Effective Diversity Training

Diversity training is an important and widely used component of organizational diversity management initiatives. This chapter reviews theory and research on diversity training design, delivery, evaluation, and effectiveness. The review suggests that in the past 10 to 15 years of research, advancements have been made on several fronts. The research literature on diversity training includes frameworks for pretraining needs assessment, learning models to guide diversity training design choices, and empirical evidence of diversity training’s impact on training outcomes. However, the review also notes two major shortcomings. First, research has emphasized diversity training’s effect on short-term changes in trainees’ knowledge and attitudes, neglecting longer-term changes in their skills and behavior. Second, research has emphasized diversity training’s effect on individual-level learning outcomes, neglecting its impact on team- and organization-level outcomes. These shortcomings are unlikely to be addressed unless scholars and practitioners engage in more collaborative field-based research on diversity training.