.
Noted Alexandra Kalev, a sociologist at the University of Arizona who led the research, "Forcing people to go through training creates a backlash against diversity." What's more, most diversity managers, when informed of these findings, told Ms. Kalev that they were not surprised.
The bottom line is that the time for symbolism is over, and the need for substantive efforts is overdue. High on the list should be policies that encourage managers to form relationships that make them more aware of the diverse talents within their companies.
Greater diversity in business leadership remains a critical goal for 21st-century America.