/ Gender Diversity and Inclusion Efforts That Really Work by David Pedulla May 12, 2020 Summary.    Rusty Hill/Getty Images A Stanford and Harvard professor convened a symposium on what’s actually working to improve diversity and inclusion in organizational life. In this article, David Pedulla summarizes the main findings. First, organizations should set goals, collect data, and hold people accountable for improving diversity within the organization. Second, organizations should abandon traditional discrimination and harassment reporting systems — these often lead to retaliation. Employee Assistance Plans (EAPs), ombuds offices, and transformative dispute resolution https://hbr.org/topic/gender https://hbr.org/search?term=david%20pedulla / systems can play a critical role in not only reducing retaliation but also provide fuel for organizational change. Third, organizations should check to ensure that technologies used to assist in hiring and promotion aren’t inherently biased. Fourth, companies must avoid tokenism. Finally, organizations should get managers and other leaders involved in diversity programs from the start. This will increase buy-in and lead to smooth implementation. In the wake of major social and political changes over the past decades, leading companies are taking steps to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion. Yet progress in most sectors remains tepid. Programs designed to increase diversity and inclusion in the workplace often fail. So that leads to a natural question: What’s actually working? Focusing on solutions to the diversity challenge — rather than on the failures — was top of mind when Devah Pager and I designed a convening in 2018. We brought together leading experts on bias, technology, discrimination, and organizational design, and – rather than documenting the problems that abound – we asked everyone to focus on answering one simple question: What works? (Pager, who was the Peter and Isabel Malkin professor of public policy and professor of sociology at Harvard University, passed away in 2018. The ongoing aspects of our project, I hope, are a testament to her pathbreaking work on racial discrimination and social inequality.) It was challenging to keep our emphasis on solutions. As became clear, there is no silver bullet. No single solution. Yet, in pushing ourselves to think outside the box and draw on the best empirical evidence that exists, the convening participants identified promising areas where investment, focus, and experimentation have the ability to serve as remarkable engines of change We dove into these promising areas and produced a report, titled “What Works? Evidence-Based Ideas to Increase Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace.” Here, I highlight five key insights close https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/gender-equality/women-in-the-workplace-2019 https://hbr.org/2016/07/why-diversity-programs-fail https://www.umass.edu/emp ...

1. /
Gender
Diversity and Inclusion Efforts That
Really Work
by David Pedulla
May 12, 2020
Summary.
Rusty Hill/Getty Images
A Stanford and Harvard professor convened a symposium on
what’s
actually working to improve diversity and inclusion in
organizational life. In this
article, David Pedulla summarizes the main findings. First,
organizations should set
goals, collect data, and hold people accountable for improving
diversity within the
organization. Second, organizations should abandon traditional
discrimination and
harassment reporting systems — these often lead to retaliation.
Employee

2. Assistance Plans (EAPs), ombuds offices, and transformative
dispute resolution
https://hbr.org/topic/gender
https://hbr.org/search?term=david%20pedulla
/
systems can play a critical role in not only reducing retaliation
but also provide fuel
for organizational change. Third, organizations should check to
ensure that
technologies used to assist in hiring and promotion aren’t
inherently biased.
Fourth, companies must avoid tokenism. Finally, organizations
should get
managers and other leaders involved in diversity programs from
the start. This will
increase buy-in and lead to smooth implementation.
In the wake of major social and political changes over the past
decades, leading companies are taking steps to increase
diversity,
equity, and inclusion. Yet progress in most sectors remains
tepid.
Programs designed to increase diversity and inclusion in the

3. workplace often fail. So that leads to a natural question: What’s
actually working?
Focusing on solutions to the diversity challenge — rather than
on the
failures — was top of mind when Devah Pager and I designed a
convening in 2018. We brought together leading experts on
bias,
technology, discrimination, and organizational design, and –
rather
than documenting the problems that abound – we asked
everyone to
focus on answering one simple question: What works? (Pager,
who
was the Peter and Isabel Malkin professor of public policy and
professor of sociology at Harvard University, passed away in
2018.
The ongoing aspects of our project, I hope, are a testament to
her
pathbreaking work on racial discrimination and social
inequality.)
It was challenging to keep our emphasis on solutions. As
became

