At the administrative and management levels, educational efforts can spawn interest and an awareness of need, which can then extend the change process throughout the organization. According to Tubbs, (2000), "education provides a setting to define issues, develop consistent language, and to discuss the nature and source of biases that hinder our ability to perceive others clearly. (p. 492).
Training involves activities designed to build usable skills. Training targets in on specific issues to develop the skills necessary to effectively and sensitively deal with an issue. For example, training might teach managers how to conduct performance appraisals with employees from a different culture. An organization need to target specific diversity issues.
One idea is to set up workshops with outside trainers. Outside trainers tend to be more objective and are more likely to receive respect from employees, which is valuable in the diversity training effort. Having training programs conducted by a diverse group of trainers produces a more relevant, creative product, and one that demonstrates the organizations value of diversity. Mandatory training also sends a convincing message about the organization's commitment to diversity and increases the likelihood that what lower level employees learn will be role-modeled and reinforced by their managers. Also, the attendance of managers makes a positive impact on employees. The training must be relevant to the needs of the workplace, or it may be harmful. For example, an organization that hires many employees over the age of 50, had a workshop discussing racial issues. Racial issues were not a problem at the company and people went away from the workshop with a sense that management did not value their issues. .
The trainer needs to be proficient in the subject matter and possess good skills in order to provide high quality training. Before an organization hires an outside trainer, it should follow up on them.
