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Partners for Workplace Diversity Kick Off Month of Events
By George NelsonLORDSTOWN, Ohio -- If it was considered a low-priority issue in corporate America before, diversity is now considered a "hard issue" that gets more attention at General Motors, a GM executive said Friday morning."Historically among business, diversity has been a soft issue but people are recognizing in business circles how important it is to reach markets that are diverse," said Gregory S. Hall, manager of corporate relations with GM's Public Policy Center. Hall was the featured speaker at the 2004 Diversity Works breakfast held at GM's Lordstown Complex.The program kicked off one month of events coordinated by the Partners for Workplace Diversity, an alliance of area organizations dedicated to developing diversity initiatives for their own needs and for the community at large. It was co-sponsored by GM Lordstown, United Auto Workers local 1112 and 1714, and Youngstown State University.After a brief update on Cavalier production for the gathered GM employees and community leaders --the last one is expected to come off the line late Tuesday or early Wednesday -- Maureen Midgley, Lordstown complex manager, remarked that diversity now means more to people than just gender and race, encompassing religion, socioeconomic position and education. She said most experts would agree that United States is further along in understanding the power of diversity than any other nation."As you look around the globe, some of the fights and some of the battles and some of the killing that's going on goes back for centuries," she said. "Our diversity goes back to the very beginning of our nation, and if you truly believe that diversity is power, then that would explain why the United States is one of the most successful and powerful nations." Darwin Cooper, UAW Local 1112 vice president, affirmed the value of diversity, particularly that found in the Mahoning Valley. "It is strength, it is power. It is what drives us forward," he observed.Hall, whose role with GM deals with philanthropy -- "specifically working in the areas of volunteerism or civic engagement" -- said he can't think of "a more exciting way to celebrate diversity than through acts of volunteerism, because you can't really perform an act of volunteerism without having a relationship with somebody, and in many cases it's a relationship with somebody that's not like you."Hall said one of the more interesting ideas set forth in a book he is reading, The Wisdom of Crowds, is that people who are differentiated from one another actually produce the best ideas and the best decisions when they are brought together. Having too many like-minded individuals, he observed, results in fiascoes such as the Bay of Pigs in the early 1960s.He also discussed a program that will be held next week at the Lordstown plant through GM's diversity program that will bring together interested individuals in what he called "reciprocity rings." He cited a Harvard study that indicates civic engagement in the United States, "a country that's built on connectivity," has declined 30% to 50% since 1960. "There's various reasons for that, but we're going to try to use this reciprocity ring to re-establish some of that connectivity and bring you value as an individual," he said. Each member of the reciprocity ring will go through a facilitated activity to help identify a personal and professional need, and the ring will help solve both issues. "In the process you will build relationships and you will build connections," he said.Participants will learn about "the power of reciprocity in a facilitated manner" and hopefully learn skills they can take forward to build "a community of trust," Hall explained. Several large companies practice this, he continued, noting that companies that practice this on average save $50,000 per reciprocity ring, and individual participants have saved a total 400 hours of their time by participating.Liz Mock, senior group leader at GM Lordstown, went to Detroit in March to take part in the program, which she described as an "awesome" experience. "It's a team-building activity. It breaks down the barriers of diversity and differences, and you really get to see how you can help people who are absolutely different. ... It actually gives an interconnectivity between differences." She added that she still has contact with people from her Detroit experience.The program at GM Lordstown, which will take place at 9 a.m. Thursday, is aimed at GM workers as well as leaders from the broader community.Visit the Partners for Workplace Diversity at www.cc.ysu.edu/diversity "