Cabaret

A great many companies have mission statements and diversity programmes. Some have them because they are expected so. Others because they sound good. Or because they protect them when there are allegations of discrimination in court (see). Or because they contribute to a sense of identity companies without a specific company culture were lacking before. In this case, "We have diversity management" only serves as a superficial label without real - without honest - commitment. And it can only last until a new slogan creating identity is found that sounds impressive and underlines the company's image of taking over social responsibility.



According to an article found in the Harvard Business Review, diversity policies do not automatically make companies fairer for women and minorities. The presence of a diversity policy tends to make people discount claims of unfair treatment. This is particularly true for those of so-called dominant groups ("white men") who even may end up believing that they themselves are being treated unfairly because of diversity policies.

"Compared to white men interviewing at the company that did not mention diversity, white men interviewing for the pro-diversity company expected more unfair treatment and discrimination against whites. They also performed more poorly in the job interview, as judged by independent raters. And their cardiovascular responses during the interview revealed that they were more stressed."  (via)

It even gets better ... if you happen to be a female diversity manager as "women leaders who engage in diversity-increasing behaviors in the highest organizational ranks are systematically penalized with lower performance ratings for doing so". Women "may increase their own chances of advancing up the corporate ladder by actually engaging in a very low level of diversity-valuing behavior" (via). In other words, "some" diversity is okay, but please not too much. The fact that, in comparison, male diversity managers are taken more seriously than female ones is ironic as it is exactly companies with this sexist buddy culture that need professional diversity management. Otherwise the whole "ethics and diversity statement blah blah" is only a show, nothing of substance and certainly not sustainable. And then it is time for a diversity manager to say "Bye-bye, mein lieber Herr, auf Wiedersehen, mein Herr. Es war sehr gut, mein Herr. Und vorbei. Du kennst mich wohl, mein Herr. Ach, lebe wohl, mein Herr. Du sollst mich nicht mehr sehen, mein Herr."

More of Liza Minelli's "Mein Herr":



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- photograph via
- Cheryl R. Kaiser, Brenda Major, Ines Jurcevic, Tessa L. Dover, Laura M. Brady, Jenessa R. Shapiro. Presumed fair: Ironic effects of organizational diversity structures.. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2013; 104 (3): 504 DOI: 10.1037/a0030838