Category: Discussions/Homework

Discussion Questions Week of 8/9

Response to #1

When I read Mollie West’s “How to Create a Culture Manifesto for Your Organization” the first time through, I thought the ideas and strategies were inspiring and practical. I tend to like action-oriented articles over thought pieces, and this one had many great suggestions and strategies. Examples always work for me, so it helped that West used real case studies to provide evidence and support for her thesis. Just using the phrase “culture manifesto” instead of “mission statement” gives her message much more emotional strength. The links she provided also offered opportunities to explore her ideas further and showed the case studies in action. And finally, she makes her content interactive by providing a “how-to” section so readers can get started creating a manifesto in their own organizations.

All of this was great on my first reading through. But on my second reading through, I started to see how the “culture manifesto” process connected to my research project on artificial intelligence in human resources. A culture manifesto is a kind of algorithm, created by a group of people at a certain point in time and these people bring their backgrounds and biases into the process. After the manifesto is blessed and hung on the wall, it actually can perpetuate beliefs that may not be flexible enough to account for changes in the organization over time. Was a neurodivergent person on the team that created the manifesto when the company had 100 employees, but now the company has 5,000 employees? What was the ratio of women and men when it was written? Did bias exist at the time the manifesto was created that limited the voices of minorities or the marginalized? What if the company grows to become an international company, do the same values and beliefs work for employees everywhere?

West is effective at stimulating the conversation around organizational culture, and she does show ways that teams can work together on better understanding their culture. But since West doesn’t address the possibility of preexisting bias or the introduction of future biases, I think she falls short of providing a transformational tool for employees and business leaders.

Response to #2

My research has been focused on how artificial intelligence is being used in the human resources field to shape organizational performance and organizational culture. Similar to the launch of other new technologies, there is a lot of optimism and hype as organizations of all types look to artificial intelligence as the perfect solution to their problems. But unfortunately, the utopian ideal that artificial intelligence promises is a long way off because the algorithms used today have been shown to perpetuate biases and foster discrimination. Every aspect of the human resources life cycle is affected, from recruitment to onboarding to performance evaluation to retention and termination. But because most of this happens “in the dark,” most applicants or employees never know they are being affected.

With my project, I would like to make more people aware of these issues and provide them with knowledge and tools so they can mobilize to reach employees, organizational leaders, and lawmakers everywhere. Right now, I am imagining creating a blog that would be like a resource center for people who want to learn more and potentially get involved to change public policy. My target audience would be people concerned with protecting worker and civil rights, including the workers themselves, but more specifically individuals who have some authority to make change, such as disability rights activists, social justice activists, journalists, and people working in employment law. My goal is not to try and stop AI in HR in its tracks, which would be impossible at this point, but to stimulate more transparency around how AI is used and more accountability from the organizations that are using it. I think I could write a welcome message of about 300-400 words that will include a rationale for the blog and embedded links for citations, a vital statistics page that would reference a variety of scholarly and popular sources, and maybe a template letter of about 300 words that people could use to inform their representatives of the issues. The writing tone would not be scholarly or academic, but more along the lines of popular journalism. I’d also like to create an action center that would include ideas and recommendations of ways people can get involved in the change effort, including places for people to post their ideas and responses to posts. For example, I was thinking of creating a few graphics with statistics that people could repost on social media, but I don’t really have great graphic skills. It would be the kind of blog that I would invite guest speakers to post on over time. Anyway, the ideas are still forming. It would be great to start a grassroots movement that could grow into something bigger eventually.

