Dr. Billy Vaughn discusses his approach to creating diversity and inclusion in organizations. He outlines four components of cultural competence: awareness, attitude, knowledge, and skills. Vaughn emphasizes that cultural competence and inclusion progress hand in hand, with each stage building upon the last. He stresses the importance of leadership involvement, data collection, and focusing interventions on building knowledge and skills over just awareness and attitudes.
Reputation has become an essential strategic asset for companies. Those businesses that enjoy a good reputation are able to differentiate themselves, thus attracting investments and retaining customers and employees, while at the same time, stakeholders of such companies demonstrate higher levels of satisfaction and loyalty towards the companies’ products and brands.
Currently, corporate reputation is one of the most popular non-financial indicators used by organizations, both in the public and private sectors. is book is an in-depth investigation of the psychosocial nature of corporate reputation, and we invite the reader to join us on a journey of discovery.
When reputation first appeared as a concept, it brought about promises and hopes. It was viewed as a solution capable of reconciling the interests of different stakeholders and making the whole organization stronger. However, this giant soon turned out to have feet of clay, as it was lacking in sufficient theoretical and methodological foundation. Nonetheless, when we step into the terra incognita of corporate intangible assets, we will understand that the vague idea of reputation is gradually acquiring a scientific form thanks to the development of measurement tools and models that lay a foundation for the long sought-after means of managing reputation.
Carreras, Alloza and Carreras explore the scientific evidence behind corporate reputation management. Foreword by Charles Fombrun.
Reputation has become an essential strategic asset for companies. Those businesses that enjoy a good reputation are able to differentiate themselves, thus attracting investments and retaining customers and employees, while at the same time, stakeholders of such companies demonstrate higher levels of satisfaction and loyalty towards the companies’ products and brands.
Currently, corporate reputation is one of the most popular non-financial indicators used by organizations, both in the public and private sectors. is book is an in-depth investigation of the psychosocial nature of corporate reputation, and we invite the reader to join us on a journey of discovery.
When reputation first appeared as a concept, it brought about promises and hopes. It was viewed as a solution capable of reconciling the interests of different stakeholders and making the whole organization stronger. However, this giant soon turned out to have feet of clay, as it was lacking in sufficient theoretical and methodological foundation. Nonetheless, when we step into the terra incognita of corporate intangible assets, we will understand that the vague idea of reputation is gradually acquiring a scientific form thanks to the development of measurement tools and models that lay a foundation for the long sought-after means of managing reputation.
Carreras, Alloza and Carreras explore the scientific evidence behind corporate reputation management. Foreword by Charles Fombrun.
This is a student presentation researched and designed by Organizational Communication graduate Lynette Clower during her senior year. The portfolio discusses the portrayed image and identiy of a UCO campus department over a five month period.
Organizational Communication is:
A dynamic area of expertise which encompasses the foundations of communication theories, policy and practice, and human understanding.
Theorical basis: Excellence, Critical and Rhetorical theories in Public Relat...Stephen Tindi
Theories are helpful in understanding and explaining the actions of organizations, PR practitioners and publics. The Excellence, Critical and Rhetorical theories provide useful information on meaning-making between organizations and their publics.
MSLGROUP Reputation Impact Indicator Study 2015MSL
MSLGROUP has chosen to take a somewhat atypical approach to the study of reputation. Moving beyond simple rankings, or analyses of ‘drivers’ of reputation alone, we take a more holistic look at how a company must act to build a strong reputation that can facilitate success over time. The result of our research is this, the Reputation Impact Indicator study, part of MSLGROUP’s ongoing efforts to create better knowledge and tools for corporations to better understand how they can influence their reputation.
In the study, we have chosen to look at corporate reputation among a global general public. General public, because how they, as consumers and citizens, view corporations has a substantial and increasingly important impact on how other audiences view them. Global, because we live in an ‘always on’ and ‘on-demand’ world, where different audiences are constantly connected to each other. Today, more than ever, a multistakeholder perspective is necessary.
