Langston Hughes (1938) in his great poem “Let America Be America Again” suggests that we, the people, must redeem our nation together. However, when certain citizens are, or perceive themselves to be, excluded, marginalized , ignored, and prevented from achieving their full potential, a nation and, subsequently, its organizations suffer. When did the need to redeem our nation begin? Why is there such controversy when the word “diversity” is mentioned in American society and/or the workplace?
The psychology of heuristic and bias can and has been used to explain why individuals are not accepting of others’ differences in the workplace. The stereotyping heuristic, in-group bias, and group attribution error are all starting points for this line of thought. There is something distinctly human about failing to recognize the value of diversity, and historical examples abound of where humans have consistently demonstrated that failure (e.g. Holocaust, Slavery, Colonialism, Apartheid, and Southern US Segregation Laws). That failure is likely rooted psychologically in a few key biases and heuristics. The best leaders are cognizant of those biases and heuristics and mitigate their effect, while wise organizations actively promote environments that assist in avoiding those biases and heuristics. Manifest destiny is a great example of the potentially negative and unabated outcome of those biases and heuristics.
Manifest Destiny
According to DNA evidence, the entire human race genetically originated from a few people in Africa. Yet, human beings appear stoically dedicated to being different from each other and segregating themselves based upon some personal characteristic. The primary characteristic has been race, but gender, ethnicity, religion, and other characteristics are not protected from discrimination either. Racism has been an ugly part of human history for century upon century and there still appears to be no resolution to the problem today. The root of diversity began with racism. However, for those who are looking for a book about race, this may not be the book for you. Diversity means difference and race is one difference found among people that make up society and the American workplace, but it is not the only difference and that may have been the goal of those who introduced the term “diversity” into the workplace in an attempt to replace Affirmative Action (AA). They created an environment of confusion. In some ways they have succeeded and reduced the progress that could have been made by those who have been, and continue to be, discriminated against because of their race. However, they cannot and will not be allowed to win because of the chaos and misunderstandings that have been stimulated. Diversity intelligence (DQ) is the answer to resolve the abundance of ignorance, confusion, and chaos in American society and the workplace. Creating a knowledge structure that supports difference and eliminates ignorance, confusion, and chaos is required.
The concept of diversity within the diversity movement away from AA can be traced to the idea of manifest destiny which originated in the eighteenth century (Gómez 2007; Horsman 1981; Pratt 1927; Stefancic 2011). America’s imperial age focused on a two-part political ideology of American Exceptionalism and manifest destiny. American Exceptionalism meant that the people who discovered America believed that they were God’s chosen people, and manifest destiny meant that they were supposed to control the North American continent from and spread American citizens over the North American continent (Pratt 1927; Stefancic 2011; Woodward 2011). Manifest destiny was used to perpetuate the idea that Americans were superior to all other people (Gómez 2007; Horsman 1981; Mehan 1996; Stefancic 2011). Individuals who spread and continue to spread the idea of manifest destiny believed that they must convert others to the American way of life. The manifest destiny quest is founded upon and rooted in a white, colonial mindset whose aim was and is to neutralize difference across the people represented in North America. Basically, a quest for an all-white leadership, forever, that diminishes all other races of people. Everyday life activities, including activities in the workplace, are based on racial distinctions and has led to the unsubstantiated marginalization of many people. Manifest destiny was used to say that all blacks, for example, had inferior intellectual/mental intelligence (IQ) (Stern 1912) . While many of manifest destiny proponents’ premises have been debunked (Chua and Rubenfeld 2014), many of the remnants still proliferate throughout American society and workplaces. Some Americans still seek to maintain homogeneity in the workplace and specifically in executive leadership roles.
The concept of manifest destiny is not unique to America (Schlesinger 2005). America’s manifest destiny is but one example of human’s tendency for biases and heuristic errors. For example, the expansion of the British monarchy during the age of Imperialism or the expansion of the Roman Empire are two examples of previous peoples’ attempts at instilling sameness in disparate groups. German Lebensraum, the Soviets, British, Mongols, and Romans also have their own version of manifest destiny.
