Tag: plan

Posted on

Research Plan

The question guiding my research is, how do our findings from studies on workplace diversity help us better understand the role of diversity of our world at large? Studies within the workplace show again and again how diversity can have a positive effect on the success of a company. They also have shown what goes wrong when diversity doesn’t have a positive impact. This can be a direct look into why, as a world of many races, we sometimes clash, and sometimes use our differences to our advantage. At a time where issues of race are as prevalent a conversation as any, I think this is an important connection to make.

This question intrigues my personal interests because the dilemma of racial equality has been something I’ve thought about my entire life. Why is it that she corporations can foster diversity successfully while others fail? Why are some countries plagued with constant strife against one or more races, while others live more peacefully? What can turn our differences into advantages rather than things to fear to push us apart. I believe the research on organizational culture and diversity is on the path to answering those questions. My career and personal interests relate to these topics because I play basketball for Syracuse and found the article about Football interesting for what diversity means on a greater level than just the workplace.

The work I do in the world beyond this course will inform this inquiry, as I’m both in a sports environment as well as a diverse environment. It’s easy to see first-hand what works and what doesn’t. I can make connections to the Football study, in that each of my teammate brings a different style of player from their part of the world. The fields that will matter most to my inquiry are studies of diversity in smaller to larger group settings, from classroom/workroom to country. I’ll look for information in sports studies on diversity and relate it to sports on a bigger stage in order to expand to a perspective of the world at large. I’ll look at political studies for information on country’s diversity and compare it to studies on diversity in sports.

Posted on

Research plan (Dan)

In the unit 1 “Expanding the canon assignment” I was intrigued by the work of one of my classmates. The topic that he chose was language diversity. This peaked my interest as when I think about diversity, language diversity and foreign accents are not the first to come to mind.

This has led me to the question that has driven my unit two research assignment. How are people with nonnative accents treated in the workplace and how can we mitigate the unconscious bias that leads them to suffering?

This topic is close to my heart as I have a few dear friends of mine at work that are not from the United States. One of my friends is from Bosnia, another is from the Dominican Republic, and the last is from a place north of India called Bhutan. I have seen them work very hard and not seem to get the recognition that I know they deserve. Although, I believe in our situation it may not be due entirely to their accents, I do believe that the accents they have may have an affect as to why certain managers haven’t developed a stronger relationship with them.

I’m positive that this problem occurs in all industries in all parts of the world. One would think that a problem this big would have a plethora of information and research into it. However, I have found that this seems to be a topic that is often overlooked. Though the articles that I am finding have been helpful in expanding my knowledge of unconscious accent bias and its effects. I have found this information through databases such as Syracuse Summons, Google search, and Ted Talks on Youtube. I look forward to sharing my findings with the class.

Posted on

Research Plan

In this assignment my goal is to bring more awareness to the true hardship of minorities in the face of discrimination. In order to clearly articulate to the reader how the lives of these individuals are continuously impacted I plan to incorporate quotes from individuals who were discriminated from a position or  a classroom based on their race, gender r disability. In my assignment I plan to answer the question “what happens when a minority is discriminated against in a classroom or workplace and whether they are able to succeed despite their hardship”. We conduct so much research on diversity and inclusion yet we have yet to read first hands account of individuals being degraded by the system in place. In order to truly understand my research and the injustice being faced daily we must hear first hand accounts of those who have experienced it.

In my research it has been depicted the individuals who experience racial discrimination in terms of class placement sometimes fall behind and end up dropping out of school. The action of one individual profiling a minority student as unable to succeed can make or break this child at such a young age. The actions of careless individuals can ruin the lives of the student and anyone who has ever been treated differently because of the way they look. It is important to me that we hear these stories and understand what happens to an individual when they aren’t able to accomplish things beach of the way the system is built. I want to understand what type of lasting effect can this have on someone life.

Every summer I work at a summer camp as a lifeguard with a bunch of other high school/college aged kids. However I am the only minority on my team and the only member of my race. I sometimes feel self-conscious about being the only person around me and wonder how I can be the only minority working such a prestigious job. Then I realize that not many opportunities are awarded to minorities and although I work there it took many years of practice and hardship. Some people never get the same opportunity and it is unfair that workforces can facilitate such discrimination in their walls. I think it is important to have equal representation within each workplace and I think this piece will help bring attention to that.