We hope you enjoy reading it and invite you to share your feedback and tips with us on Twitter @msl_group.
Follow #ReputationImpact on Twitter for insights from the report.
Essay on diversity in the workplace - aiu(final)Donasian Mbonea
The world’s increasing globalization requires more interac¬tion among people from diverse backgrounds. People no longer live and work in an insular environment; they are now part of a worldwide economy competing within a global framework. For this reason, profit and non-profit organizations need to become more diversified to remain competitive. Maximizing and capitalizing on workplace diversity is an important issue for management (Betchoo, 2015)
Supervisors and managers need to recognize the ways in which the workplace is changing and evolving. Managing diversity is a significant organizational challenge, so mana¬gerial skills must adapt to accommodate a multicultural work environment. (Agarwala, 2010)
It is a known fact that diversity is gaining more importance nowadays than ever before given that the world better accommodates people with differences since it has transformed into a global village, a term that looked distant in the past but looks more apparent today than ever before. This calls for acceptance of differences which are, in essence, the elements of diversity. Traditionally, diversity could mainly focus on gender, age and ethnicity issues but there are new concepts like HIV/AIDS workers, dual – career couples, mobile workers that have become part of the workplace and have their role to play in the society (Betchoo, 2015).
Then comes the foreign employee. There are two trends that are identifiable. Firstly, people from the developing world moved in large numbers to rich countries that were their former colonists. Secondly, top executives are moving to developing nations to sell their managerial expertise. Foreign employees might also invoke the issue of cultural diversity and tolerance. Acceptance of diversity also covers the issue of race relations which are easy tough to manage despite struggles won in many parts of the world.
Workplace diversity exists when companies hire employees from various backgrounds and experiences. Many companies see workplace diversity as an investment toward building a better business. Although workplace diversity provides many benefits, it also poses many challenges to employees and managers. To reap the benefits of workplace diversity, employees and managers must understand the challenges and know how to effectively deal with them.
The essay explore the meaning of diversity as a concept, managing diversity, a model for diversity, HRM in workplace diversity, tools for managing diversity, benefits of diversity in the workplace, challenges of diversity in the workplace, strategies for managing diverse workforce, Literature review on managing workplace diversity as well as reviewing one case study on the topic.
This presentation focuses on the status of adoption of social media by corporate investor relations departments in U.S. public companies. It was delivered on October 2, 2009, by Dave Hogan, APR, at the annual conference of the International Association of Online Communicators (IAOC) in Washington, D.C.
Public Relation in context of Nursing and Collective BargainingAlka Singh
Subject : Management of Nursing Services and Education. Topic: Public Relation in Context of Nursing and Collective Bargaining, Elements, Tools and Various Forms of Public Relation, Nurses Role in Public Relation. History of Collective Bargaining in India, Theory Behind collective bargaining, importance of collective bargaining, Advantages and disadvantages of collective bargaining, Nurse managers role in collective bargaining, Functions and types of collective bargaining, Collective bargaining and National commission on labor, Problems in Growth of collective bargaining in India.
Internal vs external public of public relationsMedia Mantra
Internal and External PR very important function of organization and both are dependent to each other .PR is also a part of marketing communication, which involves in advertising and promotions in targeted markets.