Manifest destiny is appropriate and relevant as I develop this theory of DQ in American society and, specifically, the American workplace because of America’s role in the globalization and salad bowl mixing of the workplace. Manifest destiny has been suggested as too specific for this theory because of my suggestion that Americans who support manifest destiny feel that they must convert others to the American way. The transhistorical and global phenomenon called “imperial instinct” that insists on colonizing, occupying, and othering other people may provide a better explanation of the conversion process, but manifest destiny is the root concept for creating difference. According to Schlesinger (2005)
Manifest destiny and imperialism both helped to create diverse populations and are obviously the source of intercultural misunderstandings in world history and the workplace. Many diverse Americans such as Native Americans, African Americans, Cuban Americans, Marshallese Americans, Vietnamese Americans, Hawaiians, Alaskans, Puerto Ricans, European Americans, Mexican Americans, and others came into existence because of the white Americans’ quest for manifest destiny (Gómez 2007; Horsman 1981). These Americans’ identities are not simply a result of the mixing of two peoples (e.g. Mexican Americans) under the colonial conquest of Hispanic territories. It is to say that manifest destiny created entirely new non-hybrid identities and some mixing of peoples. When I talk about the different groups, Mexican Americans, Marshallese Americans, and others, I am saying that because of America’s expansion of manifest destiny within and beyond North America to spread democracy across the world, they intentionally and sometimes unintentionally created diversity. When they polluted the Marshall Islands with atomic bomb testing, nuclear waste, the Marshallese people were forced to leave their islands for health reasons and become Americans. The results of wars started by America’s quest also forced many other populations, including the Vietnamese, Syrians, Cubans, Iraqis, and others, to become ethnic minorities in this country and as protected class groups when they enter the workforce. I would suggest that the societal, generalizable definition of diversity be as follows: The product of one’s origin and white Americans’ quest for manifest destiny. In some instances, one’s origin may have been a result of Americans’ quest for manifest destiny.“Imperialism” did not appear as a word until the nineteenth century. Its first application was not to overseas expansion but to the domestic pretensions of Napoleon III, emperor of France. As late as 1874, when Walter Bagehot wrote “Why an English Liberal May Look Without Disapproval on the Progress of Imperialism in France,” he referred to France’s internal polity, not to its foreign policy. The contemporary meaning of imperialism as the domination of distant peoples appeared toward the end of the nineteenth century. (p. 43)
In addition to all the subcultures in America, Woodward (2011, 2013) suggested that there are 11 different American Nations within the USA. Why is it that we have all these types or subcultures of Americans and 11 identifiable American Nations as opposed to everyone just being American? I would suggest that if this question were not needed, there would be little need for the many definitions of diversity that exist. Every group, including families, have their own definition of diversity—they are diverse because everyone is a different age; however, for workplace purposes, the federal government has provided another generalizable definition of diversity known as protected class groups of employees. These are groups of people the government has deemed at risk for marginalization based on some aspect(s) of who they are. Therefore, in the context of this book, the protected class groups will be used to frame the readers’ understanding of diversity in the workplace. Workplace leaders should have DQ to effectively lead people from protected classes.
Throughout my educational and life experiences, I have witnessed or learned about how leaders manipulate classifications of people to perpetuate their personal desires. One instance of the most interesting and educational information that I obtained was the knowledge of the many classifications of Asian Americans that the American government uses. The American government designates what are considered to be the “good” African nations and classify their citizens as Asian, although they are not even on the same continent. The American government, by doing this, has all but eliminated the opportunity for self-assessment and growth by its citizens to accept those different than themselves and where they originate. There will always be individuals telling you how you should act, what you should think and do; but there is nothing better for you than original thought and action because everyone is different and should be appreciated for that difference. America is full of individuals with utopian ideas and experiments. These forced associations take away the will of the people to be able to truly understand others.
What Is DQ?
In this book, DQ is a new term, coined by me in 2014, and is defined within the context of the American workplace because there is currently no consistently ac...