Unexpected Benefits of Diversity
Having an entry level job where employees are part of a diverse workforce can yield unexpected benefits, according to Katherine Phillips in her article, Diversity Helps Your Business – But Not the Way You Think.
It’s true that having a diverse workforce can help people gain a better understanding of and appreciation for people with disabilities and people from different cultures, but there’s an additional benefit that Pillips says most people seem to overlook – listening and participating.
“I recently published research in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, with co-authors Katie Liljenquist of Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Management and Margaret Neale of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, that found that members of a social majority are more likely to voice unique perspectives and critically review task-relevant information when there is more social diversity present than when there is not” Phillips writes. “Moreover, this is true even when the people who are “different” don’t express any unique perspectives themselves. Our research suggests that the mere presence of social diversity makes people with independent points of view more willing to voice those points of view, and others more willing to listen.”
Phillips’ research indicates that diverse teams will be more productive and more creative, even if they feel that they didn’t work well together, than homogeneous groups. “The most robust practical value of diversity is that it challenges everyone in an organization. We are more thoughtful, and we recognize and utilize more of the information that we have at our disposal, when diversity is present. That is diversity’s true value,” she concludes.
Phillips’ research was only done using people from different cultural backgrounds, so it’s impossible to tell if having someone with a disability as part of a group would yield similar results. Still, if Phillips’ findings are anything to go by, it’s a good idea for entry level job seekers to apply to work for companies that embrace diversity.