“Probe In Multi-Ethnic Disputes About HR Practices In HRM”iosrjce
“Ethnic diversity adds richness to a society” *Gary Locke*
The real organization of human resource management is organizational culture and its reformation and
management. Ethos is closely related to organizational strategy, structure and intention. It influences staff's
notice of job selection, evaluation training, and reward and so on. In addition to the normal pressures of manmanagement,
managers are now required to deal with challenges, friction and misunderstandings emanating
from cross ethnic differences. Effective management in the modern environment necessitates cross ethnic
competency in order to get the best out of a multiethnic team. With the growing significance of developing
economies in the global business environment, Human Resource Management is facing increased difficulty in
managing cross-border ethnic relationships. This paper of mine analyze the HR must be knowledgeable about
multiethnic factors on both the domestic and global fronts in Human Resource Management As Dr Zareen
Karani Araoz, President and founder of “Managing Across cultures, Karani Lam & Associates, says in
global conference , "For an employee who repeatedly takes a conference call from US at 3 a.m. regularly is a
major problem area, but he finds it difficult to articulate this to his client or his counterpart in the US, due to
fear. In an institutionalized environment, it is easy to learn to be frank, where saying “NO” is often appreciated
rather than saying “YES” and failing to deliver on the promise
Business communication is the process of communicating with the employees and the organisation. The implementation of the business communication strategies helps to build the communication skills in the employees. In this report the impact, barriers, and solutions to barriers are discussed which help to understand the overall concept of the business communication. For betterment of the organisations improvement of the communication skills is necessary. The effective communication is the management of the employees which help in the management of the employee’s behaviour. Analysis of business communication is essentially effective in determining the potential in professional aspects as well as evaluating personal skills for improvement.
#Diversity and #Inclusion - How can companies move from talking the talk to walking the walk?
In recent days Diversity and Inclusion have come to the forefront of what companies are paying attention to even in the midst of a pandemic.
Starting from hiring and promotion practices to processes to the branding offering and more companies are looking at ways to make D&I more real for their employees.
How can we take it from a vaguely abstract concept (to most people) to very concrete steps?
This is a student presentation researched and designed by Organizational Communication graduate Lynette Clower during her senior year. The portfolio discusses the portrayed image and identiy of a UCO campus department over a five month period.
Organizational Communication is:
A dynamic area of expertise which encompasses the foundations of communication theories, policy and practice, and human understanding.
Theorical basis: Excellence, Critical and Rhetorical theories in Public Relat...Stephen Tindi
Theories are helpful in understanding and explaining the actions of organizations, PR practitioners and publics. The Excellence, Critical and Rhetorical theories provide useful information on meaning-making between organizations and their publics.
MSLGROUP Reputation Impact Indicator Study 2015MSL
MSLGROUP has chosen to take a somewhat atypical approach to the study of reputation. Moving beyond simple rankings, or analyses of ‘drivers’ of reputation alone, we take a more holistic look at how a company must act to build a strong reputation that can facilitate success over time. The result of our research is this, the Reputation Impact Indicator study, part of MSLGROUP’s ongoing efforts to create better knowledge and tools for corporations to better understand how they can influence their reputation.
In the study, we have chosen to look at corporate reputation among a global general public. General public, because how they, as consumers and citizens, view corporations has a substantial and increasingly important impact on how other audiences view them. Global, because we live in an ‘always on’ and ‘on-demand’ world, where different audiences are constantly connected to each other. Today, more than ever, a multistakeholder perspective is necessary.
We hope you enjoy reading it and invite you to share your feedback and tips with us on Twitter @msl_group.
Follow #ReputationImpact on Twitter for insights from the report.
Essay on diversity in the workplace - aiu(final)Donasian Mbonea
The world’s increasing globalization requires more interac¬tion among people from diverse backgrounds. People no longer live and work in an insular environment; they are now part of a worldwide economy competing within a global framework. For this reason, profit and non-profit organizations need to become more diversified to remain competitive. Maximizing and capitalizing on workplace diversity is an important issue for management (Betchoo, 2015)
Supervisors and managers need to recognize the ways in which the workplace is changing and evolving. Managing diversity is a significant organizational challenge, so mana¬gerial skills must adapt to accommodate a multicultural work environment. (Agarwala, 2010)
It is a known fact that diversity is gaining more importance nowadays than ever before given that the world better accommodates people with differences since it has transformed into a global village, a term that looked distant in the past but looks more apparent today than ever before. This calls for acceptance of differences which are, in essence, the elements of diversity. Traditionally, diversity could mainly focus on gender, age and ethnicity issues but there are new concepts like HIV/AIDS workers, dual – career couples, mobile workers that have become part of the workplace and have their role to play in the society (Betchoo, 2015).
