Recognizing that "managing" diversity has become a critical skill in organizations all over the world, Developing Competency to Manage Diversity shows how the dynamics of diversity affect people on all levels of society and in all kinds of organizations-from individual relationships to community interactions, from city and national governments to work teams and product markets.
Defining diversity as "a mix of people in one social system who have distinctly different, socially relevant, group identities," this volume responds to the increasing need to function effectively in workplace contexts that are culturally, socially, economically, and racially diverse. To this end, it provides managers with tools they need to successfully manage a diverse workforce. Chapters provide specific tasks and activities to:
o Increase awareness of coworkers' cultural backgrounds
o Create a "pro-diversity" organizational climate
o Develop an operational definition of diversity
o Explore how group identity applies to each group member
o Investigate differences of cognitive style
o Customize team-building strategies for diverse groups
Organized in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step format, a set of twenty-three readings, six case studies, and thirty-one activities takes readers through a three-stage learning process. The first stage creates awareness of a diversity-related issue, the second stage develops knowledge and understanding of effective ways to handle that issue, and the final stage outlines practical actions to respond to the issue. The high costs of failing to recognize and manage diversity-absenteeism, dissatisfaction, barriers to contribution, harassment, discrimination suits, reduced efficiency, and lack of communication-as well as the potential to leverage diversity as an organizational resource-should motivate organizations and groups to make full use of Developing Competency to Manage Diversity.
Barnes proposes a simple market-based way to provide supplemental income to all Americans.
Economic inequality has become like the weather: everyone talks about it, but nobody knows what to do about it. Working Assets cofounder Peter Barnes has a plan: pay equal dividends to everyone from wealth we own together.
Barnes argues that, thanks to automation, globalization, and winner-take-all capitalism, there will never again be enough high-paying jobs to sustain a large middle class. The only hope lies in nonlabor income-that is, in jobs plus something more. Building on our Declaration of Independence, an essay by Thomas Paine, and a thirty-year-old program in Alaska, Barnes proposes paying monthly dividends to every American. This supplemental income would come from assets we hold in common-the atmosphere, the natural world, our monetary system, and more. Such dividends would not only keep our economy humming but also make it unprofitable to abuse nature.
Barnes's proposal bypasses the current gridlock between left and right; once set up, the dividend system is purely market based. This work is a truly visionary yet eminently practical solution to a seemingly intractable problem.
2008