Transcript Enriching Team Competency Through Diversity Immersion Projects

Enriching Team Competency
Through Diversity Immersion
Projects
Carolyn Wiethoff
Clinical Assistant Professor of Management
Kelley School of Business
[email protected]
Overview
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Motivation for the study
Practical and theoretical background
Mechanics of the project
Hypotheses
Methodology and measures
Results
Limitations
Implications
Future plans
Discussion (throughout and at the end)
Motivation for the Study
• Importance of teamwork in business
careers
• Need for Indiana University students to
experience diversity
• Personal desire for diversity-competent
students
• Investigation of generational differences in
prejudice
Team Competency in a Diverse
Workforce
• Awareness –> knowledge and understanding –>
behavior and action steps
• Understand how the dynamics of diversity affect
organizations and their members
• Change individual behavior to effectively cope
with those dynamics
• Avoid diversity-related problems
• Capitalize on diversity-related opportunities
• Be comfortable with difference
Theoretical Foundations
• Social Identity Theory
– In-groups and out-groups
– Identity and self-esteem protected by group
membership
• Contact Hypothesis
– Proximate, cooperative interactions on an
equalized basis with someone from an outgroup minimizes prejudice toward the outgroup
– Contact needs to be cooperative and pleasant
The Immersion Project*
1: Identification of individual “discomfort groups”
2: Assignment to particular group
3: Reflect on current beliefs about the group
(turned in for a grade prior to beginning the
project)
4: Immersion activities (5 weeks, out of
class/alone, oral updates in class)
Interviews, lectures, books, movies,
websites, meetings, events….
5: Final written assignment in response to
questions
*This assignment developed and modified with assistance from the
incomparable Rod Haywood
Additional In-Class Activities
• Race-related ethics case (Harvard’s Jonah
Creighton)
• Gender role differences case (Harvard’s Work
Patterns at Ditto)
• Lecture/discussion of stereotyping and its
related problems in organizations
• Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual course content
– View the Simpson’s Homer’s Phobia with discussion
– Guest speaker: Michael, bisexual and HIV-positive
Hypotheses
1: Immersion in a group will result in less
prejudice toward that group
2: Immersion in a group will reduce reported
prejudice toward other groups
Methodology
• Students in Z304, Honors “Managing Behavior
in Organizations” (n=32)
– Business Honors
– Liberal Arts and Management Program
– Mostly first-semester juniors
• Measures (Week 3, Week 15, anonymous)
– Prejudicial attitudes toward lesbians, gay men,
women, ethnic minorities
– Intrinsic/Extrinsic Religious Orientation
– Modern Racism, Modern Sexism
– All scales created/validated in existing literature
Groups Studied in Immersion
Projects
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Lesbians (n=6)
Democrats (n=5)
Evangelical Christians (n=5)
Republicans (n=5)
Gay men (n=4)
Jewish Students (n=4)
Latinas (n=3)
Results (ANOVA Time 1 v. Time 2)
1: Change in prejudice toward target group
(only for students studying that group)
– Moderate (significant at p =.17, n=6) changes
toward lesbians, no other changes noted
– Students studying evangelical Christians went
in opposite direction (less tolerance), though
results not significant (n=5)
2: Change in prejudice toward other groups
(for all students)
– Change for gay men significant at p = .10
A Note on Measurement
• Threw out traditional racism and sexism
scales (no variance)
• Good variance on Modern Racism and
Modern Sexism scales
• Good variance on Attitudes Toward
Lesbians and Attitudes Toward Gays
scales
• Added confidence in quality of study!
Limitations
• Small class size, single class
• Socially desirable responses?
• Variation in immersion -- Examples:
– Gay men: 15 quality research articles, 3
books, 1 movie, 1 phone interview
– Gay men: 14 face-to-face interviews, 3 books,
multiple meetings of Out and Black Like Me,
joined PFLAG, 3 movies, 2 TV shows
– Lesbians: 1 website, 2 interviews with IU
employees (1 LGBT office live, 1 President of
IU LGBT Alumni Association via e-mail)
Implications: In-Class
• Classroom interactions matter!
– Most significant attitude change is correlated with
classroom speaker
• Consistent with Contact Hypothesis literature:
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Class becomes an “in-group” accessible to visitors
Interaction is viewed as mutually beneficial
Face-to-face interaction is assured
Instructor can model appropriate behavior
• Classroom becomes a “comfort zone”
• Probably need in-class experiences before
individual immersion projects begin
Implications: Immersion Projects
• Immersion projects benefit individual
students, as quotations from their papers
indicate:
– “I believe this project has opened up my eyes
to what is really behind many African
Americans’ eyes, but I could have realized
these things sooner if I would have just let
down my guard and offered to spend more
time talking with this group of individuals.”
Implications: Student Benefit
• “Before starting this project, I had little
understanding of Evangelical Christians. I
had the stereotype of them as vocal
activists who often stand on the corners of
the campus handing out miniature Bibles
and condemning abortion. Looking back, I
feel ashamed I had pigeon-holed such a
diverse group of individuals. They are
definitely not the workplace horror I had
imagined they would be.”
Implications: Student Benefit
• “While my political views have not changed as a
result of researching hardcore Democrats, my
knowledge of these individuals has. No longer
do I perceive these liberals as senseless,
capitalist-hating fools, but rather as individuals
whose logic is based on the desire for equality
across America. Through completing this
project, I have been able to start to climb out of
my conservative, Midwestern mindset and make
sense of left-minded thought.”
Implications: Student Benefit
• “At its core, this paper deals with difference. At
the beginning, I believed that my previous
experiences, background, and personal
character made me a very understanding
individual. Through immersing myself into a
group and topic I had very little knowledge of, I
now know different. We all hold biases; it is
what makes us different; it is what makes us the
same. It is the interpretation and management
of those differences that matters most.”
Future Plans
• Repeat study Fall 2006 with multiple classes
– More control: Some out-groups only explored in
class, others only done in immersion projects
– Also measure confidence and competence in
interactions (self-report and role play)
– Do second follow-up survey in following term
• Ongoing journals to investigate the process
more thoroughly
Discussion
• What are your best practices to enhance
students’ diversity competencies?
• How can we best structure classroom interactions
with out-groups?
• What other measurement tools should we use in
these investigations? What outcomes can/should
we study?