A “fair case” could also alienate underrepresented group members
Some companies that promote diversity as a business strategy may be alienating the minorities they are trying to attract, according to new research from the Department of Organizational Behavior at the London Business School and Yale School of Management.
Paper published in the American Psychological Association Journal of Personality and Social Psychologybeneficial business success, or the ways in which an organization benefits from diversity. I discovered that there is a potential
Most companies either provide a ‘business case’ explanation for why they value diversity focused on ‘organizational performance’, or provide diversity as ‘intrinsically valuable’ or ‘an end in itself’. Provides a “fair case” explanation that focuses on sex. on paper.
Professors used statements such as “We respect diversity because it’s the right thing to do” as examples of “fairness” claims.
“Our results suggest that the business case may backfire when companies have goals around inclusion and diversity,” said co-publisher at London Business School. Aneeta Rattan (drawn) Said The College Fix on mail. Rattan collaborated on the paper with her Professor Oriane Georgeac of the Yale School of Business.
rattan said fix The authors of this study identified a phenomenon called ‘social identity threat’.
The authors of the paper give a definition of this phenomenon as “concern about being devalued based on one’s group membership.” This phenomenon can occur when a person believes they are valued primarily for their minority status or membership rather than for other qualities or inherent human values.
For example, a Black or LGBT employee may feel that a company hired them because they belonged to a minority group, not because of their merits or other qualities.
According to the paper, emphasizing the business case for diversity can be counterproductive because it “induces” social identity threats and a “feeling of depersonalization.”
Researchers used artificial intelligence to analyze diversity statements
The study authors used artificial intelligence to analyze the online diversity statements of every company on the Fortune 500 list.
We found that nearly 80% of companies justified diversity in terms of improving business outcomes, and less than 5% cited equity. The rest, according to the survey, offered no justification or made a public diversity statement.
“These results suggest that at least Fortune 500 organizations overwhelmingly use the business case (rather than the equity case) to justify why diversity matters. ‘ said the paper.
“These business case justifications are very popular,” said Georgiak, a professor at Yale University, in a news release. “But our findings suggest they do more harm than good.”
“The business case justification confirms that women and members of underrepresented groups must worry that their social identity becomes the lens by which their contributions are judged.” This is a threat to these groups.”
The College Fix Fortune Magazine’s “Top 20 [Fortune 500] Companies with the highest diversity and inclusion figures. “
We asked whether they agreed with the researchers’ findings and, if so, whether they planned to change their approach to diversity in light of the evidence. fix I didn’t get a response.
Similar problems were found in diversity programs using the “fairness” justification,
The paper found that workplace diversity programs that justify work in terms of fairness rather than business success face similar, if not the same, problems.
According to the paper, “Compared with the control case, the equity case also increased social identity threats and decreased the sense of belonging of STEM women.
“The findings also suggest that justifying why diversity is important to a particular organization can raise social identity-based concerns among underrepresented groups. ” says the author.
MORE: Faculty Diversity Proposal Fails at University of Washington
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