Summary of Why Diversity Programs Fail by Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev
Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev issued a very insightful article in 2016 on the Harvard Business Review website. According to Dobbin and Kalev (2016) diversity programs in the workplace do not improve equality. I will be summarizing their findings of what hasn’t worked and what organizations can implement to improve equality.
Organizations often have a power and control approach to diversity which does not support adult learning and motivation (Dobbin & Kalev, 2016). Research suggests that diversity training teaches people how to be politically correct for a short period of time but doesn’t change their biases (Dobbin & Kalev, 2016). Furthermore, diversity training can trigger bias or a negative reaction (Dobbin & Kalev, 2016). Reasons for these adverse effects include the use of negative messages during training, making diversity training mandatory rather than voluntary, using diversity training as remedial measures, selective use of mandatory hiring tests, biases in performance ratings, and the use of grievance procedure for legal protection (Dobbin & Kalev, 2016).
According to Dobbin and Kalev (2016), strategies that are less focused on control seem to yield the best results when they are …show more content…
“At firms that create self-managed work teams, the share of white women, black men and women, and Asian-American women in management rises by 3% to 6% over five years” (Dobbin & Kalev, 2016, sec. 30). Cross-training is another way to increase contact, by exposing individuals to a various type of people throughout the organization (Dobbin & Kalev, 2016). “The result we’ve seen, is a bump of 3% to 7% in white women, black men and women and Asian-American men and women in management” (Dobbin & Kalev, 2016, sec.
Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev issued a very insightful article in 2016 on the Harvard Business Review website. According to Dobbin and Kalev (2016) diversity programs in the workplace do not improve equality. I will be summarizing their findings of what hasn’t worked and what organizations can implement to improve equality.
Organizations often have a power and control approach to diversity which does not support adult learning and motivation (Dobbin & Kalev, 2016). Research suggests that diversity training teaches people how to be politically correct for a short period of time but doesn’t change their biases (Dobbin & Kalev, 2016). Furthermore, diversity training can trigger bias or a negative reaction (Dobbin & Kalev, 2016). Reasons for these adverse effects include the use of negative messages during training, making diversity training mandatory rather than voluntary, using diversity training as remedial measures, selective use of mandatory hiring tests, biases in performance ratings, and the use of grievance procedure for legal protection (Dobbin & Kalev, 2016).
According to Dobbin and Kalev (2016), strategies that are less focused on control seem to yield the best results when they are …show more content…
“At firms that create self-managed work teams, the share of white women, black men and women, and Asian-American women in management rises by 3% to 6% over five years” (Dobbin & Kalev, 2016, sec. 30). Cross-training is another way to increase contact, by exposing individuals to a various type of people throughout the organization (Dobbin & Kalev, 2016). “The result we’ve seen, is a bump of 3% to 7% in white women, black men and women and Asian-American men and women in management” (Dobbin & Kalev, 2016, sec.