Month: June 2020

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Week of 6/1 – Discussion

1. For our unit 1 assignment I found myself diving further into the Syracuse database. My initial research began by looking up the topics we had already been reviewing for over the past two-three weeks. I found linking scholarly and academic articles with keywords such as homogeneity, multiculturalism, diversity, etc., helpful in narrowing down targeted interests. From here, I came across a few articles that opened a topic of conversation I at least had not considered yet. Language and the effect multilingualism has in the workplace particularly caught my eye. My preliminary understanding from the briefs I read suggested this form of diversity is an emerging topic worth further scholarly investigation. As the workplace becomes increasingly global, challenges in communication between employees with different linguistic backgrounds are inevitable. Topics worth following up on include case studies and understanding the dynamics between native/ nonnative language speakers. Seeing the effects this has from an individual, team, and organizational level overlaps with a few of the readings we’ve had such as  Kaplan and Donovans ‘level of systems’ framework. Similarily, Gundemir’s take on leadership, goals, and perceptions coincide heavily with how minorities can find comfort in communicating in other languages at work.

3. Kaplan and Donovan’s intent was to place readers in a position of judgment where they could reassess the impact one’s words and actions have at the workplace. From the narrative of executive employee Kim, readers follow vignettes of her day to day schedule prompting readers to think about how her decisions stand with concurrent issues of diversity and inclusion. The storyline is broken down in the latter half of the chapter addressing solutions or alternative ways Kim could have better-approached a work-related scenario.

Kaplan and Donovan develop these sections speaking on the distinction of good intent versus impact, the importance of recognizing unconscious bias, and the problems with insider-outsider group relations. They’re able to reach a broad audience because of the familiarity Kim’s everyday anecdote presents, however, the extent of their writing only comes across as far as the simplicity of their solutions. The sometimes overly perfect measures Kim could have taken suggest ‘quick’ fixes for an otherwise complex system. Still, Kaplan and Donovan’s approach at its core reopens a lingering discussion dissectable for readers to understand the perspective of those who fall short of being included. The best use their key takeaways realize is that the reevaluation of systematic views at various scales only marks the beginning.

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Discussion Prompts 6/4

  1. In relations to the kind of material I’ll be looking for, I decided to look for data using the Syracuse library as my other classmates have mentioned. I also plan to take a closer look into Google Scholars and JSTOR. The topic within diversity and inclusion I would like to focus on is religious diversity, because we have yet to read about this. I got this idea because I just remember taking a world religions class in high school and automatically was intrigued. I have a strong Catholic faith, so I am looking forward to this challenge. I am eager to step out of my comfort zone and learn more about the different religions around the world. My goal is to gain statistics on what religions are practiced most in each country, what experts think is going to change or remain the same in the future regarding these statistics, how this difference in religion affects the workplace and company’s ethics, etc. A strategy that I found to be helpful to me is writing a summary like we’ve been doing after an article so I know what to focus my attention to what the author is trying to say.
  2. Austin / Pisano’s argument that companies are not tapping into neurodiverse talent is supported by research showing that the unemployment runs as high as 80% among those with neurological conditions. I have always believed that neurodiverse people should be represented in the workforce, and question why is it has taken companies like SAP this long to just now implement programs. I understand that the conventional hiring processes companies use for their employees has been a challenge when it comes to testing the skills of someone with autism for example, but the author makes an important point about innovation. On the other hand, “Why diversity matters” focuses on racial diversity and includes no mention of the disabled. I found it interesting, though, that the articles states that correlation does not necessarily equal causation. I agree with this statement because I do believe that in order for a diverse company to be successful, the leadership performed by managers must be held to extremely high standards. If a company is diverse (considering both race and ability), but the leadership skills practiced by managers and CEOs isn’t strong or does not set examples, what makes it true that these companies would actually drive in profit and attract future potential employees?
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Unit 1-6/1 (Mikayla)

  1. In unit 1 we remained focused on mostly ideas regarding diversity and culture and how incorporating multiple voices and backgrounds can really add a lot of enrichment to any environment. In order to further build on the course ideas and help the class expand I would like to delve more into a topic one of the other articles already spoke on, spreading minority awareness and helping them thrive in new environments. Because we all attend the same university I would like to research more about the experiences and challenges undergone by minorities in college and how they manage to create opportunities for themselves in such new environments. Some experts and databases I would like to check up on are the rates of success within organizations designated  for minority outreach and success. I would also consider using Syracuse libraries and implementing an article that is close to home and that the class might relate more too. More strictly, if minorities find themselves in leadership positions and manage to assimilate well into their university classes. I would particularly like to go through mostly reputable sources and ones that connect with their audience and use rhetorical elements in their writing.
  2.  As we further delve ourselves into the reading of Austin and Pisano and Kaplan and Donovan, we realize that they use different techniques in order to teach us about advocating for diversity in the workplace. On the one hand A/P focuses on spreading outreach for Neurodiverse individuals and shows how they have implemented different programs and created opportunities for them to find work and excel. On the other hand the article by K/D shows us that although workspaces may strive for equity and inclusivness, they cannot do so unless all members of the community are willing to show leadership and make a change.
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Prompt questions, week of 6/1 [Toni]

