Vital Signs: the pros and cons of diversity in organisations

By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW

Breaking down the old boys’ club in business, government and other organisations is intrinsically important. Ensuring greater diversity in organisations – on gender, racial, ethnic and other lines – is, simply put, the right thing to do.

But some advocates of greater diversity make an extra claim: that it improves the quality of decisions, and hence an organisation’s performance. Do the right thing and increase profits or effectiveness. What’s not to like?

Robust empirical evidence to support this claim – that more diverse organisations perform better – is tricky…

Read complete article

~	Exploring New Zealand’s unique wildlife and learning about conservation efforts

~	Uzbekistan’s new vehicle import regulations risk strengthening its most notorious monopoly

~	Reporters Without Borders releases 10 facts about media repression in Hong Kong

~	What’s the job of a company chair? South Africa’s rules aren’t clear and need fixing

~	Four major threats to press freedom in the UK

~	Five tales of violent, ambitious, brilliant women – what you should watch and read this week

~	How one 18th-century sermon triggered England’s first celebrity crush – with merchandise

~	The EU’s new ecocide law may still let environmental criminals get away with it

~	Supermarket Iceland is producing a manifesto on behalf of customers – but should retailers meddle in politics?

~	Gut microbiome: meet E coli – the infamous bacteria with an unfair reputation