Project Proposal

For my project, I am interested in making a poster that involves graphics and critical information regarding avoiding bias and understanding the intersectional impact it can cause. This poster will be aimed towards college students or young adults, in hopes that their new knowledge can be positively brought into their future workplaces, as well as the lives of others. This critical age group can create significant change, but this can only start with a shared mutual foundation of insight and knowledge. I also believe many people my age aren’t aware of these concepts and how crucial they are. A colorful poster hung on the wall of a dorm or hall with highlights of information and links to sources to help further this knowledge would spark intrigue and awareness. Ultimately, the poster’s goal would be to make everyone more aware of what goes on around them, especially those seen as privileged and who do not personally experience oppression or marginalization. I believe that it is so easy for young adults that have it “good” to dismiss the daily lives of everyone around them. They tend not to realize that every negative action has personal implications that can affect someone in many ways. I would use the sources that I have gathered and sources that incorporate more of a conversation, similar to the one I hope to make. These could include other blog posts, including young adults’ perspectives and real personal accounts from people my age. I plan to map out my writing to connect and relate to students and see, hear, and acknowledge those that have not been.

Discussion Questions 8/9

#1 Mollie West’s “How To Create a Culture Manifesto for Your Organization (And Why It’s a Good Idea)” article provides exemplars of organizations that effectively implemented culture manifestos. The article points out that organizational mission statements tend to concentrate on external goals as opposed to internal ways of working. It’s recommended that organizations consider forming a culture manifesto to assist with the internal business environment as well as attracting appropriate talent. Based on the persuasive tone of the article, I would say the target audience is employees, and upper management of an organization. The writer is confident and sincere while using emphasis appropriately. Examples of companies that have utilized successfully culture manifesto such as Method Products, Etsy, and Warby Parker are provided to demonstrate different approaches to the process. By providing different companies, it gives the readers an opportunity to possibly see their own organization within one of the examples thus increasing the chance of attempting culture manifestos. Furthermore, Ms. West provides a step-by-step methodology for businesses that might want to utilize this. This makes the process actionable for an organization since it is clearly described. I believe the combination of persuasion and inspirational (examples of successful organizations) are effective for the target audience.

#2 When we first were assigned the research project, I wanted to a topic that would benefit me both personally as well as in this class. The first unit that encompassed topics on hiring individuals with disabilities piqued my interest. While some disabilities are obvious, others are well hidden and only discoverable if the individual discloses them. This topic has been one of challenge to find research. I was particularly intrigued about individuals with visible disabilities being able to hide them due to working from home this past year. While not necessarily the focus of my project, it was an interesting twist.

I envision my research to take the form of memo to advise professionals as well as individuals about the advantages and disadvantages involved in disclosing invisible disabilities. The issues questions are: (1) what are advantages and disadvantages of disclosing invisible disabilities in the work environment? Pre and post-employment; (2) are there factors of influence resulting in a positive outcome of disclosure?

I think the readers would be likely to engage in text that presented data backed up with research. The expectation is that I would have sources cited to give an authoritative and persuasive tone to my memo. Anecdotal stories would be beneficial as well in this memo.

Discussion Questions Week of 8/9

Response to #1

In “How To Create a Culture Manifesto for Your Organization (And Why It’s a Good Idea)” by Mollie West, an organizational designer at IDEO, the article examines how companies such as Method Products, Etsy, and Warby Parker create a sense of belonging within their organization. The piece points out the fact that mission statements often focus solely on external goals. Instead of only focusing on the internal environment, West states that an organization should look inward to develop a culture manifesto. West does a fantastic job at illustrating the idea that not everything has to be structured because each employee has a personality that helps compose organizational culture. Companies like Etsy and Warby Parker recognized this. They both had all of their employees at one time or another discuss their views on what makes the company special and come up with catchphrases. West sees this as a critical step towards creating a workplace culture that contains efficiency and happiness. West then goes on to give a list of steps that organizations can take to accomplish this.

West is specifically targeting business owners of various organizations, including but not speaking to HR. She addresses her audience as a sort of business entity, including nonprofits and B corps. I find this interesting because often people address a company as “the organization”, or “(company name)”, but West recognizes that business owners drive the organizational culture and, in turn, realize that they have a significant amount of pull when it comes to creating company culture. I also think that instead of addressing HR, she is addressing influential individuals. She recognizes that HR does not create a company culture, as HR often instills fear in employees because they are scared to show their personalities or quirkiness, in my opinion. Therefore, her target audience is business leaders/owners who actively seek advice on creating a positive workplace. 

