1. David A. Thomas and Robin J. Ely's three paradigms of diversity focuses on: (1) discrimination and fairness, (2) access and legitimacy, and (3) learning and effectiveness paradigm as shown.

"Most people assume that workplace diversity is about increasing racial, national, gender, or class representation - in other words, recruiting and retaining more people from traditionally underrepresented identity group." [1] This is true for both discrimination and fairness and access and legitimacy paradigms. Although these two paradigms are the most common way that companies approach diversity, they are not the most effective way for companies to manage diversity.

Discrimination and fairness paradigm focuses on hiring women and people of color according to the Equal Employment Opportunity federal laws, fair treatment, and recruitment purposes. Companies that use this style to manage diversity will continue to face issues because their employees will feel that they were only hired to fill a void and not really hired based on their qualifications. Employees will not feel as though they are valued or even an asset to the company. The goal with this paradigm is to hire people from diverse backgrounds in order for them to increase its numbers for minorities and women.

Access and legitimacy paradigm method is used to hire people to fit in a specific group. The focus is to hire people based on the consumer market. For instance, a company located in "Spanish Harlem" hires Hispanics in order for them to identify with the consumer market they service in order to gain a competitive advantage. The goal emphasizes on cultural differences in order to match its demographics as opposed to focusing on skills, beliefs, and practices.

Out of the three paradigms, Thomas and Ely identifies learning and effectiveness paradigm to be the most efficient way to manage diversity