Exploring the long-term understanding of stereotype threats to women and people of color, the article “Contending with Stereotype Threat at Work: A Model of Long-Term Responses” strongly correlates to our further discussion of organizational culture and diversity within the workplace. Theorizing based off of psychological thought and previously acquired studies, five notable professors and doctoral candidates create a theorized “model” to potentially lessen this perceived stereotype threat. Focusing on three core coping mechanisms used when faced with a threat – fending off, discouragement, resilient – the authors provide their own analysis of the said response and provide a variety of ways to manage the response. Providing a more concrete understanding of what a perceived stereotype threat could be allows the intended audience to reflect and comprehend these said threats whether the individual reading experiences them or not. From the model constructed, the authors were able to conclude that employees who fit the demographic minority experienced both positive and negative consequences of stereotype threats. The model provides analysis of the coping mechanisms most commonly used by the demographic minority, and from the findings, companies can better support those who feel threatened and can foster a more inclusive and diverse working environment. The video I have attached to this elaborates more on stereotype threats providing another perspective on how these threats can affect groups of people. While also connecting to self-fulfilling prophecy, the video elaborated on how these threats can be useful to those who threaten others with the goal of wanting to feel better about themselves, hence explaining where the source of the stereotyping may come from.
Unit 1 Assignment, Expanding the Canon (Samantha Danylchuk)
The author of my article is named Aaron Hicks, and he, with the help of four individuals – Cassie Price King, Elizabeth H. Rickert, Amanda D. Nelson, and Lucretia McCulley –published Religion and the Workplace: Pluralism, Spirituality, Leadership. This is an eBook from EBSCO, and I will be working with the Part II segment of the book for this assignment, which includes Chapters 5 and 6 named “Being religious differently” and “Religions of the workplace.” Hicks is a professor with an undergraduate degree and graduate coursework in economics, a Master of Divinity degree, and a Ph.D. in religious studies. The author’s religious tradition is Presbyterian (Protestant, Christian). Before he began writing Chapter 1 of this book, Aaron clarified his opinion to the reader by stating how faithful Christians should have no interest in imposing their beliefs or practices upon others and they should want to receive no advantage in public life or the workplace because of their religion.
The author’s objective in Part II of this section of the text is to offer distinctions, concepts, and comparative examples that demonstrate how religion is present in contemporary workplaces. The audience of this text includes scholars with specialized knowledge in religion, specifically those who have prior background discussing religion and the workplace. This work is intended for both scholars and practitioners, though, because the point that Hicks emphasizes in his introduction before beginning to write is that he intends for his criticisms to be constructive and hopes that “ensuing debates will contribute to workplace policies and cultures that respect, on equal terms, employees of all backgrounds.” (Hicks, 2003, p. 4)
The purpose is to analyze current realities in the workplace in relation to religion and spirituality, and Hicks does so by first pointing out how individual and institutional expressions of religion differ. That is, most approaches to religion and spirituality in the workplace often underemphasize religious diversity. Religion in the workplace is often seen as religion of the workplace, and the author makes an important point that the corporate leader cannot play the role of a spiritual guide or guru to his or her workforce. If a single company sponsors or promotes one specific kind of religion, this is questionable. One quote by the author which supports his reasoning and argument on why companies can’t openly express one religion over any other is “It may be easy for Christians to downplay the significance, for example, of subtle messages in the workplace that convey the privileged status enjoyed by Christian symbols, ideas, or holidays, but for Jewish, Muslim, and atheistic co-workers these messages are overtly present and reinforce their experience of marginalization.” (Hicks, 2003, p. 133) Additionally, public life impacts the workplace as the chapters explain. Religion plays many roles in American society, and many employees who are Christians have admitted that they receive or have received preferential treatment at work and in society. These discussions of spirituality tend to marginalize those who are atheists or adherents of many religious backgrounds, causing those who feel pressured by society to divorce their religious / spiritual commitments from all aspects of their public lives.
Link to eBook:
http://libezproxy.syr.edu.libezproxy2.syr.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=120536&site=ehost-live&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_C
Citation: Hicks, D. A. (2003). Religion and the Workplace : Pluralism, Spirituality, Leadership. Cambridge University Press.
