So what's all the buzz about diversity, and why exactly should we celebrate it in the work place?

Roosevelt Thomas, Ph.D., puts it succinctly: "Strategic diversity management is quality discussion in the midst of differences, similarities and tensions."

Thomas is an old hand at facilitating quality discussions. He's the founder and president of the Atlanta-based American Institute for Managing Diversity, a 20-year old national think tank that focuses on diversity management. As the country's foremost authority on the subject and author of six books on the subject, Thomas has led the institute in research, education and public outreach to help organizations recognize and access the diverse talents within.

"Diversity management is not about affirmative action or equal employment opportunity," he said. "It's part and parcel to the way people do business, but the concept got politicized. First we have to de-politicize it. Then we can work to help individuals, leaders, nonprofits, corporations and government agencies make quality decisions in the midst of diversity."

The institute was founded in 1984 to educate the public and the business community about the power and potential of diversity management. In 2001, with a $1.5 million contribution from the Coca-Cola Co., the organization created the Diversity Leadership Academy of Atlanta.

Each year, participants are selected for the intensive diversity management education program. They attend five one-pay programs each month to learn how to recognize critical elements in diversity mixtures that produce tension, practice skills necessary to analyze diversity tension and develop action options, and apply diversity management to real-life situations.

The academy has grown to include programs in Indianapolis, upstate South Carolina and the Delaware Valley.

"The issue is about how to utilize the fuel coming into the work place," said Melanie Harrington, executive director of the institute.

"The focus (with Affirmative Action) was previously on inviting them in," Thomas said. "Now the presence of differences adds complexity to the decision-making process."

Thomas said that diversity exists in almost every situation. For instance, a blended family is an excellent example of diversity management.

"First, be clear about the context and have clarity about the requirements (of the situation)," he said. "Then recognize where you are diversity-challenged and practice addressing this diversity."

Thomas' book, "Giraffe and Elephant: A Diversity Fable," boils the diversity issue down into a story about a giraffe who builds a home and then asks a highly qualified elephant to join him in his woodworking business there. The elephant has trouble maneuvering around the house, and so the giraffe suggests that he change. The story illustrates how the two face and negotiate diversity issues.

"Some people ask, 'Why not just get along?'" Harrington said. "It just not that easy; we still continue to struggle. But recognizing as a society that this is important makes us very hopeful."

Thomas agrees.

"If you have differences, there is going to be tension," Thomas said. "That doesn't mean you have to have conflict." >