The Effects of Diversity Awareness Training on Differential Treatment

A quasi-experimental design was used to evaluate the effects of cultural diversity awareness training among 125 managers and supervisors. Approximately half of the participants attended a cultural diversity awareness training session where as the other half served as a matched comparison group. A coworker specifically designated for each participant evaluated the extent to which the participant engaged in differential treatment of culturally different individuals. Trainees’ reactions to the training program were positive. However, there was an interaction between training and coworker’s ethnicity, such that trainees received higher ratings of differential treatment from non-White coworkers than did matched controls. Post training interviews suggested that such difference was due to a resentful demoralization of trainees. The results should warn organizations that diversity awareness training may not have the desired effects in the absence of a supportive work context.