Purpose – Most global organizations have a diversity and inclusion (D&I) statement and initiatives to advance equity within their organizations though minimal traction is evidenced by what is espoused. This article demonstrates how to make progress in D&I generalizable to global workplaces.
Approach – Approaching D&I initiatives as collectivist working society bridges gaps in resourcing, powering, and actualizing D&& organizationally unlike is being demonstrated in companies where D&I is facilitated by majority groups.
Originality/value – This article provides human resource practitioners with a systemic method of advancing diversity and inclusion equitably while promoting organizational citizenship comparable to thriving workplaces

Roberts, Robin

English

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Publications 2020 From Snacking on Diversity and Inclusion to Systemic Organizational Consumption Robin Roberts Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, roberr36@erau.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.erau.edu/publication  Part of the Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons, and the Other Business Commons Scholarly Commons Citation Roberts, R. (2020). From Snacking on Diversity and Inclusion to Systemic Organizational Consumption. Strategic HR Review, (). Retrieved from https://commons.erau.edu/publication/1428 This article has been deposited under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No derivatives 4.0 International license. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Publications by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact commons@erau.edu. Strategic HR ReviewFrom Snacking on Diversity and Inclusion to Systemic Organizational ConsumptionAbstractPurpose – Most global organizations have a diversity and inclusion (D&I) statement and initiatives to advance equity within their organizations though minimal traction is evidenced by what is espoused. This article demonstrates how to make progress in D&I generalizable to global workplaces.Approach – Approaching D&I initiatives as collectivist working society bridges gaps in resourcing, powering, and actualizing D&& organizationally unlike is being demonstrated in companies where D&I is facilitated by majority groups.Originality/value – This article provides human resource practitioners with a systemic method of advancing diversity and inclusion equitably while promoting organizational citizenship comparable to thriving workplaces.Keywords Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, Equitable, Inclusive Workplace, Collectivist CulturePaper type General ReviewIntroductionAlmost every organization in the world is now touting some form of a diversity and inclusion statement. The statements can be found under Diversity and Equity, or, Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity, or Equality, Diversity and Inclusion or some combination that lets the world know an organization’s stance on actively and intentionally being inclusive of its diverse workforce. However, most are “snacking” on diversity and inclusion (D&I) rather than fully implementing it systemically and organizationally. Snacking occurs when the workforce of an organization shows minimal traction in equitable advancement of people groups other than the majority (Roberts, 2020). For example, the 2017 Fortune 500 list of CEOs showed the largest increase of female CEOs since the lists’ inception in 1955 (Zarya, 2017). Zarya (2017) reports the highest number of female Fortune 500 CEOs to be 32, after seeing a drop to 21 in the previous year. Out of the 32 women listed, none were African American, and two were women of color (1 Latina and 1 Indian American); and these numbers are representative of a list of 500 names (Zarya, 2017). Snacking.Modern companies sell the business case for diversity and inclusion as one that cultivates innovation and creativity and leverages a wide range of ideas and perspectives from a variety of people (Roberts, 2020). There is substantial evidence that companies with a diverse and inclusive workplace show significant increases in workplace performance organizationally and within the workforce (Aquino and Robertson, 2018). Though this may be the case, what may be the underlying tone for the increases could be the legal forces that can sway people to behave ethically towards their colleagues rather than the virtuous respect for humanity at work (Bowman Williams, 2018; Roberts, 2020). In other words, a legal or business case for a human conditions is not always a good sell for people needing to value and respect each other lives. Dr. Jamillah Bowman Williams (2018) conducted a study to see if the business case, legal case, or moral case was the prevailing reason why people chose to act out inclusive behaviors within a diverse work group. Dr. Bowman Williams (2018) found from her qualitative study that though people believed they were behaving morally toward others, they mostly had hidden concerns about infringing on discrimination laws.Page 1 of 5 Strategic HR Review123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960Strategic HR ReviewDiversity and inclusion in simplicity is understanding that humans have countless composites and beliefs (humanness) with which they identify. Within humanness, we can appreciate contributions people give to tasks and teams; even the people with whom we disagree or are dissimilar to ourselves.  