How the Centers Will Benefit From Inclusion

Besides the requirements of federal law, why should the site managers at these three Senior Citizen Centers be guided by appropriate principles of managing diversity? A page from business helps to appreciate what can be gained:

Ten payoffs for managing diversity well:

1- Attracting and retaining the best available human talent.

2- Increasing organization flexibility.

3- Gaining and keeping greater market share, locally and globally.

4- Reducing costs.

5- Improving the quality of management.

6- Creating and innovating more powerfully.

7- Solving problems more effectively.

8- Increasing productivity.

9- Contributing to social responsibility.

10- The bottom line: increased profits

(Carr-Ruffino, 2003, p. 10).

Managing diversity at the Senior Citizen Centers would include management of employees, volunteers, and patrons. An inclusion philosophy is necessary to attract and retain the best employees and volunteers. Although Davis County is not rich with diversity (only 8%) there are many talents that could be tapped into with an attempt towards inclusion.

When hiring minority members, precedents are set that break down barriers between ethnicities in the community. These employees talk to their peers and can influence them towards participation at the Centers. This may result in more individuals who volunteer to work towards the health and welfare of even more of the older minority members in the community. It is, however, important to provide effective training to employees and volunteers. “Women and minorities can’t become effective members of the culture if they’re continually coping with embarrassing situations. Leaders must spell out standards for social behavior in relationship with these new members” (Carr-Ruffino, 2003, p. 69).

Organization flexibility can be gained by including minority members as employees, volunteers, and clients at the Centers, according to Barak (2000). He contends that organizations need to look beyond their own walls and recognize their impact on the local community and even on the nation. Inclusiveness allows the organization to acquire the viewpoints and understandings of a larger variety of people, not to mention to learn how to market to diverse ethnicities who had not previously been clients. It also helps the organization be a part of the community and gives it more understanding of the issues of the community. For the Senior Citizen Centers, this inclusiveness would directly help in following federal and state laws in the discharge of their duties.

A greater market share is the goal for businesses as they race for profits. Although the Senior Citizen Centers are non-profit governmental agencies, they can still borrow business principles to enhance the effectiveness of their work and to increase the number of people served and serving as volunteers. Giovannini (2004) speaks of the importance of the bottom line of businesses in reference to inclusion of ethnically diverse people. She, like other researchers, makes a strong point of the gains that can be realized by including minorities in the workplace. The most important contribution she makes that will help the Senior Citizen Centers is the name of her article: “What gets measured gets done.” Efforts of inclusion should be measured as to their effectiveness in relation to both employees and clients. Giovannini writes that managers who incorporate inclusiveness in their daily lives will be able to lead in creating behavioral change in the workplace which will, in turn, lead to positive business impacts.

To change an organization, a change in culture is required. The organization must be fully committed to improve its core beliefs. “Role modeling and persuasion are the best methods of leading change, while coercion doesn’t really work at all. When key leaders in all areas and at all levels become committed to change, this critical mass will bring along most other employees in its wake” (Carr-Ruffino, 2003, p. 497).  This change is likely to reduce costs and help solve problems while it increases productivity (increasing the number of older adults that can be served) and improves creativity and innovation at the Centers.

It needs to be recognized that a philosophy of inclusion may run into logistical problems at times. One of the foreseeable difficulties would be in language differences. Having bilingual volunteers would be of great help. Using the ideas presented in an article by Ramsey (2004), the Centers would be wise in using bilingual volunteers to teach English as a Second Language courses. Not only would this improve inclusiveness and help bridge language gaps, but it also would be a means of recruiting other minority persons as they seek to become proficient in English. Offering free English lessons to employees, volunteers, patrons, and to the community would be one way to improve the quality of management at the Centers. It must be recognized that increasing diversity may have downsides which include communication breakdowns and conflicts. “All must face the misunderstanding, communication breakdown, conflict, and even failure that can result when people from widely diverse backgrounds must pull together as a team or at least complete some sort of business transaction” (Carr-Ruffino, 2003, p. 2).

Of course, the Centers need to follow federal law and make sure that all older individuals in the community feel welcome. Deslippe (2004) questions whether “whites have rights.” He and others are suggesting that there is a reverse discrimination effect in this society that is trying for inclusiveness. Deslippe found evidence, as an example, of reverse discrimination among Detroit police officers. Some of the older white population that currently use the Centers may have feelings of being forgotten when inclusiveness is overly stressed.

When balancing the needs of a diverse population, there may be legitimate reasons to treat ethnicities differently. “Non discrimination standards do not necessarily imply equal or similar treatment for all clients. The spirit of this standard implies fair treatment. Fair treatment may dictate differential approaches that recognize the counselor’s limitations and the unique needs of clients…counselors often have to modify their approaches and strategies when working with culturally different clients” (Herlihy and Corey, 1996, p. 200).

By the very nature of the Older Americans Act (1965), the Senior Citizen Centers are mandated to have a primary social responsibility for older adults in the community, whether or not they visit the Center. In discharging this mandate, outreach workers are employed by the Davis County Aging Services to seek out those older individuals who are in need of services and to encourage attendance at the Centers. Those outreach workers could be a major tool in finding ethnic minority members and inviting them to use the Centers. They should be knowledgeable concerning the inclusiveness of each Center and of the activities that are currently being sponsored, especially as it pertains to minority interests.

In any business, the critical measurement is the bottom line of increased profits. In relationship to the three Davis County Senior Citizen Centers, the bottom line will be measured by the ability do more with the funds that are available. This is especially important since federal outlays for Aging are not increasing while the number of older adults is increasing. In the same way that the Centers can learn from inclusiveness to do more with less, the individual elderly person will likely have to learn to do more with less government funding. Inclusiveness will not only help the Centers, but also the clients.