Increasing Diversity in the Business World
The world is a diverse place, and doing business across the globe is no longer the purview of only the largest companies. That means companies of all sizes, and in all industries, need to be able to market to an ever-diversifying population of consumers. More importantly, companies need to be able to engage with consumers from any number of backgrounds and do so in a relatable and sensitive way.
To do this successfully, businesses will need to pull from a pool of candidates with a large diversity. These candidates must be professionals with a broad set of backgrounds that can help craft sensible strategies for engaging with consumers, especially when those consumers likely do not reflect the demographics currently seen in the executive levels of the country’s largest companies. Having people from many different demographics helps organizations avoid unintentionally offensive messaging or marketing and makes their products or services more accessible (and palatable) to a broader audience.
Having a Lack of Diversity Can Lead Your Business Astray
The effects of this are most easily seen in marketing or other business areas that face the public. For example, had there been greater diversity on the creative team at H&M, they probably would not have made an extremely controversial ad featuring a black child wearing a hoodie emblazoned with the words “coolest monkey in the jungle.”
But that’s just one example of many where a company shot itself in the proverbial foot with unintentionally offensive or tone-deaf advertising. With more diversity throughout the company, it’s far more likely that someone will recognize problematic messaging and put a stop to it before it can become a problem.
Diversity Begins in Graduate Education
Another benefit of supporting increased diversity centers around the ideas that each employee enters the company with. Regardless of gender, race, or ethnicity, each individual brings something unique to the table — their own perspective and insights shaped by their own individual background. These unique ideas all begin in graduate education!
In the end, diversity in graduate education means more than the color of one’s skin or their gender. It means having a wide range of experiences that can help businesses meet today’s consumer’s needs. It means having more ideas — and more importantly, more diverse ideas — that help propel organizations forward. It means bringing the organization to new thoughts and processes that help the company improve in every way.
Diversity and Education: A Winning Combination
But diversity alone is not enough. Companies still need to hire people who are well-read, smart as a whip, and ready to succeed. Those people are graduate students at schools like The Citadel Military College of South Carolina. When the benefits of a graduate education are open to students of every ethnicity and gender, leading to a pool of highly qualified and diverse candidates, everyone can have their cake and eat it, too.
More students benefit from the knowledge they gain throughout their time as graduate students, schools benefit by having more diverse viewpoints and ideas discussed in their classes, and organizations benefit from having a stronger, more qualified workforce that represents a greater variety of cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives.
The good news is that graduate education is moving away from being dominated by Caucasian men and offering more students the opportunity to gain the knowledge, skills, analytical abilities, and social/cultural awareness needed to attain successful managerial careers in today’s global society.
Get Your Graduate Education From The Citadel
More universities are discovering the benefits of diversity in graduate education and are making strides toward making education more accessible. The Citadel MBA program at The Tommy & Victoria Baker School of Business recognizes the importance of diversity in graduate education and is proud to put that commitment into practice.
The greater flexibility offered by our online classes allows working professionals to further their education and reach high levels of achievement in a way that meets their needs. If you’re interested in pursuing an MBA and making a difference in the world of business, please contact us today.
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