canon – WRT 205 Summer 2021

Expanding the Canon Draft

Algorithm-Driven Hiring Tools: Innovative Recruitment or Expedited Disability Discrimination? by Lydia X. Z. Brown, Ridhi Shetty and Michelle Richardson, presents us with a compelling report on the consequences AI based assessments have on employment of the disabled. Many of us revel in all the latest advancements in technology. We think the more tech, the better. Brown, et al., however, immediately set about clearing up any misperceptions we may have had about the neutrality and fairness of artificial intelligence-based hiring tests. We are treated to an informative and eye-opening breakdown of all the different types of tools and tests currently being used for hiring. Although it is not expressly noted by Brown, who is autistic and an expert on disability rights and algorithmic fairness, it is clear neurodivergent employment candidates have a high potential for being discriminated against via these tests. The authors also make certain to share with us that many employers do not realize how biased these tests can be. Hence, Brown, et al., spend a great deal of time pointing out the numerous ways an employer could be held liable for discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)¹. As such, this report proves to be a valuable resource for self-advocates and employers alike. Although, it is important to note that it was prepared by the Center for Democracy, an advocacy group who focuses on equity in civic technology and digital privacy/data among other things.

More than anything else, this paper is an exercise in both empowerment and how to be an anti-ableist in the hiring process. It educates us on the use of personality tests, face and voice recognition and resume screening for patterns. The authors remind us that algorithms are created by people and people have bias, hence there are biased algorithms. We are provided with shocking statistics such as,

“76% of companies with more than 100 employees use personality tests.”

“An estimated 33% of businesses use some form of artificial intelligence in hiring and other HR practices.”

“The employment rate for people with disabilities is about 37%, compared to 79% for people without disabilities.”

We learn that candidates are ultimately chosen, not by a human, but by a machine. Machines ignore nuances and context and lack empathy. Just as the articles we read in class helped enlighten us on what unconscious bias and inclusion are, Brown, et al., are resolute in persuading us that the abilities many of us take for granted, like good eye contact, could make us blind to how disabled people (autistic in this case) are forced to maneuver the employment landscape.

The authors offer us insight into how the intersection of people’s disability, race and socioeconomic status leads to hiring discrimination. This is something our class might want to further explore. As mentioned earlier, Brown, an autistic person who also possesses intersecting identities, is a champion for equity in hiring. They appeared in HBO Max’s documentary² “Persona: The Dark Truth Behind Personality Tests” where they elaborated on the devastating effects of digital hiring assessments on neurodivergent people and other marginalized groups. Not only will disabled readers see that Brown, is like them and advocating for them, but the authors hope to appeal to our ability to empathize with people unlike ourselves. Brown, et al., also “walk the walk” by providing a plain english version of their report and offering solutions (like using disabled software developers) based on Civil Rights Principles for Hiring Assessment Technologies³

Some may say the report itself is biased. But is it bias if you’re telling the truth?

Footnotes

Source:

https://cdt.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Full-Text-Algorithm-driven-Hiring-Tools-Innovative-Recruitment-or-Expedited-Disability-Discrimination.pdf

42 U.S.C. § 12112(b)(6) (2018); 29C.F.R. § 1630.10(a) (2019). Three other ADA provisions similarly prohibit disparate impact of people with disabilities. These prohibit (1) limiting, segregating, and classifying an applicant or employee in a way that adversely affects their opportunities or status because of their disability; (2) contractual or other relationships that have the effect of disability discrimination (a simple agency theory of liability); and (3) utilizing standards, criteria, or methods of administration that have the effect of disability discrimination. 42 U.S.C. § 12112(b)(1)-(3) (2018), 29 C.F.R. § 1630.5-.7(2019).
HBO Max, Persona the Dark Truth Behind Personality Tests Persona | Official Trailer | HBO Max – YouTube
See Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights, Civil Rights Principles for Hiring Assessment Technologies (Jul. 2020), https://civilrights.org/resource/civil-rights-principles-for-hiring-assessment-technologies/.

