What does research say about the value of HR-type diversity training?

Humans have been discriminating against other humans for as long as human history has been recorded. Organizations should view this type of conflict as a natural part of human experiences.

When an organization elects to do "diversity training", it gets a bit complicated. In general, the research says that training for the sake of training, or training to make the employees feel better about each other, is a waste of time. Diversity training has to be tied to organizational goals and accountability to obtain those goals. It is part of an organization ecosystem that values a variety of inclusionary demographics as a source of organizational energy. Mary Parker Follett talked about this in her theories of organizational change in which she says that good leadership is able to harness a variety of sources to achieve the organizational goals.

The trap in diversity training is organizations trying to solve human discontinuities. Humans have been discriminating against other humans for as long as human history has been recorded. Organizations should view this type of conflict as a natural part of human experiences. Entire nations have not been able to solve the problem of interpersonal conflict, but many organizational leaders think that a class here or there will make the problem "go away".

The key question is organizational goal achievement. The diverse demographics should be managed so that the variation in interpersonal energies can be directed to achieving the organizational goals. This includes policies on accountability and protection of the workplace from harassment and reprisal.