If you are talking about hiring a CEO for a company, then MAYBE the pool of qualified candidates is so small that all you have are white males. In that instance, hiring a minority results in lower performance. Even in that instance, I don't buy it. It's even less true if you are hiring a lowly engineer coming out of college. For those positions, there are a number of equally qualified candidates. So choosing a minority will not hurt the company. If anything, it makes the company stronger because diversity = more perspectives. Between equally capable candidates, hiring managers tend to pick the one that they think fits into the group's culture better. So unconciously, they are hiring more white males into a white male dominated company. So in order to break the mold, they have to make a concious effort to consider the QUALIFIED minority candidates.
Nobody is talking about hiring unqualified minority candidates.
Apple is becoming one of the most political correct companies out there since Cook has come into his own as CEO. Hire the best person for the job regardless of their skin color, gender, sex, etc. what's next, is Apple going to start asking people to supply their religious and political views?
Diversity introduces wider opinions, more world experience, broader appeal.
The fact that you don't understand that is a racist statement says more than I can ever say about subject. Just because someone is of a different ethnic background or gender doesn't necessarily mean you will get significantly different "opinions" or "experiences". It is all about how they were raised and educated.
The only way to hire someone is to select the best, most qualified candidate for the job. Period. If a company isn't happy with the diversity of candidates, about the only thing they can do is try and encourage various groups to take an interest in different areas and seek out education in those areas. Maybe offer scholarships or some such thing. However, I have my doubts that a company acting alone can make a significant difference. Entire industries would have to get on board to make a dent.
How? All other things being equal, how is diversity bad?
Key words: "All other things being equal."
Yes, if everything else is equal, then diversity is fine. The reality is that they're not. First of all, there's not equal proportions of various groups in the general population. Furthermore, being a computer/technology company, Apple needs employees who enjoy technology and are good with it. As a general rule, males fit this description better than women. The same also applies to to other influences such as culture, access to technology to learn it, etc., etc., etc.
Bottom line, all other things are not equal, therefore, diversity for mere diversity's sake is bad. To create such diversity in spite of actual differences in skills, aptitudes, and desires results in bypassing more qualified job applications in order to hire a less qualified one with the result being poorer performance by the company as a whole.
How? All other things being equal, how is diversity bad?
What? How does the word "natural" apply to tech recruitment employment patterns in any way? Diversity is not necessarily natural, sometimes diversity can only happen because of people's efforts at all levels.
Referring back to statement 1, diversity for it's own sake, when all other things are equal, is beneficial. Diversity introduces wider opinions, more world experience, broader appeal.
Apple don't want to only appeal to old white men.
All things aren't equal, they're clouded by political correctness - Diversity (big D) is bad when it's held higher than merit. "Worldliness" might make you a better travel agent, but probably not a H.264 engineer. Hire the smartest people, diversity will happen in different patterns across different industries. If in this case it's 70% white, so be it.
Unfortunately, this is simply because many programmers and technical people are white men, at least where I am located in Central PA. I would say the next racial population in the tech field is Indian men. I'm not sure why this is the case, other than there's something in our educational system that is not leveling the playing field. It's also not to say that there are not hispanic or black men, or women in the the field, but it's definitely dominated by White and Indian men here. Kinda makes for boring business mixers!
As said by other commenters, diversity for diversity's sake is not a good option. I have friends from South Africa where blacks (that's how they refer to themselves over there so please don't freak on me) are hired just to fulfill quotas. Essentially the government said that since 80% of the population is black, that 80% of the employees in every field should be black. Unfortunately they are hiring people that are not qualified for the jobs since training programs are setup to just get them a license as quickly as possible. This means that those who are qualified are doing extra work and not getting paid for it. Generally, not a good situation and it's causing more racial tension.
What we need is Apple to invest in training and educational programs in school districts that are multicultural. I think if we can encourage students of all races and genders to enter the technology field, it will be a better world!
How? All other things being equal, how is diversity bad?
What? How does the word "natural" apply to tech recruitment employment patterns in any way? Diversity is not necessarily natural, sometimes diversity can only happen because of people's efforts at all levels.
Referring back to statement 1, diversity for it's own sake, when all other things are equal, is beneficial. Diversity introduces wider opinions, more world experience, broader appeal.
Apple don't want to only appeal to old white men.
I think his point is clear.
My question to you is how is it better for a company to hire based on sex or "race" over hiring the best individual for the position?
It's becoming more and more clear to me now that the Beats deal was in fact a racial quota thing. Ugh.
Which statistics are you using to arrive at this conclusion? Apple is laying off over 40% of Beats employees and only keeping those in engineering and creative positions. As far as I know, there is for sure, only one non-white member of the Beats team transitioning to Apple. Unless you can find some stats about Beats Music's racial diversity and in which fields they were in, we have nothing to go on to substantiate your speculation.
Except there are genetic differences between races.
There are genetic differences between family members. Even in the case of identical twins it doesn't mean that they have the same strengths (or weaknesses) in either physical, mental or moral capacity so it still comes back to [@]Suddenly Newton[/@]'s sentiment that "race" is pseudo-science term that really needs to go away.
As a shareholder this concerns me. As malodorous said, diversity for diversity's sake is lazy and harmful. I am not only a shareholder but a former employee, and I can attest to the fact that the VAST majority of applicants to Apple are white males. However, hiring was always more diverse. At our store 30% of the employees were gay, a significant portion were asian, and there was still representation for nearly every other ethnic group.
