Leaders丨Business and the culture wars
Jan 11th 2024丨647words丨★★★☆☆
How to cut through the cacophony over DEI
如何消除關於多元性、平等性與包容性（DEI）的喧囂
Outrage on right and left obscures both the costs of DEI and the benefits of diversity
左右兩派的憤怒態度掩蓋了DEI的成本和多樣性的益處
What, if anything, should firms do to improve the diversity of their workforce? After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, many bosses felt compelled to act. Partly out of fear of being called out for prejudice, corporate America rushed to embrace diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) schemes. By 2022 three-quarters of the S&P 500 had a chief diversity officer; more than two-fifths of listed firms set targets to increase the racial diversity of their workforce. Now many think the pendulum has swung too far.
如果需要的話，企業應該采取哪些措施來提高其員工的多樣性呢？在2020年喬治·佛洛伊德被謀殺後，許多公司感到必須要采取行動了。部份原因是擔心被指控存在偏見，美國企業急忙接受了多元化、公平胡包容（DEI）計劃。到 2022 年，標普500 指數中3/4的公司任命了多元化主管；超過2/5的上市公司制定了提高員工種族多元化的目標。現在，許多人認為對於多樣性的關註和重視太過了。
Now many think the pendulum has swung too far. 「很多人認為鐘擺已經搖擺得太過極端。」 起源於鐘擺的物理原理。鐘擺是由一個懸掛在支點上的重物組成，當被推動或拉動後，會以一定的頻率在兩個極點之間往復擺動。這種運動方式被用作隱喻，用來形容一種事物或情況在兩個極端之間反復波動。
常用來描述各種領域中的變化或傾向。它強調了一個問題或政策出現了過度修正或不平衡的情況，需要進行調整或重新平衡。
The resignation of Claudine Gay, a black woman, as president of Harvard University has ignited a broader debate about merit and identity. Bill Ackman and Elon Musk, two billionaires, have excoriated DEI for itself being discriminatory. After the Supreme Court’s landmark decision to end affirmative action in university admissions last summer, many activists and politicians increasingly have corporate DEI schemes in their sights.
哈佛黑人女性校長克勞丁·蓋伊辭職，引發了一場關於功績和身份的廣泛討論。比爾·阿克曼和埃隆·馬斯克這兩位億萬富翁痛斥DEI計劃本身就具有歧視性。去年夏天，美國最高法院做出了終止大學招生中的平權行動這一具有裏程碑意義的決定後，許多活動人士和政治家越來越多地關註企業的 DEI 計劃。
As America’s culture wars rage on, bosses are being caught in the middle. Progressives argue that DEI enables companies to do their bit to tackle America’s entrenched inequalities. Conservatives see it as an attack on meritocracy. One side ignores the costs of many DEI schemes, the other ignores the real benefits of diversity. How should businesses cut through the noise?
隨著美國文化戰爭的持續激烈，企業老板們陷入了兩難境地。進步派認為，DEI 可以讓企業為解決美國根深蒂固的不平等問題盡一份力。保守派則認為，這是對精英主義的攻擊。一方（進步派）忽視了許多DEI計劃的成本，另一方（保守派）則忽視了多元化的真正好處。企業應該如何應對這些噪音？
The critics are right that the thinking on DEI is muddy, and that many DEI initiatives are ineffective, even harmful. In 2015 McKinsey, a consultancy, identified a positive correlation between the gender and ethnic diversity of the workforce and firms’ profitability. Although academics have since criticised its methodology, the findings were breathlessly cited by bosses and corporate advisers, and the link was treated as causal and cast-iron. For example, from 2023 NASDAQ required firms listed on its stock exchange to have at least one board member who was not a straight white man—or explain why they do not. It was left to Jesse Fried, a professor at Harvard Law School, to point out that NASDAQ was ignoring scholarship which finds that board diversity can have a negative impact on performance.
許多批評者認為DEI計劃的思維混亂，許多倡議是無效的甚至是有害的。咨詢公司麥肯錫在2015年發現，員工性別和種族多樣性與企業的盈利能力之間存在著正相關關系。盡管此後學術界對其研究方法提出了批評，但該研究結果還是被老板和企業顧問們津津樂道地參照，而且這種聯系被視為因果關系，鐵板釘釘。例如，從 2023 年起，納斯達克（NASDAQ）要求在其證券交易所上市的公司至少有一名董事會成員不是異性戀白人，或者解釋為什麽沒有的原因。然而，哈佛大學法學院教授傑西·弗瑞德指出，納斯達克忽視了研究發現董事會多元化可能對業績產生負面影響的學術成果。
Diversity schemes often fail. Sometimes this betrays bad faith: firms with a discrepancy between their words and actions are often accused of 「diversity washing」. Some schemes are well-meant but ineffective. Research by Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev showed that diversity training programmes fail to reduce bias. In the worst instances, DEI initiatives backfire. Targets can be seen as quotas, which undermine the principle of fair competition and cast a shadow over minorities who do well under them. Other research shows that adding equal-employment statements to job advertisements can put minority candidates off applying. No wonder support for votes on social issues at annual general meetings is draining away.
