Tag: unit 2

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Discussion 7/6

  1. In an article titled ” More talk than action: gender and ethnic diversities in leading public health universities” which explored the discrimination faced by minority women in the workplace. The article explores the lack of women in high level positions because of their race and gender. It addresses how changes could be made in modern day workplaces to help decrease the pay gap and expose some of the racial inequality these individuals are experiencing. Although some women find themselves in senior positions it is noted they only maintain these roles so each company can reach a certain quota. However it argues that race and gender shouldn’t play such a monumental role in the hiring process and that an applicant should be viewed solely by their skill and not by their characteristics.

This article is important because it features the voices of students at public health universities and how finding high ranking positions can be particularly hard for minorities. It provides an important aspect when viewing the future world of college students and how applicants are sometimes judged not only based on their abilities. I think this piece will be important because it shows how ones livelihood can be affected by certain prejudices placed in the world. If we can address these problems even earlier in the education process we can help young minorities get the opportunities and positions they deserve.

3. Of course some might object that having an open floor plan leads to less work productivity. Although, I concede that being constantly watched by others might make you more determined to get work done, I still maintain that having an audience only makes you self conscious about your work and hinders the quality and speed at which its being done. One thing the author fails to talk about is that when people are constantly looking at the work you are doing and harshly critiquing your assignments you are unless to complete the tasks as well. I also feel anxiety when people can see the work I am doing and wondering whether it really measures up. I feel that these expectation only shelter negative effects on each worker and won’t ultimately lead to success.

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discussion post for week of 7/6

  1. In a secondary source titled “Disability Inclusion–Moving Beyond Mission Statements” the authors provide statistical evidence for disability inclusion and detail where work should be moving in terms of inclusion. The first few paragraphs address barriers that companies may face in regards to moving to a more inclusive environment. One barrier they speak about is the policy and institutional ones. The authors provide evidence of legal Acts that are in place to protect those with disabilities and further, enforce the idea that all employees are entitled to a suitable work place. Which further raises the question of why do not most workplaces have all inclusive areas. Another barrier they address is the training and hiring process, which is exposed to be selective in the world of ability and disability.  The lack of those with disabilities in the workforce creates a harder advocacy for those who want to join the workforce as, the authors state, they do not see enough representation of their identity. The authors write this article in their opinion, and end with the expression that these barriers are easy to change and must, for a more inclusive environment.
    I plan to use this source to emphasize my own opinions of disability inclusion in the workforce, and to counter points that may include how it would be difficult to create an universal design and how many hold the opinion that those with disabilities can not perform the same. This article uses the importance of historical policies already set in place, and the ability that institutions have to make a change to convey the message of an universal design. I plan to use this source in that way, to further develop the center of my paper.

3. What I would inject into the discussion is the idea that in an open office type set up, it allows for more scrutiny than just your coworkers. For example, the Barnes indoor pool has a glass window that onlookers can look into the pool and observe the new area. However, this opens up the door for increased scrutiny and pressure on the guards and those who supervise. You would think that this would be a positive, however it leaves guards under immense amounts of pressure. I myself have gotten in trouble for touching my hair and crossing my legs up on the stand because someone walked by and assumed I was not paying attention and doing my job. Although many may think that this would be good and constructive criticism is appreciated, however it leads for many to lead blindly and draw conclusions. While Schwabb already discusses anxiety in an open office, I would further her point by adding the pressure of the onlooker. Outside criticism leads to those who know how to do their job to second guess their abilities, because a wandering eye or a passer by-er did not believe they were. Privacy would enable the worker to focus on their work, without questioning their sitting position, the break they take to sip their water or feeling the pressure from the outside.

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Discussion – Week of 7/6

Caroline Heldman’s Protest Politics in the Marketplace: Consumer Activism in the Corporate Age is a comprehensive look at how consumers have attempted to use the power of choice in the marketplace to drive social and political change for centuries. Using examples as varied as The Boston Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street, Heldman breaks down consumer activism across multiple eras, each with their own methods and goals. Featuring chapters which focus on social and economic justice, environmental and animal rights movements, gender and LGBTQ rights, and conservative causes, Protest Politics in the Marketplace provides a well-rounded perspective on the various drivers behind consumer activism. Heldman then wraps it up by discussing the varying success rates of such activism,  and shares her perspective on what factors will need to be in place for real change to come about.