Then comes the foreign employee. There are two trends that are identifiable. Firstly, people from the developing world moved in large numbers to rich countries that were their former colonists. Secondly, top executives are moving to developing nations to sell their managerial expertise. Foreign employees might also invoke the issue of cultural diversity and tolerance. Acceptance of diversity also covers the issue of race relations which are easy tough to manage despite struggles won in many parts of the world.
Workplace diversity exists when companies hire employees from various backgrounds and experiences. Many companies see workplace diversity as an investment toward building a better business. Although workplace diversity provides many benefits, it also poses many challenges to employees and managers. To reap the benefits of workplace diversity, employees and managers must understand the challenges and know how to effectively deal with them.
The essay explore the meaning of diversity as a concept, managing diversity, a model for diversity, HRM in workplace diversity, tools for managing diversity, benefits of diversity in the workplace, challenges of diversity in the workplace, strategies for managing diverse workforce, Literature review on managing workplace diversity as well as reviewing one case study on the topic.
This presentation focuses on the status of adoption of social media by corporate investor relations departments in U.S. public companies. It was delivered on October 2, 2009, by Dave Hogan, APR, at the annual conference of the International Association of Online Communicators (IAOC) in Washington, D.C.
Public Relation in context of Nursing and Collective BargainingAlka Singh
Subject : Management of Nursing Services and Education. Topic: Public Relation in Context of Nursing and Collective Bargaining, Elements, Tools and Various Forms of Public Relation, Nurses Role in Public Relation. History of Collective Bargaining in India, Theory Behind collective bargaining, importance of collective bargaining, Advantages and disadvantages of collective bargaining, Nurse managers role in collective bargaining, Functions and types of collective bargaining, Collective bargaining and National commission on labor, Problems in Growth of collective bargaining in India.
Internal vs external public of public relationsMedia Mantra
Internal and External PR very important function of organization and both are dependent to each other .PR is also a part of marketing communication, which involves in advertising and promotions in targeted markets.
“Probe In Multi-Ethnic Disputes About HR Practices In HRM”iosrjce
“Ethnic diversity adds richness to a society” *Gary Locke*
The real organization of human resource management is organizational culture and its reformation and
management. Ethos is closely related to organizational strategy, structure and intention. It influences staff's
notice of job selection, evaluation training, and reward and so on. In addition to the normal pressures of manmanagement,
managers are now required to deal with challenges, friction and misunderstandings emanating
from cross ethnic differences. Effective management in the modern environment necessitates cross ethnic
competency in order to get the best out of a multiethnic team. With the growing significance of developing
economies in the global business environment, Human Resource Management is facing increased difficulty in
managing cross-border ethnic relationships. This paper of mine analyze the HR must be knowledgeable about
multiethnic factors on both the domestic and global fronts in Human Resource Management As Dr Zareen
Karani Araoz, President and founder of “Managing Across cultures, Karani Lam & Associates, says in
global conference , "For an employee who repeatedly takes a conference call from US at 3 a.m. regularly is a
major problem area, but he finds it difficult to articulate this to his client or his counterpart in the US, due to
fear. In an institutionalized environment, it is easy to learn to be frank, where saying “NO” is often appreciated
rather than saying “YES” and failing to deliver on the promise
Business communication is the process of communicating with the employees and the organisation. The implementation of the business communication strategies helps to build the communication skills in the employees. In this report the impact, barriers, and solutions to barriers are discussed which help to understand the overall concept of the business communication. For betterment of the organisations improvement of the communication skills is necessary. The effective communication is the management of the employees which help in the management of the employee’s behaviour. Analysis of business communication is essentially effective in determining the potential in professional aspects as well as evaluating personal skills for improvement.
#Diversity and #Inclusion - How can companies move from talking the talk to walking the walk?
In recent days Diversity and Inclusion have come to the forefront of what companies are paying attention to even in the midst of a pandemic.
Starting from hiring and promotion practices to processes to the branding offering and more companies are looking at ways to make D&I more real for their employees.
