Downtown San Jose, South Market St, Silicon Valley Image Credit: XAtsukex /Wikimedia Commons
The United States and China may be engaged in a trade war with the threat of exclusionary implications but openness through inclusion and diversity are emerging as key drivers of creativity and productivity.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2018 has included diversity as an important factor in the competitiveness rankings – introducing diversity as a new indicator on established index of methodology.
A blog on the WEF website says companies reap multiple economic benefits from nurturing an inclusive and diverse workforce. “Diversity and inclusion bring additional skills, ideas and perspectives,”
Writer Sander van ‘t Noordende, Group Chief Executive, Products, Accenture, notes that “diversity in the workforce, as measured by gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or religion, is a new indicator.”
“Evidence shows that this change makes good sense,” Noordende writes, highlighting the importance of diversity with examples.
Here is the rationale why diversity improves work climate and productivity:
“One reason for this is that individuals who work in open, diverse and inclusive environments are usually able to perform better, because each individual is able to bring their authentic self to the workplace. Only when people are comfortable in their workplace does their organization get the best possible results from its workforce. Most organizations operate with a range of stakeholders, including clients, alliance companies and shareholders, all of whom are themselves diverse. Organizations must reflect the diversity of the ecosystem within which they operate to maximize their relationship with every stakeholder.”
The WEF also acknowledges the importance of integration, noting that at a time of pushback against globalization research reveals that ease in hiring foreign labor and openness are among the traits of best performing companies.
“At a time of escalating trade tensions and a backlash against globalization, the report also reveals the importance of openness for competitiveness. For example, those economies performing in indicators that denote openness such as low tariff and non-tariff barriers, ease of hiring foreign labor and collaboration in patent application among others also tend to perform well in terms of innovation and market efficiency. This data suggests that global economic health would be positively impacted by a return to greater openness and integration. However, it is critical that policies be put in place to improve conditions of those adversely affected by globalization within countries,” the WEF said while releasing the 2018 report.
The United States is the top performer when progress is seen on 98 indicators among 140 economies of the world.
Here are some other findings of the report:
“The changing nature of economic competitiveness in a world that is becoming increasingly transformed by new, digital technologies is creating a new set of challenges for governments and businesses, which collectively run the risk of having a negative impact on future growth and productivity. This is the key finding of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report, which is published today.
According to the report, which in 2018 uses a brand new methodology to fully capture the dynamics of the global economy in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, many of the factors that will have the greatest impact in driving competitiveness in the future have never been the focus of major policy decisions in the past. These include idea generation, entrepreneurial culture, openness, and agility.
The new tool maps the competitiveness landscape of 140 economies through 98 indicators organized into 12 pillars. For each indicator, using a scale from 0 to 100, it indicates how close an economy is to the ideal state or “frontier” of competitiveness. When combining these factors, the United States achieves the best overall performance with a score of 85.6, ahead of Singapore and Germany. The average score for the world is 60, 40 points away from the frontier.”
