SlideShare a Scribd company logo
1 of 5
Download to read offline
W
QP • www.qualityprogress.com10
ENGINEERING
She’s Got the Look
Social media campaign challenges engineer stereotypes
KEEPINGCURRE
When you hear the word “engineer,” what
comes to mind? Someone holding a hard
hat with blueprints tucked under an arm?
Don’t forget the pencil behind one ear. Is
the person male with a jawline akin to the
square ruler he’s holding, too?
Despite most people’s abilities to quickly
recognize these visuals as blatant (and
sexist) generalizations of who should or
shouldn’t be an engineer or tech worker,
an underlying gender issue continues to
plague these industries. A recent social
media movement, #ILookLikeAnEngineer, is
helping to address this issue globally.
OneLogin—a developer of a single sign-
on and identity management service—
created a recruiting campaign for its San
Francisco-based office. Using pictures of
real OneLogin engineers accompanied by
their stories of working at the organization,
it placed ads in the city’s Bay Area Rapid
Transit stations.1
Isis Anchalee Wenger, a OneLogin en-
gineer, was
one of the
employees
included in
the cam-
paign.
Shortly after
it launched,
Wenger’s ad
was thrust
into a large social-media spotlight. Friends
started sending Wenger messages with
screenshots of strangers’ online discus-
sion threads about the ad. While some
comments were positive, she found many
shocking in their sexist tone. One Face-
book comment, for example, read, “…
I’m curious [if] people with brains find this
quote remotely plausible and if women in
particular buy this image of what a female
software engineer looks like.”2
Wenger responded to the attention with
a post on Medium.com, saying she wasn’t
ready for the attention and that it was one
of her biggest nightmares. She said the ad
wasn’t trying to label how female engineers
are supposed to look. She wrote, “This is
literally just me,” and “This illustrates one
of the industry’s deep underlying issues.”
She asked readers who wanted to raise
awareness of tech-industry diversity and
don’t “fit the ‘cookie-cutter mold’ of what
people believe engineers ‘should look
like,’” to take part in the hashtag campaign
#ILookLikeAnEngineer.3
After the hashtag campaign launched
in August, it received more than 75,000
tweets from 50 countries by month’s end.
The attention inspired Wenger to create
Ilooklikeanengineer.com, a location-based
app that allows people to continue sharing
their stories about diversity issues in the
tech industry.4
Wenger’s movement suc-
cessfully deflected the attention away from
her and onto a serious problem that affects
many industries and cultures.
Who told you to ask that?
A 2013 Yale study showed scientists are
likely to view young male scientists more
favorably than they do a woman with the
same qualifications.5
Wenger’s post on Me-
dium.com also addressed disrespect and
harassment she’d received in workplaces
where men greatly outnumber women.
She described having dollar bills thrown at
her in the office and other inappropriate
behaviors she believes showed the tech
industry’s “lack of empathy and insight”
about how uncomfortable its atmosphere
can make women feel.6
Emily Calandrelli, host of the FOX
network’s “Xploration Outer Space,” holds
a master’s degree in aeronautics and
astronautics,
technology and
policy from the
Massachusetts
Institute of
Technology
(MIT). She said
she also has
received com-
ments from people who said she doesn’t
look like she went to MIT, and Calandrelli
said she sometimes feels dismissed by the
experts she interviews. While interviewing
an engineer who worked for an organiza-
tion developing a spacecraft, she asked
about the type of propulsion his team used
and the challenges it had in the craft’s de-
sign. He asked Calandrelli, “Did one of my
guys tell you to ask that?”7
Diversity matters
Whether an organization realizes it, a work-
force lacking gender diversity is affecting
the organization’s bottom line and product
quality. Studies show gender-balanced
teams are the most likely to experiment,
share knowledge, be creative and fulfill
WENGER
CALANDRELLI
October 2015 • QP 11
NT
NAME: Milton Krivokuca.
RESIDENCE: Irvine, CA.
EDUCATION: Doctorate in business administration from California Coast University in
Santa Ana.
INTRODUCTION TO QUALITY: For many years, Krivokuca held several
positions at a manufacturing company. Quality was frequently ad-
dressed, but Krivokuca didn’t completely understand the traditional
manufacturing inspection and test procedures that were required. That
changed when he became a quality manager at a regional service site.
The objective for the year was to achieve ISO 9002 certification at this
facility. This was the company’s first application of the standard. Read-
ing and studying the standard stimulated Krivokuca to join ASQ, study
W. Edwards Deming, and advance his knowledge of quality through
higher education and the ASQ certifications. He now holds nine certifications.
CURRENT JOB: President of Milton Krivokuca & Associates. Teaches quality classes at
several universities and does specialized training for organizations.
PREVIOUS JOBS: For several years, Krivokuca chaired the master’s of science program in
quality assurance at California State University in Dominguez Hills.
ASQ ACTIVITIES: Immediate past chair of ASQ’s Quality Management Division. Served two
years on the Performance Awards and Recognition development committee. Serves as
university liaison for ASQ’s Los Angeles Section.
OTHER ACTIVITIES: Last year, he was elected president of the Measurement Science
Conference LLC, a non-profit group that provides measurement science training.
PUBLICATIONS: Contributing author to the Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational
Excellence Handbook, fourth edition (ASQ Quality Press, 2013). Helped develop ASQ cur-
riculum for the new certified quality technician training model. Authored various articles
published in the Hong Kong Journal of Quality and Quality Management Forum, ASQ’s
Quality Management Division’s quarterly publication.
RECENT HONORS: Elected to ASQ’s 2014 class of fellows. Named California Council for
Excellence Team Judge of the Year in 2006. Recipient of Los Angeles Section’s ASQ Distin-
guished Service award in 2014. Recipient of ASQ’s Quality Management Division’s Partner
in Quality Award, which was issued to Krivokuca and California State University in 2011.
PERSONAL: Wife, Rebecca.
FAVORITE WAYS TO RELAX: Krivokuca enjoys reading about 19th century American his-
tory and visiting U.S. National Parks. He has already been to about 290 of the 405 sites in
the U.S. National Park system and wants to visit each one.
QUALITY QUOTE: Quality is being satisfied with everything of value to us in our personal
and professional lives.
QWho’s Who in
(continues on p. 12)
tasks. Further, teams that include women
at technical workplaces tend to lower proj-
ect costs and are more often on schedule.8