How can we take it from a vaguely abstract concept (to most people) to very concrete steps?
DBA 7553, Human Resource Management 1 Course Learn.docxpoulterbarbara
DBA 7553, Human Resource Management 1
Course Learning Outcomes for Unit IV
Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:
2. Analyze equal opportunity and the legal environment.
2.1 Explain the role that human resources has in upholding the legal responsibilities of an
organization.
2.2 Differentiate between the management of diversity and affirmative action.
3. Examine the elements of diversity in organizations.
3.1 Articulate the challenges that may occur when managing a diverse work group.
3.2 Research how the management of diversity can be improved.
Course/Unit
Learning Outcomes
Learning Activity
2.1 Unit IV Research Paper
2.2 Unit IV Research Paper
3.1
Unit Lesson
Unit Research Paper
3.2
Unit Lesson
Unit IV Research Paper
Reading Assignment
There is no reading assignment in this unit.
Unit Lesson
Today’s workplace is part of a global village. Overall, the labor force is more diverse each year. This diversity
includes the areas of ethnicity, race, religion, age, ability, gender, and sexual orientation. Therefore, well-
informed strategic human resource management must be ever aware of the changing nature of the world
around them in order to help lead their organization forward in embracing diversity. Having a sufficient mix of
diverse dimensions in any organization will serve to strengthen the foundation and overall health of that
group.
It can often be the case that human resource management must be aware of resistance to change and
stereotyping. Change with regard to anything can be difficult in the workplace. However, with regard to
diversity and the possibility of various new dimensions, it is important to remember that strategic human
resource management must plan ahead and focus on building this diverse dimension carefully. With regard to
stereotyping, this would be an assumption that what may hold for a group will automatically hold for an
individual of that group. Human resource management must look ahead to help avoid the pitfall of
stereotyping. Being aware and being communicative about new diversity dimensions in the workplace can lay
the groundwork for an effective embrace by employees.
As our society becomes more diverse, so must our organizations. In fact, many companies now understand
the power of diversity as a competitive advantage. Having a diverse set of employee perspectives can create
a stronger product or service. Embracing multi-cultural marketing can broadly expand a company’s sales.
When organizations embrace diversity in their workforce and in their operations (internally in the company
UNIT IV STUDY GUIDE
Equal Opportunity and the Legal Environment,
and Elements of Diversity in Organizations, Part II
DBA 7553, Human Resource Management 2
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
and externally with customers and vendors), a powerful foundation can be built. Efficient strategic human
resource management can help develop and .
Anna Taylor (Speaker) West Coast DEI Lead, VMLY&R
Demographic transference within organizations is shifting and there will continue to be an upsurge of more diverse and inclusive organizations as they outperform homogeneous organizations. But this is a slow progression, where can we start making organizational transformation now? We can start from the bottom; employees have more power than they may realize, to affect change. And although this may seem like a daunting call-to-action, employees have the power irrespective of budget or team size, to make an indelible impact on organizational change. Like many effectual grassroots movements, employees have the ability to create a new model that renders the existing model obsolete and lead the evolution of organizational transformation.
SOUTHERN CROSS UNIVERSITYSouthern Cross Business SchoolASSIGNM.docxrafbolet0
SOUTHERN CROSS UNIVERSITY
Southern Cross Business School
ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET
For use with online submission of assignments for
MNG03217 – Leading and Managing people only
Please complete all of the following details and then make this sheet the first page of each file of your assignment – do not send it as a separate document.
Your assignments must be submitted as either Word documents, text documents with .rtf extension or as .pdf documents. If you wish tosubmit in any other file format please discuss this with your lecturer well before theassignment submission date.
Unit Name:
Leading and Managing People
Unit Code:
MNG03217
Student Name:
Student ID:
Local Tutor’s name:
Dr Brian Morris
Assignment No.:
2
Assignment Title:
Final Compilation
Due date:
31/07/2015
Date submitted:
31/07/2015
Declaration:
By including this form as part of the assignment document, it is declared that each member of the team has read and understood the Rules Relating to Awards (Rule 3 Section 18 – Academic Misconduct Including Plagiarism) as contained in the SCU Policy Library. Each member understands the penalties that apply for plagiarism and agree to be bound by these rules. The work the team is submitting electronically is entirely the work of members of the team.
