The Milton K. Wong Lecture is held June 3 at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at the University of British Columbia and broadcast nationally on the CBC Radio One Program Ideas as part of Canada’s Multiculturalism Day celebrations. There, Kenan Malik, the guest lecturer, will maintain that “to defend diversity is not the same as promoting multiculturalism.” And he will argue that rather than the claim that racism and multiculturalism are concepts at opposite ends of a pole: “they are two sides of the same coin.”

http://thelaurier.ca/lectures/2012-ubc-laurier-multiculturalism-lecture

Yes, I say – in contrast to the Grunig husband and wife team – we PRs need to rethink this whole issue of diversity (in the interest of clients and society) if are to break free from the prejudices – about race, religion, gender and sex – that currently limits our vision.

Moreover, I repeat that we need to put the corporate back in to corporate communications and to root what we communicate and advocate in a coherent – rather than fragmented and divisive – culture.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/ford-workers-angry-as-blacks-are-whited-out-1320079.html

“Five members of ethnic minorities were invited to appear in the picture to show the racial mix of Ford’s workforce at Dagenham, but in an “ethnic- cleansed” version of the photograph last year [in Poland], the black and brown faces had been mysteriously replaced by white ones.”

BTW: my grandfather was a leading shop steward at Ford Dagenham and he fought racism at the plant in the 1960s (sometimes in opposition to his own union and a communist party leadership that didn’t like to rock the racist boat….shame on them).

I contend that Grunig’s – and I guess your – approach undermines the collegiate identity and reinforces – special pleading – fragmentation. It is therefore not helpful.

Moreover, even when ill-defined, the collective corporate interest always lurks there anyway … as anybody who attempts to speak on the behalf of a corporation without permission in derogatory terms on SM or other media normally discovers to their cost.

I add that the obsession with identity politics and respect for individuality that Jim Grunig advocates represents a surrender of corporate leadership (vision) to instrumentalist short-term objectives.

Put another way: all the talk about treating people as individuals with different identities is constantly contradicted by lived experience of employees based on the realities and necessities of the corporate existence. Whenever that contradiction is exposed – as it continually is by events – it breeds unnecessary cynicism and division and undermines trust. (Yes, I say we’ve been shooting our clients in the foot by undermining rather than building consistent/robust identities people can put their trust in).

Moreover, I maintain that defining people by race, sex, class, nationality and religion is precisely what we all – at least me – struggled against when we fought racism and sexism (with great success) back in the Seventies and Eighties. In other words, I say people are indeed much more interesting and diverse than can be captured by box-ticking fixed categories.

In short, my key point in opposition to yours is that corporate PR needs to be more corporate (more collegiate), not more individualized and fragmented.

Although i would not describe myself as a Grunigian by any means, I certainly do not dismiss either the merits of the points Jim argues in the video. Likewise, I wouldn’t dismiss Lauri’s well reasoned and considered arguments in favour of organisations recognising the value of PR (i.e. not discriminating against it as a largely female occupation) as well as maximising talent whatever shape, age, colour or creed that comes in. Although in saying that, of course, at PR Conversations, we respect the right of out readers (even white, middle aged, middle class ones living in Switzerland) to express their individual perspective

By the way, you may be interested in checking out this resource being built (i.e., constantly updated) by Brian Pittman on ComPRObiz:

What Is Public Relations? Common Definitions and Resources on PR for Business

(Of course we are pleased to see PR Conversations featured there!)

And you might want to suggest, in the comments, that the PR Museum be included and/or that ComPRObiz consider interviewing Shelley.

http://www.kenanmalik.com/essays/diversity_guardian.html