Diversity is about different thoughts, different habits, different backgrounds, different skills, different knowledge, different degrees, etc. We usually get along with people who think as we do or at least have the ability to change himself / herself to the way we see things. A wife and husband can live a long life together because they start to think and become alike. Usually diversity is something we don’t see in every day life.

This is because ‘context’ is an important and powerful enabler of the way we think. Put people from diverse backgrounds into a common system, it is likely that in a year or a couple of years’ time, all of them will think more or less alike. Hence our friends, our colleagues, our family members all more or less have a similar way of thinking. Our contexts are same. Hence similar ways of thinking.

Consequently, what a b-school can ensure is that at entry stage, there is enough diversity in the school. It picks up people from various backgrounds with different degrees, different work experience, different opinions, etc. It hopes that the school becomes a melting pot of ideas and thoughts. This will happen, no doubt. But, as the time goes, all the students will start thinking alike. The common context of the location, assignments, tests, stress of performance, placements, et al will define the way all students think. Since these are going to be common, it is quite likely all the students will start thinking alike. This will peak just before the placement time. Once the placements are over and when the students start thinking about the new jobs and the new places they are going to work at, thoughts again will move in different directions.

The power of the immediate context to influence the way of thinking cannot be overstated.