Lecture 1: The many faces of diversity
interdisciplinary approach to gain a multi-level understanding of how to promote diversity &
inclusion at the:
- institutional level
● e.g. what are effective responses to inequality and exclusion at work at the
institutional level?
➢ formal guidelines
➢ structures in place such as a ‘complaints officer’’ being present
➢ business, economics, law
- symbolic level
● e.g. how are women and non-dominant groups and their societal roles
represented in the linguistic, narrative and visual structures that shape the
organization?
➢ e.g. hi students vs hi ladies and gentlemen
➢ e.g. set up of lecture vs workgroup (hierarchy)
➢ humanities
- experiential level
● how do women and non-dominant group members experience the many
forms of inequality in the workplace? How do these groups experience
institutional measures aimed at correcting these inequalities?
● psychology / social science
- (fourth level: interactional level)
- levels interact and influence each other
● e.g. quota raise barriers or responses somewhere else
● addressing one issue may not be enough to approach the problem, need and
integrated approach
What is diversity?
- anything that distinguishes people from one another, but most attention for
dimensions on which differences in outcomes and discrimination occur
Diversity dimensions:
- surface-level dissimilarity: relatively visible/readily detectable
- deep-level dissimilarity (relatively invisibile/underlying)
- relationship-oriented attributes
● e.g. sexual orientation
- task-oriented attributes
, - Galinsky and colleagues:
● diversity present in groups, communities and nations
● diversity acquired through individual’s personal experiences
- same issues as what policy is focused on?
Which diversity matters?
Why organizations work with diversity
, 1) moral reasons
● equal treatment
● equal opportunity
● equal outcomes
2) societal reasons
● emphasize good outcomes
● focus on consequences of inequality
● e.g. aging population/tight labor market
● more practical rather than ethical
● e.g. police working on ethnic diversity in relation to race riots
3) compliance (with government regulation)
● e.g. labor law
4) synergetic reasons
● concerned with the relationship between employee and organization
● personal and business and economic growth
● employee satisfaction
● harmony among employees
● -> where personal and business goals meet
5) business-economic reasons
● all about profit; the ‘business-case’ for diversity
● attract diverse employees
● increase service to diverse populations
● increase well-being, retention of employees
● improve relations between employees
● increase creativity and productivity
● reduce lawsuits/legal challenges
● enhance reputations
example business case (business-economic reasons):
example UU: business-economic, moral, synergetic
, no clear scientific evidence that diversity leads to better performance and innovation
- social identity theory
● easier to work with similar people, otherwise conflict
- similarity attraction theory
● easier to work with similar people, otherwise conflict
- information-elaboration processes
● diversity is good, more perspectives, more knowledge etc
- this is called the diversity paradox: we might expect negative and positive
consequences of diversity, a climate for inclusion is key
Sahin et al (2019)
- demonstrates how diversity could enable effective decision making if these diversity
dimensions are directly linked to the things that contribute to creativity or
performance
- diversity only contributes to increased performance if you feel safe enough to share
different perspectives (climate for inclusion)
- -> climate for inclusion
● fair and unbiased treatment of employees
● open toward and values differences between employees
● includes all employees in decision making
interdisciplinary approach to gain a multi-level understanding of how to promote diversity &
inclusion at the:
- institutional level
● e.g. what are effective responses to inequality and exclusion at work at the
institutional level?
➢ formal guidelines
➢ structures in place such as a ‘complaints officer’’ being present
➢ business, economics, law
- symbolic level
● e.g. how are women and non-dominant groups and their societal roles
represented in the linguistic, narrative and visual structures that shape the
organization?
➢ e.g. hi students vs hi ladies and gentlemen
➢ e.g. set up of lecture vs workgroup (hierarchy)
➢ humanities
- experiential level
● how do women and non-dominant group members experience the many
forms of inequality in the workplace? How do these groups experience
institutional measures aimed at correcting these inequalities?
● psychology / social science
- (fourth level: interactional level)
- levels interact and influence each other
● e.g. quota raise barriers or responses somewhere else
● addressing one issue may not be enough to approach the problem, need and
integrated approach
What is diversity?
- anything that distinguishes people from one another, but most attention for
dimensions on which differences in outcomes and discrimination occur
Diversity dimensions:
- surface-level dissimilarity: relatively visible/readily detectable
- deep-level dissimilarity (relatively invisibile/underlying)
- relationship-oriented attributes
● e.g. sexual orientation
- task-oriented attributes
, - Galinsky and colleagues:
● diversity present in groups, communities and nations
● diversity acquired through individual’s personal experiences
- same issues as what policy is focused on?
Which diversity matters?
Why organizations work with diversity
, 1) moral reasons
● equal treatment
● equal opportunity
● equal outcomes
2) societal reasons
● emphasize good outcomes
● focus on consequences of inequality
● e.g. aging population/tight labor market
● more practical rather than ethical
● e.g. police working on ethnic diversity in relation to race riots
3) compliance (with government regulation)
● e.g. labor law
4) synergetic reasons
● concerned with the relationship between employee and organization
● personal and business and economic growth
● employee satisfaction
● harmony among employees
● -> where personal and business goals meet
5) business-economic reasons
● all about profit; the ‘business-case’ for diversity
● attract diverse employees
● increase service to diverse populations
● increase well-being, retention of employees
● improve relations between employees
● increase creativity and productivity
● reduce lawsuits/legal challenges
● enhance reputations
example business case (business-economic reasons):
example UU: business-economic, moral, synergetic
, no clear scientific evidence that diversity leads to better performance and innovation
- social identity theory
● easier to work with similar people, otherwise conflict
- similarity attraction theory
● easier to work with similar people, otherwise conflict
- information-elaboration processes
● diversity is good, more perspectives, more knowledge etc
- this is called the diversity paradox: we might expect negative and positive
consequences of diversity, a climate for inclusion is key
Sahin et al (2019)
- demonstrates how diversity could enable effective decision making if these diversity
dimensions are directly linked to the things that contribute to creativity or
performance
- diversity only contributes to increased performance if you feel safe enough to share
different perspectives (climate for inclusion)
- -> climate for inclusion
● fair and unbiased treatment of employees
● open toward and values differences between employees
● includes all employees in decision making
