Why would a family company in Blair County be looking for people who speak Spanish or Chinese?

Because that company wants to sell its products overseas.

DIVERSITY MATTERS
A Special Report

Exploring efforts to build a culture of inclusion that reflects our community.

• Strengthening diversity adds multiple perspectives to corporate issues
• Experience guides diversity officer's efforts to go beyond traditional programs
• City's outreach efforts build for the future
• Multicultural Arts Initiative's new director broadens perspectives
• Commentary: Benefits of diversity outweigh the fears it evokes
• Understanding is key to marketing to different demographics
• Bridging generation gaps brings more folks into the fold
• State forced to confront growing Latino population
• White men are often missing from discussions about diversity (with video)
• Commentary: Companies benefit by developing more inclusive work environments

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And why would the designers of a video-conferencing system want to have women on their team? Because if they had, they would have realized right away that women have higher pitched voices so the system would have been designed so it could focus on both women and men when they spoke, instead of just men.

Those were just a couple of examples that Jeria Quesenberry, an assistant teaching professor at Carnegie Mellon University, cites to show how diversity helps business.

"Bringing together people from diverse backgrounds leads to creative thinking and innovations," she said.

That video-conference system had been designed by a team of engineers, all men, to immediately focus the camera on whoever was speaking. But, when put to use, it would not work when a woman was speaking because women's voices have a higher pitch.

Ms. Quesenberry is now working with the Western Pennsylvania Diversity Initiative to look at the economic benefits of diversity as part of the "Human Capital Infrastructure Project."

Fostering diversity is a lot more than hiring people of different races. In Blair County, where Ms. Quesenberry's husband worked for the Altoona-Blair County Development Corp., a report on the diversity of the region, which was 99 percent caucasian, was expanded to include age diversity.

At UPMC, the management isn't looking at just the staff to be diverse, but also its suppliers.

Rob DeMichiei, the chief financial officer for the medical center, said UPMC has a program of working with small companies that meet the center's diversity goals and helping to bring them along. He said that helps the hospital and by that hiring from a wider pool of people, it also helps the community.

In business, a diverse work force is important to companies that are looking to expand globally.

Ernst & Young, a global accounting firm, takes the concept of diversity seriously.

"We certainly believe that by having a diverse work force we get the best solutions for our clients," said Billie Williamson, a partner in the firm and the inclusiveness officer for the American offices.

She said a diverse team working on a project provides multiple perspectives on any issue.

Ms. Williamson said it was important for companies to be diverse on all levels of the organization, including the corporate management teams and boards of directors.

The different backgrounds of the people at Ernst & Young isn't good for just clients, but it is also helps employees reach their full potential. Ms. Williamson said that starts by making sure everyone is comfortable working there.

"It is absolutely critical that we treat each other with respect," she said.

That respect has to carry over to all areas of difference, from race, to religion and, particularly this fall, to politics.

Ms. Williamson said there are always discussions about differences. "We encourage our people to do it."

In this most political of seasons she said even Democrats and Republicans talk about their differences. "We have robust discussions, and we can laugh about it, but nobody here is going to tell you how to vote. … We're not changing anybody's beliefs. We're not changing who they are."

Ms. Quesenberry, who is doing the diversity research at CMU, said the first stage of the study was to develop and articulate the value of a diverse work force and make the business case to recruit a broad base of workers.

She also is looking at the influences outside of individual companies that make people from diverse backgrounds comfortable.

It's building a bit on the work of Richard Florida, a former CMU professor who wrote "The Rise of the Creative Class," which looked at issues regarding coffee shops and ethnic restaurants and related those to the vibrance of cities. Mr. Florida drew the conclusion that those cities that had a high "Bohemian Index" also did well economically.

What Ms. Quesenberry is going to study at a later phase of her research is the causality of those.

One of the strengths of Pittsburgh, she said, is that it has neighborhoods where members of distinct ethnic groups may want to settle.

"Having a critical mass helps," she said. "But you have to start somewhere."