Assignment 2: Part 1 (Chapter 10 - Leadership 2.0: Virtual Leadership)
.How would you lead this team of international employees and friends?
Through the adaption of principles of project management - in order to be able to establish a leadership role amongst the group it is first necessary to outline the mission/vision that is aimed to be achieved from the creation of the group. From this point, it is then ideal to establish and delegate tasks and role (i.e. as leader, I would establish myself as project manager) so everyone is clear of what they are responsible for and what is expected of them.
2. Is building “community” important in a virtual world? If so, what would you do to promote a sense of community among these team members?
In order to promote a sense of community among team members I would take the time to get to know each member of my team on a more personal level (i.e. their interests, motivations, what they aim to get out of working in the group) and advise that I am here for support and questions via mobile, Skype etc. as well as designating regular monthly times to undertake team meetings online and introduce everyone to each other as an icebreaker and face to face meetings where possible.
Response
Lynette, I certainly agree with you that communication is key, and certainly in your response to the first question that providing communication channels is vital when leading a team.
One of the very successful factors that I have witnessed as being part of a team is clear communication of the team goal and communication of individual responsibilities within the team in ensuring the goal is successfully achieved. We can certainly provide communication channels to promote.
Case Study 1Several large organizations announced recently theMaximaSheffield592
Case Study 1
Several large organizations announced recently they would increase efforts to recruit persons of color, in part a response to the Black Lives Matter movement. Some of the same organizations made similar announcements in the past—yet the numbers of persons with minority backgrounds in those organizations have remained about the same.
This is in the face of research findings that organizations with significant minority representation are stronger than their peers. A McKinsey & Company study in May of top executive teams in more than a thousand organizations in 15 countries concluded that the most diverse organizations have an edge in their markets. These firms are “more innovative—stronger at anticipating shifts in consumer needs and consumption patterns that make new products and services possible, potentially generating a competitive edge.”
Of equal significance is a finding that the top third of the organizations in the study are pulling away from the other two-thirds in diversity and inclusion, registering increasingly higher probabilities of being the most profitable. They are exhibiting progress in achieving greater gender and ethnic diversity, and increasingly positive impacts on bottom-line performance, according to the researchers.
Differentiating between diversity and inclusion
I differentiate between diversity and inclusion by thinking of progress in diversity as depending primarily on successful recruiting of diverse talent. It can be measured. It’s what we see on the corporate dashboard of performance measures. It is quite likely that the rich get richer in this effort; organizations exhibiting greater diversity are more attractive to talented people with diverse backgrounds.
Talent retention depends to a large degree on inclusion. At least that’s what people of diverse backgrounds tell us. Inclusion is related to such things as “voice”—the belief by workers that they are heard—as well as recognition and equal opportunity in rewards and promotions. Harder to quantify than diversity, inclusion is more nuanced and measured in comments in interviews and surveys. It doesn’t provide the numbers and simple headlines often associated with diversity.
Some organizations are good at both diversity and inclusion; others can’t seem to get either right. Some companies, for example, are strong recruiters but lack the ability to be inclusive of talent with diverse backgrounds. Try as they might, they are not making progress on diversity. Instead, they have low retention rates for their diverse talent. In many cases, the “last in, first out” phenomenon may apply in times of crisis.
The key to achieving both diversity and inclusion is committed leadership at all levels, not just a few at the top who have already made it. Transformation has to take place on the front lines and the middle levels as well. This takes effort and time, perhaps more than many organizations are willing to invest.
Inclusion may present too many challeng ...
This is a series of Capacity Building documents that was prepared by the Sudanese Youth Leadership Development Program.
