Introduction

When we talk about diversity we limit it to demographic variation, or we say better

representation of women and people of color, different cultures in the workplace. Diversity in the
workforce helps in increasing organizational effectiveness, lifts morale of the workforce, brings
better access to new segments of the marketplace and also enhances productivity of the firm as
a whole. This was first guided by 2 paradigms i.e. Discriminations and fairness paradigm and
Access and legitimacy paradigm, but this article connects learning and effective paradigms with
the aforementioned paradigms and talks how changes in company’s diversity policies helps in
better performance of the company.

(The discrimination and Fairness Paradigm: Next Slide)

This paradigm refers to a system where key focus is on giving Equal opportunities, Fair
treatment and Fair recruitment. Companies which follow this paradigm measure their progress
by how well they achieve its recruitment and retention goals rather by degree to which
conditions in the company allow employees to draw on their personal assets and perspectives
to do. This type of company usually values proper procedures for equal treatment of employees
and prefers giving top to down directives to enforce initiatives.

Some of the benefits in this type of setup are increased demographic diversity, promotes equal
treatment, creates positive image of the company from the outside etc. While some of the
problems facing this type of companies are: overlooking cultural/racial differences in daily work.
Also, Certain forms of discriminations still exist like overlooking of opinions of the less common
racial or cultural groups. As a result employees may find themselves unable to identify their true
self while working in such companies

(The Access-and-legitimacy Paradigm: Next Slide)

The access and legitimacy paradigm emerged during the 1980s and 1990s. Counter to the first
paradigm, it predicated on acceptance and celebration of differences. This paradigm suggests
that Diversity isn’t just fair, it makes business sense too. The most common approach of
companies using this paradigm has been to match the demographics of the organization to
those of critical consumer or constituent groups.

The common characteristic of the companies which follow this paradigm is that:-

They operate in a business environment in which there is increased diversity among customers,
clients or the labor pool.

The strength of this paradigm is that Market-based motivation and potential for competitive
advantage are things understood by the whole company and can be supported too.

(Next Slide)
The paradigm is known more for its limitations than its strengths. They are:-

It emphasizes the role of cultural differences in a company without really analyzing those to see
how they affect the work that is done.

The leaders are too quick to push staff with niche capabilities into differentiated pigeonholes
without trying to understand what those capabilities really are and how they could be integrated
into the company’s mainstream work.

The example in the article is that of Access Capital, a U.S. investment bank, which in order for
its expansion in Europe hired Europeans who did their MBA’s in America. But, after success,
realized that they didn’t know about the difference which made them successful.

The main point about the limitations driven by this example is that, “The motivation for diversity
usually emerges from very immediate and often crisis-oriented needs for access and legitimacy.
Once the organization appears to be achieving its goal, the leaders seldom go on to identify and
analyze the culturally based skills, beliefs and practices that worked so well.”

Another limitation of this paradigm is that, it can leave some employees feeling exploited. These
employees used in special segments often can feel devalued and used as they begin to sense
that opportunities in other parts of the organization are closed to them. Also, they feel that when
companies have needed to downsize or narrow their marketing focus, it is the special
departments that are often the first to go.

(Emerging Paradigm: Connecting Diversity to Work Perspective: Next Slide)

It includes having an outlook on diversity that enables organizations to incorporate employee's

perspective into the main work of the organization and to enhance work by rethinking primary
tasks and redefining markets, products, strategies, missions, business practices and even
cultures. For example, Dewey and Levin, a small public interest law firm located in the USA. By
the mid 1980s, its all white legal staff had become concerned that the women they represented
were exclusively white. Shortly after, the firm hired a Hispanic female attorney. The partner’s
hope was simply that she would bring clients from her own community and also demonstrate
the firm's commitment to representing all women. But something even bigger happened. The
new attorney introduced ideas on the type of cases the firm should take. Senior managers were
open to those ideas and pursued them with great success. It was not possible for the previously
all white staff because the link between the firm's mission and the women issues involved in
the cases was not obvious to them.

