Diversity the new nine letter word It seems corporations rise and fall on new buzzwords, reorganization, downsizing, right sizing, TQM and now diversity. In what seems like a flurry, corporate America has embraced this initiative becoming the champion of this good cause. In a country where skepticism is encouraged, the base motivation for this action desires exploration. Through the advent of technology and deregulation industries find themselves in a battle pitted against each other for consumers as well as skilled workers. In the past, corporations were slow to change to meet their customer's needs, lack of competition provided a sense of security to corporations which were largely unchallenged. Change, if any, occurred when the company felt inspired to take the initiative or when threat from a competitor was imminent. In our current environment where telecommunications companies are pitted against one another and cable television companies are feeling the heat from satellite dish networks, competition has become a way of life. The key focus that companies live by today is that change is constant and competition the norm for what you are not willing to do someone else will do, and better.Numerous studies demonstrate that diversity impacts organizational performance. As a result, diversity issues have evolved beyond human resources concerns into company-wide priorities. While diversity managers are still involved in activities such as measuring diversity goals and providing awareness training, today's managers play an important role in strategic organizational planning. This is due to growing recognition at the executive level of the potential held by a diverse workforce. The potential extends beyond the feel good level and goes straight to the heart of the bottom line.At IBM commitment to diversity as a business-driven issue has long been a standard. Market trends in computer purchasing have served as a constant reminder that divers...
