Diversity, Conflict and Bringing PWD to the Research on Organizational Productivity

Diversity and Healthy Conflict

As our nation continues to struggle to establish a workforce that more closely mirrors our makeup, the Miami Herald recently tweeted a link to a story on the pervasively higher unemployment among PWD in the labor force. Our rate of unemployment hovers near or above 16% vs. 9% for the general labor force. Not to be confused with the incredibly high overall unemployment rate among PWD that has shifted somewhere between 65-70% for decades, the labor force rate applies to PWD who are capable of and actively searching for work or career opportunities. This is that segment among PWD whom we’d expect to be employed at a similar rate to all others in the labor force, wouldn’t we?

On the heels of the 23rd annual National Disability Employment Awareness Month, which actually has its roots in legislation from 1945, and as we’ve migrated into our third decade post-passage of the ADA, shouldn’t we expect that the most employable among us would be, well, EMPLOYED? The stated intent of NDEAM is to increase public awareness of the contributions and skills of American workers with disabilities. How many years will it take to achieve this goal, 25, 35, 50? Qualified candidates with disabilities long to be part of the equation and debate over diversity and conflict in the workplace.

Diverse Classes and Their Road to Employment

Diverse classes within our workforce didn’t achieve the great strides that they have – and clearly inequities are still pervasive - without broad-based and aggressive support by many companies willing to take an “active” position in seeking out, screening, hiring and supporting the career growth of qualified members of these communities. To hear hiring managers, human resource personnel, and other parties of influence in companies make reference to their open policies and willingness to interview any qualified candidate for a given position dismisses a core truth – all marginilized classes in our nation have required proactive support – not a neutral environment – in order to make inroads into historic employment disparity.

Forward-thinking organizations and their leaders took some perceived risks in bringing women, African-Americans and other culturally diverse candidates,  and other classes of previously marginilized candidates into the workplace. Why any company would perceive that PWD shouldn’t require or deserve like support is illogical. Proactive programs, trainings and cultural support directed at the disability community is the rational  progression of recognizing and exploiting all prospective members of our nation’s labor force. In the case of PWD, employers’ perceived risks come in the form of questions of productivity (unfounded), questions of attrition or lost work days related to the disability or associated illness (again unfounded), concerns over cost of accommodation (yet again unfounded), or fears over the ability to dismiss an underperforming employee (the ADA is not a quota system, nor to my knowledge do any of its titles or any EEOC statute or specific language protect an underperforming employee) and others.

A Maturing Business Case for Diversity and Inclusion (D&I)

Research is growing to support the business case for diversity suggesting that, when managed and implemented effectively by leadership, a more diverse and inclusive culture can benefit the organization.  The research referenced here takes a more complex view of diversity than that which has been traditionally held. Specifically, developing research doesn’t presume the benefit of diverse teams in all instances. Further, it accepts that with diversity comes conflict, and that if that conflict is not recognized and managed effectively, you may end up with a more diverse organization – but not a more productive one. Exploring relationship, task and process conflict within teams, the Wharton School of Business study offers a complex, if not completely supportive evaluation of the functioning of diverse teams within business organizations.

Allowing that we still have a lot to learn about diverse work teams, the conflict that diversity can breed, and how we optimize their performance, until qualified candidates with disabilities are actually in the workplace in higher numbers, they can’t be part of that complex discussion. Here’s hoping that future research on these important issues will engender the disability base along with traditional diversity populations as we look to establish the labor force of tomorrow.