Protest Politics has been an incredible resource for me as I work this project. I went into this thinking about “cancel culture”. Heldman’s book has been the start of broadening my perspective beyond the recent trends on social media, and to think more about the various types of protests. I’m now not only thinking on what the motivations might be, but also on how companies are using consumer activism to create a competitive edge.  Certainly not where I started, but a fun journey nonetheless.

Until COVID-19 forced us all to work remotely, I too worked at an open-concept office. One of the things that struck me as I read the responses to Schwab’s article was whether, as a cis-white-male, I had ever been guilty of making a co-worker feel like some of those who had written in. As someone who was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, open-concept offices are filled with reasons to look up from your work. Dozens of women walked past my desk everyday, and the movement would just about always make me look up. Did those glances make some of my co-workers uncomfortable in any way? I hope not, but as became clear in response after response to the Schwab article, it’s likely that I’ll never know.

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Discussion week of 7/6

1. An article that stood out to me when conducting my research was “The Impact of Method, Motivation, and Empathy on Diversity Training Effectiveness” by Alex Lindsey et al, which examined diversity training methods. These methods of diversity training are perspective-taking, goal setting, and stereotype discrediting along with individual differences and how they impact the effectiveness. Each method is talked about in great length investigating the cause and effects, methods, comparison, and conclusion. Each topic has its sections to first give an overview of the topic and mention general facts, such as how perspective training resulted in increased positive attitudes, along with side comparisons and discussions. These touch on each hypothesis and their findings, along with specific details such as the positive impact reported towards LGB individuals and more.

I found this article very useful to my research because of how thoroughly it investigates diversity training. More specifically it directly discusses empathy and perspective which are the main focus of my topic. When searching for evidence about empathy and perspective as a way to make people more accepting of diverse groups I found a lot of opinions that were helpful but they were also subjective. Using a scholarly journal brings as a source adds credibility along with data and facts. The use of multiple hypotheses and analysis of both successes and failures of the training helps the discussion become more well rounded. 

2. The response that stood out to me was “The pressure to keep up appearances”. I connected to this response because I often find my physical comfort translating to my mental comfort, and if I am not comfortable I find it hard to accomplish and even focus work. Reading how uneasy it made the women feel to be watched all day made me understand that they had many added pressures to their work because of an open office. The writer adds to the ideas of the original article because the pressure to keep up appearances is a direct result of men staring. Schwab quotes “men in particular, often in groups, look obsessively at women” which is similar to the mention of her need to “look proper because I was visible from all angles” illustrating that an open office is extremely exposing for women. 

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Discussion Post week of 7/6

  1. In the article “Examining Racial Bias in Education: A New Approach”, the concept of implicit bias in regards to education is the focus. In a different book chapter that I came across earlier in this course, the idea of implicit theories of intelligence was introduced to me- where people have an idea that certain ethnic groups have more knowledge than others. This article I am using for my research now uses this but goes further into the field of education and discusses how teachers use this, despite their good intentions and attempts at fostering a diverse climate in their classrooms.

This article is really helpful in my research because I plan on going into education after I complete my BA in History, and this behavior is something that peaks my interests. I was always aware of biases that people had (to include teachers naturally) but never knew that it was such a widespread thing. Finding out more about why a person will predetermine how you are going to perform academically just by the color of your skin is vital for us to understand if we ever want to have an honest discussion about diversity and inclusion and how we can contribute anything of value to help fix this issue.