4. clear, there is no silver bullet. No single solution. Yet, in
pushing
ourselves to think outside the box and draw on the best
empirical
evidence that exists, the convening participants identified
promising
areas where investment, focus, and experimentation have the
ability
to serve as remarkable engines of change
We dove into these promising areas and produced a report,
titled
“What Works? Evidence-Based Ideas to Increase Diversity,
Equity,
and Inclusion in the Workplace.” Here, I highlight five key
insights
close
https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/gender-
equality/women-in-the-workplace-2019
https://hbr.org/2016/07/why-diversity-programs-fail
https://www.umass.edu/employmentequity/what-works-
evidence-based-ideas-increase-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-
workplace
/
that can serve as tools for those looking to make their

5. workplaces
more diverse, more thriving places.
1. Collect, Count, and Compare.
Set goals, collect data, and examine change over time and in
comparison to other organizations: When it comes to
maximizing
profits and effectiveness, many businesses deploy this set of
strategies. Why not do the same for issues of diversity and
inclusion?
Sociologists Elizabeth Hirsh at University of British Columbia
and
Donald Tomaskovic-Devey at University of Massachusetts at
Amherst
argue that companies should do precisely this.
By collecting and analyzing data on diversity over time,
comparing
those numbers to the numbers at other organizations, and
sharing
them with key stakeholders, companies can increase
accountability
and transparency around diversity issues. Say a company has far
lower representation of women in managerial positions relative

6. to the
local labor market, similar firms, and/or the goals of the
corporation.
This identified shortfall can lead to concrete goal setting about
numbers and timelines for increasing women’s representation in
management. In turn, these goals can be made available to key
internal and external stakeholders to promote accountability. Of
course, this strategy will only work if the data are appropriately
analyzed, progress and roadblocks are continually identified,
and key
stakeholders are able to weigh in to chart a path forward.
2. Deploy Alternative Complaint Systems.
Approximately half of all discrimination and harassment
complaints
lead to some type of retaliation. And workers who complain
about
harassment are more likely to end up facing career challenges or
experiencing worse mental and physical health compared to
similar
workers who were harassed, but did not complain about it.
Clearly,

7. something is not working.
https://www.umass.edu/employmentequity/what-works-
evidence-based-ideas-increase-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-
workplace
/
Sociologists Frank Dobbin from Harvard University and
Alexandra
Kalev from Tel Aviv University present an innovative way
forward:
alternatives to legalistic grievance mechanisms. Employee
Assistance
Plans (EAPs), ombuds offices, and transformative dispute
resolution
systems can play a critical role in not only reducing retaliation
but
also provide fuel for organizational change. EAPs, for example,
are
frequently run by vendors outside the organization and offer
free and
confidential advice to employees, often over the phone. Yet,
EAPs are
not used very often to handle discrimination and harassment
issues.

8. By expanding their scope to provide valuable support and
guidance to
employees on strategies and tactics to deploy around harassment
and
discrimination, EAPs can serve as an important resource for
employees, although they do not generally intervene in
organizations.
Key to this type of shift is changing leadership mindsets from
seeing
complaints as threats to valuing them as insights that can spark
positive organizational change.
3. Test for Biased Technology.
Technology has become ubiquitous in the workplace. While
holding
powerful potential to increase efficiency, there is also
significant
concern that technologies can reproduce and even exacerbate
group-
based inequalities by race, gender, or other social categories.
Business
leaders Kelly Trindel and Frida Polli of pymetrics and Kate
Glazebrook of Applied offer strategies to reduce the likelihood
that

9. biases and discrimination creep in to new technologies.
First, technologies that get deployed for corporate screening,
hiring,
and evaluation processes have to be built on data that is fair to
socio-
demographic groups – such as different racial groups – in the
aggregate and that is relevant and predictive of success for the
particular role being evaluated. But, that alone is not enough.
Companies need to proactively test new technologies for
disparate
impacts on workers before they go in the field and need to audit
their
procedures after implementation to ensure that biases are not
creeping in. The combination of building solutions with an eye
to
screening out discrimination, and then checking for it on the
back
/
end, will not only create fairer products but can also help
organizational leaders sharpen their understanding of what does

10. not
work in their current system.
4. Beware of the Small-N Problem.
As behavioral scientists Iris Bohnet and Siri Chilazi, both at
Harvard
University, discuss, the ways we think about and perceive
others can
also hamper progress. They present a subtle, yet important,
factor
that can contribute to biased decision-making: group size. When
individuals belong to groups that are seriously underrepresented
in
the organizational context – such as racial minorities or women
–
they may be subjected to stereotype-based evaluations or
tokenism.
These biased perceptions can then have negative consequences
for
both individual workers and the larger organization, resulting in
limited progress.
What can be done to combat these biases? Bohnet and Chilazi
suggest

