Black Lives Matter: Post 4 (Organizations)

Are you looking for business cases to use in your BLM efforts?

Let me provide this: You don’t need one. Here’s why.

Often we hear about how diversity, equity& inclusion(DEI) make good business sense: it drives innovation, improved response to customer needs, etc. These justifications don’t sit well with me because:

1. they assume Whiteness is neutral & the standard, and

2. if they hold 1. to be true, then underrepresented groups are, by logical follow-up, “extras” to organizations.

The implication is that underrepresented groups need superlative justifications to exist & thrive in organizations to the same extent as White people. So, what happens when business cases, specifically the business case for DEI, are not tied to ethical principles & moral foundations?

Authors Laura Morgan Roberts& Mayo state:

‘a “business case” has legitimated exploitative actions throughout history. White landowners argued that the economic welfare of the colonies & the health of a young country depended on keeping black people in chains.’

We cannot ask, “What’s the most lucrative thing to do?”; we must ask, “What’s the right thing to do?”'

Citations:

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=56280

https://hbr.org/cover-story/2019/11/toward-a-racially-just-workplace