E.C unit 1 Draft

Neurodiversity Studies: A New Critical Paradigm written by Hanna Bertilsdotter an associate professor in sociology ,Nick Chown a book indexer who researches and documents his findings on Autism , and Anna Stenning a welcome trust research fellow in humanities and social sciences, explore the world of Neurodiverse people and the challenges they face in the workplace. Through their extensive research the authors have been able to maintain their stance of supporting the “Neurodiverse movement”. They reiterate throughout their writing that neurodiverse people, no matter how qualified they may be, face many obstacles when searching for employment. There has been evidence from the PARC, an organization which collects research on autistic people ,that has shown that even when a person with autism holds a doctorates, they are rarely able progress to further research and lecturing contracts. The writers attribute this to the invalidation of “impaired bodies” making neurodiverse people constantly struggle to establish credibility due to the ableist viewpoint prevalent in society today. It was also mentioned that when a study was conducted, many neurodiverse employees have admitted that they have been in situations in the workplace where in order for them to fit in they felt that it was necessary that they mask any characteristics that might indicate to others that there were different. The writers contend that in order for this to be rectified, there must be an emphasis on inclusion in these spaces so these employees can feel safe and work their best.

This article was written with the intention of educating readers about neurological differences and how they don’t limit people from functioning and completing the same tasks as everyone else. Since people cannot seem to look over neurodiversity and appreciate what these people are able to contribute, oftentimes they are treated as if they are beneath everyone else and are not able to showcase their capabilities. It was mentioned in the Austin and Pissano article that since many neurodiverse people do not exhibit the standard “good employee” behavior through characteristics such as “solid communication skills, being a team player, …” they are unfairly screened out and excluded from job opportunities. This article has educated me on methods of including neurodiverse people rather than excluding them. Many people with autism especially have trouble adjusting their vocal tone and pace to match the conversations they partaking in so we can learn to realize the differences in our communication skills so that we don’t misinterpret vocal/motor traits as aggression. We can also make changes in the workplace environment to make neurodiverse people more comfortable in their space such as holding shorter meetings or regulating noise levels. Small changes over time can have everlasting impacts so it is important to take action now and implement more inclusive environments.

In this ted-talk, Tashi Baiguerra a 21 who has been diagnosed with autism mentioned something that stood out to me a lot. Tashi said “Most autistic people don’t actually suffer from our autism. We suffer from the way the world sees and treats our autism. To the world my brain is broken…But my brain is not broken.”. Neurodiversity should be recognized as another thing that makes people different but does not make them any less capable than others. It Is hard for many people to accept all the things that make us different however until we learn, we won’t be able to progress and become the society we have the potential to become.

Expanding the Canon Draft

In the majority of workplaces across the globe, diversity seems to be a problem, evident in the large disproportion of minorities in positions of power or even in minor company roles. Specifically, the police force is an organization that struggles with diversity. These two charts show that, while there has been a slight increase over the decades, much can be done to improve.

These two statistics show how small the percentages of women and other minorities are in local police departments.

Three women Debra Langan (Criminology Professor), Carrie Sanders (Criminology Professor), and Tricia Agocs (a citizen who worked in police services for 10 years) wanted to delve into the treatment of women in the Canadian police force to bring awareness towards the issues female police officers often face, especially during pregnancy. The police force is already a predominantly male profession, so women are, like Kaplan and Donovan stated, an outsider group within the larger organization. To determine real life examples, Langan et al created a study which, while it only featured 16 Caucasian females from across Ontario, Canada, the authors acknowledged this small size throughout the article. However small the sample size, the majority of the women reported a poor work environment, in addition to stating that the culture and management is inadequate and in much need of improvement. This is evident in the study conducted where “one in five [officers] … think about leaving their current police force from once a week to several times a week”. Women often push themselves extremely hard, believing that they need to prove themselves more to show that they deserve to be there. When considering becoming pregnant, one woman stated that it was very important to make sure that you have proved yourself because if you get pregnant too early, then you would be looked down upon by colleagues. It was a fear for many policewomen that, by announcing their pregnancy, it meant judgment from everyone, and when a woman was on maternity leave, their coworkers often had to take over the mother’s work, which further caused poor feelings. When returning to work, the policewoman now needs to reprove herself to try and remove herself from the new demoted position because after time off she might not be an adequate police officer anymore. So instead of just proving herself once, earning her way onto the force, she now must do it again, even though all her coworkers already know what she is capable of. Langan et al want the police departments across Canada to address these issues and expectations for women due to their unfair treatment. There needs to be change and therefore the authors chose to broach this diversity topic.