West starts off her argument by proposing why a company should consider going beyond a mission statement. After that, she uses a strategy that is referenced as the rule of 3. Although I have often seen it in business presentations/PowerPoints, it was pleasing to see it written out in this article. The rule is if you include three examples of something, it is more satisfying and has a better effect on the audience. She uses Method Products, Etsy, and Warby Parker as her three success stories.  The stories contained anecdotes about activities or events that transpired that created an environment at each of the three organizations.

West’s use of lists also is beneficial to the reader because it lays out clearly what needs to occur to mimic the workplace environments that Etsy, Method Products, and Warby Parker have. This is effective because oftentimes, business leaders/owners do not have time to read through long paragraphs. They want something short and sweet, with evidence to back up their point. West provides just this in the article and conveys her point brilliantly to the business leaders of the world.   

Response to #2

I want to discuss the issue surrounding underrepresentation of women in STEM, why it is important that everyone in business understands the reasons why it occurs, and why it needs to change. I am not completely sure yet, as I am still thinking of how I want to write my paper, but I think that it would be best if addressed to people who just read for their own personal amusement. Basically, people who read the NYT , Forbes, or The Economist as these people are interested in the world of business and enjoy reading about new information or facts surrounding various topics. I think that the kind of text that these readers would most often read is an article in a news source or like in a magazine. Often, these readers engage in these articles on a daily or weekly basis, depending on whether or not it is a daily news source like the NYT or something that gets sent out on a weekly or monthly basis, like certain magazines.

If it were something like a scholarly article, the source would have to be extremely specific. In this case, however, including lots of studies and evidence to back up claims, I can focus less on incorporating all of the evidence and instead focus on the points that my sources make. I think this is a huge benefit of formatting my paper like an article in a magazine or newspaper.

Although less detail is required in this format, there is often still a level of formality when writing within them. It also depends on the author. They could be writing more of a conversational piece, or an informative, more formal piece. I believe that I would take more of a formal approach in my project.

The length of text for my paper would most likely take up one to two pages, just as many stories cover in magazines. I think I could convey my thoughts on the subject I am covering in this length. Although the subject could stretch on for hundreds of pages, I think that since my audience would be a reader who is interested on a variety of subjects, it would be best to keep the paper at a two-page maximum length. As a result, the reading time would depend on the reader, but most likely be a 5-to-10-minute article. I think this would be a good length and time because anything over 15 minutes in my opinion gets boring and the reader wants to move on, especially when they are not directly involved in learning more about the subject. If it were in a scholarly journal on the other hand, this paper would be around 30-40 pages and would take an hour to read.

Although most magazines use interviews as their main source of evidence, I still believe that it would be appropriate to include some evidence linked to scholarly articles, as long as it does not go too in-depth to where the reader cannot follow the subject. I would want to use various articles including firsthand accounts like my TED speeches, interviews used from Forbes, along with some of the scholarly articles that I pulled. I think this would be beneficial as firsthand accounts pair well with scholarly articles whose authors are well respected individuals and experts in their respective fields. Also, in magazines or in articles like the NYT, the citations are directly in the text, instead of after. I would plan on following this format so that the reader understands where each claim/evidence comes from.

I am not completely sure on my paper yet, but writing out a response to this helped me figure out some direction to it. I hope to further plan it out in the coming days and create a draft that helps me illustrate the points and ideas that I want to convey to my audience.