Tech companies such as Apple—with
males making up 70% of its workforce—
struggle to create diverse workplaces, and
Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged this
lack of balance as potentially hindering the
quality of any organization’s products.
“The most diverse group will produce
the best product, I firmly believe that,”
Cook said. “If you believe as we believe
that diversity leads to better products …
then you obviously put a ton of energy be-
hind diversity the same way you would put
a ton of energy behind anything else that is
truly important.”9
A 2014 Gallup study showed gender-
diverse retail organizations’ revenues were
14% higher than those with less-diverse
workplaces, and more-diverse organiza-
tions in hospitality saw 19% higher than
average quarterly net profits.10
Seeing a problem from multiple view-
points also leads to better problem solving.
A study conducted by the University of
Pennsylvania found striking differences
between men’s and women’s brains, which
may account for why men typically are
better with learning and performing single
tasks, and women are better at multitasking
and problem solving in group situations.11
Mind the gap
In the top 100 tech organizations, women
hold just 14.3% of board seats.12
Accord-
ing to the American Society for Mechani-
cal Engineers, 14% of U.S. engineers are
women, an increase from the 1980s when
they accounted for 5.8%.13
An explanation used for the gender
QP • www.qualityprogress.com12
KEEPINGCURRENT
Looking like an engineer (continued from p. 11)
disparity in tech or engineering jobs is a
lack of qualified candidates. In the United
States, however, women earn 40% of
MBAs and account for more than half of
the college graduates.14
Some may ask: “What about the
science, technology, engineering and
mathematics (STEM) degrees?” While the
number of bachelor’s degrees earned in
science and engineering grew twice as
fast as non-STEM degrees from 2009 to
2013, their gender distribution was most-
ly unchanged. In fact, the share of STEM
degrees earned by women decreased
from 2004 to 2014, with the biggest dip
seen in computer science, where women
earned less than 20% of the degrees.15
Studies have shown the unbalanced
number of STEM degrees and levels of
interest between genders could be at-
tributed to whether a culture encourages
its women to continue pursuing their
interests in those fields.
A 1999 study, for example, took a
group of University of Michigan students
with similar backgrounds and skills in
math and divided them into two groups.
One group was told men perform better
on math tests than women, and the
other group was told that despite what
they’ve heard, there’s no difference
between male and female performance.
Both groups took a math test. In the first
group, men scored 20 points higher than
the women. In the second group, men
scored just two points higher.16
Eileen Pollack, a creative writing
professor at the University of Michigan,
was told by a group of female graduate
students in Yale’s physics and astronomy
departments how they overcame the cul-
tural hurdles women can face in science
programs.
“We’re the women who don’t give a
crap,” said one of the students. When
Pollack asked what it is they don’t care
about, the students said they didn’t care
what people expected them to do or not
do, “or about men not taking you seri-
ously because you dress like a girl,” said
another student. “I figure if you’re not go-
ing to take my science seriously because
of how I look, that’s your problem.”17
—compiled by Tyler Gaskill,
contributing editor
Car buyer satisfaction is down for a third
straight year as prices rise and recalls
continue, according to new data from the
American Customer Satisfaction Index
(ACSI).
Customer satisfaction with automo-
biles fell 3.7% to 79 on ACSI’s 100-point
scale.
“While it is true that all cars are now
much better than they were 10 to 20
years ago, it is alarming that so many of
them have quality problems,” said Claes
Fornell, ACSI’s chairman and founder.
“The number of recalls is at an all-
time high. This should not happen with
modern manufacturing technology and
has negative consequences for driver
safety, costs and customer satisfaction,”
Fornell said.
Car owners report a 40% increase in
recalls compared to the second quarter
of 2014. This, along with rising prices,
seems to be damaging driver satisfac-
tion. While quality problems abound,
rising prices also are contributing to the
decline in buyer satisfaction.
As the economy improves, consumers
are replacing older cars and sales are up,
but so are prices, according to the ACSI
group.
For more information about the
latest findings, visit http://tinyurl.com/
auto-customer-sat.
AUTOMOTIVE
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WEAKENS AS RECALLS CONTINUE
REFERENCES
1.	Chip Epps, “We Are OneLogin,” Aug. 14, 2015, www.
onelogin.com/blog/we-are-onelogin.
2.	Isis Anchalee Wenger, “You May Have Seen My Face
on BART,” Medium.com, http://tinyurl.com/
isiswengeronbart.
3.	Ibid.
4.	Isis Wenger, “Why I Had to Invent #ILookLikeAnEn-
gineer to Challenge Tech Stereotypes,” Washington
Post, Aug. 20, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/
whyihadtoinvent.
5.	Eileen Pollack, “Why Are There Still so Few Women in
Science?” New York Times, Oct. 3, 2013, http://tinyurl.
com/whyfewwomeninscience.
6.	Wenger, “You May Have Seen My Face on BART,” see
reference 2.
7.	Susan Svrluga, “#Ilooklikeanengineer Wants to
Challenge Your Ideas About Who Can Work in Tech,”
Washington Post, Aug. 4, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/
tiredofsexismatwork.
8.	Connie Guglielmo, “It’s Not Women Who Are the
Problem in Tech Land,” Cnet.com, http://tinyurl.com/
womennottheproblem.
9.	Connie Guglielmo, “Apple’s Tim Cook Says the ‘Best
Products’ Born From Diversity,’” Cnet.com, http://
tinyurl.com/productsanddiversity.
10.	Sangeeta Bharadwaj Badal, “The Business Benefits
of Gender Diversity,” Gallup.com, Jan. 20, 2014,
http://tinyurl.com/qzufbsh.
11.	Catharine Paddock, “Brain ‘Wired Differently’ in Men
and Women,” Medicalnewstoday.com, Dec. 4, 2013,
http://tinyurl.com/wireddifferently.
12.	Guglielmo, “It’s Not Women Who Are the Problem in
Tech Land,” see reference 8.
13.	Mark Crawford, “Engineering Still Needs More
Women,” ASME.org, September 2012, http://tinyurl.
com/engineeringneedswomen.
14.	Guglielmo, “It’s Not Women Who Are the Problem
in Tech Land,” see reference 8.
15. Allie Bidwell, “More Students Earning STEM
Degrees Report Shows,” U.S. News, Jan. 27, 2015,
http://tinyurl.com/morestemstudents.
16.	Pollack, “Why Are There Still so Few Women in
Science?” see reference 5.
17.	Ibid.
October 2015 • QP 13
OBITUARY
CONDON, ASQ PAST
PRESIDENT, DIES
John E. Condon, a past ASQ president, has died.
He was 87.
Condon was presi-
dent of the organiza-
tion from 1989-1990.
He first joined ASQ
in 1956 and received
many honors along
the way, including the
ASQ Distinguished
