CV NEWS FEED // A new scientific study demonstrates that despite widespread claims, diversity does not actually improve performance in the workplace.
In the published findings, titled: “The relationship between team diversity and team performance: reconciling promise and reality,” researchers from England and Poland claimed that a more comprehensive meta-analysis of individual studies and phenomena revealed that Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) schemes have not incentivized heightened workplace performance.
“Workplace diversity is increasing across the globe,” the researchers noted, “while organizations strive for equity and inclusion.”
However, they continued, “despite clear arguments why diversity should enhance (some types of) performance, and promising findings in individual studies, many meta-analyses have shown weak effects.”
Though many independent studies conducted on the effects of diversity on workplace productivity claim significant and positive correlations, the researchers of the meta-analysis argue that the results are “insubstantial” in the long run.
“Diversity is at times taken to promise creative breakthroughs or threaten communicative breakdowns,” the researchers stated. “Our results here show that the picture is more complex—when reduced to a single estimate, the average (linear) correlation between team diversities and team performances is too small to matter substantively.”
Furthermore, the researchers emphasized throughout the study that attempting to promote diversity on the basis of performance ultimately falls apart:
Evidently, there are many other important components of the (business) case for diversity, equity, and inclusion that persist—including moral, legal, and reputational reasons, as well as the need to find strong individual talent even if it does not come in the ‘prototypical’ guise.
Raising expectations regarding performance, however, appears to not be intellectually honest and may potentially backfire when expected changes do not materialize, and the very foundation provided for diversity initiatives is weakened.
As CatholicVote reported in March, many prominent US military experts have spoken out against the armed forces’ embrace of DEI practices under the reasoning that it “increases performance.” Their belief instead is that the policies have weakened the nation’s ability to defend itself.
