11/20/2025

The Hidden Driver of Workforce Polarization

Polarization is likely to intensify as organizations confront increasingly politicized issues

Imagine a leadership team gathering to finalize a new diversity and inclusion policy. Tensions rise quickly. One executive insists that "meritocracy is non-negotiable; recruitment must always be colorblind." Another counters that "equity sometimes requires setting aside pure meritocracy to achieve larger goals." A third tries to mediate, but the room is quickly divided.

At first glance, this looks like a familiar left-vs.-right clash. But politics may not be the real issue here. The deeper divide is between leaders with morally absolutist mindsets (those who view their values as universal, non-negotiable truths) and leaders with morally relativist mindsets (those who view their values as context- and culture-dependent).

In this case, the first executive viewed compromise as betraying the company's values, whereas the second viewed compromise as a wise choice balancing the demands of the business with long-held values. Our research shows that this hidden fault line between moral absolutism and moral relativism is often what truly drives polarization in modern society. Unless leaders learn to recognize and navigate it, they might keep trying to solve the wrong problem.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Harvard Business Review.