Diversity Training - What's missing? 2
Diversity Training - What's missing?
Pennsylvania State University
May 2nd, 2014
Diversity is all around any given workplace at all times in all things. People in the world differ in many ways. People in the workplace are no different. From color to gender, from age to sexual orientation - no one person is ever the same. There is no hiding the fact that people are different. Often times, differences are intimidating for people. Even more often, because of lack of information, those fears turn into discrimination. Workplace discrimination is a global phenomenon. Discrimination claims often range from issues involving gender and age, to culture and religion, if only to name a few. Because of fear of the unknown or because of unwillingness to change, many people see diversity as a burden, one that should not be tolerated. But this viewpoint is, in its very being, discrimination itself.
So what can an employer do to combat this negative way of thinking? The answer for so many organizations struggling with this topic is easy: diversity training. But, is diversity training really the answer or is there something more needed to do away with discrimination once and for all?
What is Diversity Training? Webster's dictionary defines discrimination as, "the practice of unfairly treating a person or group of people differently from other people or groups of people."(Webster) When companies deal with discrimination due to prejudice against a certain subgroup of the population, often times they feel educating the masses on the importance of the differences they are experiencing may be helpful. Enter: Diversity training. "Diversity training is defined as a distinct set of programs aimed at facilitating positive intergroup interactions, reducing prejudice and discrimination, and enhancing the skills, knowledge, and motivation of people to interact...