Reviews for Diversity

The average rating for Diversity based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-01-18 00:00:00 Erin Kearney Unusually clear, stimulating and valuable This is an unusually well written treatise on human resources. The focus is on the value of human capital in the modern economy. Although academically commissioned the intent is practical. It would be a good thing if CEOs of giant corporations as well as heads of mom and pop enterprises would put their laptops aside on that cross-country flight and read this book instead. They wouldn't be bored, and they would likely to do themselves and their business a big favor as they learn how to manage their most important and most valuable resource, their employees. The style of the book is engaging, vivid, concrete and clear. I have seldom run across a book on the business/labor/economics spectrum that is as engagingly written, and I've read a more than a few. The thesis in a nutshell is this: as we have moved from an industrial economy to a knowledge- or information-based economy, we have at the same time evolved a workforce that is--as Burud and Tumolo phrase it--comprised of "a different animal." This new "animal" (their metaphor uses giraffes and elephants) does not, as once was the case, devote his or her entire life to the corporation. Instead today's human resource is a "dual-focus" person who has a lifestyle that balances work and a life away from work. When I first picked up this book I expected the usual celebration of the "new" capital in the work place, that is, women. And I expected some guidance on how today's management might best understand and work with women as opposed to the traditional employee who was usually male. But Sandra Burud and Marie Tumolo have gone beyond that quasi-political position and made it clear that today's human resource, whether male or female, is the elephant in the office who is of enormous value, and regardless of sex will be giving some very real quality time to home and family. So what's a CEO to do? The authors make it clear that management must work with its human capital in a manner that respects the entire human being while recognizing that this human being is their most valuable resource. I've repeated myself, but this really is the crux of the matter. The old style management that expected 70 hour weeks and no life outside the umbrella of my father (and mother!) the corporation, must think again. This doesn't mean that management is getting a divided or a compromised effort from its new (and more enlightened, I must say, employees) but in fact is getting more since today's worker is sophisticated, can "self-organize" and work with others to create added value in a way that was not possible in earlier generations. Management must recognize that their employees are "biological systems seeking to fulfill their needs and aspirations" (p. 16, quoting C. Ehin from "Unleashing Intellectual Capital," 2000) and not machines. The question might arise why is this happening now? And the answer is that in today's complex and highly competitive, interactive and interdependent global economy, it is human creativity and human "relationship capital" that will make the difference between success and failure. Another point worth emphasizing is that you may make a better widget and you may invent an amazing new technology, but you will be quickly out of business when the competition catches up, as it inevitably will, unless you can reinvent yourself. What will sustain your company until and toward its new breakthrough will be the public relations, customer service and innovative cost cutting that can only come from employees who are appreciated and respected as human beings as well as employees. In other words the primary focus of enlightened management is the cultivation of an educated, skilled and creative workforce. Management must exhibit and foster the "trust, mutual understanding, and shared values and behaviors that bind the members of human networks and communities and make cooperative action possible." (p. 15, quoting from "In Good Company: How Social Capital Makes Organizations Work," 2002 by D. Cohen and L. Prusak). Noting the subtitle of the book, "Adaptive Strategies, Results Achieved, and Stories of Transformation," we can see how the authors organized the book and what they hoped to achieve. They begin with what they call "the new workforce reality." From there they go to the "adaptive strategies," with an emphasis on the idea of investing in people as a means to business success. They back this up in Part 3 with "Evidence of Results Achieved," and finally end with "Four Stories of Becoming Adaptive," in which we see how DuPont and three other companies met new challenges and transformed themselves by developing and nurturing "employee-focused" cultures. Each part is preceded by a keynote statement from a "thought leader." Peter Senge, whose "Whole People" essay kicks off Part 1 is particularly eloquent and enlightening. Also stimulating are the words of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi whose "The Paradox of Work" keynote for Part 2 includes this bit of wisdom: He asks, "What makes the difference between a job and a vocation?" His answer: "Two things matter most: how much value a person is able to find in the product or outcome of the activity, and how much value he or she can find in the activity itself." (p. 76) By the way, another bit of wisdom I like from Csikszentmihalyi appears on page 18: The authors make the point that we only have "so much mental space." Our attention can only go in one direction at once. They conclude "This space limitation is the reason that multitasking is 'more a myth than a reality. Humans cannot really successfully multitask, we are in fact moving attention rapidly, but consecutively attending, not simultaneously.'" (The words inside the single quotes are from Csikszentmihalyi.) "Leveraging the New Human Capital" is not only very well written but it is organized in a clear and easily accessible manner. The book is also beautifully edited and proofed. --Dennis Littrell, author of "The World Is Not as We Think It Is"

Review # 2 was written on 2017-08-28 00:00:00 Melita Mayfield A very good read for everyone. Useful ideas to just be a better human.