[NCSG-Discuss] On Diversity and Discrimination

[Andrew A. Adams]

When creating a small sized group with governance authority (direct or as in 
the case of many ICANN bodies indirectly through recommendations to the 
Board, most of which are accepted) it is important to remember that the goal 
should be to create the best group for the purpose, not simply to gather a 
set of the best individuals. In particular due to various institutional 
settings which produce a surfeit of straight white males from developed 
countries with the knowledge, skills and political connections if one simply 
choose the top n individuals on personal merit from a filtered pool of 
available candidates, then the likely outcome is non-representative 
(dominated by or even entirely made up of SWMs from developed countries). 
Such a group does not have the breadth of experience which would make a good 
governance body. Hence ICANN and many other groups have mechanisms to provide 
for diversity in the selection of members of governing groups which provide 
the group as a whole with a better range of experiences on which to draw, 
improving the quality of the work of that group as well as its apparent 
legitimacy to those affected by its activity. This is not about tokenism or 
discrimination against a majority, but is all about favouring a global 
maximum of group talent instead of a combination of local maxima of 
individual talent.

(For the record, I'm a straight, white male citizen of one developed country 
and resident of another.)



-- 
Professor Andrew A Adams                      aaa at meiji.ac.jp
Professor at Graduate School of Business Administration,  and
Deputy Director of the Centre for Business Information Ethics
Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan       http://www.a-cubed.info/