This comes up in diversity topics here a lot and is used as a counterpoint to current diversity initiatives. What does this mean in a practical sense? What would it look like and how would companies achieve this - HR tracks your worldview? Or, is it just a silly meme from people who want to play the victim because their ideas are unpopular?
Usually from right wing nutjobs when they can’t stomach seeing women or people of color.
This
Typically it’s used to mean diverse political opinions colloquially (liberal vs conservative vs progressive), but it can also mean people from radically different economic backgrounds, educational backgrounds, life experiences, and expertise. So let’s say you have someone on your team who was a college teacher, vs everyone else who was a lawyer, and you’re making a word processor. The college teacher brings an entirely unique perspective vs. the lawyers, because they have radically different needs out of the same product, and need an entirely different feature set, pricing model, and so on - and it opens a new, large market. The argument can also be made that hiring people who can actually research the needs of their potential customers without inserting their own biases into the mix also works. That is, people who have broad perspectives and not tunnel-vision. The trick then is making sure that their voices are heard and not ignored by management for expediency/time-to-market reasons. That’s basically it in a nutshell. The problem is one measure of diversity is easy to assess - it’s literally skin deep, and relies on stereotypes about backgrounds and education levels and lived experiences (including racist stereotypes, although there’s some merit to it). The other measure is harder because it’s less tangible and requires a lot more work to assess.
Ok, I don’t think liberalism and conservatism are very politically diverse, but for the sake of argument, how would this political diversity be achieved in practical terms? Would you need to take an ideological test when applying for a job?
Not my circus, not my monkeys. As I said, it’s more intangible and harder to filter for - and political stance is just one element. I’m just explaining the argument, not proposing a solution or taking a stance.
Ideological diversity is the opposite of what you get when you lynch everyone who doesn't conform to your approved worldview. I don't really agree with the whiners who usually complain about this, but they do kinda have a point.
Ok everyone, I know what the two words mean and what they mean together in general. But this term is specifically and politically used by people to counterpose against “diversity initiatives”. So what, practically, is an ideological diversity initiative by a company? Please, pitch how you see this being accomplished?
Oh go on then. Don’t hire massively/get interns from Harvard, Stanford, MIT? Maybe add a few community colleges into the mix? Perhaps include more people who were on financial aid? Select for not quite so aspergers/autistic spectrum traits?
Ok, I have no issue with that. But none of those are specifically ideological. Isn’t that class and thought-process developmental difference, not world-view?
First, do we need an ideological accounting of every current and prospective employee? What is the methodology? Then who tracks this, HR? How would it work during the hiring process? Would you have to hold those beliefs for a certain length of time before you’d qualify? How would it be measured, what are the goals? What if you’re just contrarian? Is it based on specific named ideological groups?
Simply hire employees from Iran and North Korea.
Ideological Diversity would probably work the same way gender and ethnic diversity works today - by pulling reps from ERGs. People would self-select into groups and then reps from these groups would meet to advocate for access to resources
Its generally the idea that there is more to diversity than just skin color. Just because two people have different ethnicities, doesn't mean they have different cultures or upbringings. And that two people with the same ethnicity could have wildly different mindsets. Generally, the most productive way to get ideological diversity is to make an effort to hire nationally/internationally and pay for relocation. Like don't just hire new grads who went through the CS program in the same few local colleges (Having a bunch of people in an office who had the same professor is generally a bad sign) Now, how HR of a lot of companies handles this can be all over the place, and I feel a lot of HR departments make arbitrary quotas and try to hit it to the detriment of finding capable people. If its done right, you shouldn't even notice it.
It means you gotta hire more Nazis otherwise you're the real Nazi
It means tech companies are different to zoos.
It means people can be racist and not feel bad about it.
Does your use of the term "silly meme" demonstrate intolerance of differing ideologies? :)
It’s a silly meme if no one can actually describe what an initiative around this means in practical terms. Can you?