Unit 1 Assignment: Expanding the Canon
Providing equal representation for minorities in all levels of education has continuously been a concern in public and private school education programs. This form of racial exclusion which is encountered in the lives of adolescents comes to the surface in an article titled “Gifted Ethnic Minority Students and Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analysis”. This article boils down the prejudice encountered in the lives of minorities that are excluded from accelerated education programs.
The analysis was presented by three PhD professors, Malik S. Henfield, Hongryun Woo, and Na Mi Bang who focused their studies on the education and development of minority students in school settings. It was published by the Gifted Child quarterly in 2017 but can be found on the Syracuse Libraries website.
This study was conducted in order to investigate racial bias against minorities being chosen for gifted education programs. It has been a constant theme of teachers overlooking minority students and not being able to depict them from other students. “It noted that African Americans, for instance, comprise 19% of the nation’s total school population, yet represent only 10% of students in gifted education programs.” With a general disregard for these students and a lack of representation in these programs, once they reach college, they find themselves falling behind tremendously and taking extra classes to keep up.
This article’s main purpose was to highlight the academic differences between minority and regular students and explore the rates of academic success for those involved in the programs. It “examined the effects of gifted education programs on the outcome vari- ables of academic achievement and ability.” It also depicted how classroom and educational program diversity could help students with less opportunities excel and flourish in restricting environments. The article compiled the reports of smaller studies that failed to accurately dictate the rate of success for these students within each program.
This analysis was so important because it highlighted the injustice not only faced by these young kids but how they can fall behind later in higher education and in the workplace. It shows us that it isn’t only a problem in this circumstance but that we must acknowledge minority students at all levels of education. For example, with a school as big and diverse as Syracuse University it is important to allow minorities to take rigorous classes and to be encouraged to join leadership programs. This topic would help acknowledge and spread awareness on making classrooms and workplaces more inclusive and inviting areas.
Henfield M, Woo H, Bang NM. Gifted Ethnic Minority Students and Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analysis [Internet]. 2017. Available from: https://journals-sagepub-com.libezproxy2.syr.edu/doi/pdf/10.1177/0016986216674556
Unit 1 assignment: Expanding the Canon (DAN)
“Bridging the generational gap in the workplace: How I learned to stop worrying and love working with the millennial generation” is an article written by Dr. Thanakorn Jiresevijinda at Cornell university. It was written for the Journal of communication in healthcare and published by Taylor & Francis group.
In Dr. Jiresevijinda’s 20 years of supervising medical students, he has received an unsettling and growing amount of complaints about the millennial generation. One could easily draw a conclusion that there exists a disconnect between Gen X and Gen Y. This problem encouraged him to explore new ways to create a more integrated work force that understands and accepts each other regardless of age difference. The purpose of his article is to offer the methods that he found to be helpful through his exploration. He admits in the article that he too has experienced frustration while educating the students from the younger generation. By stating this he levels the playing field as he explains that he understands the discontent that his colleagues have with Gen Y. He then continues his article by citing a sentence in a piece written by the prominent figure Chelsea Clinton. Her statement suggested that millennials are often portrayed as disinterested and selfish individuals, though the millennials that she has worked with do not fit that stereotype. He included this quote as it attests to the fact that the Millennial generation tends to have a bad reputation. This also helps persuade the audience to be more accepting of his suggestions as he shares a similar perspective with an influential figure. The author also builds up his argument by sharing his own personal experiences. Dr. Jiresevijinda speaks from both his experiences at work and the conversations he has had with his coworkers. Some of their frustration with the millennial group stemmed from increased technology use; different communication preferences; the students craving for feedback; and their preferred work like balance, which can be misconstrued as students being disinterested in learning. He was then able to identify positive traits from Gen Y and craft methods to remedy these problems. The positive traits that he identified included their tech savviness, confidence, and their ability to work well in a team environment.
The first suggestion that Dr. Jiresevijinda made was to focus on inclusiveness. He understands that in a social media driven world, millennials need to feel that their voice is heard. This has led him to listen more closely to his students without judgement and help them by asking pointed questions. He also allows them to work in groups as they often thrive better through student collaboration. Pre-class quizzes are given to ensure that everyone is engaged and keeping up with the pace of the class as a whole.
His second suggestion is that we must leverage social consciousness. The millennial generation is one that truly values having a positive impact on the world. They tend to be more accepting of diversity and progressive change. This observation led him to see the importance of framing the knowledge he gives his students in such a way that they can see the importance it has on improving society. He keeps this importance in the minds of the students by having them sign up for community service. The students worked alongside the professors and another medical organization to offer a free clinic for refugees seeking asylum in the United States.