Discussion Questions Wk 8/9

  1. “How to Create a Culture Manifesto for Your Organization (and why it is a good idea)” written by Mollie West, serves as a guideline for the proper execution of a manifesto which takes into account the employees and their experience rather than just the companies aspirations. West provides several examples of successful companies who have previously implemented their own versions of a humanifesto and then goes on to explain why their humanifestos aided in their success. She explains that the values these companies have in their manifestos are reflected in the decisons they make and the way the interact with communities and throughout the workplace. West includes several first person accounts from employees at these successful companies which support the usage and implementation of these humanifestos in workplaces. The inclusion of this allows her to show the readers the shift the employees saw after the implementation of these humanifestos in their workplace. I think the intended audience is people who run companies, people who hold a position of power in a company, or anyone trying to create a company because this article serves to give examples of successful companies and then goes on to provide a tutorial.
  2. For my research writing I want to share the information that i have collected in my research portfolio in a way that it can clarify and define the two terms diversity and inclusion. I think this topic is very important because eventually most of us (if not already) will have to work with other people in a workplace so it is very important to be aware of these types of things prior. I think a good platform to use for this would be something like Kahoot where you allow the audience to chose what they think the answer is and then afterwards elaborating on what the correct one is. I feel like games like these tend to interest a lot of people my age because it feels competitive and everyone wants to win.

Discussion Questions 8/9

Response to #1

In Mollie West’s “How To Create a Culture Manifesto for Your Organization (And Why It’s a Good Idea),” West gives amazing examples of companies that successfully implement their own “humanifestos”. She recognizes that companies usually acknowledge their external goals rather than internal and stresses that employees need to create a comfortable working environment that benefits all. West definitely did her research; she gathered three routes that three companies took and offered this insight to her readers. I assume that her target audience for this piece would be employees in a company of any size and higher executives that could implement this type of change and support. What works so well for West is that she talks directly to an audience. Although I am not an employee yet in a formal workplace, I felt directly spoken to regarding the future steps I should take in implementing an inclusive work environment. I believe this strategy is compelling because it makes the readers feel as if they have the capability to implement advances and growth. West uses another great rhetorical strategy to acknowledge that building a manifesto does not have to be hard and complicated but simple. She has told readers to sit down with their core team and start asking questions. She also mentioned that when discussing Warby Parker’s route that brainstorming sessions started their process. By keeping the encouraged processes simple and writing them simply, readers then have a sense of relatability. Parker’s simplicity, I assume, has made readers really believe that they can do the same as these larger companies. This is a very crucial tactic because it subconsciously creates a quicker response for readers. By really believing they can do it, quicker actions are made for their workforce. Parker’s “simplicity” or “straightforwardness” may seem effortless, when really the outcome creates real, physical effort.

Response to #2

When I created my research portfolio, I constantly thought of how many people my age needed to be aware of issues regarding intersectionality and bias. I felt as if I was educating people that already knew what I was talking about and would find myself defining intersectionality a lot. I then thought of a future scenario where I did not have to define intersectionality for people to understand. For my project, I really want to educate college students that will soon be headed into the real world, have a solid foundation for understanding intersectional issues, and how to avoid furthering them. To develop a genre of text or platform that people my age would really read and listen to, I have thought of what I am particularly drawn to.

I have read a lot of University Girl while being at Syracuse and reading posters on campus when I am waiting for an elevator or walking through a new campus building. So, I am still not sure yet, but I think a “relatable” blog post would work, or an informational poster targeted towards students. Not only do I think people my age need to understand these issues, but I think they are the real crucial audience. My age group will soon be joining the workforce and will need to bring insights into companies for change to be made. I believe it is harder to educate people who have been used to a certain way of life for so long and easier to create a new way of life for a new generation. The expectations regarding my work for this audience would be rather simple: clear writing that illustrates the problem, shorter text that incorporates an array of information clearly, with further resources linked to implementing further research and understanding. My goal would be for people my age to be really intrigued by this poster or post, quickly read substantial points of information and then acquire the interest on their own to do more research and education. Because for real change to be made, the individual needs to want to change and implement change.