I have mainly been focusing on the experiences of school children and work offices. These locations exhibit the most discrimination and they have countless stories of either bias or inclusion within their different programs. I will of course be using Syracuse libraries and I hope to also incorporate the experiences of college aged students or individuals similar in age .

Posted on

Research Plan – Toni

The leading question I have is not necessarily about the diversity and inclusion of the religiously different, it is more the practices and principles that are currently being applied, discussed, researched, experimented with, etc., in how to include different religions into organizations.  This initial question does not necessarily relate to my workplace any more specifically than any other diversity and inclusion research would–they all would; but I find the subtly of religious inclusion and diversity more intriguing.

I feel strongly that any learning which could come from this research would benefit every work environment I could be in, and any diversity and inclusion topic, quite specifically, because of subtlety of it.  I feel this could connect to any work that I’m a part of in the world beyond this course, and in any field of study; thus, why I chose this broad, yet subtle topic of research.

I’ve compiled articles and TED talks, which address religious diversity directly, and some address diversity, implicit biases, unlearning biases, and some more “radical” approaches to diversity some have taken, including the idea of “organizational constellations” and “rent-a minority services”, which I’m very intrigued to learn more about through just some basic information on the creator (Arwa Mahdawi) of the “rent-a-minority” concept.

In looking at sources that are not just about the religiously different and religious discrimination, I feel I will be able to understand what the different degrees of subtly may be, and hopefully understand better if what’s working for other discrimination in organizations would also be able to work with religious discrimination.  How possible is to apply these ideas from other discrimination to all; is it possible?  Is that also just another form of pluralism?

Posted on

Research Proposal

I believe the guiding question to my own research will stem from the overarching question of “How can society improve the feelings of inclusion to LGBTQ community employees and overall gender diversity within the workplace?”. I myself am not a member of the LGBTQ community, as I am a heterosexual female, but I feel as though this is an area of inclusion that needs to be improved on as soon as possible. Gender identity is not always a visible distinguishing characteristic of an individual, many do not feel as though they are in workplaces that would accept their gender identity so they feel as though they should repress it. Unlike race and ethnicity, gender identity does not have a color or specific physical characteristics, it instead is an identifier that an individual chooses for themselves as they best see fit. Through extensive research with providing inclusive working environments for those who identify with the LGTBQ community, I hope to find a few things. For one, I would definitely want to better understand the discrimination those face when pressed with judgements of gender. I think it is essential as a heterosexual female, who does not face discreet discrimination when it comes to my gender, to understand what hardships those who experience backlash for their identity face and how it intervenes within their daily lives. I am also curious to see what action has started to take place in businesses to help improve this inclusion for those of all gender identifications. As a society, we have taken big leaps to provide such inclusion for the LGBTQ community such as legalizing marriage for those of any gender and being able to enlist any gender into the military, but we are still years away from providing the LGBTQ community with the inclusion and respect they deserve. Out of all subfields, I think it is the most beneficial to focus on the business aspect and how LGBTQ community members are treated as employees. Money makes the world go round, and to earn money you need a job; but if the job entails facing explicit discrimination, who would feel comfortable going into a working environment feeling belittled and threatened constantly? I hope to find some evidence of businesses working on improving their gender diversity within their respected companies/organizations, and I also hope to stumble upon some accounts of experiences from members of LGBTQ community have gone through when it comes to inclusion at work. It is hard to grasp something that you may not experience personally, from this I want to gain a better understanding of the LGBTQ community as an ally.

Posted on

Research Plan

Throughout Unit 1 we explored different aspects of diversity in relation to organized culture. From our weekly readings to expanding the canon, there was a plethora of information added to help our understanding of what diversity is, where it can be seen, and how important it is to increase inclusion and maintain it. The sources helped give me a general overview but as the weeks progressed I was still left with questions. One of the questions that stood out to me most was, why it took the world so long to work towards acceptance of everybody? This leads me to focus on empathy and perspective concerning diversity and inclusion because I believe that understanding diverse groups can help increase acceptance. I will use my research to understand the foundational idea of empathy, and why understanding the perspective of diverse individuals is so crucial when working towards a more inclusive world.