2. Briggite D. answers the article by giving a little background about her experiences working in office environments, giving us as little personal testimony of how these open environments made her feel. What I feel was important that she brought to the discussion is her introduction of some personal issues that she encountered while working in this type of office environment which is extending the picture for us. Briggite brings up the group mentality of the office as a whole, where she would bring up a complaint to her manager and request to be moved because of noise complaints, breakroom and microwave complaints, etc and she would instantly be singled out for trying to break the group dynamic. This seems like groupthink to me and is very unnerving. The purpose of work (to me) is to get stuff done and be successful, and it seems that she (and i’m sure others like her in other places) would be shut down from trying to do their best because they didn’t have the freedom to work comfortably and were essentially forced into going with the flow.

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Discussion Week 7/6

1. One of the most fascinating sources I stumbled upon when researching was the article “Action need on LGBTQ Diversity” by Dexter Morse, focusing primarily on improving diversity amongst genders within the airline industry. Morse’s call to action is creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace for those who are discriminated against for their sexuality, this pertaining to many who identify as anything other than heterosexual. The article begins with showing the United States’s delay on bringing this inclusion to airlines, as other countries have implemented federal laws to protect discriminated employees. Other countries have taken immediate action to introduce laws and regulations that make it illegal to sexuality as a reason to discriminate between employees, and therefore allow all to be hired no matter what they identify with in terms of their sexuality. Morse reports from his own findings, that sadly “… more than 53% of LGBTQ workers hide their identity at the workplace”; proving that there is still plenty of action to be taken to bring this number down drastically. Although all members of the LGBTQ community are affected, those who identify as transgender face the most discrimination as “…27% of the transgender population said they were not hired, were fired or were not promoted as a result of their gender identity or expression”. Moving into tying LGBTQ inclusivity with the airline industry, Morse mentions the steps airlines such as American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, United Airlines, and Emirates have taken to improve upon their gender diversity within the companies. In addition, Morse connects the dots together to conclude the article with ways to raise awareness for this discrimination and how companies should utilize their business ventures to improve upon this issue at hand. 
 
Overall this article is beyond beneficial, providing evidence and statistics that are easy to visualize to better understand the exclusivity in terms of gender within big time companies. Focusing on the improvements airlines have made to incorporate a more gender-diverse workforce was also interesting, as these findings were specific to Dexter Morse’s article and not found in other articles I read. I think this source is extremely beneficial in terms of providing statistics that are worthwhile, each statistical number having enough weight to hit readers and those educating themselves on the issue how drastic this needs to be changed. Morse also provided some examples of policies and laws that have been made in response to improving on gender-diversity, and also improving the benefits that those who identify with the LGBTQ community. 

 

2. One of the responses that really hit home for me was subtitled “A Lack of Privacy makes Anxiety Worse”. As someone who suffers from anxiety from time to time, I found it especially personal to read the response as it corresponded with how I would also feel if placed within an open layout office. Immediately as the start of the response, the writer opens with an illustration of what this office is like. I believe that this is crucial in understanding the rest of her response as you can visualize what working in the environment must have like. Visualizing these hiding spots the girls within the company, only of which there were three, was heartbreaking as they had to leave the office to find some sort of calm and peace. I think that from this I was able to illustrate a point I would want to make, that being the importance of mental health within the workplace and how it corresponds to the quality of the work performed. I was intrigued to find out that the writer did explain to the company through her exiting letter the toll that the office space took on her, but I was also appalled that she did not have a response or anything to say on whether or not the company improved upon this response to the environment they had created for their employees.

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Week of 7/6 Discussion Post – Dominique Van Gilst

  1. The overall message of the article, “Inclusive education: Perspectives on implementation and practice from international experts” is that every child deserves the right to a good education. This article defines inclusive education in many different ways, but one is  as “a process and practice of designing schools to support and benefit all learners” (p. 1). Inclusion means allowing each and every student to learn and grow a general education classroom. However, it also means providing support for students who need it in that classroom. Later in the article, there is a study done to find out if inclusive education is worth it. In the end, the authors, who are experts in the field of education, find that inclusivity is certainly worth studying, and in order for inclusive classrooms to be successful, we must know the barriers.