(Eight Preconditions Of Making The Paradigm Shift: Next Slide)

There are eight preconditions that help to position organizations to use identity-group
differences in the service of organizational learning, growth, and renewal- you can see the 8
preconditions on the slide- the important insights here are-
Leadership must recognize that a diverse workforce will represent a variety of perspectives and
methods of work, and must value diversity of thought and opinion. The company culture must
instill in everyone a desire to perform at a high level. Some companies assume that women and
people of color will underperform – a negative attitude that all too frequently becomes a self-
esteem issue. A corporation must think that all of its members can and should contribute
completely in order to advance to the third paradigm.

The culture of an organization must have a well-articulated and publicly understood mission
that allows individuals to understand what the company is aiming to achieve. A mission like this
also serves as a foundation for and guide in talks about work-related adjustments that
employees might suggest. Forward-thinking bureaucratic leaders must maintain the efficiency-
promoting control systems and command churns while reshaping the traditional bureaucratic
attitude.

(First Interstate Bank: A Paradigm Shift in Progress: Next Slide)

Not all the eight preconditions must be met to initiate a change towards the learning and
effectiveness paradigm. First Interstate is not your normal bank. Its clientele is members of the
minority community, and the bank is unique: its leadership accepts constructive criticism; its
structure is reasonably egalitarian and non-bureaucratic and its culture is open, but those
without a college diploma were employed exclusively for support positions and were never
promoted above or outside support functions.

However, this policy was questioned by the support personnel. As some members of the
support staff were doing the same work as loan officers. This led to a question, why couldn’t
they receive rewards and compensation? It immediately became obvious that the problem
demanded managing diversity – diversity based on class rather than race or gender. Support
personnel claimed that those who have the requisite skills should be allowed to advance
through the ranks to professional positions.

Their opinions called into question long-held ideas by the company's leadership, that is, the
leadership would have to deliberately alter itself and accept fluidity in policies that had
previously been held unquestioningly. Currently, the bank's leadership is undergoing such a
transformation.

(Shift Complete: Third Paradigm Companies in Action: Next Slide)

First interstate is a shift in progress but there are many organisations for which the shift is
complete. In these cases company leaders play a critical role as facilitators and tone setters. The
leaders and employees usually take four kinds of action for the same.

1.They are making mental connection: Some leaders using the new paradigm have been able to
envision and make the connection between cultural diversity and the
company’s work also leads to a better understanding of how identity group differences and
memberships take on social meanings and how these meanings manifest themselves in the way
work is defined, assigned and accomplished.
A short illustration for the same would be Focusing on the opportunity to gain new insights and
develop new approaches to achieve the mission using a wider role of diversity rather than just
focusing on the traditional ways.

2. MANAGERS ARE LEGITIMATING OPEN DISCUSSIONS; This majorly indicates encouraging

people to make explicit use of their prior cultural experiences and outside knowledge pools to
educate and enrich their work so that they can ENGAGE FULLY in their work and workplace
relationships.
Employees do use their cultural competencies at work, but in a very closeted, almost
embarrassed way, which leads to a major loss in opportuning for collective and organizational
learning. This is why open discussions can be critical for better performance through the role of
diversity

3. They Work against dominance and subordination that inhibit full contribution: this entails
taking action against assertions of dominance by a specific functional area, racism, sexism, and
other such barriers that prevent employees from achieving their full talents and also reduce
individual and organisational effectiveness.
For example; There are many organizations which hold conferences with the presence of only
senior executives. While, New leaders improvise by Opening the conferences across all levels of
hierarchy to bring together a diagonal slice of the organization where people can provide a
wider perspective on things of strategic importance.

4.Managers and employees also Ensure that organizational trust stays intact: managers of
organizations that are successfully shifting to the new learning and effectiveness paradigm take
one more step i.e. to make sure their organizations remain "safe" places for employees to be
themselves. These managers recognize that tensions naturally arise as an organization begins to
make room for diversity,it starts to experiment with process and product ideas, and learns to
reappraise its mission in light of suggestions from newly empowered constituents in the
company.