In my personal life and career, I see many people, including myself, struggling to think beyond themselves. As a Communications Design major our assignments are focused on creating new ways to communicate through the means of design. One way our teachers push us to come up with better work is to have an audience for our projects that excludes ourselves, that way we have to put ourselves into other’s shoes to think about what they want and how we can target and connect the best. I often find understanding and curating things towards groups I am not apart of difficult, especially when I try to include ones that I know little about. To make this process easier I have to do research on their perspective and figure out how the world affects them and not just me.

For my internship, as a Graphic Design intern at a beauty corporation, I often create content for the brand that must be inclusive and accepting of all. Since I am not apart of many diverse groups that I have to represent on things such as our Instagram feed I often struggle with how to do so properly. The company I work for is relatively small resulting in a lack of diversity so I feel as though if there was an increase in diversity it would allow me to have conversations with those different then me about, how the company can continue to post inclusive and positive content for all. That added perspective would help me do my job better then I could just on my own.

Since perspective is one main focus in my research, the inclusion of one or more primary sources is very important when making sure diverse voices are heard. Along with primary sources, it feels necessary for my source material to consist of a majority of scholarly texts. The effects of something especially empathy can be extremely subjective which is why it is so important to include facts and data to address all sides and provide solid evidence. Scholarly journals that include investigations or reviews on the results of empathy and perspective with diversity are beneficial because they provide solid analysis and include real-life results that will add to our knowledge of how to address diversity in organized culture. Understanding and empathizing with a group is a key strategy I have learned to use in my work and through my research, I hope to show how it can help create more efficient and inclusive organized cultures.

Posted on

Research Plan, Bryan

Recalling our first assignment I had come across an article speaking on how native and nonnative speakers’ interact and were perceived in the workplace. After reading this I found myself digging into a field of many more questions trying to understand how language, or linguistic diversity, affects the way we as humans interact (and in different applied environments). The obvious question, well what is linguistic diversity, was what I used to guide my initial research development.

My research interests quickly began to develop further as I’ve continued to read more on the topic and locate different sources. Questions such as how language could be used to explain the roots of many organizational cultures and explain where much of our implicit/ explicit bias comes from were areas that piqued my interest. I also connected this with many of the readings we’ve had in the past explaining why this form of diversity matters and how it could be used as a competitive advantage in the workplace.

Language ultimately pervades any form of communication whether that be through formal words, graphic symbols, or computer code (to name a few). When you think about it the applicability this has affects us daily. I’ve found myself so invested in this topic for that reason alone however I found it insightful for empathizing and better understanding others too. A lot of the work I do being an architecture major involves presenting and communicating ideas across a variety of audiences. Conducting this research, therefore, informs me of ways I can better engage with others at a more meaningful level.

Given the widespread applicability of language, I’ve been fortunate to find an array of sources. The material I’ve gathered thus far comes from linguistics databases (scholarly focus), online web-courses (educational context), and first-hand accounts such as personal interviews or surveyed responses (individual scale). What I’ve found matter most is learning how this information can be greater caught on by others. Much of the research out there today states that this is a relatively new field with a limited amount of investigation and that much of what there already is, is conducted in Western and English-speaking countries (limiting a more complete/global understanding). Therefore a lot of my inquiries over the coming weeks will be focusing on learning to better teach language diversity and the implications it has.

Posted on

Research Plan

The main question that is guiding my research is why do not more institutions provide disability services? My argument and research is derived from the notion that making institutions disability friendly is an easy thing to do that benefits all. I believe that this question is of high importance as it is an easy fix that most of us forget about. For those who can walk, walking up a ramp is a quick and easier alternative to taking the stairs. Elevators are seen as the easier way to travel. For those who can see, navigating the way through a crowd can be made in an instant. For those who can hear, notifications can be turned off if they are seen as loud or annoying. However, those who can not do these things do not have the luxury of enjoying the nonchalant gestures people with different abilities have. I became aware of this when I went on a mission trip in Jamaica, and the children who we worked with could not do the basic functions as I could. It put into perspective how much myself and those around me take the functions of life that we forget about for granted. For the work I plan to be apart of in the future, the importance of disability and diversity inclusion is important to me as it reflects the values a company has. To me, if a company can not open up the employment pool to all, what does this say about them? With what we have been learning about organizational culture, this incentive has grown more important to me and has had me reflecting on the world we live in. I will be looking in the professional field mainly as I find more primary sources about those reflecting on the workplace. The secondary sources I have found are those that center about the workplace, and I feel as though the source material is in bulk regarding professional life. 