Many of the articles we have previously explored mentioned the various issues regarding diversity in the workplace. I wanted to expand on the discrimination that we saw females face in the Kaplan and Donovan article when the executive looked down on the other workers, so I chose a specific career that I knew often contained a lot of bigotry. Hearing the examples these 16 women gave to show how they are treated was very eye opening and it became clear how brave they are for staying especially since many considered quitting. This study was conducted in Canada about five years ago. It is unfortunate that, despite all this evidence showing the problems and where the department can be improved, nothing significant changed. Problems with diversity within the police force still prevail everywhere. Three years after the study, this particular TEDtalk, linked below, gives additional evidence on how females face discrimination in the police, only this time, it is focused on the United States.

A TEDtalk from a woman that has been a US officer for the past 25 years and has worked her way from officer to chief. She talks about the benefits to having women on the force based off statistics and how females are still being discriminated against.

In this TEDtalk, a policewoman who has been in the force for 25 years reveals that a very high percentage of women fail out of the academy due to unfair regiment that favor males over females and have very little to do with what officers will face during their actual career. This means that out of all American police officers, only about 13% are women, which has statistically been very steady for around the past two decades. This number is incredibly low especially given the amount of data the TEDtalk gives that shows how valuable they are.

The reason I chose these pieces of media was to give evidence to our much-researched topic of the lack of diversity in workplaces. It is important to see these real world examples, how discrimination impacts daily life, and how little has been done to stop it. More awareness is necessary to fix this issue, which is why we need to keep spreading the media being researched in class.

Article citation:

Debra Langan, Carrie B. Sanders & Tricia Agocs (2017) Canadian Police Mothers and the Boys’ Club: Pregnancy, Maternity Leave, and Returning to Work, Women & Criminal Justice, 27:4, 235-249, DOI: 10.1080/08974454.2016.1256254

Expanding the Canon Draft

Strategic Diversity Leadership

In “Strategic Diversity Leadership: The Role of Senior Leaders in Delivering the Diversity Dividend” (Journal of Management, September 2020), Luis L. Martins shines a spotlight on the role that top executives play in shaping organizational culture and driving organizational performance. In this paper, he discusses his findings from an extensive literature review of contemporary research on strategic leadership and workplace diversity and inclusion, work that led him to develop a new framework he calls “strategic diversity leadership.” His purpose is to share this framework with organizational leaders who are seeking competitive advantage as well as his academic peers to inspire further study.

As a professor and chair of the management department at The University of Texas at Austin, Martins knows a thing or two about organizational cultures and organizational performance. Over a 30-year academic career, he has conducted research and written extensively on the factors that drive innovation, change, and performance, including diversity and inclusion. He has also consulted for dozens of clients, such as Coca Cola, FBI Crime Labs, Samsung, and Waffle House, to test solutions in the real world. Business and academic leaders know that when Martins finds a new way of solving a problem, it is worth taking a closer look.

A missing link

There is a significant body of research that shows diversity leads to better organizational performance, but there is also evidence that shows the implementation of diversity and inclusion programs do not always lead to the desired results. Martins defines the diversity dividend as “the enhancement in an organization’s performance that is attributable to its diversity” (1192). When he investigates why the diversity dividend is not realized, he discovers a missing link between the traditional role of top executives and the role they must play in their organization’s diversity and inclusion efforts. If Martins is right, which I believe he is, implementing a strategic diversity leadership framework to close this gap is the key to better performance.

Leaders must lead

Martins defines strategic diversity leadership as “the shaping of the meaning of diversity within an organization by the organization’s senior leaders” (1194). Martins’ strategic diversity leadership framework is extremely useful because it directly links the role of senior leaders to the efforts and outcomes associated with the organization’s diversity and inclusion initiatives. Because they hold positions of authority, Martins asserts, top executives have both the platform and the responsibility for realizing the benefits of a diverse workforce. That is to say, supervisors and other employees can only do so much if the organization’s top executives do not lead the way.

