Innovation and Effectiveness Through Diversity

Abstract

The case study includes diversity and inclusion in engineering, where lack of representation of visible minorities, indigenous peoples, and women in the construction and engineering industry limits organizational potential. Increasing those under-represented communities within an organization will benefit not only the individual, but all areas of operations within the organization. Civil Engineering’s purpose is to increase the sustainable quality of life for all members of society. Construction and engineering industry professionals must represent the full spectrum of society in order to benefit from the various perspectives and insights to design, develop and construct long term sustainable and ethical infrastructure. This case study will review the effectiveness of a multi gender, multiethnic and multilingual Construction and Engineering team as they overcome challenges faced in the Canadian Context. More specifically, the case study workforce includes visible minorities (29%), employees that have immigrated from outside of Canada (50%), and are bilingual—Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, French, Dinka, Filipino, Arabic, Italian (99.1%). The Manifold toolset used to achieve success include: Mentorship, Continuous improvement, Collaborative Software as a Service (SaaS) and Cloud computing. The case study illustrates increases in productivity through leveraging unique perspectives and innovative ideas, increased morale thanks to higher levels of employee engagement. The construction and engineering industry are evolving as practices are being replaced by fresh innovative ideas stimulated by increasing diversity, inclusiveness and belonging within an organization accelerates the drive for positive change within the industry by unlocking the complete suite of human potential.