Service Medal in 2001
and the ASQ Edwards
Medal in 1984. He
was also named an ASQ fellow.
Condon began his professional career in 1953
as a statistician in the quality control office of the
U.S. Army Material Command at Wright-Patterson
Air Force Base in Dayton, OH. In 1962, he joined
NASA in Washington, D.C., as a director in the of-
fice of reliability and quality assurance.
Ten years later, Condon moved to the private
sector and became corporate vice president
quality assurance at Abbott Laboratories in
Lake County, IL. He retired from Abbott in 1988,
eventually settling in Argyle, WI, where he died
in late August.
Condon is survived by his wife, Dolores,
and four children. For a full obituary, visit
http://tinyurl.com/condon-obit.
WORLD QUALITY MONTH
SOCIAL MEDIA CONTEST, OTHER
EVENTS SLATED FOR QUALITY
CELEBRATION IN NOVEMBER
Organizers of the sixth annual World
Quality Month (WQM), which will take
place in November, want to hear what
quality professionals think the future of
quality holds.
Through the #quality2030 social me-
dia contest, participants are invited to
submit on ASQ’s Facebook page what
they think the future of quality will look
like. Then, in November during WQM,
you can vote for the finalists. Prizes
include WQM-related
items such as mugs,
T-shirts and magnets.
For more informa-
tion about the contest
and the month-long
celebration, visit the special website
devoted to WQM: www.worldquality-
month.org.
There, you’ll also find a celebration
toolkit to promote awareness of the
month and a guide to planning and
promoting your own WQM activities.
The kit is available in five languages:
English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and,
new this year, Portuguese.
On the site, be sure to download a
fact sheet on quality’s return on invest-
ment and a collection of interesting
facts about quality. There are also four
new WQM videos this year—all avail-
able on YouTube and the ASQ TV portal.
Reports released
Also during WQM, ASQ will publish two
“spotlight reports” as part of its Global
State of Quality 2 Research.
The free reports will
provide in-depth insight on
supply chain key perfor-
mance indicators, and
quality and innovation. The
research will cover the pro-
cesses and performance of quality and
continuous improvement worldwide.
Other spotlight reports are expected
to be released in March. The quantita-
tive and qualitative data will follow in
May 2016 at ASQ’s World Conference on
Quality and Improvement in Milwaukee.
Visit globalstateofquality.org for
more information and to access the
report.
Mr. Pareto Head BY MIKE CROSSEN
QP • www.qualityprogress.com14
KEEPINGCURRENT
ASQNEWS
NEW CASE STUDIES ASQ’s Knowledge Center released
two new case studies. One describes how a Texas health-
care organization leveraged the Baldrige criteria to drive
improvements and eventually become a 2014 recipient of
the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Visit http://
tinyurl.com/st-davids-baldrige to read the full case study.
The other study chronicles how a popular hotel chain in
India used various Six Sigma and quality techniques to train
its employees and improve customer service. To read more,
visit http://tinyurl.com/india-hotel-case-study.
SCHOLARSHIP AWARDED Richard Lu, a
student pursuing a master’s degree in engi-
neering management at California Polytechnic
State University-Pomona, received this year’s
Richard A. Freund International Scholarship.
Lu, of Riverside, CA, was awarded the $5,000
scholarship, which is named for a past ASQ
president and supports a quality professional’s
graduate studies. In addition to Lu’s studies, he is an engineer for
the U.S. Navy’s Naval Sea Systems Command.
An organization’s mission can have
a great influence on whether busi-
ness and quality professionals decide
to work with an organization—in
particular, ones that provide training,
certification, membership or books
and publications related to quality,
continuous improvement or perfor-
mance excellence.
That was one of the key findings
from a global brand and reputation
study ASQ recently commissioned to
understand more about the needs of
business professionals and quality
professionals, how they choose to
partner with organizations such as
ASQ, and what ASQ must do to adapt
to the ever-changing quality land-
scape.
A total of 1,243 respondents from
eight markets participated in the study,
which was conducted by Interbrand,
a global brand consultant. Among the
other findings from this year’s study
were:
•	 Growth and customer service were
ranked top priorities for business
professionals—higher priorities than
profitability.
•	 ASQ already provides a strong user
experience—better than its competi-
tors.
•	 The internet is the only touchpoint
that delivers a globally consistent
number of introductions to ASQ, and
word of mouth is generally the most
effective introduction to ASQ.
The study’s findings affirmed that
there are no serious roadblocks in
terms of brand health as ASQ expands
globally. But to continue to evolve, stay
relevant and continuously improve the
customer experience, ASQ must:
•	 Leverage word of mouth through
programs to attract more members
and customers.
•	 Prioritize website improvements to
ensure visitors can find what they
are looking for easily and quickly.
•	 Emphasize ASQ’s mission and unique
value proposition to differentiate
itself from competitors.
Pat La Londe, ASQ’s incoming board
chair, recently wrote about ASQ’s mis-
sion and the study’s findings in a guest
post for ASQ’s “A View From the Q”
blog, which can be found at http://asq.
org/blog/2015/08/does-mission-matter.
ASQ JOURNAL
SPOTLIGHT
QP occasionally
highlights an open-
access article from
one of ASQ’s seven
other journals.
This month,
read “Why and
How TQM Leads
to Performance
Improvements,”
which appeared in the July edition of the
Quality Management Journal (QMJ).
Authors Javier García-Bernal and Marisa
Ramírez-Alesón describe how evidence
shows that total quality management (TQM)
improves organizational performance.
Researchers, however, disagree on why and
how such improvements occur and on who
really benefits.
The article tests hypotheses relating to
TQM adoption and the path from wealth
creation to wealth appropriation.
To access the 15-page article in PDF
format, click on the “Current Issue” link on
QMJ’s webpage at http://asq.org/pub/qmj.
From there, you also can find a link to infor-
mation about subscribing to the quarterly
publication.
RESEARCH
STUDY OFFERS ADVICE ON ASQ’S OWN
REPUTATION, BRAND EFFECTIVENESS
Healthcare Performance Excellence:
A Comparison of Baldrige Award Recipients and Competitors
Ronald C. Schulingkamp and John R. Latham
Why and How TQM Leads to Performance Improvements
Javier García-Bernal and Marisa Ramírez-Alesón
Cost-Quality Tradeoff in Healthcare: Does it Affect Patient Experience?
Sriram Venkataraman
V O L U M E 2 2 , I S S U E 3
22
3
QUALITYMANAGEMENTJOURNAL2015
www.asq.org
QualityManagement
Journal

