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CREATING A DIVERSE HIGHPERFORMING TEAM
José R. Sánchez, LCSW, LMSW
President and CEO
Milestones in the history of diversity
1941: Executive
Order 8802
1969: First School
of Ethnic Studies
established in the
United States
1961: Creation of
EEOC
1954: Brown v.
Board of
Education
1963: Equal
Pay Act
1990: ADA
1972: Title IX
All of these actions paved the way for the diverse
landscape we have in business and education today.
Diversity…

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Is about empowering people.
Is understanding, valuing and using the differences
among all of us to achieve superior outcomes.
Is a challenge because we all have biases and
prejudices of long-standing.
Means more than just tolerating people that are
different from you. It means actively welcoming
and involving them in all aspects of the
organizations and soliciting their ideas and
opinions.
Dimensions of diversity
Headquarters/Field
Seniority
Military
Experience
Life
Experience
Mental
Ability
Physical
Ability
Sexual
Orientation
Religion
Education
Job Title
Urban
Affiliation
Race
Gender
Identity
Ethnicity
Income
Personal
Habits
Work
Experience
Communication
Style
Department/Unit/Group
External
Organizational
Work
Style
Age
Gender
Language
Management
Status
Country
Knowledge
Family
Status
Pay Scale
Group
Internal
Work
Location
Why do we need to be concerned
about diversity?

Three powerful trends in our society have made
diversity an important issue:


The global market in which U.S. corporations do business
became highly competitive.
The makeup of the U.S. population began changing dramatically.
In the 30 years between 1995 and 2025:
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The Asian population will be the fastest-growing population and
more than double in size.
The Hispanic/Latino population will be the largest-growing
population and will account for 32 million of the 72 million
additional people (44% of the total growth of the nation).
Individuals began celebrating their differences instead of
compromising their uniqueness to “fit in.”
How does workforce diversity affect
teams?

Diversity typically provides fresh perspectives on issues but it
is difficult to manage

Team members bring their individual worldviews into the team
experience.



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
Age
Education
Race
Socio-economic position
Cultural norms
Religion
Physical ability
These world-views make up the entirety of the individual
members and therefore can lead to clashes in the group if not
managed correctly.
The case for diversity among teams


Diverse teams should help an organization develop a
competitive advantage by bringing together different
ideas, knowledge, and methods of problem solving.
Diverse groups have been shown to be better at
decision making; eliminating “group think” and
improving team effectiveness
Diversity presents managers with
challenges



Individual differences that spawn creativity and
innovative problem-solving can create
communication barriers and conflict.
Individual differences can also lead to open conflict
and chaos if there is mistrust and lack of respect
among team members based mostly on the world
and cultural views of the individual members.
A team vision needs to be established immediately
and it is important to defer to the expertise that
exists on the team.