  1. I’m looking for companies that are able to show more than just figures of diversity, companies transparent about how marginalized and minority peoples feel comfortable in going to work every day. Not only producing diverse organizational percentages, but a step further in researching ways minority groups feel supported walking through the door every day; producing better because of outwardly supportive allies as leaders; perhaps feeling less like a statistic only helping a company appear diverse. I came upon Ben & Jerry’s excellent explanation of systemic racism and was off and running with what this ICE CREAM company is doing.  It’s simple, it’s fairly grassroots, but it’s effective and I would love to delve more into their actual offices, if possible, to see how it operates and to see how they came upon this simple, effective, poignant, activism that’s as palatable as their ice cream flavors. I have these two inspiring sources do far:

https://www.benjerry.com/home/whats-new/2016/systemic-racism-is-real

https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2019/09/04/ben-jerrys-creates-new-flavor-to-highlight-racism-and-criminal-justice-reform/#653e2f244b47

2.While Austin and Pisano are positively exposing and representing neurodiverse peoples, emphasizing overall the advantages of having them on a team, they also look at the impact of including differently abled people and the overall challenges, mostly discussing how management and leadership is being affected and molded through this process, unfolding how important adapting leadership to the inclusion and diversity process is.  Likewise, in Kaplan and Donovan’s topic of understanding Key Diversity & Inclusion Concepts they look at how conversations about unconscious bias and insider–outsider dynamics can easily be lost in the noise of the daily office grind, taking us through the day and life of “Kim”, whom represents a composite of managers they’ve interacted with over the past twenty years, and how intent frequently does not equal impact and when brought into the public light, the special facilities have an impact vastly different from the intention.

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Week of 6/1 Discussion

I am a passionate soccer (football) fan, particularly of the London-based, English Premier League team, Arsenal FC. When considering topics for our “Expanding the Canon” exercise,  I wanted to find something worth sharing about diversity in Europe’s top soccer leagues.

Using Google, I searched on terms such as “Diversity Europe Soccer”, and “Diversity Europe Football”. I found several articles featured on UEFA.com, which is the internet home of the governing body of European soccer. Many of these articles focused on programs and initiatives involving efforts to reduce instances of racism among fanbases. Those were interesting, but not quite what I had in mind.

I had heard it said by a commentator during a FIFA World Cup broadcast that the national teams whose squads were comprised of players who played their “club football” in Europe had an advantage. It wasn’t only because the European leagues are considered the most competitive in the world. The announcer believed it was also because of the exposure those players had to the different styles of play utilized by teams across the continent.

It was this contention which made me curious. Continuing my search, I ultimately found what I had been looking for, an academic study focused specifically on the impact of cultural diversity has on the success of European soccer clubs. The authors focus on the clubs who competed in Europe’s top competition, the UEFA Champions League, during a ten year stretch from 2003-2013. Drawing on statistics collected over that ten year period, the authors are able to prove that greater cultural diversity leads to greater success on the pitch.

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Kaplan and Donovan attempt to get the reader to consider inclusion during their daily decision making. By taking us through Kim’s day, they immediately allow the reader to see themselves in her. This is a most effective tool. Each of the different moments likely share DNA with those from the life of the reader. These vignettes prompt the reader to consider how they too have faced those decisions, and to think on what they may have done themselves.

The reveal of Kaplan and Donovan’s “project” actually comes after the story of Kim’s day concludes. Having gotten the reader to identify with Kim, and to compare their daily challenges to those she faced, the authors now name their key concepts. Again, this is quite effective, because the reader is now primed to apply those concepts to themselves. After several sections where Kim’s decisions are analyzed and alternatives suggested, the chapter concludes with several takeaways. The way the chapter is organized maximizes the potential for reader retention. Better yet, it gives the reader tools to change their behavior for the better, which was Kaplan and Donovan’s goal the entire time.

