If we have a team of people who have relatively homogenous attitudes, and we want to change the culture or at least get some diversity, we can hire the next person who has the qualities we are looking for.
For example, if we have a bunch of introverts, or mostly direct task oriented people, we could write down the qualities of the ideal candidate before we even start interviewing people. So if we wanted some diversity we’d write that we wanted someone who was “outgoing, open, and direct” or “a people person who was warm and friendly and caring”. Then look for those qualities in a candidate.
Yes, there are culture issues and the risk that if we hire someone very different that they will not be accepted or feel comfortable with people who are opposite them. But if we keep hiring people who are all the same we can have other trouble as there are no team members who won’t reject a task that doesn’t fit with their personality strengths.
A person is a part of a team. Get the right part so the team has the strengths you need to accomplish its goals.
I believe that the company should create a culture of accepting diversity and being inclusive of all employees/team members. Perhaps cultural awareness training should be developed and then you don’t have to worry about discriminatory hiring practices.
Dr Barbara Okun wrote an excellent book on Cultural Diversity which discusses high and low context societies and an eye opener for conducting business globally with other cultures. The possibilities are endless when we include others on our team who are different what we could learn from them.