There is nothing wrong with diversity, but there is a a lot wrong with discrimination. If the majority of white or male applicants are passed over simply because Apple wishes to create a more diverse work force, then that in itself is discrimination and is thus wrong. I sincerely hope that is not the direction Apple is heading.
You are turning a blind eye the fact that are circumstances in society preventing smart and qualified people from being seen or applying to Apple.
Can you be more specific, instead of making a ridiculous broad-brush statement? Why should this be? Are they uninformed about Apple? Illiterate? Do they lack the motivation to find out?
Comments
Okay. Prove it.
Oh, wait. No one said anything like that.
Thank you for continuing to prove you do not read posts before replying to them.
Nobody is talking about hiring unqualified minority candidates.
Why are there not more white players in the NBA? Granted, they might not be as qualified- but hey- we need diversity.
[SIZE=6]100%[/SIZE]
[SIZE=4]Homo Sapiens[/SIZE]
Not so easy to say if you lived through descrimination as a minority. Not getting hired even though you are more qualified, ect.
Yeah, see, this isn’t what I said at all. Try again.
100%
Homo Sapiens
Except there are genetic differences between races.
Diversity introduces wider opinions, more world experience, broader appeal.
The fact that you don't understand that is a racist statement says more than I can ever say about subject. Just because someone is of a different ethnic background or gender doesn't necessarily mean you will get significantly different "opinions" or "experiences". It is all about how they were raised and educated.
The only way to hire someone is to select the best, most qualified candidate for the job. Period. If a company isn't happy with the diversity of candidates, about the only thing they can do is try and encourage various groups to take an interest in different areas and seek out education in those areas. Maybe offer scholarships or some such thing. However, I have my doubts that a company acting alone can make a significant difference. Entire industries would have to get on board to make a dent.
-kpluck
How? All other things being equal, how is diversity bad?
Key words: "All other things being equal."
Yes, if everything else is equal, then diversity is fine. The reality is that they're not. First of all, there's not equal proportions of various groups in the general population. Furthermore, being a computer/technology company, Apple needs employees who enjoy technology and are good with it. As a general rule, males fit this description better than women. The same also applies to to other influences such as culture, access to technology to learn it, etc., etc., etc.
Bottom line, all other things are not equal, therefore, diversity for mere diversity's sake is bad. To create such diversity in spite of actual differences in skills, aptitudes, and desires results in bypassing more qualified job applications in order to hire a less qualified one with the result being poorer performance by the company as a whole.
How? All other things being equal, how is diversity bad?
What? How does the word "natural" apply to tech recruitment employment patterns in any way? Diversity is not necessarily natural, sometimes diversity can only happen because of people's efforts at all levels.
Referring back to statement 1, diversity for it's own sake, when all other things are equal, is beneficial. Diversity introduces wider opinions, more world experience, broader appeal.
Apple don't want to only appeal to old white men.
All things aren't equal, they're clouded by political correctness - Diversity (big D) is bad when it's held higher than merit. "Worldliness" might make you a better travel agent, but probably not a H.264 engineer. Hire the smartest people, diversity will happen in different patterns across different industries. If in this case it's 70% white, so be it.
Unfortunately, this is simply because many programmers and technical people are white men, at least where I am located in Central PA. I would say the next racial population in the tech field is Indian men. I'm not sure why this is the case, other than there's something in our educational system that is not leveling the playing field. It's also not to say that there are not hispanic or black men, or women in the the field, but it's definitely dominated by White and Indian men here. Kinda makes for boring business mixers!
As said by other commenters, diversity for diversity's sake is not a good option. I have friends from South Africa where blacks (that's how they refer to themselves over there so please don't freak on me) are hired just to fulfill quotas. Essentially the government said that since 80% of the population is black, that 80% of the employees in every field should be black. Unfortunately they are hiring people that are not qualified for the jobs since training programs are setup to just get them a license as quickly as possible. This means that those who are qualified are doing extra work and not getting paid for it. Generally, not a good situation and it's causing more racial tension.
What we need is Apple to invest in training and educational programs in school districts that are multicultural. I think if we can encourage students of all races and genders to enter the technology field, it will be a better world!
I think his point is clear.
My question to you is how is it better for a company to hire based on sex or "race" over hiring the best individual for the position?
Which statistics are you using to arrive at this conclusion? Apple is laying off over 40% of Beats employees and only keeping those in engineering and creative positions. As far as I know, there is for sure, only one non-white member of the Beats team transitioning to Apple. Unless you can find some stats about Beats Music's racial diversity and in which fields they were in, we have nothing to go on to substantiate your speculation.
That's a pretty racist thing for Cook to say. So much for "open mindedness."
Apple's employment demographics generally line up with the demographics of California, but with a higher number of Asian.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_California
I think the bigger issue other than race is while females are not more represented since that's typically a 50/50 split!
There are genetic differences between family members. Even in the case of identical twins it doesn't mean that they have the same strengths (or weaknesses) in either physical, mental or moral capacity so it still comes back to [@]Suddenly Newton[/@]'s sentiment that "race" is pseudo-science term that really needs to go away.
There is nothing wrong with diversity, but there is a a lot wrong with discrimination. If the majority of white or male applicants are passed over simply because Apple wishes to create a more diverse work force, then that in itself is discrimination and is thus wrong. I sincerely hope that is not the direction Apple is heading.
You are turning a blind eye the fact that are circumstances in society preventing smart and qualified people from being seen or applying to Apple.
Can you be more specific, instead of making a ridiculous broad-brush statement? Why should this be? Are they uninformed about Apple? Illiterate? Do they lack the motivation to find out?
But you know there is greater genetic variability within races than between - sooooo.
Seriously?!