His last suggestion is to include more technology in the curriculum. One way he suggested doing this is by incorporating fun and engaging games such as jeopardy to keep his students involved. He also finds it useful to use a smartphone app that is an audience-response system. I found this interesting as the students must stay engaged in the class because the context of the class is literally on their phones on which they must participate.
I find this text to be an important contribution to expanding our canon as every single sustainable organization will always be multigenerational. Though it is not often the first thing that comes to mind when we hear the term diversity, people in different generations have vastly different life experiences and are indeed quite diverse. Rapidly accelerating technological advances; Unforeseen world events; and new global challenges are among the factors that affect the overall behavior of a generation significantly. This inevitably leads to differences in the way that people of a generation view the world and interact with one another. Though this may present its own challenges, it is paramount that we learn to come together to create a synergistic environment at work. This can only be done by valuing each other’s differences. I found Dr. Jiresevijinda’s work to contain the wisdom that is crucial to solving our intergenerational struggles. One final source of valuable information about generational diversity can be found in the video link below. Keevin O’Rourke conducts a TED talk of which he speaks on the issue of generational diversity at work. One may be able to draw multiple parallels between the video and Dr. Jiresevijinda’s article. I found it intriguing how they both had similar suggestions to their respective audience even though one of them is Gen X and one is Gen Y. This gives hope that in the future our organizations will reap the benefits of a more accepting workforce
Link to the article and citiation
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17538068.2018.1485830
Ted Talk to further explore intergenerational diversity in the workplace
Unit 1 Assignment: Expanding the Canon
To expand the canon adding to the discussion of organizational culture and diversity, I choose the article Disability and employment – overview and highlight from the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology. This article includes a wealth of knowledge from the authors Katharina Vornholt, et al. The authors each add value in their way, specializing in Social Psychology, neuroscience, psychosomatic rehabilitation, and more. This article is intended for a small audience of fellow scholars and people who focus specifically on the topics discussed.
The purpose of this article is to outline how things stand in the existing research on disability and employment. It discusses one section of disabled people, those who have mental disabilities. The authors outline the definition of disability, the legality of legislation regarding disability at work that is already in place in Europe and North America, things that enable employees and act as a barrier to employ the disabled. The authors use the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) of the World Health Organization’s definition of disability; defining it as “the ‘umbrella term’ for impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions, referring to the negative aspects of the interaction between an individual…and that individual’s contextual factors (environmental and personal factors)”.
The legislation in Europe stems from the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, stating that employees with disabilities have equal rights to work and gain a living, in-job discrimination is not allowed, and that organizations promise workers with disabilities accommodations. In the United States and Canada, the federal law protects those with disabilities rights through The Americans with Disabilities Act that gives those with mental/physical disabilities equal opportunities to be integrated into places of work and stops all forms of discrimination against employees with disabilities.
The article presents a plan for how research should continue in the field and how these laws can be integrated into the workplace. The plan encourages more research behind the definition of disability, the spreading of knowledge from psychologists (like health campaigns) to change attitudes and behaviors towards those with disabilities, and the increase in public data. The authors also discuss the future of policy encouraging evaluation of the past to see if what has been implemented protects and promotes those with disabilities employment or if they have opposite effects.
This article adds to the existing knowledge of the class because of its relation to diversity and inclusion. Similar to many of the readings we looked at, this text speaks about the inclusion of disabled people in the workplace and how extremely high the unemployment levels are. This brings awareness to how programs and legislation can be put in place to help incorporate diverse people. Their suggestions mirror what we have looked at with the inclusion of neurodiverse people and adds other strategies and data regarding organizational cultures, such as reassessing the definition and analyzing to see if the programs put in place are working or not.
This article highlights how each organization caters differently to each diverse group. Similar to past readings it showcases how each diverse group has specific accommodations and should be analyzed on a case by case basis. The existing legislation in “Disability and employment – overview and highlights” can lead as an example of how to implement systematic changes so that all companies must adhere to a set of rules that promote diversity and inclusion, along with other resources such as media I have found.
