Diversity and inclusion

Diversity and inclusion refers to the extent that members, regardless of cultural identity, feel that they can bring their whole selves to an organization in the service of productivity.
Diversity is merely an aggregate of people, while inclusion indicates a sense of shared interest in the welfare of each other and the organization.
Diversity alone is insufficient to promote an inclusive or productive organization. It is also important for members to feel that their identity is embraced. The more members feel that they can offer their whole cultural selves to their organization in the service of productivity, the more likely the organization will create higher results and added value from its diversity. Notice that the definition indicates that not every aspect of a cultural group’s shared practices may lean themselves to the organization’s productivity.
Cultural Competence & inclusion
If heightened inclusion within an organization eventually leads to improved performance, productivity and profitability, why aren't organizations doing more to promote it? In a Washington Post article, Dr. Billy Vaughn, pointed to the overemphasis on using diversity training to put out fires instead of utilizing effective diversity education strategies to make organizations more welcoming. In North America and Western Europe, limiting discussion to diversity, instead of diversity and inclusion, has created perceptions of “preference” and “special favors” for people of color—i.e., Affirmative action.
Underlying affirmative action is the fear, of course, that one group’s deserved power and privileges will be given away unfairly to undeserving . This is the basis of the culture wars in higher education, business, communities, and governmental sectors. Focusing solely on inclusion as a case for a diversity initiative is limited for this reason. Understandably, it is not in the interest of people with privileges to support a system that they see as unfairly taking those privileges away. This is especially true given that most people considered privileged would need to first buy into the idea that they can benefit from sharing their privileges.
So the key is to demonstrate that the privileges people receive under the current social and economic system no longer serve them or their organization well, and that inclusion holds the promise of safeguarding the privileges they enjoy. A common example is the argument made by European Union country leaders that the inclusion of recent immigrants can offset the reality of declining populations that threaten the future of the retirement pension systems. Touting the benefits of cultural competence for effectively negotiating a culturally diverse and global knowledge economy can get the attention of organizational leaders from this win-win perspective.
From Diversity to inclusion
Throughout the 1990's, diversity continued to be about the numbers of different kinds of people in the workforce as a whole and at each level. Diversity staffs tried to increase the number of people of color and women in their organizations. They saw this primarily as a hiring task.During that decade, the definition of diversity expanded. Diversity came to include many dimensions beyond gender and race: age, class, disability, ethnicity, family situation, religion, and sexual orientation. Companies started to pay attention to their representation of all these groups.
It became clear over the years that it was not enough to focus on hiring alone. It became important to retain "diverse" workers, as well. Some organizations were astonished to learn that after years of effort, they had fewer African Americans than they had earlier. Companies became aware that for the most part the upper ranks of their organizations remained heavily white and predominately male. These were the years when companies offered diversity awareness training and diversity skills training to help their newly diverse employees work well together.
Approaches towards achieving Inclusion and Diversity
Various firms have used various ways to implement inclusion and diversity solutions within their organization. Some have build their own inhouse solution to manage diversity and inclusion whereas other firms has hired specialist Inclusion and Diversity solution providers.

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