More Related Content

Similar to She's Got the Look

William Jephcote | Human-Centred Designer | Portfolio
William Jephcote   |   Human-Centred Designer   |   PortfolioWilliam Jephcote   |   Human-Centred Designer   |   Portfolio
William Jephcote | Human-Centred Designer | PortfolioWilliamJephcote
 
FF Corporate Sponsorship
FF Corporate Sponsorship FF Corporate Sponsorship
FF Corporate Sponsorship Lily Li
 
An Overview of ProjectCSGIRLS
An Overview of ProjectCSGIRLSAn Overview of ProjectCSGIRLS
An Overview of ProjectCSGIRLSProjectCSGIRLS
 
PX is the new UX: Millennials & The Personal Experience
PX is the new UX: Millennials & The Personal ExperiencePX is the new UX: Millennials & The Personal Experience
PX is the new UX: Millennials & The Personal ExperienceKate Lawrence
 
Emerging Leaders Impact on Coaching 7-2016
Emerging Leaders Impact on Coaching 7-2016Emerging Leaders Impact on Coaching 7-2016
Emerging Leaders Impact on Coaching 7-2016Gail V Ferreira
 
AIChE 9-2014 CEP Magazine Gina Miller Article
AIChE 9-2014 CEP Magazine Gina Miller ArticleAIChE 9-2014 CEP Magazine Gina Miller Article
AIChE 9-2014 CEP Magazine Gina Miller ArticleGina Miller
 
