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SAHRA President Tonisha VanPelt and Dr. Jason Kirksy, Associate Vice President for Institutional Diversity for OSU at the June 16th, 2011 SAHRA Meeting.
The successful 21st century company strives to achieve the ideal – and it is constantly changing. Dr. Kirksey could not define diversity, but instead, said it was something you know when you see. Diversity is the rule of logic in the stock market, it gets the best results. So why, he asked, are companies so reluctant to apply concepts to the hiring process?
Dr. Kirksey spoke about the value of being color-conscious, not color-blind. He stated that ignoring the differences, leads individuals to not recognize when there is a lack of diversification. The preparation for long term commitment to diversity includes workshops and conversations. While the best practices for diversity include commitment from the top, a mission statement, and systematic accounting.
Additionally, Dr. Kirksey mentioned the benefits of diversity as increased flexibility, higher levels of creativity, improved problem-solving abilities, an increased ability to attract the best available talent in the search for new employees, and greater cross-cultural competence.
