Abstract
In 2011, Martin Davidson wrote the book, the End of Diversity As We Know It. I was invited to write a review of this book in which I was highly critical of not only the implications, but the “hook” he used in the title. Of course Davidson’s central point was merely another approach to leverage the business case for diversity—not unusual, after all he is a management scholar!
In retrospect, the title of the book was an ironic predictor of the current worldview which has sought to reimagine diversity as a threat. Since diversity simply means difference, it takes a stretch of imagination to view it as a threat. Furthermore, viewing difference as a threat means that business results are minimized given that people must develop working relationships and work across differences to realize optimal, observable business results.
Davidson’s (2012) leveraging difference philosophy makes good business sense, but lacks a human-centered principle that recognizes how people are creators of value and drive the profit-earning results. To achieve value from a workforce that is comprised of multiple socially constructed identities (Byrd & Sparkman, 2022), it is necessary to view difference with radical imagination (Khasnabish & Haiven, 2014). A radical imagination envisions valuing difference as fundamental for developing meaningful relationships among the workforce. A central requirement for this vision must be seeing the value --- not the threat.
In This Issue
This first Issue of Volume 27 makes important contributions to the learning paradigm and human resource development (HRD) education. As emerging research pushes the boundaries of HRD into new arenas, returning to foundational roots of learning and performance for developing people should remain paramount. First, in the research article, “Preparing a Globally Competent Workforce: A Mixed Methods Study of an Innovative Co-curricular University Program,” Cseh et al. problematize the need for human resource development (HRD) educators to develop innovative programs that enrich global competence skills. Valuing difference is represented in this article from the perspective of international students who expressed the importance of studying in contexts that value their diversity.
Next, the article, “Brackish Connections: (Digital) Learning Networks, (Virtual) Communities of Practice, and the Rich Learning-to-Action Pathways of their Combined and Intersecting Existence,” is featured in Insights for HRD Education. In this article, the author, Kari Eller, highlights the overlap between virtual communities of practice (VCoPs) and digital learning networks (DLNs). Eller brings new insights to HRD by building on original concepts of communities of practice and the learning organization.
Using radical imagination, developing people means learning new ways to develop relationships. Developing relationships re-centers difference as creating value and goodness for all.