Class number 1: Anyscreen Storytelling
Class number 1: Anyscreen StorytellingClass number 1: Anyscreen Storytelling
Class number 1: Anyscreen Storytellingbrookeshepard
 
Equality and Technology_Gregory
Equality and Technology_GregoryEquality and Technology_Gregory
Equality and Technology_Gregorykarengregory2000
 
Designing for Diversity in Design Orgs (Presentation)
Designing for Diversity in Design Orgs (Presentation)Designing for Diversity in Design Orgs (Presentation)
Designing for Diversity in Design Orgs (Presentation)Eli Silva
 
SPLC 2018 Summit: Leveraging Procurement for Social Impact: Two Case Studies
SPLC 2018 Summit: Leveraging Procurement for Social Impact: Two Case StudiesSPLC 2018 Summit: Leveraging Procurement for Social Impact: Two Case Studies
SPLC 2018 Summit: Leveraging Procurement for Social Impact: Two Case StudiesSPLCouncil
 
Why Product Managers Must Relearn Their Customers
Why Product Managers Must Relearn Their CustomersWhy Product Managers Must Relearn Their Customers
Why Product Managers Must Relearn Their CustomersAggregage
 
From Digital Literacy to Digital Fluency
From Digital Literacy to Digital FluencyFrom Digital Literacy to Digital Fluency
From Digital Literacy to Digital FluencyDavid Cain
 
Compare Contrast Essay Outline Example
Compare Contrast Essay Outline ExampleCompare Contrast Essay Outline Example
Compare Contrast Essay Outline ExampleNichole Doran
 
Compare Contrast Essay Outline Example.pdf
Compare Contrast Essay Outline Example.pdfCompare Contrast Essay Outline Example.pdf
Compare Contrast Essay Outline Example.pdfAnna May
 
Epp class1 2015 2016 women in engineering
Epp class1 2015 2016 women in engineeringEpp class1 2015 2016 women in engineering
Epp class1 2015 2016 women in engineeringjeanphilippeguy
 
This discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners. They will ...
This discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners. They will ...This discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners. They will ...
This discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners. They will ...alanwylie
 
Women in Technology: Bridging the Gender Gap
Women in Technology: Bridging the Gender GapWomen in Technology: Bridging the Gender Gap
Women in Technology: Bridging the Gender GapRebecca Ralston
 
Bentley White Paper_01 27 14 - FINAL
Bentley White Paper_01 27 14 - FINALBentley White Paper_01 27 14 - FINAL
Bentley White Paper_01 27 14 - FINALBradley Honan
 

Similar to She's Got the Look (20)

William Jephcote | Human-Centred Designer | Portfolio
William Jephcote   |   Human-Centred Designer   |   PortfolioWilliam Jephcote   |   Human-Centred Designer   |   Portfolio
William Jephcote | Human-Centred Designer | Portfolio
 
FF Corporate Sponsorship
FF Corporate Sponsorship FF Corporate Sponsorship
FF Corporate Sponsorship
 
An Overview of ProjectCSGIRLS
An Overview of ProjectCSGIRLSAn Overview of ProjectCSGIRLS
An Overview of ProjectCSGIRLS
 
PX is the new UX: Millennials & The Personal Experience
PX is the new UX: Millennials & The Personal ExperiencePX is the new UX: Millennials & The Personal Experience
PX is the new UX: Millennials & The Personal Experience
 
Emerging Leaders Impact on Coaching 7-2016
Emerging Leaders Impact on Coaching 7-2016Emerging Leaders Impact on Coaching 7-2016
Emerging Leaders Impact on Coaching 7-2016
 
AIChE 9-2014 CEP Magazine Gina Miller Article
AIChE 9-2014 CEP Magazine Gina Miller ArticleAIChE 9-2014 CEP Magazine Gina Miller Article
AIChE 9-2014 CEP Magazine Gina Miller Article
 
Class number 1: Anyscreen Storytelling
Class number 1: Anyscreen StorytellingClass number 1: Anyscreen Storytelling
Class number 1: Anyscreen Storytelling
 
Nace12 humphrey
Nace12 humphreyNace12 humphrey
Nace12 humphrey
 
Equality and Technology_Gregory
Equality and Technology_GregoryEquality and Technology_Gregory
Equality and Technology_Gregory
 
Industry Futures. Presentation to ISSIP Education and Service SIG
Industry Futures. Presentation to ISSIP Education and Service SIGIndustry Futures. Presentation to ISSIP Education and Service SIG
Industry Futures. Presentation to ISSIP Education and Service SIG
 
Designing for Diversity in Design Orgs (Presentation)
Designing for Diversity in Design Orgs (Presentation)Designing for Diversity in Design Orgs (Presentation)
Designing for Diversity in Design Orgs (Presentation)
 
SPLC 2018 Summit: Leveraging Procurement for Social Impact: Two Case Studies
SPLC 2018 Summit: Leveraging Procurement for Social Impact: Two Case StudiesSPLC 2018 Summit: Leveraging Procurement for Social Impact: Two Case Studies
SPLC 2018 Summit: Leveraging Procurement for Social Impact: Two Case Studies
 
Why Product Managers Must Relearn Their Customers
Why Product Managers Must Relearn Their CustomersWhy Product Managers Must Relearn Their Customers
Why Product Managers Must Relearn Their Customers
 
