{"id":322,"date":"2011-04-05T23:03:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-06T04:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lisaallen-agostini.com\/?p=322"},"modified":"2011-04-05T23:03:00","modified_gmt":"2011-04-06T04:03:00","slug":"nizam-had-a-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lisaallen-agostini.com\/?p=322","title":{"rendered":"Nizam had a point"},"content":{"rendered":"

The past couple of weeks have seen the pillorying of Nizam Mohammed, erstwhile chair of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service Commission, culminating in the revocation of his appointment by our nation’s President George Maxwell Richards. Mr Mohammed was effectively fired for saying there were too many black people<\/a> in the high echelons of the Police Service; he made the statement before a parliamentary Joint Select Committee on March 25, 2011\u00a0(this Trinidad Express editorial<\/a> nicely sums up the whole case and its upshot).<\/p>\n

The outcry following Mohammed’s statement about the imbalance was loud and ugly. He was called a racist, even though as he himself reminded the public he had been on the side of Black Power<\/a> insurgents and long supported racial equality. Now the hue and cry has drowned out his protestations of unbiasedness. There are many factors at play–Mohammed made an ill-advised move earlier in his appointment in a confrontation with two police officers and lost a lot of credibility thereafter, and there was subsequently\u00a0a national petition to have him removed from office<\/a>–but surely the bigger picture is that he is right about the imbalance in the Police Service and that it ought to be addressed.<\/p>\n

“The relationship between group composition and performance in\u00a0general is clearly complicated, but from a strictly decision-making\u00a0perspective, both sides of the debate regarding diversity effects are\u00a0compatible with the hypothesis that groups often benefit from\u00a0racial heterogeneity. The extent to which racial diversity facilitates\u00a0information exchange and problem solving certainly indicates advantages\u00a0for heterogeneous groups, especially for complex decisions.\u00a0But even interpersonal conflict\u2014 often mentioned as the\u00a0principal negative result of diversity\u2014may be useful when a\u00a0group\u2019s primary goal is not boosting morale but rather good and\u00a0thorough decision making.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Although equal access and\u00a0the attempt to remedy historical injustices are important, and many\u00a0would say noble considerations, the present findings provide evidence\u00a0for another, often overlooked justification for promoting\u00a0diversity: In many circumstances, racially diverse groups may be\u00a0more thorough and competent than homogeneous ones.”<\/p>\n

\u2014”On Racial Diversity and Group Decision Making: Identifying Multiple\u00a0Effects of Racial Composition on Jury Deliberations”<\/p>\n

Samuel R Sommers,\u00a0Tufts University,\u00a02005, Journal of Sociology and Psychology<\/em>. Source:\u00a0http:\/\/ase.tufts.edu\/psychology\/documents\/pubssommersonracialdiversity.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

Anybody who has ever had to manage a group of any size would tell you a diverse group brings different things to the table than a homogenous group.<\/p>\n