11. that companies need not be stopped by the small numbers
problem.
In addition to increasing the representation of particular groups,
companies can provide more visibility for a larger number and
diverse
set of underrepresented individuals – through opportunities for
presentations internally as well as at conferences, for example.
These
efforts can counteract stereotyping and tokenism over time.
Companies can also shift how assessments are run to counteract
the
impact of bias. One strategy is using simultaneous evaluation
processes, rather than evaluating individuals one by one. When
possible, for example, instead of hiring for a sales associate
position in
the winter, another in the spring, and then another in summer,
companies could hire for all three sales associates at the same
time.
This type of architecture for decision-making has been linked to
less
bias.
5. Involve Managers from the Start.

12. Organizations are complex and have different internal logics,
cultures, and dynamics. As researchers and strategists Lori
Nishiura
/
Mackenzie and JoAnne Wehner, both at Stanford VMWare
Women’s
Leadership Innovation Lab, articulate, it therefore does not
make
sense to take a one-size-fits-all policy and graft it on to
different
organizations. The organizational context matters. And, it
should be
accounted for when companies are deciding how to increase
diversity, equity, and inclusion.
What might it look like to account for context? While
Mackenzie and
Wehner look at the whole cycle of change, they suggest one step
in
particular that is often overlooked by change agents: get
managers
and other leaders involved from the start. Often, organizations

13. have
experts design programs that are then deployed to the manager s.
This
strategy often lacks a reality check: Does this program fit into
the
way managers already work, or are managers now required to
add
something into their already complex days? Involving managers
in
the design process can increase buy-in and smooth
implementation,
making interventions more sustainable and long-lasting.
As the common goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion become
even
more widespread, companies have the daunting task of figuring
out
what works. These five strategies — while far from
comprehensive —
offer an evidence-based place to start. From counting,
collecting, and
comparing to accounting for complex organizational contexts,
progress is possible.
David Pedulla is an associate professor of

14. sociology at Stanford University.
DP
https://hbr.org/search?term=david%20pedulla&search_type=sea
rch-all
Walden University
SOCW 6111: Advanced Clinical Practice I
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Walden University
SOCW 6111: Advanced Clinical Practice I
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Back to Course Home Course Calendar Syllabus Course
Information Resource List Support, Guidelines, and Policies
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Photo Credit: Getty ImagesWeek 10: Interventions With Adults
One of the most exciting and interesting aspects of social work
is that the work you will do with your clients will be incredibly
varied. Each client presents with a different situation, concern,
and personality. The work you will do with individual adults
could address mental health concerns (i.e., depression, anxiety,
schizophrenia, bipolar), physical concerns (i.e., recent stroke,

17. paralysis, disability), or substance abuse (i.e., alcohol, cocaine,
methamphetamine). These are just a few examples of the
presenting issues your clients could bring to their meeting with
you. Each meeting with a client will introduce new information
for you to assess. During these meetings, it is imperative to
review your capabilities, including cultural competence, and
determine if you are the most qualified to work with these
individuals. In the NASW Code of Ethics (2017), under
responsibility to professionals, there is an expectation that you
will provide competent social work. This includes keeping
abreast of current research and developments in the field;
learning new skills and honing existing ones; and only
practicing with individuals who you are competent to assist.
Learning ObjectivesStudents will:Demonstrate skills for
explaining trauma to a clientEvaluate EBP interventions for a
specific population and problemApply culturally competent
intervention strategies to a population or presenting
problemLearning Resources
Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please
click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the
Course Materials section of your Syllabus.Required Readings
Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocksen, S. M. (Eds.). (2014a).
Sessions: case histories. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International
Universities Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader].The Levy
Family (pp. 15–16)
Knight, C. (2015). Trauma-informed social work practice:
Practice considerations and challenges. Clinical Social Work
Journal, 43(1), 25-37.
Thyer, B. A. (2013). Intervention with adults. In M. J. Holosko,
C. N. Dulmus, & K. M. Sowers (Eds.), Social work practice
with individuals and families: Evidence-informed assessments
and interventions (pp. 147–176). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Elliott, D. E., Bjelajac, P., Fallot, R. D., Markoff, L. S., &
Reed, B. G. (2005). Trauma‐ informed or trauma‐ denied:

18. Principles and implementation of trauma‐ informed services for
women. Journal of Community Psychology, 33(4), 461-
477.Required Media
Laureate Education (Producer). (2013b). Levy family: Episode 3
[Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu