Response to #1
In the reading “Why diversity matters”, many questions were raised for me. Something that stood out to me the most was that no industry or company is in the top quartile when it comes to attaining both racial, ethnic, and gender diversity. When looking at racial and ethnic diversity alone, in the United States, racial and ethnic diversity had a larger impact on financial performance than gender diversity because there has already been an effort in women’s representation. This seems problematic to me, and the first thing that came to mind was that businesses want to “check the box.” The reason for me saying this is due to the fact that the successful fight for women’s representation in the past had great results, but this does not mean there isn’t more to be done. Gender diversity does not only consist of women’s and men’s rights but a spectrum of genders and identities that need to be recognized and valued. Of course, I am grateful that racial and ethnic diversity is finally being recognized in the workplace, but I do believe that furthering gender diversity alongside racial and ethnic diversity would not only acquire bigger financial gains but would make companies stronger as a whole. Companies would grow, be able to educate themselves more about the injustices seen every day, and would ultimately be able to understand their customers, consumers, and employees even more. The generations to come to need to be understood and heard, especially when diversity comes in so many forms. I believe that it is crucial for diversity teams to tackle racial, ethnic, and gender diversity simultaneously in hopes of understanding “customer orientation”, employee well-being, as well as decisions that need to be made in the future. Different opinions, viewpoints, and experiences can form an array of fascinating ideas and solutions.
Response to #2
In the reading “What is organizational culture and why should we care”, I instantly resonated with the last heading. An organization is practically living and can adjust to the reality in which is placed upon it. Not only can an organization successfully adapt to external and internal forces, but it can also do it quickly. However, sometimes a goal is uncertain or seems unattainable, but growing and figuring out issues together is one step towards this “goal.” When I think of this idea, I think of our campus and how students adjusted to the pandemic over the last year. I think of our community as an organization adjusting to pressures all the time. When the pandemic forced us to go home, there were many unknowns, but we knew that by taking this step we could get ahead and maintain our “culture.” Being back in the fall, we took many precautions to continue to better our community, and through this, we grew and learned many things about ourselves and others. We never knew exactly what our efforts would create, but we knew that by making changes we were one step closer to normalcy. We still do not know, but now, looking back over the past year, I can say as a community we have grown so much and our efforts have certainly paid off. Group efforts have created more peace throughout our community, knowing that everyone has played their part in hopes of an amazing outcome. Although the pandemic was a “big shift” for us, our reactions started a continuous process. We will take everything we have learned, and still use this knowledge and practice similar efforts since we have learned they have been successful.
Hi Kate,
I thought the use of your personal experience as a student at Syracuse University during the pandemic and how the school as an organization handled constantly changing protocols, was an excellent example of fluidity in organizational culture!
Kathleen, I completely agree with the points that you made about gender diversity and how there is still work to be done. I believe that with most, if not all, types of diversity and discrimination, there will always be more work to be done. Unfortunately, I do not see everyone being seen as an equal by everyone any time soon. There will always be someone that thinks some people are above others, normally themselves.
Hi Kathleen,
I enjoyed reading your post. I also noted that the diversity article mentioned that no businesses were very good at both gender and racial and ethnic diversity. Your idea that businesses may be “checking the box” is something that always crosses my mind and also worries me because it means that companies may be promoting diversity for show. For example, they might be thinking “how many boxes can we check by appointing this person?” I don’t think that’s true. I’m beginning to think they are doing it for profit, which might be an even worse reason to do it. Creating social change takes years if not decades. Many public companies have a short term mindset and need to report their earnings quarterly. So I wonder if there’s a clash between what is good for a company in the short term and what is best for society in the long term. Your comments about the pandemic and our campus also gave me some thoughts. For more than a year, we have had to look at each other’s faces on Zoom and we have gotten a different glimpse into the lives of our fellow students all over the world. Perhaps our community will become more understanding of our differences because of this.
We are in a unique position now–not just at SU, but in organizations of all types around the globe–to reflect and reconsider how our organizations work. Because the pandemic pushed so many of us remote (but let’s remember there were LOTS of folks who continued to work in-person, often in dangerous circumstances, throughout the lockdown), we’ve got a chance at a reset of sorts, deciding what to keep, what to return to, what to remake.
I don’t know where that will lead. I wouldn’t even hazard a guess at this point. Six months ago, there was a huge amount of energy for a kind of workplace reboot, but the rapid rollout of vaccines and the excitement of returning to something more ‘normal’ has meant some folks are hurriedly trying to pick up where they left off. In any case, there’s a chance here for some intensive deliberation about what works and what doesn’t and why, and hopefully we’ll see folks seize on that.