Rich Robben, Executive Director
Photo taken by Lynette Wright

Webster’s Dictionary defines diversity as the condition of having distinct or unlike elements. In a workplace, this means the variety among people related to such factors as age, culture, education, employee status, family status, function, gender, national origin, physical appearance, race, regional origin, religion, sexual orientation, and thinking style. Though these differences themselves are undeniable, corporate culture and society often deny them by recognizing and valuing only a narrow range of differences. While these differences have often been ignored or devalued in the past, awareness of the role they play in organizational effectiveness has more recently put the spotlight on diversity.

Valuing diversity means acknowledging that other people, other races, other voices, and other cultures have as much integrity and as much claim on the world as you do. It is the recognition that there are other ways of seeing the world, solving problems, and working together.

Managing diversity means promoting inclusion, creating an environment where all differences are valued, and in which each employee can develop to her or his full potential. From a business perspective, managing diversity is valuable because it means an organization gets the most from its employees. Companies that effectively manage diversity recognize that it is not enough to hire employees from under represented groups; they must also provide an environment where all employees are supported and valued.

I took the above descriptions from a training and education web site of the ASME, it all sounds well enough, but what does diversity mean to us, to Plant Operations, to you and to me? Each of us can probably answer these questions their own way and may take very different points of view. However, some points are clear and I would like to talk about them.

The nature of the client base that we serve is changing; our customer demographic is dramatically changing. The faculty, researchers, student body, patients, and staff of the University today, demonstrates a far more diverse demographic then it did 20 years ago. One argument for diversity in a service-oriented organization like Plant is to better relate to its customer base by striving to reflect the demographics of our customers. This, in turn, enhances communication and interaction and leads to more satisfied customers and therefore, Plant meets part of its mission.

The demographics of the workforce outside of the University are also changing and again, becoming more diverse. This workforce is the pool that we draw on to bring new talent into the Plant Department. Plant needs to recognize that in order to insure that we are getting the best talent to join our team that we make sure that the candidate pools that we review for new positions reflect these demographics. If not, we may be short changing ourselves on the getting the best talent.

Different individuals approach problems in different ways. This brings a broader range of viewpoints to the table. Another name for this is creativity. In an organization like ours that relies on creativity to come up with better ideas and ways of approaching problems, this is a very valuable resource and one that we need to capitalize on.

America is a diverse country. There is nowhere else like us in the world so we need to be better at living in a diverse world. So for Plant, aside from doing the morally right thing, it also makes good sense for us to not only follow the “diversity” rules but to truly embrace and celebrate what makes us different. For in the final analysis, it will be what determines if we can be successful and be a better place to work.

So, I have written about how important diversity is to Plant Operations, now I would like to invite the members of our department and our unions to join the Plant Operations diversity committee and help us make the above happen. If interested, please let your supervisor know. Your supervisor can then forward your name to the committee for selection. We need 4-5 people to serve a two-year term that will include training on the topic and work on a project to promote diversity in the department.