Increased Diversity Doesn’t Always Improve Performance_The End of Diversity As We Know It-QQ阅读男生历史网

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Increased Diversity Doesn’t Always Improve Performance

Despite assertions that workforce diversity makes an organization better, research says otherwise. A survey of the top research on the connection between diversity and performance over the past decade reveals few reliable studies that show a direct relationship between greater workforce diversity and increased bottom-line performance. Complicated links are much more common. For example, racial diversity neither improves nor diminishes performance in financial services firms, with two exceptions: if the firm is in a strategic growth mode, racial diversity helps. But if it is in a downsizing phase, diversity decreases performance. Orlando C. Richard, “Racial Diversity, Business Strategy, and Firm Performance: A Resource-Based View,” Academy of Management Journal 43, no. 2 (2000).

In one of the more comprehensive evaluations of the link between diversity and performance, Thomas Kochan and his colleagues examined the impact of race and gender diversity on performance in two information-processing firms, a financial services firm, and a retail company. Across these varied organizations they found little evidence of any direct relationships between increased race and gender diversity in the workforce and higher returns on investment, profits, revenue, costs, or other financial measures. Thomas Kochan et al., “The Effects of Diversity on Business Performance: Report of the Diversity Research Network,” Human Resource Management 42, no. 1 (2003).

Indeed, in a large study of fast-food establishments, an even bleaker picture emerged. Joshua Sacco and Neal Schmitt studied the effect of race, age, and gender diversity on the financial performance of more than 3,400 quick-service restaurants. They had hypothesized that diversity would hinder financial performance, reasoning that the disruptions that frequently occur within diverse teams would have a kind of domino effect that would adversely affect financial performance. While their study didn’t show that gender or age diversity had any bearing on financial performance, increased racial diversity among employees was correlated with lower levels of profitability. Joshua M. Sacco and Neal Schmitt, “A Dynamic Multilevel Model of Demographic Diversity and Misfit Effects,” Journal of Applied Psychology 90, no. 2 (2005).

These results are stark and challenging. It is worth noting, however, that some types of diversity can make a positive difference. Specifically, having people with diverse functional backgrounds or tenures on top management teams can positively affect the return on assets. S. Trevis Certo et al., “Top Management Teams, Strategy and Financial Performance: A Meta-Analytic Examination,” Journal of Management Studies 43, no. 4 (2006). Similarly, racial diversity on boards of directors can increase the return on investment. Toyah Miller and María del Carmen Triana, “Demographic Diversity in the Boardroom: Mediators of the Board Diversity–Firm Performance Relationship,” Journal of Management Studies 46, no. 5 (2009). And managerial diversity may enhance performance for some firms in the long run, if not immediately. Orlando C. Richard, B. P. S. Murthi, and Kiran Ismail, “The Impact of Racial Diversity on Intermediate and Long-Term Performance: The Moderating Role of Environmental Context,” Strategic Management Journal 28, no. 12 (2007). These results suggest that increasing diversity could affect organizational performance in positive ways. The inquiry must continue. But the unqualified assertion that any kind of diversity will lead to superior performance is just wrong. Michele E. A. Jayne and Robert L. Dipboye, “Leveraging Diversity to Improve Business Performance: Research Findings and Recommendations for Organizations,” Human Resource Management 43, no. 4 (2004).