Discussion Questions Week of 8/9

Question 1

In her article “How to Create a Culture Manifesto for Your Organization (and Why it’s a Good Idea)” Mollie West wants her readers to take away what she is saying and use it to better themselves and their companies. She lays out what she learned about the three organizations and their manifesto and then offers a way to help her readers create their own, using what she learned. She uses quotes from employees at all of the three organizations to emphasize the importance of what that company is doing and the effects that it has on both the company and its employees. I think that West went about it this way because she is showing the reader first hand what was successful and how. She is almost using imagery in a way to help the reader see how they created a manifesto and then why it is a good idea. I think this is effective for this audience because the audience is most likely employees and supervisors at other organizations who either need help creating a culture manifesto or who think it is not going to work and/or worth it. I think that what West says and the way she says it is effective and will show those employees and supervisors why they should implement this into their organizations.

Question 2

For my unit 3 project I plan to take what I learned from my unit 2 portfolio about discrimination against people who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community and use it to educate people about how they can make them feel safer and more comfortable. I plan to create a memo that can be given out to offices, schools, public places like restaurants and stores, and anywhere else that people are interacting with each other. I feel that this is the most productive way to give out the information because it is an easy way to spread it and can be created and designed in a way that will engage the readers. I also think that it will meet most if not all of the readers expectations of a memo and will still allow them to understand and maintain the information and the importance of it.

Discussion 8/2

  1. The linked article that I concentrated on was titled Make Your Meetings a Safe Space for Honest Conversation by Paul Axtell.  The reason Wynn chose to include this resource in her argument was because it solidified her idea that many employees struggle to have their misgivings voiced and actually taken into consideration.  Many of their voices are ignored altogether by superiors within the employee’s company.  Wynn’s entire argument relies on the fact that too many companies disregard their workers needs and concerns especially in relation to diversity and aspects of a person’s individual identity. 

Axtell’s article states a way in which managers can potentially create safe spaces where employees can share their concerns and issues, or just talk freely without the fear of not being heard.  He heard about this method from a meeting and it made an lasting impact on him, hence why he wanted to share it.  The person Axtell discovered it from would have occasional “no secrets” meetings, where the manager of his specialization would treat his employees to pizza and everyone would talk freely.  They would use broad openers to create conversation and encourage everyone to be as honest as they could.  This method would foster a sense of camaraderie, trust, and respect for everyone. 

He then goes through helpful advice for potential leaders to achieve these ‘safe places’.  The leaders should start with asking for permission, to address things that may already be assumed gives the group more trust since everything spelled out exactly.  Next, the leader should make sure that he/she empowers and encourages the people in the group to all share and contribute to the conversation in a way they are comfortable reaching out.  This should all be done while promoting the idea of safety within the talk and ensuring that everyone is listening and being respectful.

The reason this article goes so well with Wynn’s article is due to the fact that they contrast each other.  Wynn speaks about how companies tend to lack a sense of trust because organizations, in many cases, do not make the effort to address and change the inequalities on a companywide scale and, instead, blame the injustices on the individual and society.  By linking Axtell’s article, Wynn shows an exact way in which companies and leaders can promote unity and create trust between coworkers.

2. I think that people in charge of organizations and the men and women who hold leadership positions within organizations would benefit the most from Wynn’s article.  The reason I believe this is her target audience is because of the quote “If you were an executive tasked with reducing gender inequality in your organization, how would you do it?”  To me, this quote is the reason Wynn wrote this article: to address all the places organizations allow these inequalities to thrive, instead of stopping the issues at their roots.

The passage titled Recruiting is a place where the organization can make a big change and a place where these leaders can see where their biases often take place, creating the necessity to target them in this article.  This is “the very first moment organizations interact with potential candidates” and where “biases can infiltrate the process”.  Therefore, the superiors in these companies should address their inequality problems as soon as possible in the process.

Discussion 8/2

  1. In “Even at ‘Inclusive’ Companies, Women of Color Don’t Feel Supported”, by Beth A. Livingston and Tina R. Opie, the importance of connections between women of varying ethnicities/race in the workplace is examined. Through “shared sisterhood”, women can come together to “design strategies, dismantle structures that prevent advancement, or even just offer mutual support” (Livingston & Opie, p,1). However, due to the exclusionary attitudes and tone-deaf conversations, women of color are less likely to be emotionally vulnerable in the workplace. This hesitation to be open with another suppresses professional growth and productivity. After conducting a survey, the authors concluded that connections are unlikely to form until organizations recognize and address biases within. 