هذه مجموعة من المقالات في مجالات تدريبية متعددة مناسبة للجمعيات الطوعية تم تطويرها بين عامي 2003-2005 للبرنامج السوداني لإعداد القيادات الشبابية
1. American Public University System p. 1
CREATING CULTURAL COMPETENCE IN A DIVERSE WORLD
Effective diversity and inclusion programs are the core of successful businesses. In this conversation, we
speak with Dr. Billy Vaughn of the Diversity Training University International to understand key linkages
between cultural competence, high performing organizations and the legacies they leave.
Q: What is your approach to creating diversity and inclusion as an element of sustainable leadership
and organizational success?
Dr. Vaughn: I think the best way to understand our approach to diversity and inclusion (often referred to
as D&I) is to understand the organizational inclusion framework that we use. That framework
characterizes organizational inclusion as having two dimensions. One dimension is the stage of inclusion
that an organization is in, which we represent on a continuum of five inclusion stages, from lowest to
highest. The other dimension is level of cultural competence. The assumption is that as the organization
becomes increasingly culturally competent, it increases or reaches higher stages of inclusion. The two
work hand-in-glove. As far as cultural competence is concerned, we characterize it as having four
components:
1. Awareness
2. Attitude
3. Knowledge
4. Skills
These are the four basic components that we’d assess in terms of how much an individual or a group
would have. And for an organization you can think about each component in the following way:
Awareness: To what extent has the organization been successful at increasing its employees’ awareness
of the importance of inclusion? What does it mean to the organization as a whole, in terms of its
culture, and why should that compel all of the organization’s members to accept and embrace inclusion
and diversity?
Attitude: Represents the level to which the organization espouses the basic beliefs and values related to
inclusion and diversity, and is holding its members accountable for embracing those beliefs and values.
Knowledge: You can be as open and tolerant as possible, but unless you understand and accept cultural
differences, you can step on people’s toes and not fully understand how to truly be inclusive in terms of
beliefs and values. The organization must instill the knowledge component in order for its employees to
fully understand—and then enjoy—the benefits of increasing inclusion.
Skills: This primarily includes developing better communication skills, however, it’s imperative that the
members of the organizations work on and fully understand awareness and attitude first—otherwise it
can create barriers. Each step represents a platform. One is built upon the other. Of course, skills in
project management, team building, organizational change, training and assessment are really helpful.
2. American Public University System p. 2
Q: What would you suggest are key components of an organizational inclusion strategy, how are they
best executed and continuously assessed?
Dr. Vaughn: There is both a quantitative and qualitative piece to understanding the link between D&I
and organizational success (or ROI). To help facilitate understanding, use of diversity scorecards are
helpful. The most popular one is that of Ed Hubbard and his wife Myra, which includes a combination of
bean counting—how many people have you hired, how many practices do you have in place to show
compliance and increased diversity and measuring ROI? Another less popular approach is one that walks
people through an analysis of linkages between the bottom line of the organization and its key focus,
values and mission—is it to make money for stockholders, increase members or customers, improve a
project or serving students optimally? Whatever the bottom line is, we view that as the top-level goal of
the organization, and see where the linkages are to the lower levels of the organization. One drives the
other, but they are not necessarily the same. Next, it is important to look at the daily operations of the
organization. What are the people doing to really carry out the mission and vision, as well as the bottom
line? After asking those questions and critically thinking about the answers, we start to see how cultural
competence is an important driver.
Alignment of focus, mission and vision are critical, but it’s not enough. You must also get down to
operations—what people are doing on a day-to-day basis in the organization that fulfill their part of the
mission. In the insurance company example, one operation is direct sales to potential clients. So the first
thing they did was increase the diversity among the sales people out in the field. They have an online
presence and customer service people on the telephones talking to people with messaging and
communications styles that convey a cultural understanding relevant to their consumers. They’re
marketing to people and running national commercials and use all of these tools to re-engage customers
and to develop a multicultural marketing strategy that appeals to the diverse audiences that they once
enjoyed.
Q: How do you define diversity and inclusion and what are some of the top reasons as to why it’s so
important for organizations?
