links for 2008-01-23

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  1. Most Diversity Training Ineffective, Study Finds

    I don’t quite follow the logic there:

    1) The goal of typical diversity programs is to insulate against lawsuits while providing employment for diversity trainers. Presumably they are cost-effective in this.

    2) They are ineffective, as measured by counting heads.

    3) Instead, voluntary programs emphasizing business benefits should be used.

    4) Those are effective, as measured by counting heads.

    So, programs that accomplish the desired result, A, are bad because they don’t accomplish B. Instead, people should be told that a different program will accomplish C, not because its proponents know or care whether that’s true, but because saying so does accomplish B!

    It may not sound like it, but I’m largely in sympathy with Alexandra Kalev and company, certainly as compared to the alternative. But an honest discussion about these issues seems as alien to them as it is to their rivals.

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