Reply to comment

I enjoyed our Tuesday night discussion this week on diversity & productivity. I want to thank Prof. Morris for bringing this discussion topic to our seminar- I agree with Prof. Morris that it is a rare/ new opportunity to discuss diversity in a classroom/ academic setting- at least from my personal experience. I think discussing diversity in this new context is important and can lead to very interesting conversations like those we had this past week.

Throughout our discussion, many of us would fall back to thinking of diversity in a moral sense rather than thinking of diversity as productivity. Why was this? I think we are all so used to thinking of diversity in only the moral sense that when we try to think about it in another sense, like productivity, we often begin to discuss productivity but ultimately seem to fall back to the "moral sense" of diversity. Examining issues of diversity outside of the moral realm is difficult- however, when we push ourselves to do so, we can examine diversity from other important and interesting perspectives.

When thinking about diversity = productivity, I believe the only way diversity can be productive is through effective communication. In order to achieve effective communication I think the differences among individuals need to be respected, differences need to be used in effective ways, and most importantly, clear channels of communication need to be created so constructive discussions can take place rather ineffective debates. When thinking of biological systems, it is clear they are extremely productive and successful because of their diversity. In biological systems (like cells, plants, etc..) there are no explicit rankings, ratings or superiority, however, this idea does not easily translate to the social human being. Our society as humans we also have diversity, which can be productive, but in our society, humans often seem to place rankings and ratings on differences. Maybe our placing of rankings and ratings on differences can sometimes hinder our productivity. When thinking of diversity = productivity, I think thinking about the diversity of cells in body vs. diversity of people in a room are two situations that may need to be thought about separately because each situation poses different challenges for diversity achieving productivity.

Finally, I also wanted to comment on our Tuesday night's discussion of diversity trainings. I mentioned how sometimes schools will organize diversity trainings for faculty or students, but these diversity trainings can affect people differently. Some people enjoy these trainings, but other people may be "rubbed the wrong way" or made to feel uncomfortable. This source of discomfort can be different for each person. Some people may not be comfortable discussing such personal and emotional issues in a work environment. Others may never have talked about these issues before. Other people may have experiences (family experiences, childhood, other life experiences) and have beliefs that may be challenged by the diversity training. I think diversity training is important, however, finding the right way to conduct it is a constant challenge.

I look forward to hearing everyone's comments! See you on Tuesday!