From Digital Literacy to Digital Fluency
From Digital Literacy to Digital FluencyFrom Digital Literacy to Digital Fluency
From Digital Literacy to Digital Fluency
 
Compare Contrast Essay Outline Example
Compare Contrast Essay Outline ExampleCompare Contrast Essay Outline Example
Compare Contrast Essay Outline Example
 
Compare Contrast Essay Outline Example.pdf
Compare Contrast Essay Outline Example.pdfCompare Contrast Essay Outline Example.pdf
Compare Contrast Essay Outline Example.pdf
 
Epp class1 2015 2016 women in engineering
Epp class1 2015 2016 women in engineeringEpp class1 2015 2016 women in engineering
Epp class1 2015 2016 women in engineering
 
This discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners. They will ...
This discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners. They will ...This discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners. They will ...
This discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners. They will ...
 
Women in Technology: Bridging the Gender Gap
Women in Technology: Bridging the Gender GapWomen in Technology: Bridging the Gender Gap
Women in Technology: Bridging the Gender Gap
 
Bentley White Paper_01 27 14 - FINAL
Bentley White Paper_01 27 14 - FINALBentley White Paper_01 27 14 - FINAL
Bentley White Paper_01 27 14 - FINAL
 

She's Got the Look

  • 1. W QP • www.qualityprogress.com10 ENGINEERING She’s Got the Look Social media campaign challenges engineer stereotypes KEEPINGCURRE When you hear the word “engineer,” what comes to mind? Someone holding a hard hat with blueprints tucked under an arm? Don’t forget the pencil behind one ear. Is the person male with a jawline akin to the square ruler he’s holding, too? Despite most people’s abilities to quickly recognize these visuals as blatant (and sexist) generalizations of who should or shouldn’t be an engineer or tech worker, an underlying gender issue continues to plague these industries. A recent social media movement, #ILookLikeAnEngineer, is helping to address this issue globally. OneLogin—a developer of a single sign- on and identity management service— created a recruiting campaign for its San Francisco-based office. Using pictures of real OneLogin engineers accompanied by their stories of working at the organization, it placed ads in the city’s Bay Area Rapid Transit stations.1 Isis Anchalee Wenger, a OneLogin en- gineer, was one of the employees included in the cam- paign. Shortly after it launched, Wenger’s ad was thrust into a large social-media spotlight. Friends started sending Wenger messages with screenshots of strangers’ online discus- sion threads about the ad. While some comments were positive, she found many shocking in their sexist tone. One Face- book comment, for example, read, “… I’m curious [if] people with brains find this quote remotely plausible and if women in particular buy this image of what a female software engineer looks like.”2 Wenger responded to the attention with a post on Medium.com, saying she wasn’t ready for the attention and that it was one of her biggest nightmares. She said the ad wasn’t trying to label how female engineers are supposed to look. She wrote, “This is literally just me,” and “This illustrates one of the industry’s deep underlying issues.” She asked readers who wanted to raise awareness of tech-industry diversity and don’t “fit the ‘cookie-cutter mold’ of what people believe engineers ‘should look like,’” to take part in the hashtag campaign #ILookLikeAnEngineer.3 After the hashtag campaign launched in August, it received more than 75,000 tweets from 50 countries by month’s end. The attention inspired Wenger to create Ilooklikeanengineer.com, a location-based app that allows people to continue sharing their stories about diversity issues in the tech industry.4 Wenger’s movement suc- cessfully deflected the attention away from her and onto a serious problem that affects many industries and cultures. Who told you to ask that? A 2013 Yale study showed scientists are likely to view young male scientists more favorably than they do a woman with the same qualifications.5 Wenger’s post on Me- dium.com also addressed disrespect and harassment she’d received in workplaces where men greatly outnumber women. She described having dollar bills thrown at her in the office and other inappropriate behaviors she believes showed the tech industry’s “lack of empathy and insight” about how uncomfortable its atmosphere can make women feel.6 Emily Calandrelli, host of the FOX network’s “Xploration Outer Space,” holds a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics, technology and policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She said she also has received com- ments from people who said she doesn’t look like she went to MIT, and Calandrelli said she sometimes feels dismissed by the experts she interviews. While interviewing an engineer who worked for an organiza- tion developing a spacecraft, she asked about the type of propulsion his team used and the challenges it had in the craft’s de- sign. He asked Calandrelli, “Did one of my guys tell you to ask that?”7 Diversity matters Whether an organization realizes it, a work- force lacking gender diversity is affecting the organization’s bottom line and product quality. Studies show gender-balanced teams are the most likely to experiment, share knowledge, be creative and fulfill WENGER CALANDRELLI
