Author: Dylan Lopez

Response to #1

In “Changing Organizational Culture,” Cori Wong discusses a number of ways organizations can promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. For the most part, she revisits familiar themes and strategies. She reminds us that diversity contributes to organizational performance. She tells us that organizational culture helps diverse employees develop loyalty and a sense of connection. She also reminds us to remember that marginalized groups experience bias at the “macro level of culture” (Wong 26). All of these aspects of DEI are worth hearing again. But Wong breaks new ground, at least for me, when she discusses the energy marginalized individuals expend overcoming barriers and obstacles and the toll this takes on them. She uses a metaphor of running shoes and blisters to symbolize the pain some feel as they struggle in what seems like an equitable situation. Wong follows this by urging organizations to identify the actual barriers and pain points and to make a commitment to removing them. She raises these points rather late in her article, on pages 29 and 30, but they seem to be the overall message she is building up to. She is saying that lasting culture change requires more than a level playing field, it requires bold action. She is telling those in charge to tear the barriers down. To me, that sounds like a message more people need to hear.

Response to #2

Wong uses connecting words and phrases in almost every paragraph of her article. There is one paragraph on page 28 that really impressed me because it demonstrates how she takes a simple statement and deepens our understanding of it by stretching the ideas in it to subsequent sentences, which include several rephrasings. The paragraph begins with the sentence: “Our differences are inherent to our experience as human beings.” In the following sentence: “In ideal circumstances, they are nurtured…,” the word they refers to differences in the previous sentence, linking the two sentences together. The next sentence begins with the phrase “Echoes of this can be found in…,” which is both a way to say “for example” and also a nice way for her to tell us that she is reiterating her point. The fourth sentence begins with “Put another way,” which allows her to repeat herself with a difference. And the last sentence is: “Such is the beauty of inclusion and equitable practices.” This short statement is like a bookend that matches the paragraph’s opening statement and that connects all the ideas in the paragraph together.

Highlight of my week

This week I reconnected with a high school friend I haven’t seen in more than a year. He’s been on a Mormon mission and is traveling on the East Coast. I can’t believe a whole year has passed by. Reconnecting with him made me realize that the past year is a lost year for so many people my age. I really look forward to hanging out in person with friends again when things get back to normal.

Response to #1

This week, I tried a variety of research strategies with the goal of building a collection of sources related to how artificial intelligence might be used to shape organizational culture. First, I started by brainstorming for about 10 minutes to come up with as many words related to the general idea as I could. Then I tried the SU library database and used the keyword and advanced search functions and some filters. I tend to start over with new search terms if I don’t see promising articles in the first four or five pages of search results, but part of me is always thinking the perfect article is just one more page away. I noticed sometimes my keywords were too specific or narrow. I found better results when I used a term like “human resources” instead of a string of individual words like “hiring” or “recruitment.” I found several interesting scholarly articles, newspaper editorials, and blog links this way. By skimming the citations in these documents, I found some additional articles and started a side list of scholars and authors who seemed interested in the same topics. I also did the same types of searches in Google, which led me to some interesting reports and studies by companies like McKinsey and IBM. To find scholarly sources in Google, it helped when I added the search term “scholarly” or “cited by” to those searches.

Lastly, I found an infographic that I thought others would find interesting. It shows all the different startup companies working on technologies related to hiring and recruiting. Check it out here: Talent Acquisition Ecosystem 8.0.

Response to #2

After doing my first research session, I ended up with a broad selection of articles that are somewhat related, but I realize I will have to make some critical decisions to determine which of them will be most useful. I haven’t figured out a way to “enter the conversation” yet, but I expect to get more focused the more reading I do. Also, I plan to watch Persona, the documentary that Sherri included in her post, and I will take notes to see if people involved in the film would be good leads for more sources.

Based on my efforts so far, I don’t think I will have trouble finding several solid scholarly sources. As for primary sources, I would love to find some firsthand accounts of people who build AI systems for human resources, people who use these systems in their HR or management roles, and employees who may have been affected positively or negatively by them. I am considering coming up with some interview questions that I could send to a few people, but I think this might be very time-consuming. Along these lines, I will probably explore LinkedIn to see if any thought leaders are posting interesting articles about this topic.

Response to #1

I am very impressed by everyone’s article choices and discussions for the Expanding the Canon assignment. As a group, we explored so many issues from sexual orientation to gender to race to disability and so on. I especially enjoyed Ed’s post on how CEO behavior affects diversity and organizational culture. This topic was similar to the one I selected (Strategic Diversity Leadership) but Ed took it further and highlighted the practical steps that CEOs can take by linking to a Forbes article. The comics Ed used were funny and helped illuminate the issues in a different way. Sherri’s post on the dark side of personality tests hit home for me. I have taken several online personality tests over the past month as I applied for various jobs, and now I am a little scared about how this information will be used. I think Sherri’s use of bold statistics strengthened her post, and I really liked the movie trailer too. Kathleen’s post on the assumptions that healthcare workers make about disabled people was eye-opening because it showed that bias can exist in the most unlikely places. This post featured my favorite media element, the video of Melissa Crisp-Cooper. Watching her daily activities and her interactions with the doctors created empathy and made the issue come to life.

When I think of these thoughtful blog posts and all of the other articles that we’ve read (and that came up in my searches), I got this overwhelming feeling, as if the problems were getting larger the more people studied them and tried to solve them. A big complex question started to form in my mind. Something like, are we expecting too much from our workplaces? Or, maybe another way to put it is, are we offloading our personal responsibility to treat each other fairly and with respect to this thing called a “workplace.” Anyway, that is how I am seeing this topic differently at the moment.