This article will be extremely helpful because it talks a lot about the ways in which inclusive education can be defined. For example, in the paragraph above, I quoted one of the definitions. However, this article uses more sources in order to have more definitions. The more the article talks about inclusion, the better the reader can understand it.  I believe that the study included in the article will be helpful too because it gives proof of inclusion working, and tells the reader what is needed to make it successful.

 

2. “I do have a rather robust response to being watched, having been one of the first girls at a boys school, and then the first female on the factory floor in three organizations. But after moving to local government, I noticed several of the points raised. However, one seems left out. A lot of the women would get in early to be able to sit by the walls, not the aisles, in an open office. This let them feel slightly less exposed in situ, but of course also put the men at the end where it was easy to ‘aisle watch’! This early start, coupled with the pressure to dress well–let’s face it, dress down Friday is for men!–made them more likely to do unpaid overtime at the end of the day. Because the men were still going, work was still being discussed.” —Kristin W. 

I chose this response because the author, Kristin W., builds on what was said in the original article, while also writing about her take on open office plans. I believe that according to Rewriting,  Kristin is extending, or putting her spin on the original article based on her own experiences. Kristin adds something that was not talked about in the original article, which is intriguing because it unfortunately makes a lot of sense. Kristin opens a new line of inquiry with her response because she says that many women would get to work early just so that they could sit closer to the wall during the day so that they would not be noticed as much. This is not surprising to me, but it should be eye opening for offices, and people working there. Women should not have to feel that they must get to work early so that they will not be “watched” by their male co-workers. I think that Kristin makes a very valid, interesting point. This response was different from a lot of the women who responded to the original article, so I thought that it would be a good response to choose.

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7/6 Discussion

  1. The article “Changing preservice Teacher’s Attitudes/Beliefs About Diversity” investigates the motives behind racial bias and what is needed to reform the bias into awareness. M. Arthur Garmon is the author and a professor of early education and human development at Western Michigan University and uses past study’s results to introduce us to the issue of preservice teachers having discriminatory biases. He created his own study of one of his students, Leslie P., who becomes a great example of the development of the racially sensitive mindset that is crucial in teaching. Garmon bases his study around the question “what are the factors that appeared to be most critical in the development of her multicultural awareness and sensitivity?” Through 10 hours of recorded interviews, Garmon analyzes the conversations he had with Leslie in her senior year of college and categorized her reflections on diversity and multiculturalism throughout her life and how she developed a healthy perspective on the topic. The article is filled with large quotes from their conversations, between them, professor Garmon adds in his inferences and analysis of Leslie and her mindset. He continually mentions Leslies mindfulness and how she is more perceptive than any of his other students. Like most of her white classmates, Leslie came from a homogenous rural town where diversity was rarely discussed. Her interest to open her mind to the topic is what stood out so much to Garmon, although she had not grown up surrounded by multiple cultures she believed it was important to be engaged in all the different walks of life that surrounded her when she arrived at college. 

 

Leslie opened up about the prejudices that had formed in her childhood and the ignorance that the biased beliefs fed off of. Although, she affirms that this openness and mindfulness to ones own prejudiced views is a necessary step to forming the multicultural awareness that all people should work towards. She places a lot of the responsibility of this mindfulness on going to college, which was the first time Leslie had really become a part of a culture that included many varying cultures. This source will be especially helpful because it tells a true story of the development of an unbiased open mind; a crucial characteristic for anyone working in the education system. The article also addresses her commitment to social justice, this is a topic I feel very strongly about because I believe it should be a characteristic that is taught and encouraged in everyone, not just teachers. In past article summaries, and in my research plan I have addressed the issue that people have become selfish with their privilege, and how not only the education system but the whole world needs to turn their attention to the number of people forced into crime and poverty, not the number in their bank accounts.

 

  1. While the article from Katherine Shwab does a great job of informing the reader about the perspective of open offices from a female it lacks in the topic of how to change it. It works as a great informative piece, and I noticed many solid and concise quotes that would make great additions to a paper or study regarding this issue, but to make this article a stronger argumentative piece I would include a possible solution. Typical cubicle office spaces seem to be uninviting; you are designated only a small square of space to do your work and you have walls surrounding you to help you not get distracted. It eliminates any feng shui that can improve an environments comfortability like the open office space is able to. Although, the open office plan clearly has problems of its own, and a large factor is how it eliminates all privacy that the cubicles offered. 

