THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING

Abstract of "Does your Organization Welcome Diversity?"

The authors begin by defining an "inclusive" organization as one into which persons are welcomed regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity or physical ability.

The authors indicate that organizations benefit from having a diverse pool of employees. The main advantage is the new perspectives on problems that arise within the organization. They also state that it is important for organizations to recognize the value that individual talents bring to particular tasks. They observe that those organizations which perform better are those that do not conform to a rigid organizational mold, but have enough flexibility to accept people of all backgrounds.

The authors then outline some of the characteristics of "inclusive" organizations:

• All segments of the company's population are represented in the executive suite.
• Meetings are not dominated by one ethnic or gender group.
• Ethnic, racial, and sexual slurs or jokes are not tolerated.
• Comfortable relationships exist between people of diverse backgrounds.

The authors conclude by stating that although these characteristics may seem easy to achieve, they must be valued in order to be implemented.

abstract by Rae Lewis

• Return to Abstracts of Studies about Diversity in Engineering and Science

• Annotated List of Abstracts of Studies about Women in Science and Engineering

• Abstract of "The Technicolor Workplace"

National Academy of Engineering

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