Dr. Vaughn: First I’ll start by saying that organizations can get bogged down trying to define diversity
and they need to realize that it’s a political issue. In addition, for some reason, many believe they need
to have a diversity and inclusion strategy that is unique to their own organization, so they ignore a lot of
the work that has already been done and has been around for a long time. They keep reinventing the
wheel. So the process of defining it can drive you crazy when there are many variations out there.
People need to consider the other definitions out there and utilize that information to offer their own.
Although, I don’t like to add to the issue, I’ve certainly given it a lot of thought and consideration. So
when asked, I share that my definition of inclusion is the degree to which an organization harnesses its
diversity in the interest of being more productive, more competitive and building better teamwork. For
me, diversity and inclusion is the bottom line. Diversity is all the ways in which people define themselves
as different from other people based on some group membership. Inclusion is about the organization
providing an environment in which people believe they can bring their whole, cultural selves to the
organization in the interest of productivity. And there are three key drivers for diversity and inclusion.
One is leadership involvement. The second key is great data (to figure out where the organization is
right now). The third is using the data to pinpoint gaps in cultural competence in the organization so that
an intervention can be implemented that’s high impact. What happens all too often is we throw
3. American Public University System p. 3
diversity training at the issue and focus on the awareness or attitudes, and very little on knowledge and
skills. Most of us have had so much attitude and awareness training that it’s coming out our ears!
(Laughing)
Q: Can you share your thoughts on the role of data and analysis in establishing cultural competence?
Dr. Vaughn: The first order of business is helping the people within an organization to actually feel safe
to collect the data, and that is not easy. Different organizations are going to need different data
configurations, and even within some units, they’re going to be at a higher inclusion stage than others.
The most important thing is to utilize organizational development and effectiveness expertise, which is
what the entire experience should be about. Diversity executives need good leadership skills, but they
also have to think and act like a change agent. How do you affect change in an organization so that you
can move it from where it is to where it needs to be? That takes good data, great leadership and you
have to onboard a lot of people from the top to bottom while keeping your thumb on the pulse of
where the action is in the organization so you can make certain it’s progressing.
Dr. Billy Vaughn
Billy Vaughn, Ph.D., is Senior Managing Partner at DTUI.com LLC (a.k.a., Diversity Training University
International), and Director of the Diversity Executive Leadership Academy. He is internationally
recognized as a cultural cognitive psychologist with expertise in organizational change, employee
engagement, training and instructional design, and harnessing cultural diversity in service of
engagement and productivity. His prior positions were president of Educorp of San Diego (1984-1998)
and faculty member at the California School of Psychology-San Diego (1986-2001).Dr. Vaughn balances
his applied consulting and training skills with an academic and scholastic position at Walden University.
He is also a Certified Diversity Professional (CDP) and received his Ph.D. from University of California,
San Diego. An accomplished writer, his current book focuses on executive cultural diversity expertise.
Dr. Vaughn served on the board of directors for the Elementary Institute of Science (San Diego), which
raised more than $3.25 million in capital campaign funds during his tenure.
Michelle Maldonado
Michelle Maldonado is a former corporate attorney with 20 years of leadership experience in strategic
planning, operations and partnership development across technology, e-learning and online media
industries. She currently serves as AVP of Corporate and Strategic Relationships for American Public
University System (APUS) and is the creator of The Inspire Leadership Series. Michelle is also Co-Founder
and Chair of the Northern Virginia Conscious Business Alliance. As a business leader, Michelle utilizes an
authentic and consultative approach to partner with industry organizations to form strategic alliances
that support overall institutional growth strategies and leverage key academic resources for talent
development and engagement. Michelle can be reached at mmaldonado@apus.edu.
Suggested Pull Quote
"For me, diversity and inclusion is the bottom line. Diversity is all the ways in which people define
themselves as different from other people based on some group membership. Inclusion is about the
organization providing an environment in which people believe they can bring their whole, cultural
selves to the organization in the interest of productivity."