Fig. 1. Strategic diversity leadership framework showing the link between traditional senior leader roles and organizational diversity initiatives (Martins 1195).

Martins argues that senior leaders must use the power of communication to establish a vision and articulate that the “current state is unacceptable” (1198). He also argues that senior leaders must participate in public activities that promote diversity and inclusion, including rituals and ceremonies (1198-1199). In other words, top executives must symbolize the value of diversity and inclusion through both words and actions. Only by taking full responsibility for the design of the organizational culture can senior leaders create organizational performance that maximizes the diversity dividend.

The strategic diversity leadership framework Martins proposes is important because it shifts our focus for solving organizational culture challenges from the level of supervisors, staff, policies, and tasks to the level of executives, vision, strategy, and organizational design. Martins is telling us that those who hold the most power in an organization also hold the most responsibility and they must be held accountable. I couldn’t agree more. While the strategic diversity leadership framework holds great potential for bringing about change, Martins understands that he is breaking new ground and proposes further study to finetune his theories and reveal additional insights. I look forward with optimism to seeing his ideas confirmed.

Works Cited

Martins, Luis L. “Strategic Diversity Leadership: The Role of Senior Leaders in Delivering the Diversity Dividend.” Journal of Management, 1 September 2020, pp. 1191-1204, https://doi-org.libezproxy2.syr.edu/10.1177/0149206320939641.

“Luis Martins Biography.” The University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business. https://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/execed/faculty/luis-martins.

Expanding the Canon Draft

After discovering that an astonishing 67% of full-time faculty at business schools are white, Professors Grier (a professor of marketing at American University) and Poole (a professor at the University of San Francisco) decided to dive deeper into why diverse groups are underrepresented. To do this, they conducted a qualitative study through interviewing professors in business schools. Through interviews, Grier and Poole were able to study five components of the Critical Race Theory which offered some explanation into why there is not a proportionate number of diverse faculty members to students. The elements include: unchanged race and lasting racism, the interconnected nature of race with forms of subordination, the idea of one dominant ideology, experiential knowledge and commitment to social justice. The interviews also revealed in detail about how many schools care about the ‘best athlete’ construct, where only outputs matter. Schools do not take into account inputs, or extra duties performed by many underrepresented staff, including mentoring diverse students and serving as members in hiring committees. Grier and Poole’s research found that in order to be successful in creating an inclusive environment, everyone must be enthusiastic and open to change. By documenting the issues surrounding diverse faculty in business schools, the professors hope other professors will reflect on their own environments, and advocate for change.

The research done by Grier and Poole is essential in understanding the reasons why there are not more faculty who are considered diverse. In my opinion, by understanding the reasons behind not having a more diverse faculty, people will be able to change components of their organization. For example, we need to start understanding and celebrating how many professors take on different tasks to promote diversity. The dominant ideology has never represented the underrepresented minority experience, yet has always served towards the best interests of dominant groups. Many may find it difficult to embrace change, as they are a part of the dominant group. By promoting change, they are not serving in their own best interests. Along with this, it is difficult for another person to truly comprehend another person’s experiences if they have never experienced them themselves. Being in a dominant group and promoting change through words is different than taking actions to promote change. As a result, many underrepresented groups may not feel as though others are advocating for change.

Source: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/01/06/faculty-members-color-see-illusion-inclusion

We already know why having faculty that is diverse in their views is important, as illustrated by Austin and Pisano, Gundemir, along with this clip:

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owogyWB_lqE

However, understanding what to change is essential in feeling the effects of a more diverse faculty. By understanding different aspects that explain why many organizations do not have a more diversified staff core, we will be able to reflect and change these components, eventually leading to a diverse staff that represents everyone’s backgrounds and experiences. In my opinion, Grier and Poole’s article is critical in helping us reflect on our surroundings and understanding that we all need to be supportive of change.