Additionally, diversity has been marketed as a way of embracing everyone’s differences but not everyone wants to do that or knows how to embrace differences. Culturally or spiritually, embracing may not be befitting of someone’s beliefs. However, respecting and valuing people’s lives and their contributions that lend toward organizational successes and achievements has been a more acceptable way of fostering organizational diversity initiatives since those elements are common tenets of most global belief systems (Roberts, 2020).Diversity is organic to humans as we all are having a different life. Inclusion, however, is a choice and is intentional (or not). Inclusion takes effort and must be a priority of the workforce in general and especially demonstrated by organizational leaders. Getting the majority of the workforce packed with voluminous perspectives, rationales, and reasoning to display inclusive behaviors is not easy. Inclusivity involves actions that garner mutual respect, trust, commitment, and cognitive and social dexterity so that everyone can fully contribute to the mission and goals using their unique talents, backgrounds, and social astuteness (Aquino and Robertson, 2018). We see this behavior in healthcare professionals or with first responders who typically, within emergency situations, work together to bring health to a life no matter whose life it is. Outside of the urgency of a situation, the same thing could happen in a business environment with people working together to promote healthy inclusive workplaces.What is KnownThe business, legal, and humanity case for diversity and inclusion has been a dynamic workplace initiative for decades. Research and practical practices solidify the case of a diverse workforce prospering an organization’s innovation, creativity, profitability, and workforce development (Livingstone, 2019). No doubts amongst scholars and practitioners that companies that employ multi dimensions of diverse talent and intentionally nurture inclusiveness of diverse populations outperforms those that do not (Barth, 2019). The classic dimensions of diversity or the ones that people tend to think of the most are those protected by government law such as race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Other dimensions of diversity are equally important and naturally found in human populations. For example, demographic diversity are those like gender, socioeconomic status, family status, gender, and disability (Aquino and Robertson, 2018). Cognitive or behavioral diversity are the variety of thinking, learning, spirituality, and personality styles; these maybe even being geographically dynamic. Global diversity is found in the knowledge and experience with a variety of populations, languages, and cultures causing someone to be rich in cultural diffusion, global emotional intelligence, and global citizenship (Aquino and Robertson, 2018). Such wealth of diversity to recruit and employ can make for a powerhouse behind innovative advancements and flexing through the complexity of change and behaviors normal to the global workplace. Diversity also helps people to deal with unconscious bias they may have about people unlike themselves. Childress (2020) states, “it is difficult for most people to admit they have biases” (56). Leaders are especially vulnerable to unconscious bias as their positional power influences Page 2 of 5Strategic HR Review123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960Strategic HR Reviewstaffing hires, structures, and compensation. Truth is, we all have biases; not because we are bad people but because of how our brain functions. Our brains collect information through our sensory organs (e.g. eyes (see), nose (smell), ears (hear), those that allow for touching, and mouth (taste)) as we move around in our environments. Like a funnel, the amount of sensory collection is too large for our brains to hold so most of it is filtered out through a process called “perceptual filtering”. Perceptual filtering is the scaling down process naturally occurring in our brains where we flush the data streaming through our unconsciousness that is not important to us and keep and prioritize what is. The end product of the filtering process is our perceptions and assumptions about the world in which we live and the people we encounter. Perceptual filtering is heavily influenced by our childhood (where it all begins), our experiences, and our beliefs so that we form opinions (another filtering outcome) that are “true” to us but may not be true to everyone else having a different experience and life journey. We package our “true” into how we socialize and behave toward others (Roberts, 2020). Diverse workplaces creates the space for us to act our true and examine how our true impacts others. At work, we get to have new experiences that challenges our “true” and may even shift what we prioritize in our perceptual filtering process about people dissimilar to ourselves. Diversity within working groups sets the stage for us to learn from or at least about people with a variety of backgrounds and ways of existing (Roberts, 2020). As we interact with dissimilar people we can discover new ways of thinking that fills gaps in our