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Marco Garciacasas

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

ENGL 123: English Composition

Tamara Butler

April 24, 2022

How many times have you seen a highly qualified and capable individual be passed up for promotion, not given a scholarship, or not be hired because of diversity needs? For example, there are more scholarships available for people of color and immigrants than there are for white Americans regardless of economic standing and GPA’s. Diversity by itself can be an incredible for companies, organizations, and schools if done swiftly and naturally. However, forced diversification does not work and should not be mandated for private company hiring, recruiting for schools, scholarship opportunities, promotion opportunities, or military recruiting. From favoritism, reverse-discrimination, and questionable legalities to performance issues within workplaces, forced diversity has numerous issues associated.

The main issue with diversity hiring or recruiting is that it does not guarantee the best possible candidate or hire for an organization. Only the most qualified and experienced personnel should be brought in to secure the most success for the group rather than to show diversity on a chart. Often, the “best” candidate will not be the one that is required to meet the diversity quota or desire by the organization, so they will get overlooked because they do not meet that minority group, color of skin, gender, or sexual organization. This also includes hiring more youthful personnel to show diversity in age to create a more “youthful” and “modern” image. This practice can cost the company actual dollars when considering the issues that will occur because of that lack of experience or lack of qualification. Hiring for the best of the best is a practice that will always create more revenue, success, and overall will be the most beneficial for an organization in the long run.

Reverse discrimination is defined as “discrimination against whites or males” by Meriam-Webster which is essentially happening when forced diversification is introduced. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 “prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin”. Due to this, forced diversification walks an exceptionally fine line between legal and illegal hiring if a white male is passed over for not being a minority. A similar thing occurs with the amount of opportunities that are available with minorities versus white males with scholarships, promotions, and hiring opportunities. Going forward, organizations must be especially cautious with the diversity hired that are brought on if that is the main reason for their hire.

Internal group conflicts become apparent once “too much” diversity occurs. Having a single team full of people from different regions of the world, religions, cultures, and social backgrounds can create conflicts between how each team members see a project or issue. Some may argue that diverse teams create higher productivity levels than those of similar team members per various studies conducted by business companies and schools. Those studies will determine that yes, in a group of perfectly diverse and proficient individuals this is true; however, when you forcibly bring in a diverse group for the sake of having said group productivity will not thrive. Language barriers and varied regional view may actually hard productivity if diversity is introduced unnaturally.

Favoritism or special treatment is always a topic of conflict within a workplace but becomes more common once a person of a certain demographic is needed. Favoritism in a professional setting should never be allowed and having forced diversity makes it acceptable if you fit the minority. For recruiting in the military, the monthly forced diversity quota creates a tremendous amount of favoritism that will force the recruiter to make exceptions and disregard other prospects completely because they need that one specific person for the sake of their careers. This is a clear example of the type of favoritism that presents itself once an organization required a person of color, gender, or age. This issue can also present itself in school or job setting that create exceptions, special opportunities, bonuses, or just special treatment.

The concept of diversification is good for modern society but where it suffers from is when it is dictated. Forced diversification should have never been implemented as it causes issues internally for groups, imbalance of opportunity, and compromises quality for societal acceptance and quotas. There is a need for diversity of course, but it should not triumph over the demand for excellence.

References:

Gaill, L. (December 13, 2018) 22 Advantages and Disadvantages of Diversity in the Workplace

Mahdawi, A. (2016) The Surprising solution to workplace diversity (video). TED conference.

Llopis, G. (2017) 5 reasons diversity and inclusion fails.

Tribune, H. (August 5, 2007). The downsides of diversity. The New York Times.