Expanding the Canon Draft

In Bowen, Havercamp, and Nye’s “A call to action: Preparing a disability-competent health care workforce”, from the Disability and Health Journal, the authors successfully illustrate two initiatives that would eliminate the failure of competence towards those who are disabled as well as their essential care. Being the largest minority group in the world, the authors of this article clearly understand the urgency of this issue. Bowen and the rest of the writers start by dissecting why the needs of those who are disabled aren’t met by evaluating the preconceived notion caretakers have towards them. It is stated that their misunderstanding is a result of a biased mindset, where caretakers believe those with disabilities have a lower quality of life and function and have low expectations for their health which results in less urgency towards proper care. We can see this same mindset in many forms, whether it attacks minorities due to their race, income, gender, and endless others. Bowen et al. state that disability training can address the improvement of accessible treatment and increase better communication and understanding. This will be successful IF there is a balance between intent and effect, where health care workers will have to be conscious of the similarity of their words and behavior, which leads to the authors’ two initiatives towards this issue.

The urgency of these initiatives also circles back to hopes of systematic change. The article mentions that the systematic organizational framework in this country has disrupted the development and growth of disability healthcare. The two initiatives given in this article to facilitate fair and accessible health care would establish learning objectives and core foundations for health care workers which would increase their understanding and urgency, as well as simply continuing education training and bettering it as a whole in hopes of competent health care for those with disabilities. These initiatives are set up by two frameworks, the Disability Competencies and the DCC (Disability Competenent Care). The Disability Competencies provides a set of skills and behaviors needed to provide accommodating health care towards those who are disabled. Through various studies, this framework was proven successful and applied to the full range of disabilities.The DCC offers structure in educating the health care workforce and addresses the patient as a person, not just by their disability.

Bowen et al. do not just analyze these initiatives and calculate their success and stability but recognizes the dire need for change at this very moment in time. The authors acknowledge that the incompetence seen is due to systematic instability and that their initiatives would develop a foundation for practical, real change. This mindset is crucial while tackling the unfair treatment of all minorities. The authors believe these initiatives need to be required and that healthcare licensure should be reevaluated the same way recruitment in the business workforce should. This adds to the understanding that this instability is systematic and has been seen repeated in different shapes and forms, usually all having similarities in oppression. It is safe to say that the authors are aware that using these tactics in other scenarios, letting go of assumptions, uplifting, and acknowledging those who are diverse would create small steps towards competent systematic change. If those who are meant to help a specific issue don’t, who will?

file:///Users/katemehne/Desktop/Disability%20and%20Health%20Journal.html

Considering the value of scholarly literature

Scholarly journals are different in some important respects from popular magazines, the kind that you see at the checkout line at the grocery store or on the display in a bookstore. You can see some of those differences just at a glance–

non-flashy covers (really the opposite of flashy–like this: )
few to no advertisements (and those that are present are typically announcements about various professional conferences and publications)

Those visual differences are just the tip of the iceberg. Here are some other critical differences between scholarly publications and popular magazines:

authors published in scholarly journals are credentialed experts in their respective fields who typically specialize in certain topics–as opposed to professional journalists who might write about a range of topics that they haven’t spent years studying, maybe a different topic every week or every month
articles in scholarly journals are aimed at a fairly narrow audience of other scholars/professionals in that field who will understand the often highly-specialized jargon they employ (and who can make sense of their various graphs, charts, formulae, etc.)–as opposed to popular magazines that aim for a broad readership to increase circulation/sales
authors of scholarly articles must demonstrate the legitimacy and solidity of their research to their readers, and so you’ll see in-text citations for their detailed data and analysis–as opposed to popular publications that are not so focused on clarifying their research methods and giving readers access to all of their sources
articles in scholarly journals have been peer-reviewed, read by a panel of other experts in the field who have endorsed their methodology as sound and their findings as important contributions to the field of study before agreeing that it should be published–as opposed to popular magazines where there is not such a rigorous process of critical review

What about professional journals?

Professional journals are a bit less stodgy in terms of their visual appearance and a bit less rigid in their review process, but are nonetheless going to feature work by practitioners who are experts in their field, as opposed to journalists who may be more free-range in their topics. And they will typically utilize a pretty research-heavy approach to share information with their readers, other practitioners in the field, who are intent on staying on top of the latest news and research. They may be a bit flashier in appearance than scholarly journals (more images, more reader-friendly formatting), but are still going to have very visible research in the form of footnotes or in-text citations/links and a references list.

You’ll find easy access (and some research assistance) on the SU library website.