  • 2. October 2015 • QP 11 NT NAME: Milton Krivokuca. RESIDENCE: Irvine, CA. EDUCATION: Doctorate in business administration from California Coast University in Santa Ana. INTRODUCTION TO QUALITY: For many years, Krivokuca held several positions at a manufacturing company. Quality was frequently ad- dressed, but Krivokuca didn’t completely understand the traditional manufacturing inspection and test procedures that were required. That changed when he became a quality manager at a regional service site. The objective for the year was to achieve ISO 9002 certification at this facility. This was the company’s first application of the standard. Read- ing and studying the standard stimulated Krivokuca to join ASQ, study W. Edwards Deming, and advance his knowledge of quality through higher education and the ASQ certifications. He now holds nine certifications. CURRENT JOB: President of Milton Krivokuca & Associates. Teaches quality classes at several universities and does specialized training for organizations. PREVIOUS JOBS: For several years, Krivokuca chaired the master’s of science program in quality assurance at California State University in Dominguez Hills. ASQ ACTIVITIES: Immediate past chair of ASQ’s Quality Management Division. Served two years on the Performance Awards and Recognition development committee. Serves as university liaison for ASQ’s Los Angeles Section. OTHER ACTIVITIES: Last year, he was elected president of the Measurement Science Conference LLC, a non-profit group that provides measurement science training. PUBLICATIONS: Contributing author to the Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence Handbook, fourth edition (ASQ Quality Press, 2013). Helped develop ASQ cur- riculum for the new certified quality technician training model. Authored various articles published in the Hong Kong Journal of Quality and Quality Management Forum, ASQ’s Quality Management Division’s quarterly publication. RECENT HONORS: Elected to ASQ’s 2014 class of fellows. Named California Council for Excellence Team Judge of the Year in 2006. Recipient of Los Angeles Section’s ASQ Distin- guished Service award in 2014. Recipient of ASQ’s Quality Management Division’s Partner in Quality Award, which was issued to Krivokuca and California State University in 2011. PERSONAL: Wife, Rebecca. FAVORITE WAYS TO RELAX: Krivokuca enjoys reading about 19th century American his- tory and visiting U.S. National Parks. He has already been to about 290 of the 405 sites in the U.S. National Park system and wants to visit each one. QUALITY QUOTE: Quality is being satisfied with everything of value to us in our personal and professional lives. QWho’s Who in (continues on p. 12) tasks. Further, teams that include women at technical workplaces tend to lower proj- ect costs and are more often on schedule.8 Tech companies such as Apple—with males making up 70% of its workforce— struggle to create diverse workplaces, and Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged this lack of balance as potentially hindering the quality of any organization’s products. “The most diverse group will produce the best product, I firmly believe that,” Cook said. “If you believe as we believe that diversity leads to better products … then you obviously put a ton of energy be- hind diversity the same way you would put a ton of energy behind anything else that is truly important.”9 A 2014 Gallup study showed gender- diverse retail organizations’ revenues were 14% higher than those with less-diverse workplaces, and more-diverse organiza- tions in hospitality saw 19% higher than average quarterly net profits.10 Seeing a problem from multiple view- points also leads to better problem solving. A study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania found striking differences between men’s and women’s brains, which may account for why men typically are better with learning and performing single tasks, and women are better at multitasking and problem solving in group situations.11 Mind the gap In the top 100 tech organizations, women hold just 14.3% of board seats.12 Accord- ing to the American Society for Mechani- cal Engineers, 14% of U.S. engineers are women, an increase from the 1980s when they accounted for 5.8%.13 An explanation used for the gender
  • 3. QP • www.qualityprogress.com12 KEEPINGCURRENT Looking like an engineer (continued from p. 11) disparity in tech or engineering jobs is a lack of qualified candidates. In the United States, however, women earn 40% of MBAs and account for more than half of the college graduates.14 Some may ask: “What about the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees?” While the number of bachelor’s degrees earned in science and engineering grew twice as fast as non-STEM degrees from 2009 to 2013, their gender distribution was most- ly unchanged. In fact, the share of STEM degrees earned by women decreased from 2004 to 2014, with the biggest dip seen in computer science, where women earned less than 20% of the degrees.15 Studies have shown the unbalanced number of STEM degrees and levels of interest between genders could be at- tributed to whether a culture encourages its women to continue pursuing their interests in those fields. A 1999 study, for example, took a group of University of Michigan students with similar backgrounds and skills in math and divided them into two groups. One group was told men perform better on math tests than women, and the other group was told that despite what they’ve heard, there’s no difference between male and female performance. Both groups took a math test. In the first group, men scored 20 points higher than the women. In the second group, men scored just two points higher.16 Eileen Pollack, a creative writing professor at the University of Michigan, was told by a group of female graduate students in Yale’s physics and astronomy departments how they overcame the cul- tural hurdles women can face in science programs. “We’re the women who don’t give a crap,” said one of the students. When Pollack asked what it is they don’t care about, the students said they didn’t care what people expected them to do or not do, “or about men not taking you seri- ously because you dress like a girl,” said another student. “I figure if you’re not go- ing to take my science seriously because of how I look, that’s your problem.”17 —compiled by Tyler Gaskill, contributing editor Car buyer satisfaction is down for a third straight year as prices rise and recalls continue, according to new data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Customer satisfaction with automo- biles fell 3.7% to 79 on ACSI’s 100-point scale. “While it is true that all cars are now