多元化計劃經常失敗。有時，這暴露了公司不誠實行為：言行不一的公司往往被指責為 "多元化洗白"。有些計劃的出發點是好的，但卻沒有效果。法蘭克·多賓和亞歷山卓·卡萊夫的研究表明，多元化培訓計劃無法減少偏見。在最糟糕的情況下，DEI倡議會適得其反。目標可能會被視為配額制，破壞了公平競爭的原則，並給在這些制度下表現出色的少數群體蒙上陰影。其他研究表明，在招聘廣告中加入平等就業的聲明會讓少數族裔候選人放棄申請。難怪支持在年度大會上就社會問題進行投票的人越來越少了。
「蒙上陰影」cast a shadow over minorities
因為配額制度暗示著這些人只是因為符合特定身份而受到重視，而不是基於他們的能力和成就。這可能會削弱他們的成就感和公正競爭的原則，並且使他們的成功變得有爭議。
The case for diversity does not need dressing up in pseudoscience. The simple reason for businesses and their shareholders to care about recruiting people from a broad range of backgrounds is that they want the most able people. Mr Musk and Mr Ackman are both successful businessmen: they too want to assemble the best possible teams.
推崇多元化不需要用偽科學來包裝。企業及其股東之所以關心從各種背景中招募人才，原因很簡單，那就是他們想要最有能力的人。馬斯克和阿克曼都是成功的商人：他們也希望組建最優秀的團隊。
圖源：foxbusiness
Opus DEI
Diversity should be a spur to looking far and wide for talent, no matter someone’s gender, race or sexual orientation. A firm convinced that it is overlooking the best candidates from a particular demographic cohort, for example, could choose to lengthen its shortlists to include more from that group. That will not mechanically create workforces that mirror the population, but it can maximise talent and diversity of thought. Quotas, by contrast, have the perverse effect of narrowing the search by excluding talent. As with so many areas touched by the culture wars, the row over DEI has become muddle-headed. The clear, simple argument for diversity is being drowned out. ■
無論性別、種族或性取向如何，多樣性都應成為廣納賢才的動力。例如，如果一家公司認為自己忽略了來自某一特定人口群體的最佳人選，那麽它可以擴大候選名單範圍，讓更多來自該群體的人加入進來。這樣做並不會機械地創造出與人口結構相匹配的員工隊伍，但卻能最大限度地發揮人才的作用，實作思想的多元化。相比之下，配額制度會有逆向效應，排除了一些優秀的人才，從而縮小了搜尋範圍。與許多受到文化戰爭影響的領域一樣，關於DEI的爭論變得混亂不清，使得明確簡單的多樣性論點被淹沒了。
探討「Opus DEI」
從 語言學角度 來看，"Opus"是拉丁語，意為「工作」或「職責」。這個詞是一個單數名詞，它強調個人在完成自己的職責和義務時所做的努力。「Dei」也是拉丁語，意為「上帝」的。因此，「Opus Dei」可以被理解為「上帝的工作」或「上帝的職責」。
從 宗教角度 來看，Opus Dei 一個天主教的宗教組織；Opus Dei的目標是透過普通人日常生活中的工作、家庭和社會責任來追求聖德，並將基督教信仰融入到日常生活中。Opus Dei強調世俗化，即在世俗生活中追求聖德，而不是專門從事宗教職業。
宗教與DEI相結合，DEI為多元、平等與包容（ diversity, equity and inclusion）的縮寫。在企業組織中推動多元、平等與包容的實踐，不僅是一項日常任務，更是一種崇高、近乎神聖的事業「愛、尊重和關懷是其價值觀」。這表明DEI領域的工作具有深遠的重要性，甚至可視為一種道德或精神上的召喚。
這種精妙的理念融合，暗示著在組織中追求多元、平等與包容是一項重大且有意義的努力，更是高層次的使命或任務。
英文取自【經濟學人】官網，部份圖源網路，侵刪
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