ILR Impact Brief – Diversity and Inclusion: Is There Really a Difference?

By almost any measure, workforce heterogeneity is increasing. With more women, ethnic and racial. minorities, and people with different lifestyles and learning styles holding down jobs, employers are searching for strategies that effectively and efficiently put these varied skills and perspectives to maximal use. Traditional approaches to diversity management include targeted recruitment, career development, mentoring, and education and training. Some organizations, however, take a broader view and seek to eliminate barriers to full utilization of varied worker competencies. This latter approach stresses inclusion, rather than diversity, and typically involves initiatives that focus on employee participation, enhanced communication, and stronger community relations. Despite the apparent distinction between diversity and inclusion strategies, employers may use the words interchangeably

Examining the Link Between Diversity and Firm Performance: The Effects of Diversity Reputation and Leader Racial Diversity

Given the scarcity of empirical research on the impact of diversity on organizational performance, we used longitudinal data for 100 firms to test hypotheses related to the effects of diversity reputation and leader racial diversity on firm financial outcomes. The results showed a positive relationship between diversity reputation and book-to-market equity, and a curvilinear U-shaped relationship between leader diversity and revenues, net income and book-to-market equity. Our analyses suggest that economic benefits generated from diversity reputation may primarily derive from capital rather than product markets. Further, firm performance declines with increases in the representation of racial minorities in leadership up to a point, beyond which further increases in diversity are associated with increases in performance

The Effects of Recruitment Message Specificity on Applicant Attraction to Organizations

We used the elaboration likelihood model from marketing research to explain and examine how recruitment message specificity influences job seeker attraction to organizations. Using an experimental design and data from 171 college-level job seekers, the results showed that detailed recruitment messages led to enhanced perceptions of organization attributes and person-organization fit. Perceptions of fit were found to mediate the relationship between message specificity and intention to apply to the organization. In addition, perceptions of organization attributes and person-organization fit were found to influence intentions to apply under circumstances of explicit recruitment information while attractiveness and fit perceptions were shown to influence application intentions under conditions of implicit recruitment information. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed

The Language of Bias: A Linguistic Approach to Understanding Intergroup Relations

[Excerpt] This chapter explores the role of language in the relationship between diversity and team performance. Specifically, we consider how a linguistic approach to social categorization may be used to study the social psychological mechanisms that underlie diversity effects. Using the results of a study examining the effects of gender, ethnicity and tenure on language abstraction, we consider the potential implications for team processes and effectiveness. In addition, we propose a revised team input-process-output model that highlights the potential effects of language on team processes. We conclude by suggesting directions for future research linking diversity, linguistic categorization and team effectiveness

Michelle Obama: A Contemporary Analysis of Race and Gender Discrimination through the Lens of Title VII

Pundits and commentators have attempted to make sense of the role that race and gender played in the 2008 presidential campaign. Whereas researchers are drawing on varying bodies of scholarship to illuminate the role that President-elect, Senator Obama\u27s race and Senator Clinton\u27s gender had on their campaigns, Michelle Obama has been left out of the discussion. As Senator Clinton once noted, elections are like hiring decisions. As such, new frontiers in employment discrimination law place Michelle Obama in context within the current presidential campaign. First, racism and sexism are both alive and well within the domains of politics and employment. Second, most racial and gender bias is not express, but unconscious. Third, under Title VII, employment discrimination may be directed at a third party for their association with members of a disliked group. Here, some voters\u27 unconscious race and gender biases against Mrs. Obama likely affected their voting decision vis-a-vis Senator Obama

Michelle Obama: the Darker Side of Presidential Spousal Involvement and Activism

Pundits and commentators have attempted to make sense of the role that race and gender have played in the 2008 presidential campaign. Whereas researchers are drawing on varying bodies of scholarship (legal, cognitive and social psychology, and political science) to illuminate the role that Senator Obama’s race and Senator Clinton’s gender has/had on their campaign, Michelle Obama has been left out of the discussion. As Senator Clinton once noted, elections are like hiring decisions. As such, new frontiers in employment discrimination law place Michelle Obama in context within the current presidential campaign. First, racism and sexism are both alive and well within the domains of politics and employment. And within both domains, the intersection of these biases uniquely handicap Black women. As such, Michelle Obama, as an individual who has broken the socially acceptable constrictions of race and gender, has suffered some backlash as a result of her beliefs and actions. Second, most racial and gender bias is not express, but unconscious. And these unconscious biases influence behavior—including voting and hiring/promotion. In that vein, there are instances during the 2008 campaign where unconscious biases against Mrs. Obama have occurred. Such instances are similar to fact-patterns in employment discrimination cases. Third, under Title VII, employment discrimination may be directed at a third party for their association with members of a disliked group. Here, some voters’ unconscious race and gender biases against Mrs. Obama likely affected/affects their voting decision vis-à-vis Senator Obama

Justice as a Dynamic Construct: Effects of Individual Trajectories on Distal Work Outcomes

Despite an amassing organizational justice literature, few studies have directly addressed the temporal patterning of justice judgments and the effects that changes in these perceptions have on important work outcomes. Drawing from Gestalt characteristics theory (Ariely & Cannon, 2000, 2003), we examine the concept of justice trajectories (i.e., levels and trends of individual fairness perceptions over time) and offer empirical evidence to highlight the value of considering fairness within a dynamic context. Participants included 523 working adults who completed surveys about their work experiences on 4 occasions over the course of 1 year. Results indicate that justice trends explained additional variance in distal work outcomes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions) after controlling for end-state levels of justice, demonstrating the cumulative effects of justice over time. Findings also reveal that change in procedural justice perceptions affected distal work outcomes more strongly than any other justice dimension. Implications for theory and future investigations of justice as a dynamic construct are discussed

THE MEDIATING ROLE OF PROCEDURAL JUSTICE IN RESPONSES TO PROMOTION DECISIONS

ABSTRACT This study used structural equations modeling to examine the mediating role of procedural justice in the relationships between promotion decisions and organizational commitment and between promotion decisions and intent to leave the organization. 156 managers and executives in Italian subsidiaries of two large multinational organizations in the chemical industry were surveyed about their career history within the organization and their reactions to promotion decisions over an 8-year period. The results showed that promotion decisions influenced feelings of organizational commitment through perceptions of procedural justice in promotion decision-making processes. The theoretical and practical implications of the study s findings are discussed. Keyword procedural justice- promotion decisions- career

Disentangling the Meanings of Diversity and Inclusion

Given the emergence of a new rhetoric in the field of diversity, which replaces the term ‘diversity’ with the term ‘inclusion’, this study comparatively investigates the meanings of diversity and inclusion in organizations. The findings of Study One, which used a qualitative methodology to explore the construct definitions and to derive a measure of attributes to support diversity and inclusion, revealed conceptually distinct definitions. The reliability and factor structure of the scale was evaluated in Study Two and cross-validated in Study Three. The results supported a five-factor model of diversity and inclusion and suggest a distinction between the concepts although the terms may not describe separate types of work environments, but different approaches to diversity management.WP04_05.pdf: 17662 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020