Getting Along With Others Impacts the Bottom Line, Business Author Asserts

June 3, 2011 - PRLog -- The author of a newly published eBook with a quirky title – Cash In On Diversity – asserts the more variations of people involved in an organization or business, the more financial success.

“It’s just this simple. Getting along with all kinds of people – working in a highly diversified environment and being aware of diversity management techniques, actually results in better sales revenue, customer numbers and profitability,” Susan Klopfer said, citing academic research and her own informal information gathering experiences as her sources.

Sociologist Cedric Herring recently found that a workforce made up of employees of both genders and varying racial backgrounds resulted in dramatically positive business outcomes, according to Klopfer.

“Herring’s study makes the case for diversity in clear financial terms. He found that companies reporting the highest levels of racial diversity brought in nearly 15 times more sales revenue on average than those with the lowest levels of racial diversity.”

The Illinois sociologist’s study, reported in the April 2009 American Sociological Review (ASR), “actually found racial diversity to be a better determinant of sales revenue and customer numbers than company size, the company's age and the number of employees at any given work location.

“So, getting along with all kinds of people really pays off for business – and it certainly affects the bottom line,” Klopfer said.

In doing her own informal research, Klopfer interviewed dozens of Midwestern business owners and employees, as well as organizational members, noticing that “big businesses often do no better than small organizations when it comes to really understanding diversity, and making use of or managing its benefits.

“Too often, culturally naive managers, even in sophisticated organizations, are responsible for losing millions of dollars due to cultural misunderstandings, which can lead to the mismanagement of employees. Just look at the lawsuits or the business opportunities lost.”

The civil rights author, journalist and professional book editor, is a storyteller and her eBook’s characters reveal unfortunate accounts of “what still goes on in far too many business environments, even when it is inferred through corporate messages via countless blogs, seminars, speeches, books, advertisements and videos that major diversity issues have long been settled.”

Klopfer writes about a young man who wears tasseled shoes to work and is fired by a major pharmaceutical company because he doesn’t “fit in”; another story is of an Island woman living in Iowa who is expected to cook a special meal every year so her cohorts can experience “true” diversity; and, still another story tells about a new employee who is asked to “set up” a “real quick diversity program” (“maybe write a blog or put up a Facebook page”) so the company will look good to its African American customers. “Try to win a diversity prize!” his boss commands.

“Too many organizations still haven’t grasped the ‘platinum standard’ for managing diversity. This means listening and learning from others as to how they wish to be treated and understood, and not assuming you have the answers, stemming from your own personal ideas and values.”

Cash In On Diversity, published by Smashwords (distributor of eBooks to the Apple iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony Reader Store, Kobo and the Diesel eBook Store) blends practical experience with academic findings and provides do-able solutions. The 12 chapter eBook features a diversity and psychology FAQ contributed by a social and clinical psychologist, a discussion of five common diversity mistakes companies make, specific tips for communicating with non-native speakers, an 11-point organizational diversity analysis, the script from Klopfer’s popular diversity webinar, followed by a complete glossary of critical diversity terms (“from Abrahamic religions to xenophobia”).

Klopfer’s interest in diversity comes through her business and civil rights background. She holds a master’s degree in business from Indiana Wesleyan University and an undergraduate degree in communication from Hanover College. The former Missouri journalist and Prentice Hall editor wrote three civil rights books on the Mississippi Delta and also wrote a Book of-the-Month Club alternate selection on personal computing, published by Prentice Hall.

The eBook author resides in Gallup, New Mexico where she recently opened a vintage and southwestern gallery – “a quiet, little shop in a multicultural community where I can write, enjoy art and meet interesting people.”