Diversity Management

On Diversity Management, many companies are committed, but women's promotion is only a facet. Is there competition or breed there?

The most beautiful minority in the whole country

One can take the view that any form of special treatment is bad. Women's quotas lead to quota women, flexible family times to the status of a temporary worker, women's networks to a comparison with coffins. Diversity Management is a counterbalance: It is not just to eliminate disadvantages in companies, but rather to highlight differences positively and lead to the company result being improved by mixed teams.

Differences are based not only on sex, but also on origin, religion, age, lifestyle and so on. If this were to lead to a race, women would have the pole position: Companies like the Telekom can already be celebrated for having brought women to top positions - similar measures for wheelchair users, on the other hand, are rarely heard. It seems tempting to take advantage of the good starting position and to define diversity management exclusively as a vehicle for promoting women.

It would not be the first time in the history that resentful interest groups compete with each other. In the US, the consequences of such slit trends are still visible today. In the true sense of the word, the movement of civil rights, which in the 1960s made it possible for the rights of the African population, ran parallel to the women's movement. Even representatives of the current generation of black women still report that they do not know which side they belong to. They belong to both from birth. Just as German Turks usually fit into the diversity categories gender, origin and religion.

Even as the German electorate was changed at the beginning of the twentieth century, women were not the only population group that demanded equal rights. Previously, voting was heavily dependent on income; Even the working class was not allowed to influence politics. Higher strata then discussed which side would be better off when the next elections were held - with the women or with the proletariat. On the other hand, the idea of ​​an alliance was undermined by the temptation to lead the group to victory. The women's international remained a marginal note in history.

But true equality can only arise where it applies to all. In addition, every change needs a critical mass to arrive in society. From this point of view, women should be very welcome today, that other groups of society have the same concerns as them: fair chances to move forward in the profession, take responsibility, gain influence. But this does not work properly. 
Why is the colleague allowed to spend extra time on his prayer carpet every Friday, but will I go wrong when I go five minutes earlier because the hoard closes once a month? Why does the handicapped colleague get the parking lot at the front porter, when I always as the last disappear from the office and then tremble in the dark alone over the parking lot?

Nasty thoughts, small, but tenacious, knows every one of us. Envy is solitary, however, and the soloist and diversity program are as good as Schweigeönch and Gospelchor. Whoever deserves a special treatment more than others is a dangerous question. If one thinks it to the end, there is a winner - and any number of losers. Who gets the parking lot, is however then clear: of course the boss.

With its basic principles, diversity management also touches the understanding of power, which is presented in many board members: power as a scarce commodity that must be preserved with teeth and claws. Diversity management, on the other hand, underlines the advantages of taking other and different types of decision-making into account. It also provides an argument in the discussion about how women want to lead. 
One possibility would be to see the gentleman with the prayer carpet, the wheelchair user, the gay father and the aging worker as an enrichment, to make contact with them and to profit from them. On the one hand with the recognition of how alien one's own world must be the responsible person in the enterprise. See parking permit. On the other hand with the questions: How did you actually come to your success,

With understanding and curiosity women can advance in the common cause. However, this leadership also entails responsibility. How do we take responsibility for the fact that women are currently on the road to career advancement other than the other disadvantaged? One answer could be: Ladies first. Another would be: justice can only exist for all - or for none.