The researchers designed a “diversity climate survey” that nearly 5,000 employees of a large U.S. health care organization completed. Respondents indicated how much they agreed or disagreed with a series of statements that reflected either colorblindness or multiculturalism.
This is the first study that has examined the effect of the dominant group members’ diversity belief on actual targets, Plaut says, adding that is also the first study to test these effects in the real world among majority and minority employees working in the same setting.
“This study demonstrates that White beliefs have implications for minorities’ engagement, and we know from previous work that disengagement can hurt productivity and profits,” Thomas says.
According to the researchers, the number of White and minority employees involved in the study was controlled so that one group didn’t outnumber another.
“Numbers alone do not matter,” says Plaut. “Diversity efforts, in higher education and in the workplace, are often aimed at hiring more … more women to the sciences or admitting more ethnic and racial minority students. Numbers are important, but they are not the whole story.”
More emphasis should be place on creating environments that recognize and celebrate racial and ethnic differences, Plaut contends.
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