knowledge comparable to completing or innovating work projects and goals (business case for diversity) and have an appreciation for learning from/about others (humanity and civility case for diversity) (Roberts, 2020).Proposal on How to Move from Snacking to Full ConsumptionAs previously mentioned companies tout D&I statements without the evidence of diverse and inclusivity being accomplished organizationally. Since the benefits of a diverse workforce has been evidenced, then why not empower a diverse group of employees to champion D&I initiatives and partner with human resources to hold the organizational accountable to the ascribed D&I statement? Empowering employees as business partners could challenge the status quo and assist in leveraging a variety of resources and talent comparable to an organizations mission and espoused D&I core values (Roberts, 2020). An empowered employee group of D&I champions/business partners is the accountability and traction that can move “snacking” on D&I to full consumption demonstrated by the energy the diverse work group can generate around diversity and inclusion advantages and activate others within the organization to do the same. Energetic activation occurs through human interactions that powers the human mind, emotions, and social behaviors that can disrupt and sway rigid biases hampering D&I progress (Ryan and Frederick, 1997; Roberts, 2020). Additionally, empowering employees as champions of D&I is prodigious of a collectivist culture and is befitting of the diversity and inclusion values most D&I statements espouse. Collectivist cultures are ones in which people work together in groups representative of the entire community rather than in homogenous power structures (Huppert et al., 2017). Collectivist actions honors the tenets of diversity and inclusion statements of leveraging trust, commitment, and transparency. A collectivist approach shifts the burden of the majority to make traction on D&I Page 3 of 5 Strategic HR Review123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960Strategic HR Reviewtasks (like hiring, developing, and promoting diverse talent) to working groups responsible for the same with equity as a central outcome. The working groups would consist of mix of minority and majority populations within the organization actualizing diversity and inclusion that is best for their organizational society. Bottom line, allowing employees to partner in D&I initiatives and creating a collectivist organizational culture that drives D&I work is a better way of advancing D&I systemically rather than just telling employees to embrace their organic differences and similarities in a D&I statement.Page 4 of 5Strategic HR Review123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960Strategic HR ReviewReferences:Aquino, C. and Robertson, R. (2018), “Diversity and Inclusion in the Global Workplace Aligning Initiatives with Strategic Business Goals (1st ed. 2018.)”, available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54993-4 (accessed 21 May 2020).Barth, V. (2019), “Diversity and inclusion drive innovation”, Indianapolis Business Journal, Vol. 40 No. 4, p. 6.Bowman Williams, J. (2018), “Why the legal case for diversity and inclusion may be more effective”, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUW6aNTAdjI (accessed 18 April 2020).Childress, R. (2020), “Overcome Your Unconscious Bias”, Associations Now, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 55-57.Huppert, E., Cowell, J. M., Cheng, Y., Contreras-Ibanez, C., Gomez-Sicard, N., Gonzalez-Gadea, M. L., Huepe, D., Ibanez, A., Lee, K., Mahasneh, R., Malcolm-Smith, S., Salas, N., Selcuk, B., Tungodden, B., Wong, A., Zhou, X., and Decety, J. (2017), “The development of children’s preferences for equality and equity across 13 individualistic and collectivist cultures”, Developmental Science, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 1-16. DOI: 10.1111/desc.12729.Jones, S. and Donnelly, G. (2017), “Why we logged every Fortune 500 company’s diversity data, or lack thereof. Fortune.com, available at https://fortune.com/2017/06/16/why-we-logged-every-fortune-500-companys-diversity-data-or-lack-thereof/, (accessed 12 May 2020).Livingstone, J. (2019), “Accelerating innovation through diversity & inclusion”, Insurance Journal, available at http://ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/2233875013?accountid=27203 (accessed 20 May 2020).Roberts, R. (2020), “Leveraging Diversity” unpublished manuscript, Roberts Course Development Papers, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Worldwide Online Campus, Daytona Beach, FL.Ryan, R. M. and Fredrick, C. (1997), “On energy, personality, and health: Subjective vitality as a dynamic reflection of well-being”, Journal of Personality, Vol. 65, pp. 529-566.Zarya, V. (2017), “The 2017 Fortune 500 includes a record number of women CEOs”, available at https://fortune.com/2017/06/07/fortune-women-ceos/, (accessed 19 May 2020).Page 5 of 5 Strategic HR Review123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960

From Snacking on Diversity and Inclusion to Systemic Organizational Consumption

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From Snacking on Diversity and Inclusion to Systemic Organizational Consumption

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