The media I have found to supports my claim shows how to implement the plans that the article outlined and enhances knowledge about disabled people. I have chosen a TED talk from Elise Roy “When we design for disability, we all benefit”. Elise Roy is deaf and since she is disabled herself she adds a unique perspective. Her purpose throughout the talk is to promote the use of design thinking to solve problems. Design thinking steps are defining and understanding the problem, observing people and empathizing with them, throwing out hundreds of ideas, prototyping, and finally implementing. That way of thinking could help in how to accomplish the goals of a more inclusive workplace for those with disabilities and create legislation with perspective and empathy in mind. Elise Roy’s insight could be a solution to how we progress within this sphere of disability and life, in general, putting inclusion in front of everyone’s mind when solving any problem.
Link to article: https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2017.1387536
Citation of article: Katharina Vornholt, Patrizia Villotti, Beate Muschalla, Jana Bauer, Adrienne Colella, Fred Zijlstra, Gemma Van Ruitenbeek, Sjir Uitdewilligen & Marc Corbière (2018) Disability and employment – overview and highlights, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 27:1, 40-55, DOI: 10.1080/1359432X.2017.1387536
Unit 1 Assignment: Expanding the Canon
The article titled “Employee Assistance Program Services for Alcohol and Other Drug Problems: Implications for Increased Identification and Engagement in Treatment” written by Jodi M Jacobson and Paul Sacco follows the study they conducted regarding the use of Employee Assistance Programs, or EAP’s, in the workplace and the further effects that it had on the company and individual. The article originally published on The American Journal on Addictions can be found on the website EBSCOhost, which provides scholarly articles and similar published works.
The central argument the researchers focused on was to determine whether or not EAP services were significantly beneficial for those with AOD, also known as Alcohol and Other Drug addiction. Furthermore, their study was directed to show employers how individuals with AOD can benefit in an environment where their needs can be met in a judgment free workplace. In order to gather data, the researchers drew from the pool of individuals associated with the National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcohol and Related conditions, or NESARC, from different backgrounds in all 50 states. To narrow the data, the researchers then separated participants into those who had access to EAP’s in their workplace and those who looked elsewhere for help. The researchers concluded that those who had used EAP’s in their workplace were less likely to foster feelings of negativity in the workplace for fear of being stigmatized compared to those who did not have access to an EAP.
Jacobson and Sacco elaborate on individuals in their study who had previously had experience with EAP’s and the demographics of those individuals. The study emphasizes how the use of EAP’s has varied across co occurring disorders and those who struggle with addiction, but they reported that the EAP gave them an outlet to receive help while simultaneously being able to live a normal life.
The influence of EAP’s on the vulnerable portion of the workforce reflected individuals who felt more comfortable reaching out for help, and did not feel they were outcasts. Individuals who suffer from an AOD addiction struggle to reach out and receive the help they need. However with the help of Employee Assistance Programs, those who are struggling have improved performance in the workplace.
The linked article below is published by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration , or SAMSHA, which elaborates on the use of EAP’s and how to use them within a company. SAMSHA is an agency that promotes receiving help for addiction while simultaneously educating the public of addiction in hopes of reducing substance abuse. The organization breaks down what an EAP is, the different types (i.e. internal programs and external programs) that can be adapted in the workplace, how to select one, the costs and benefits of choosing an EAP and lastly the costs and services of adapting an EAP. SAMSHA shares this knowledge with the public in hopes of encompassing diversity and promoting a work environment that is suitable for peoples of all abilities and disabilities. As promoted by SAMSHA, Employee Assistance Programs target the needs of the individual in order to provide them a way of healing while continuing a healthy lifestyle.
Those who struggle with substance abuse often find the process of healing difficult, especially in the work force where they often feel like an outcast and carry a specific stigma. EAP’s work to break down the barriers to promote a work environment where individuals of all race, gender and socioeconomic backgrounds can receive the help that they need. In terms of diversity inclusion, those looking to promote an equal workplace should expand their thinking to ailments that burden individuals on a daily basis. Addiction is found in individuals of all ages, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds and is something we should further expand our minds to include when thinking about a more tailored workplace.
Unit 1 Summary
In the book “What Universities Can be”, Robert Sternberg (a psychologist and psychometrician at Cornell University) devotes a chapter to diversity in higher education. He begins this chapter by saying rather frankly that people learn better and learn more if they are mixed in with people who don’t look and think like them. He says “You cannot be an active concerned citizen if your only concerns are for people you view as like yourself” (Sternberg, 73).