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Prompts week of 6/1

  1. For this unit, our focus is on diversity and inclusion and we have read a number of different articles surrounding diversity in the workplace and in certain organizations. For my own research, I have been using resources such as the New York Public Library as well as the Syracuse Library where there are countless articles on diversity. They are also very credible sources and I have used these resources in the past with other assignments. However, I wanted to make it more specific so I been looking at articles that focus on diversity in sport organizations and how race and ethnicity varies so much depending on the sport. I am looking for authors and researchers who are experts in the field and are proven to show true results in their studies. In addition, I am looking for articles that are fairly new up to 5 years. That way the articles are still relevant today and don’t have data thats taken from many years ago.
  2. Kaplan and Donovan show that in order to go about a lack of diversity in the workplace, all levels of management have to be on the same page and will then cause a domino effect for the rest of the organization. I believe that this is really important because management plays huge role in these companies. However, the focus not the other articles we read were more about the individuals. For example, Austin and Pasino argued how neurodiverse individuals would benefit from certain programs offered and as a result improve the company. I believe both are true and should play a role in increasing the diversity surrounding companies.
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Week of 6/1 discussion questions, Aaron

  1. For my article that I am choosing to add to the canon of diversity and inclusion I used the Syracuse library site to go through JSTOR to look for an academically peer reviewed article. There of course are many other outlets that would show a lot of results, but I wanted to make sure that I chose something that was credible in the field of academia. The subject i’m choosing to delve further into is diversity in the field of education, so I searched for articles that were published in teachers’ journals. Unlike some of my fellow classmates however, I am not limiting my search field to articles that were just recently published, and my reason for this is simple- just because something was written a while ago doesn’t make the findings any less relevant than something more recent, especially in the field of diversity and inclusion. We can get a better look at the results of questions posed in an article written years ago to see what changes (if any) occurred.
  2. In the 2015 article “Why Diversity Matters” we are shown graphics illustrating that companies who are more diverse have a higher percentage of productivity. While this is something that may seem to be common sense, a different article titled “The Inclusion Dividend: Why Investing in Diversity & Inclusion Pays Off” encourages us to look at diversity in a different way. While we can come to the agreement that diversity is good for us and our companies, we have to acknowledge that intent and impact make all the difference in the world. People may tend to claim that they are unbiased, but that is false, and this article reminds us that on a daily basis, any person can say or do things that are insensitive, no matter how honest or pure their intent was originally.
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6/1 Responses

  1. The type of material I will be looking for in order to expand the canon are pieces that are centered around the success of EAP’s in the work place. For my specific topic, I will be looking at EAP’s that are targeted towards those with addiction. This topic will follow up on the Kaplan and Donovan article, as well as play on the article presented by Austin and Pisano. Not only will this topic incorporate those, but the article about organizational culture will also come into play when considering how to expand the canon. The expert articles I will be searching for will be those who have experience with EAP’s with employees with addiction, and studies that reflect the positive benefits on implementing these procedures in the workplace. I will be looking on the summons page on the Syracuse Libraries page to be looking for scholarly articles to narrow my search. I will also be looking on APA and other Psychology resources to find my material. Using keywords to narrow my search is something I will be using when I begin my search to make finding these articles easier and faster.
  2. When discussing diversity inclusion in the workplace, a question that may arise is what steps are there to take to break down the barriers of biases. In Austin and Pisano’s article, they direct their approach on how the individuals will benefit from programs centered around tailoring to needs. On the other hand, Kaplan and Donovan remind us that in order to tackle diversity, it needs to happen at all levels of management to create a domino effect. My personal view is a combination of both of these tactics the authors propose, that including those who require a tailored workplace to satisfy their needs, all levels of a company need to be in agreement and aware of the circumstances that it will take to achieve a suitable work environment.
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Discussion HW week 6/1 Benjamin Fisch

For my article of choosing, I am looking for some sort of current events article. There is so much going on the world right now, so even narrowing down the subject of my article that I am looking for will be difficult. However, I feel that the topic that is the most important at this time, is the protests that have been going on throughout the major cities in our country, and what they stand for. I am looking for material that addresses the state of the peaceful protests and covers the Black Lives Matter movement. Also, I would like to find an article that identifies the difference between the peaceful protests and the looting that has been going on. The looting is discoloring the beauty of the protests, and spreading a message of fear and hate. That is not at the core of what this movement stands for. I would like to find an author or any type of source that is Black and has experienced any type of police brutality or form of discrimination. I want to hear their story, because by telling each of these stories we are educating the masses. I am using Google Search to find content, and it is working quite well. Whenever I search “Black Lives Matter” or “peaceful protests” a ton of articles come up.

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Response #1 – Week of 6/1

For my unit 1 assignment, I found an article through the Syracuse Libraries website that discussed neurodiversity with a bit more research/data than the article assigned from Austin and Pisano. I think as a society, right now we should be focused on the Black Lives Matter movement and why the government, police, and other organizations across the nation refuse to understand that black people are not being treated equally. Please do not respond with anything like “blue lives matter” or some other nonsense to excuse your racism. Blue is not a life, it’s an occupation. The point I’m trying to make is that I’d like to do my unit 1 assignment on the topic of neurodiversity because it is interesting to me, but we should all remain focused on diversity in terms of race/the black lives matter movement as well. I found a good article about neurodiversity already, I just need to find some relevant media to include in the class inquiry post.