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w9-Why Diversity Programs Fail-And what works better (Why You Can’t Just…
w9-Why Diversity
Programs Fail-And what works better
background
businesses started
caring a lot more about
diversity after a series
of high-profile lawsuits rocked
the financial industry.
businesses started
caring a lot more about
diversity after a series
of high-profile lawsuits rocked
the financial industry.
It shouldn’t be surprising that most diversity programs
aren’t increasing diversity.
Why You Can’t Just Outlaw Bias
You won’t get
managers on board by blaming and shaming them with rules and reeducation.
Diversity training
The positive effects of diversity training
rarely last beyond a day or two, and a number
of studies suggest that it can activate bias or spark
a backlash. Nonetheless, nearly half of midsize
companies use it, as do nearly all the Fortune 500.
Many firms see adverse effects
1reason: three-quarters use negative messages in their training
reason: three-quarters of
firms with training still follow the dated advice of
the late diversity guru R. Roosevelt Thomas Jr.
But voluntary training evokes the opposite
response (“I chose to show up, so I must be pro-diversity”),
leading to better results: increases of
9% to 13% in black men, Hispanic men, and Asian-
American men and women in management five
years out (with no decline in white or black women).
they're a high-risk group because they make
the hiring, promotion, and pay decisions. But singling
them out implies that they're the worst culprits.
Managers tend to resent that implication and
resist the message.
Hiring tests.
40% of companies now try
to fight bias with mandatory hiring tests assessing
the skills of candidates for frontline jobs
Performance ratings
More than 90% of midsize
and large companies use annual performance
ratings to ensure that managers make fair pay and
promotion decisions.
Companies sued for
discrimination often claim that their performance
rating systems prevent biased treatment.
raters tend to lowball
women and minorities in performance reviews
the bottom line
is that ratings don’t boost diversity.
Grievance procedures
Once people see that a grievance system isn’t
warding off bad behavior in their organization,
they may become less likely to speak up
most employers feel they need some sort
of system to intercept complaints, if only because
judges like them.
Tools for Getting
Managers on Board
Engagement.
When managers actively help boost diversity in their
companies, something similar happens: They begin
to think of themselves as diversity champions
Take college recruitment programs targeting
women and minorities
Mentoring is another way to engage managers
and chip away at their biases.
Contact.
whites and blacks had to be working
toward a common goal as equals
Self-managed teams and
cross-training have had more positive effects than
mandatory diversity training, performance evaluations,
job testing, or grievance procedures, which
are supposed to promote diversity.
Social accountability. The third
Social accountability
plays on our need
to look good in the eyes of those around us.
Castilla suggested transparency to activate social
accountability.
Diversity managers, too, boost inclusion by creating
social accountability.
Diversity managers, too, boost inclusion by creating
social accountabilit
STRATEGIES FOR controlling bias—which drive most diversity efforts—have failed spectacularly since they were introduced to promote equal opportunity.
Your organization will
become less diverse, not more, if you require managers
to go to diversity training, try to regulate their hiring
and promotion decisions, and put in a legalistic
grievance system.