Considering the prominence of diversity in the human resource development literature, both practitioner and scholarly, this article does much to advance our discussions about the effectiveness of diversity training. In general, evaluating the effectiveness of diversity training sessions seems important and timely I find noteworthy of praise four points about the study, which I will briefly present here. First, the authors present a comprehensive review of the diversity literature, representing several different fields. This helps provide a more solid framework for the study. Second, the authors state that the directors of the areas from which the managers were selected supported the diversity initiative. Having such support is an important factor for engaging in such an effort. Third, the authors openly recognize threats to the methodology of the study, both actual and potential. Finally, the measures used seem conceptually sound and supported by the literature. Thus, there is much good to say about the study.
However, when considering how one might transfer diversity skills back to the workplace, one cannot overlook the following five related concerns, which provide the basis for the remainder of my reaction article. First, it might have been helpful if the authors had identified the gender and racial composition of the lower-status employees. The managerial sample was identified as 95 percent white male. The remaining five percent of the managerial sample was presumably composed of women and minorities, though no further information is given in this regard. Research by Tsui, Egan, and O'Reilly (1992) has shown how group composition can influence training outcomes.
Second, concerns may be raised about how the participants were assigned t.0 the training sessions. As stated by the authors, each training session included approximately eight to twelve managers (95 percent white male), joined by approximately eight to twelve women and people of color from lower levels in the organization in order to introduce gender diversity and racial ~~~