Your focus for this Unit 1 canon addition is on scholarly or professional literature because this is where the most up-to-date research is best documented. Given our purpose–to deepen our understanding of issues related to diversity and organizational culture–one of the best ways we can do that is to dig into this recent material.

Please see this post for some more guidance on assembling your draft.

Drafting your Unit 1 blog post

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been working with a shared body of readings that have given us some insights into workplace cultures and, in particular, the challenges, complexities, and value of diverse workplace cultures. Now that we’ve got a foundation of knowledge, it’s time to build on that by expanding our reach into some of the questions and issues these readings have raised for us.

Each of you is contributing to that expanding body of knowledge by suggesting an article to the rest of us. Your Unit 1 blog post will provide a summary of this text in addition to your commentary about what we can learn from this text and why it should be part of our shared canon of work on organizational culture and diversity. Read on for some pointers.

Let’s think first about the summary piece.

Unlike the other summaries that you’ve been writing, your readers (us) have not read the piece that you are summarizing, so that really raises the stakes for the work that you do in your summary. We’ll be totally reliant on your explanation of what this source is, what it does, and what it says, so please be sure to read through the comments that you’ve gotten from me on your prior summaries, to review the Handout on summary here or on Blackboard, and to consider what we’ve learned from the TSIS and Harris readings.

A few reminders:

We need to know precisely WHAT you’re summarizing—what kind of text is this? Can you tell us a little something about the author and/or publication that would help us understand something about this piece?

We need to know what the authors are DOING in this text—are they reporting a list of facts? Are they making an argument? Have they conducted their own research? Reporting someone else’s findings? Responding to some other argument they disagree with? Diving into a public controversy? The authors might have several purposes in their text—help us to understand what their purposes are (to use Harris’s term, their project) so that we can really get what this text is. Verbs can really help you here–select action verbs that really help to pinpoint the work the author is doing (arguing, advocating, explaining, addressing, debating, contesting, etc.)

We need to see the BIG PICTURE of what the author is saying—as a rule, we don’t need the sequential play-by-play, but we do want to have some clarity on the overall point of the piece, as well as the major sub-points that add to our body of knowledge.

Make sure you name the author and article you’re discussing—there should be no ambiguity here. And if there are multiple authors, credit them all the first time, and thereafter, you can use the first author’s last name and “et al” if there are 3 or more authors. (Technically, APA style requires that you only use “et al” if there are 6 or more authors, but come on….. If you’re submitting for publication in a professional or scholarly journal, follow that rule, of course; elsewhere use your judgment.) Please include a full bibliographic citation at the end of your blog post, detailing all the publication information for this particular article. (Again, remember to consult the assignment sheet for the criteria that your source must meet.)

Let us see what you’re working with–use the “Add Media” button to provide us with direct access to the article you’re contributing. If it’s a web-based source (on the open web), insert the link using that button. If the article is from a subscription database, please link it as a PDF. See my post from earlier this week, linked here, for instructions on how to do that.

Now, let’s think about the commentary piece. Think about your audience and your purpose.

Remember that you know what we know–that shared body of knowledge built from the texts we’ve read together. Feel free to draw connections/contrasts with other pieces we’ve read and discussions we’ve had.

Write in your own voice–you don’t have to adopt the scholarly tone of the articles that you’re working with. Write as if you’re speaking to us. Be direct.

Remember that your task here is expand our knowledge, to complicate the discussion we’ve been having by injecting something new and explaining its significance. Tell us what you think this article means, what you think is important about it, why you think it matters, what you want us to learn from it.

So that I can provide line-by-line comments on your draft, please email it to me as a .docx or .pdf file. Then please also post your draft to the blog. You should categorize your draft post as Expanding the Canon, and tag it with “draft,” “weekof6/28,” [your name], and “canon.” This will help me and others to easily identify what’s what.

One final request–please double-check all of your recent posts to ensure that they are properly categorized and tagged, and edit them as needed. When I’m grading posts, I sometimes have to go hunting to find your work, and that’s not especially helpful. You’ll find the instructions for tagging and categorizing in each of the prompts, which you can easily access by clicking “prompts” on the tag cloud. Contact me with any questions.