My suggested solution to these conflicting office arrangements would be to find a balance of the two. A main problem I saw repeatedly in the article was how there was no place to go in an open office to relieve stress or to make a private call. An open office that consisted of larger ‘mega-cubicles’ may be able to fix this issue, where some would be designated to teams of employees are meeting areas while others would be an open space that worked as a break room or collaborative space. This idea can also work like the casual-Fridays appeal, where the rooms are given designated days for their purpose, such as having a comfortable room with dimmed lights as a de-stress room two days a week. Not only does this address the issues women are facing, but it allows a person to choose how they want to spend each day. Forcing everyone into the same work conditions may seem like equality, but that’s not the answer to inequality; equity is.

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Overview for week of 7/6

Your research work continues this week, and will be the primary focus of your writing work. We’ll be doing that against the backdrop of a conversation about office design that intersects with our larger discussions around inclusion and organizational culture.

See, all the work we’re doing individually overlaps with these other conversations–there’s a lot of thinking and writing around these issues, and we can learn from all of the pieces that we bump into.

So, first, please take a few minutes to read through this post about the conversation analogy we’ll be using: 

Rounding out the conversation

Then, move on to this week’s work.

Reading

  • “The subtle sexism of your open office plan”
  • “Readers respond: open offices are terrible for women” (both linked from Bb)
  • your own sources as you locate, take notes, and get ready to write about them

Writing

  • Complicating your Research–look through the folder of that name in Helpful Links on Blackboard, and then head to the Unit 2 dropboxes for instructions (due Wednesday)
  • Rounding out the Conversation (detailed in the Unit 2 dropbox) (due Sunday)
  • Complete this week’s discussion work on the blog (due Thursday). See this post for prompts:

    Discussion prompts for week of 7/6

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Discussion prompts for week of 7/6

We’re diving into a series of conversations this week–around the physical design of office spaces, around the issues you’re exploring in your own inquiries, and around the very work of research and pulling together a range of perspectives. Let’s continue all of that work on the blog.

For this week, everyone should respond to #1 and then choose 1 of the other 2 questions to answer. Your initial posts are due by the end of the day on Thursday, and then I’ll ask you to log back into read through your classmates’ posts and respond as you wish.

  1. With the due date approaching for your research portfolio, it’s time to start practicing writing about your sources. Please compose an annotation for 1 of your sources, following the guidance on the unit 2 assignment sheet. This annotation should be 2 paragraphs long–1 of summary, 1 of analysis/ discussion of how this source will be useful to you. The draft is good practice for you, and provides me an opportunity to give you feedback on adjustments that you might want to make as you continue to work toward the portfolio (which is due next Wednesday, 7/15)
  2. Choose one of the responses from “Readers respond: open offices are terrible for women,” and consider how the writer builds upon the ideas in the original article (“The subtle sexism of your open office plan”). Use Harris’s terms from chapter 2 of Rewriting to describe what you see this writer doing (i.e. extending, illustrating, etc.) and what intrigues you about that. How does this person open up a new line of inquiry with their response?
  3. In the reader response piece, Katharine Schwab introduces those letters with a brief overview of some of the patterns she detects in their feedback. This segment includes some jump-out links to other related articles, and then segues into a selection of letters that focus on the gendered implications of open office plans (the impacts that disproportionately affect women). Thus, Schwab facilitates a complex discussion with many participants, but it’s by no means exhaustive. What else would YOU want to inject into the discussion? What is an issue/perspective you think is not represented here? (You can draw on your own experience if you wish, or conjecture as to what others might wish to incorporate, but offer up another take on this using one of the templates from They Say/I Say, any chapter.)

Please categorize your post as “discussions/homework,” and tag it with “unit 2,” “week of 7/6” and [your name].