Racial Milestone and Diversity Training

The Wall Street Journal's article entitled "U.S. Nears Racial Milestone" in its June 11, 2010 edition, detailed the demographic shift taking place in the U.S. as the white majority becomes a white minority. According to the article, as soon as 2011, could see the white majority of European descent becoming the white minority - which incidentally has already happened in anchor states such as California and Texas.

Interesting statistics from the Wall Street Journal article include:

• Traditional minorities made up 35% of the U.S. population between July 2008 and July 2009, up from 31% in 2000, according to Census numbers
• Hispanics accounted for 54.7% of the total population increase between July 2008 and July 2009, with two thirds of that growth coming from births
• Among Hispanics, there were approximately nine births for every death, among whites it was almost a one-to-one ratio

What effect will this majority/minority shift have on politics, economics and workplace diversity training? How will we shift the emphasis we put on diversity as it relates to ethnicity? Will age, socioeconomic status, or other factors come more into play more than they have in recent iterations of diversity in the workplace? And, will affirmative action as we know it become a dead issue? Or, will voters blocks become the influencing factor in U.S politics and education? What will this mean for U.S. businesses and organizations? Only time will tell, and we'll know soon as we watch this play out here in the U.S.

Trainer's Toolchest provides a wide variety of diversity and inclusion educational and learning tools. We carry the classic A Tale of O, a program originally designed to focus on tokenism. Without ethnicity or gender specified, the "O" could easily be any group or groups of individuals in the workplace based on race, national origin, gender, socioeconomic status, or political affiliation. It's a wonderful resource to enhance continued awareness on majority/minority issues. Diverse Teams at Work (based on the book by Lee Gardenswartz and Anita Rowe) looks at the layers of diversity that make up us all. It's a timeless tool for creating a deeper understanding of the diversity that exists within us all and reminder that diversity is more than what we see on the surface.

Morris Massey And Socialization

I recently rewatched the latest program by Dr. Morris Massey, entitled What You Are Is Where You Where When...Again!

Dr. Morris Massey, with a keen interest in management and human relations, has distilled and delineated three life periods during which values development takes place. According to Wikipedia, these include:

The Imprint Period
Up to the age of seven, we are like sponges, absorbing everything around us and accepting much of it as       true,    especially when it comes from our parents. The confusion and blind belief of this period can also lead to the early formation of trauma and other deep problems. The critical thing here is to learn a sense of right and wrong, good and bad. This is a human construction which we nevertheless often assume would exist even if we were not here (which is an indication of how deeply imprinted it has become).

The Modeling Period
Between the ages of eight and thirteen, we copy people, often our parents, but also other people. Rather than blind acceptance, we are trying on things like suit of clothes, to see how they feel.We may be much impressed with religion or our teachers. You may remember being particularly influenced by junior school teachers who seemed so knowledgeable—maybe even more so than your parents. 

The Socialization Period
Between 13 and 21, we are very largely influenced by our peers. As we develop as individuals and look for ways to get away from the earlier programming, we naturally turn to people who seem more like us.Other influences at these ages include the media, especially those parts which seem to resonate with our the values of our peer groups.

The media-based training package, What You Are Is Where You Where When...Again! provides an adult learning view of Massey's work with an eye for human relations in the workplace. Many working people have not been exposed to this information in this context or format. And, yet the values development progression as provided by Massey benefits anyone looking for a better understanding of people and in the process; improve their work environment, ramp up conflict identification and resolution skills, and enhance understanding of generational values, issues and management skills in the workplace.