Response to #2

Reading Ian Bogost’s article, “The Problem With Diversity in Computing,” was sort of like following a person carrying a flashlight in the daytime pointing out fairly obvious things. “That there is a picnic table, and oh, we also have a diversity problem in the computer industry.” Yawn. “Hey look, over there. STEM pipeline programs aren’t working.” Double yawn. Diversity problems and inclusion are everywhere, and Bogost does a solid job describing the ones in the tech industry. However, after getting the opinions of various academic types, he doesn’t do much more than throw up his hands, concluding his article with a statement that would keep a philosopher up all night: “the problem with computing is computing.” But along the way, Bogost’s flashlight shines briefly on an issue that I believe lies at the heart of the diversity problem in the tech industry, and that’s the wealth and power that have been created and concentrated in Silicon Valley. In my experience, people with power don’t like to give it up or even share it. Bogost calls computing professionals “a tribe separated from the general public,” but he misses a chance to explore this idea further. We need to shine the flashlight into the faces of the leaders of the tribe, the CEOs who are shaping every aspect of society, and put them on the spot. Ask them: “What did you do this week to give up some of your personal wealth or power to make your company or the tech industry more diverse and inclusive?” In my view, these leaders have a professional and personal responsibility to work on the problem, and until we hold them accountable, the problem will remain.

Response to #1

In his TEDxMidwest talk, “Why work doesn’t happen at work” (October 2010), Jason Fried, entrepreneur and founder of Basecamp, argues that it’s time for companies to change their thinking and practices about office work. He asserts that the typical office is an unproductive environment full of interruptions and activities that waste time, and he makes a case that employees will be more productive working in environments of their own choice. Fried’s rhetorical approach is interesting because it relies entirely on anecdotes to support his claims. He does not cite statistics or external sources. Fried knows that office workers are the audience for this talk, and he engages them by telling stories they can relate to. For example, most office workers can relate to Fried’s anecdotes about meetings that were a complete waste of time or a boss who has a habit of interrupting them. He really strikes a chord when he compares interrupted work with interrupted sleep. In delivering his talk, he does not speak from the position of an authority on office work but from the position of a peer, as someone who has developed insights from experiencing office work directly himself. He wears worn jeans and hardly ever makes eye contact with the audience as he shuffles back and forth on the stage. His tone is conversational. All of this helps him convey the message that “I’m one of you,” and create the pathos that helps his audience emotionally connect with his ideas. Fried also knows that radical organizational change is hard to achieve quickly, so he offers some simple and practical ideas that his audience can try wherever they work. For these reasons, I think Fried’s rhetorical approach is effective in getting his audience to believe his argument.

Response to #2

Margaret Heffernan begins her TEDSummit talk “The human skills we need in an unpredictable world” (July 2019) with a story about a grocery chain that tried to use technology to improve its operations. It’s a story of good intentions with poor results and helps her illustrate the main theme that runs throughout her speech, and that’s: the expensive and inefficient human way of solving problems often delivers better results. Her objective tone and poise establish trust with her listeners, which is important because she wants them to understand that her subject is serious with implications for everything from climate change to financial crises to epidemics. To appeal to her audience and build up support for her claims, she uses a pattern of stories followed by ideas. These stories are her evidence, and she draws them from many different areas of life, such as the grocery store, home health care, and sports. These stories create pathos and emotional connection because her audience can relate to these scenarios and outcomes. In her story about home nursing care, Heffernan also incorporates data to support her argument, noting that after an experiment “patients got better in half the time and costs fell by 30 percent.” This tactic helps creates logos and appeals to listener’s sense of logic and reason. Heffernan is a polished speaker, and she is also very skilled at using rhetorical strategies to strengthen her argument and persuade her listeners to share her point of view.

Response to #1

I began my search to expand the canon by going back to Fundamentals of Management, the textbook for the management course I took last semester. We did a unit on “Managing Human Resources and Diversity,” so I thought the endnotes of that chapter in the book would lead me to some interesting articles. The chapter covered the full range of diversity from gender to race to sexual orientation to age and more, so there were many possible angles to pursue. I used Summon on the SU library website to search for the scholarly articles, and I found other articles directly on the web from the links that were in the endnotes. I also did keyword searches using terms from our readings and from concepts I came across that I was jotting down as I did my research. One idea led to another and another. So far, I have downloaded about 25 mostly academic articles, and I have started skimming them looking for one that could be influential. Some articles are narrowly focused on a specific industry like healthcare or IT or are based on research in another country. I think I will choose an article that has a broader scope with a US focus probably written by an expert in human resources or management.

Response to #3

In “Understanding Key D&I Concepts,” authors Mark Kaplan and Mason Donovan aim to help managers understand the complex nature of diversity and inclusion in the workplace and point out ways they can adapt their behavior to have a more positive impact. In their own words, Kaplan and Donovan describe workplace diversity and inclusion as “a thousand-piece puzzle … [with] no picture on the box cover to show where the pieces might fit” (1). While their project has a broad scope, they make the concepts relatable by describing them in the context of a typical manager’s day. From their experience as management consultants, the authors understand that concepts such as “unconscious bias” are difficult to grasp yet must be understood before they can be addressed. That is why their method of highlighting moments where improvements can be made and offering possible solutions is so effective. While it is true that not every manager in the real world works in a structured organization like the one described, Kaplan and Donovan reveal many insights, share useful tips, and help managers understand that “good intent is not enough” (6). In other words, to improve workplace diversity and inclusion, managers must be active and not passive about it.