This is an anecdotal claim at this point, and he uses it to identify with the readers because it is sort of a no brainer concept if you think about it. Our social and educational experience can only benefit if we have variety in our peers. Sternberg than uses a few study examples, one being done in rural Kenya. This study pooled Kenyans and asked them to identify herbs that would help heal with different ailments. They all did a great job with this, but when the objective changed and they tested these same people in more academic tests, the results weren’t as good. This study is used to illustrate his point that there are different types of knowledge and intelligence. One group of people (mostly western, white people in this case) can be better at testing and doing well in standardized settings, while the other group of people might not do so well in that area but excels in the area of experiential knowledge, of being able to identify and do things in the real world outside of the classroom. Another example is using Alaskan Yup’ik peoples, who are able to do things like ride a dog sled over vast areas and hunt animals and identify that storms may be on the way by examining their kill. These sorts of things are unimaginable for most students or people who aren’t part of that culture.
This goes further into what Sternberg calls implicit theories of intelligence- folks ideas of what they consider to be smart. The same idea is very prevalent in high school and college testing, where white people who tend to be more affluent do better on these exams and end up in a better situation for college and life afterwards, and minorities who may not do as well on these exams are slighted, yet they excel in other areas of intelligence such as in the social realm.
In previous readings we learned about unconscious bias in terms of hiring practices. This phenomenon of bias is very closely related to implicit theories of intelligence. Essentially, deciding what you think constitutes being smart is a bias- you’re predetermining if a certain ethnicity, social group, gender, age range, etc is intelligent. When we take a step back and pull the blinds off of the window that is our mind, it’s easy to realize that differences between people is not a hinderance, but an asset. We should embrace them all.
This chapter from the book has an academic style to it, yet the messaging to the audience could be more broad than someone who is in one of his psychology courses. He uses studies to back up his arguments about diversity and also brings personal experience to identify with the readers easier. What we can take from this chapter is that diversity and inclusion are important to the whole picture of academic life, and we benefit as a whole from participating in it. There is more than one cog in the wheel when it comes to intelligence so it serves us better to include as many of them as we can.
An article focusing on the changes to college admissions testing and how it may benefit minorities who were previously hurt by this process: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimelsesser/2020/04/27/sat-act-policies-may-improve-diversity-at-colleges-and-universities/#3a9183f3bd57
The academic article i used to write this post: j.ctt20d890h.8
Unit 1 Assignment: Expanding the Canon
The standard way of thinking about diversity has it that ethnicity, gender, and race are the predominant merits companies need to consider at the workplace. Where they often fall short, however, is in fully realizing the impact language diversity has amongst its employees. From the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, researchers Regina Kim, Loriann Roberson, Marcello Russo, and Paolo Briganti stress why global leaders and managers should embrace multilingual backgrounds more as a way to leverage diversity in our increasingly globalized society. Their article “Language Diversity, Non-native Accents, and Their Consequences at the Workplace” addresses the type of challenges native and nonnative speakers face, how a lack of linguistic diversity can negatively affect intraorganizational dynamics, and why it has been overlooked these past few decades.
Many studies in the past have shown how one speaks, being a leading social force in communication, can stigmatize those especially with nonnative accents and in turn create negative perceptions of the speaker. While Kim et al attest to this past research, they point out that it often only ever examined how nonnative speakers are or were evaluated from the perspective of native speakers. As a result, Kim et al study look at giving more attention to understanding the cognitive and emotional experiences between both native and nonnative speakers in an organizational workplace setting. Their research design and data collection approach involved inquiring 99 respondents’ experiences through in-depth semi-structured interviews and open-ended survey question formats.
The study’s strength lays in its inclusive ability to hear from all ends of the spectrum. It allows the reader to empathize with the point of view from many others and at a greater personable scale because of the various detailed, first-hand accounts given. From both parties, they found that language diversity resulted in two challenges at work which included the real difficulty of communicating amongst varying levels of a speaker’s fluency, and the perceived difficulty in communicating that cues one to assess a speaker’s competency, regardless of their actual competence.