Posted on

Research Plan

For this project, I have chosen to focus on diversity in the education system and how public and private school screening processes may have an affect on this. For our unit 1 assignment, I had seen one of my classmates blog post about diversity in education and it really caught my interest. Diversifying the education system is a really important topic in organizational culture. I wanted to specifically look at screening and while I was doing the research, I noticed that it is a highly debated topic with many viewpoints and discussions surrounding this. After reading several articles about this, I have developed a couple questions to guide more of my research. One of them simply being why is diversity in education important? I have found that integrated classroom environments are essential in helping students learn to collaborate and work with people of different backgrounds and cultures. It then creates a safer and more connected workplace.

After reading several articles about this, another question arose which is why aren’t more schools integrating more diversity and does screening have anything to do with it? I want to use the information I find for these questions to really understand the process of screening and whether it ultimately hinders or helps diversify schools. I chose these questions because I was always interested in the process schools went to in order to accept incoming freshman into their schools. Growing up in NYC, I have had to apply to middle and high school and hope to be accepted. However I never really thought about the factors that go into this and how public and private schools may differ. I want to better understand these questions because education is so important in shaping our future, and the process behind it really interests me. Continuing my research, I will continue to looks at articles with authors in the field of education. So far, I have found exactly that and even some who specialize in the diversity programs at certain schools across the country. I am going to continue to look at SU libraries which so far has been successful for me. Primary sources seem to be a little more difficult but I am going to expand my searches in hopes to find one that will connect to the topic.

Lastly, I believe that the experiences and work I have done at previous programs, will help make a significant connection to my topic. For example, a few years ago I volunteered at the JCC who partnered with a school in upper Manhattan for one on one tutoring in both math and reading. The students were all in elementary school and predominantly African American. After my school ended, on Tuesdays I would take the train uptown to this school and see the student I was assigned to tutor. Immediately he saw me and the first thing he said was “oh you’re white.” He was accustomed to teachers of his race helping him through school and wasn’t used to anything different. The reason I gave this story is because even though we had a lot of similarities such as watching and playing basketball, he still found it hard to connect because he wasn’t used to it. I think it is important to have integrated schools so it helps young people how to collaborate and work with people who they may not be used to working with. I believe that screening can be helped to diversify schools if the right information is presented and therefore will allow students to work well with anyone no matter the circumstances.

Posted on

Research Plan, Aaron

The readings and assignments in this class have really opened my eyes and made me think about diversity and inclusion in ways I never have before. One area that has stuck out to me is the area of diversity in education. To break it down even further, I am interested in the bias against different races, ethnicities and genders in school. Are there biases that have a strong correlation on academic performance and outcomes? What really sparked me to ask this question was finding out about implicit theories of knowledge and the idea that administrators and educators can have a predetermination on whether you will be successful or not based on what race or culture you belong to.

This question is important to me on a personal level because once I am done with my schooling I plan to become a teacher either in middle school or high school (in social studies), so this idea of how teachers may look at and treat their students before having an honest chance to evaluate their skills, strengths and weaknesses is something that I plan to look into and learn as much as I can about.

My career outside of this school project has dealt with diversity in the sense that I have been around many cultures in jobs I have had in the past, and while my coworkers would more often than not tend to stick to their own kind of people and shy away from helping (or working with) people who have a different ethnic background than them, I’ve always found it easy and natural to do the opposite of that. Now that I plan to go into a different profession in my later years, getting into teaching, it is going to be interesting to find out how people who are already established in this field feel about their students- are they generally fair or exhibit their implicit bias?

In conducting this research, the bulk of my work comes from finding scholarly articles and book chapters that have been written by educators, sociologists, psychologists and administrators in the education system. Seeing what people who are in this field come up with will be important to seeing where the goal posts are in this argument of how diversity effects academic performance, and I have chose to solely rely on this kind of testimony because of the “inside look” at what these authors are contributing.