2. This article is hyperlinked to “emotional labor and taxation” in Wynn’s article. This phrase appears under one of the solutions (minimizing microaggressions) to create organizational change. This article is useful because it expands further than providing a simple explanation. In this piece, relevant research to emotional struggles in the workplace has been conducted and questions have been posed. I would like to personally research this topic further because it is an area I have never given much consideration.

I think white people would benefit from reading this article because it explains how even if an organization is labeled as “inclusive” that does not mean the work towards equity ends there. Additionally, I think that managers/executive positions would benefit from reading this because they are supervising behavior and setting the tone for the workplace. Additionally, I think women of color should read his because it encourages connections even if it is challenging. 

An excerpt for managers/executive positions:

“You can’t build meaningful connections between women of different races and ethnicities, let alone ask them to advocate for their collective advancement, if black and Hispanic women report being excluded from the relationships required to make an organization run.”

https://hbr.org/2019/08/even-at-inclusive-companies-women-of-color-dont-feel-supported

Discussions / Homework Week of 8/2

Response # 1

As the title implies, the article “Why Most Performance Evaluations are Biased, and How to Fix Them” by Lori Nishiura Mackenzie, JoAnne Wehner, and Shelly J. Correll, imparts some solid advice. Nishiura, et. al, researchers at the Stanford VMWare Women’s Leadership Lab, conducted studies of performance review procedures at three U.S. companies. These studies revealed patterns of ambiguity in evaluations for women. Research has shown that ambiguity or vagueness in procedure leads to implicit bias on performance reviews. It turns out that the most problematic area filled out on a performance assessment was the “open box” area where a manager can write the answer to an open-ended question like “Describe the ways the employee’s performance met your expectations.” The authors report that ambiguous questions like that often illicit a biased answer. The reasoning is that since there are no clearly established parameters in which to judge if the employee met expectations, managers fall back on their perceptions of the employee’s gender, race or other identity information to answer the question. Nishiura, et. al, offer several solutions to “constrain” the open box. They recommend creating a checklist to refer to when filling in boxes. That way, managers are consistently using the same criteria for all of their employees. Another key suggestion was for managers to establish a rubric by which employees will be evaluated by before the performance review. This ensures that the manager is basing their evaluation on actual evidence, not subjective feelings. Overall, this article is invaluable to anyone who is working. Afterall, every one of us will be evaluated and some of us will also be providing evaluations. As a side note, several of the managers written about in the article were relieved to finally have some structure and uniformity in the review process because they wanted to be fair but didn’t know how to. This piece provides an expanded lens in which to see how one of Alison Wynn’s six stages of the “employee life-cycle” in the “The Gender Policy Report” has a domino effect on what comes after performance reviews – Pay, Promotion and Termination Decisions, the crux of inequality issues for women and underrepresented groups.

Response # 2

I think company leaders would benefit most from reading Alison Wynn’s “The Gender Policy Report”. Wynn, a Research Associate at the Stanford VMWare Women’s Leadership Lab, puts forward several meaningful strategies for handling inequality in the workplace. Ms. Wynn has surely been successful in catching the eye of company executives when she states, “It may be easier to think of individualistic solutions—such as training ourselves to think differently and change our own behavior—or to blame larger societal forces we can’t control, rather than to change the intricate organizational procedures and practices that contribute to employment outcomes in complex ways. However, my research suggests that we must address organizational forms of inequality as well.” In this sentence, the author goes out of her way to include statements that reflect how executives she examined in a year-long case study understood what constituted inequality in an organization. It most likely will cause executives’ interest to be piqued and to wonder what Wynn’s suggestions are because they mistakenly thought they were already doing everything they could to reduce inequality.