Since language and communication ultimately pervade every facet of organization life, having different linguistic backgrounds will inevitably present challenges between employees. Cognitive scientist and professor at UCSD, Lera Boroditsky, expands this horizon of thinking in a TED Talk she delivered explaining how linguistic diversity reveals just how ingenious and flexible the human mind is. Giving cultural, mathematical, and everyday case by case scenarios, she highlights how language can influence and have big effects on how we perceive even the most basic perceptual decisions such as color. She connects these ideas to bigger implications within our daily lives giving examples of how speakers from varying backgrounds can process ideas and remember eyewitness events differently. Applying this to our topic of diversity and inclusion, the greatest takeaway we can note is how different language abled people can think or conceptualize events not seen by another individual, group, or organization in a workplace setting. Failure in recognizing the value this brings can create obstacles in creating an inclusive environment that performs at its best. Worse yet, Kim et al argue that it can create subtle forms of discrimination, the undervaluation of foreign employees, and fewer opportunities in careers for nonnative speakers.
Towards the end of the article the authors openly discuss the importance this sort of diversity has in the workplace. Here it becomes evident that the data this publication presents is consistent with many of the readings we’ve had including Gundemir et al take on the impact of minority employees’ self-perception at the workplace and Kaplan and Donovan’s call for a better level of systems framework. Similarly, they address how language diversity can serve as source of competitive advantage like Austin and Pisano go on to describe with neurodiverse populations. By accommodating a space both native and nonnative speakers feel safe to express fears, concerns, and emotions, encouraging openness and inclusion will become the set norm. The bigger picture of their argument, I find here, aims to expand who/ what we consider when discussing diversity at a deeper level.
While documented research has shown organizational culture playing an important role in promoting diversity (Shore et al 2009), Kim et al extend this conversation addressing that language diversity continues being overlooked despite its ability to elicit more forms of discrimination at work compared with other diversity attributes. In publishing their research, they are bridging a gap in diversity and literature that has glossed over the role language plays in our conscious and unconscious actions. They provide concrete reasons as to why these issues are critical to address and the potential it has to improve organizational performance and therefore, benefit everyone in the organization. At its cores these discussions make us pause to reflect on the organizational systems and persistent inequalities we have ongoing today.
Scholarly Article:
Media Artifact: A better understanding of how language shapes the way we think and the impacts it has on the culture, society, and organizations we create.
Unit 1 assignment – Isaac Haseltine
Organizational culture diversity has surpassed the idea of being an extra step in forming a business, it is now increasingly clear that it is crucial for an organization to include a diverse workforce for maximum positive growth in the company. The article “Workforce diversity and organizational performance: a study of IT industry in India” written by Subhash Kundu and Archana Mor elaborate on the findings from the study created on the perception of diversity inclusion in the Information Technology industry in India. The study focused on gender, race/ethnicity, caste, and disability minorities and how individuals reacted to companies conscious diversity inclusion tactics. The author’s focus is in the analysis of the diversity and imbalance and researching the underlying issues within the systemic inequality. Their goal was to continue pushing forward for diversity in the workplace by addressing the issues that are taking place with the current status of the conscious inclusion. The two authors aim to inform the reader that the steps being taken for equality are still facing contrasting mindsets against the tactics in place. India was chosen for the study because of its large population that is made of many groups and subgroups of minorities. It is an extremely diverse country with 1.38 billion people who all fall into the social pyramid. Religious and societal classes segregate India, and the complex caste system creates a wide variety of minorities. How each subgroup interprets the forced diversity effects creates the diversity outcome, so it is vital to approach the conscious addition of diversity with a mindset that adheres to the wide variety of individual perceptions.
The IT industry in India has created huge economic growth for the country, it has placed India in a top position of the global IT industry and has raised the GDP from 1.2 percent to 9.5 percent from 1998 to 2014. Although studies show there is an extreme difference between the countries diversity and the IT industry’s. the data recorded showed that of the 114 employees 90% of them were a part of the general category in the caste system and the remaining 10% was made up of Other Backward castes, and the ST’s and SC’s percentages were null. In a related study of 132 employees from eight IT companies 93% were Hindu while the remaining 7% made up the rest of the major religions in India. These percentages do not align with the proportions of the country, thus proving the homogeneity taking place in the industry.
The article addresses many studies that have been done on Indias IT industry’s diversity, as well as their own study they conducted. What differed was the interpretation of the diversity findings. Many of the studies they referred to were based on the statistical data they collected on the minority groups that made up the study populations, while the author’s study was based on the receptiveness of diversity of each subgroup. Their findings show that the separate minority groups tend to perceive diversity in relatively the same views. The greatest difference was found where men were the least receptive to diversifying, and women were much more supportive. The study also helped create a deeper analysis of diversity in organizations, and they discovered that the hierarchical position of an employee has a significant impact on their receptivity of diversity along with the social class they belong to. Even though most countries don’t have a defined social class system there are still physical and monetary boundaries that separate every country, city, and town. To understand how and why a person’s current position in life affects their perspective on diversity in crucial because with our global population in the billions, there isn’t a standard life that stays consistent for most people across the world anymore; The more complex the world becomes, the farther away we drift from a world that is shared equally.
Article
Photo citation
Reuters Graphics. “Caste Politics.” Reuters, fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/INDIA-ELECTION/010031Y54EE/index.html.
Expanding the Canon, Unit 1, Week of 6/8, Toni Salisbury
Challenging the dialogic promise: how Ben & Jerry’s support for Black Lives Matter fosters dissensus on social media
In summary:
This article’s purpose is to advance dialogic theory by presenting an agonistic orientation toward dialogue, concluding that public relations research is enriched by a postmodern approach, recognizing dissensus as an important concept and consequence when organizations advocate on behalf of contested political and social issues. Erica Ciszek (PhD Communication & Society, University of Oregon School of Journalism & Communication and Assistant Professor, Stan School of Advertising and Public Relations) & Nneka Logan (PhD Georgia State University and Associate Professor, Department of Communication, Virginia Polytech University) ascertain how Ben & Jerry’s social media support for Black Lives Matter functions as an ideological reservoir for a variety of competing perspectives about race in the United States and the role of a corporation in these conversations. Though they are challenging consensus-driven orientations of dialogue within digital landscapes by analyzing Ben & Jerry’s support of the Black Lives Matter movement and the subsequent public response, the findings of this study elucidate the utility and implications in a public relations context in a company’s communication in corporate political advocacy. Situating value-drive over profit imperative in organizational life. I agree that by maintaining that public relations needs to continue to theorize how dialogue contextualizes these issues, it’s worth considering an instance in which an organization takes relational risks by engaging in corporate political advocacy.
Note: This article was Received 01 Dec 2017, Accepted 18 Jun 2018, Published online: 08 Aug 2018. I include these dates, as it seems important and powerful to note on Ben & Jerry’s behalf, that this was not in response to the protests going on today in 2020, but rather separate, yet all too similar, issues four years ago!
On October 6, 2016 Ben & Jerry’s posted on their website not just that Black Lives Matter, but WHY black lives matter to them. They spoke out about how “Systemic and institutionalized racism are the defining civil rights and social justice issues of our time.”
They ask their customer base to join them in not being complicit. Illuminating a simple objective “to ensure justice-loving people act toward justice, with all evidence, and that we stand together and act from a place of power and love, rather than out of fear and anger.”
Ben & Jerry’s goes even further, educating their public on how systemic racism is real, within their own company website.
https://www.benjerry.com/whats-new/2016/systemic-racism-is-real
Today, in response to the murder of George Floyd, brands and companies are taking Ben & Jerry’s lead and speaking out against Racism, such as Nike and more effectively Viacom. However, Ben & Jerry’s seems to always go a step further with their alliship, advocacy and calls to action, with statements on Twitter such as:
Maybe it’s because they sell Ice cream that Ben & Jerry’s can speak out so openly regardless of possible stakeholder and public alienation, and without seemingly risking the life of their organization? Does what you sell, what business you are in, what kind of company you are, make a difference in the role you can have in corporate political advocacy? And that according to Ciszek & Logan, even while continuing to address that scholars have continually used dialogic principles to examine whether social media is dialogic, and the significance of three of the key areas to public relations theory and practice; how within digital landscapes, can there still be a mode of inquiry in line with critical theory, that is also concerned with the flow and play of power through public discourse?
Why this? While I couldn’t find information on how any minority employees at Ben & Jerry’s might feel going to work each day (as originally intended), and as a white person I can not even begin to assume anything about this; what I can say is that, Ben & Jerry’s has proven that it is possible for organizations to take relational risks by engaging in corporate political advocacy, regardless of dialogical theory, and I appreciate that they don’t let anything like that deter them.