much better than they were 10 to 20 years ago, it is alarming that so many of them have quality problems,” said Claes Fornell, ACSI’s chairman and founder. “The number of recalls is at an all- time high. This should not happen with modern manufacturing technology and has negative consequences for driver safety, costs and customer satisfaction,” Fornell said. Car owners report a 40% increase in recalls compared to the second quarter of 2014. This, along with rising prices, seems to be damaging driver satisfac- tion. While quality problems abound, rising prices also are contributing to the decline in buyer satisfaction. As the economy improves, consumers are replacing older cars and sales are up, but so are prices, according to the ACSI group. For more information about the latest findings, visit http://tinyurl.com/ auto-customer-sat. AUTOMOTIVE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WEAKENS AS RECALLS CONTINUE REFERENCES 1. Chip Epps, “We Are OneLogin,” Aug. 14, 2015, www. onelogin.com/blog/we-are-onelogin. 2. Isis Anchalee Wenger, “You May Have Seen My Face on BART,” Medium.com, http://tinyurl.com/ isiswengeronbart. 3. Ibid. 4. Isis Wenger, “Why I Had to Invent #ILookLikeAnEn- gineer to Challenge Tech Stereotypes,” Washington Post, Aug. 20, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/ whyihadtoinvent. 5. Eileen Pollack, “Why Are There Still so Few Women in Science?” New York Times, Oct. 3, 2013, http://tinyurl. com/whyfewwomeninscience. 6. Wenger, “You May Have Seen My Face on BART,” see reference 2. 7. Susan Svrluga, “#Ilooklikeanengineer Wants to Challenge Your Ideas About Who Can Work in Tech,” Washington Post, Aug. 4, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/ tiredofsexismatwork. 8. Connie Guglielmo, “It’s Not Women Who Are the Problem in Tech Land,” Cnet.com, http://tinyurl.com/ womennottheproblem. 9. Connie Guglielmo, “Apple’s Tim Cook Says the ‘Best Products’ Born From Diversity,’” Cnet.com, http:// tinyurl.com/productsanddiversity. 10. Sangeeta Bharadwaj Badal, “The Business Benefits of Gender Diversity,” Gallup.com, Jan. 20, 2014, http://tinyurl.com/qzufbsh. 11. Catharine Paddock, “Brain ‘Wired Differently’ in Men and Women,” Medicalnewstoday.com, Dec. 4, 2013, http://tinyurl.com/wireddifferently. 12. Guglielmo, “It’s Not Women Who Are the Problem in Tech Land,” see reference 8. 13. Mark Crawford, “Engineering Still Needs More Women,” ASME.org, September 2012, http://tinyurl. com/engineeringneedswomen. 14. Guglielmo, “It’s Not Women Who Are the Problem in Tech Land,” see reference 8. 15. Allie Bidwell, “More Students Earning STEM Degrees Report Shows,” U.S. News, Jan. 27, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/morestemstudents. 16. Pollack, “Why Are There Still so Few Women in Science?” see reference 5. 17. Ibid.
  • 4. October 2015 • QP 13 OBITUARY CONDON, ASQ PAST PRESIDENT, DIES John E. Condon, a past ASQ president, has died. He was 87. Condon was presi- dent of the organiza- tion from 1989-1990. He first joined ASQ in 1956 and received many honors along the way, including the ASQ Distinguished Service Medal in 2001 and the ASQ Edwards Medal in 1984. He was also named an ASQ fellow. Condon began his professional career in 1953 as a statistician in the quality control office of the U.S. Army Material Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH. In 1962, he joined NASA in Washington, D.C., as a director in the of- fice of reliability and quality assurance. Ten years later, Condon moved to the private sector and became corporate vice president quality assurance at Abbott Laboratories in Lake County, IL. He retired from Abbott in 1988, eventually settling in Argyle, WI, where he died in late August. Condon is survived by his wife, Dolores, and four children. For a full obituary, visit http://tinyurl.com/condon-obit. WORLD QUALITY MONTH SOCIAL MEDIA CONTEST, OTHER EVENTS SLATED FOR QUALITY CELEBRATION IN NOVEMBER Organizers of the sixth annual World Quality Month (WQM), which will take place in November, want to hear what quality professionals think the future of quality holds. Through the #quality2030 social me- dia contest, participants are invited to submit on ASQ’s Facebook page what they think the future of quality will look like. Then, in November during WQM, you can vote for the finalists. Prizes include WQM-related items such as mugs, T-shirts and magnets. For more informa- tion about the contest and the month-long celebration, visit the special website devoted to WQM: www.worldquality- month.org. There, you’ll also find a celebration toolkit to promote awareness of the month and a guide to planning and promoting your own WQM activities. The kit is available in five languages: English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and, new this year, Portuguese. On the site, be sure to download a fact sheet on quality’s return on invest- ment and a collection of interesting facts about quality. There are also four new WQM videos this year—all avail- able on YouTube and the ASQ TV portal. Reports released Also during WQM, ASQ will publish two “spotlight reports” as part of its Global State of Quality 2 Research. The free reports will provide in-depth insight on supply chain key perfor- mance indicators, and quality and innovation. The research will cover the pro- cesses and performance of quality and continuous improvement worldwide. Other spotlight reports are expected to be released in March. The quantita- tive and qualitative data will follow in May 2016 at ASQ’s World Conference on Quality and Improvement in Milwaukee. Visit globalstateofquality.org for more information and to access the report. Mr. Pareto Head BY MIKE CROSSEN
  • 5. QP • www.qualityprogress.com14 KEEPINGCURRENT ASQNEWS NEW CASE STUDIES ASQ’s Knowledge Center released two new case studies. One describes how a Texas health- care organization leveraged the Baldrige criteria to drive improvements and eventually become a 2014 recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Visit http:// tinyurl.com/st-davids-baldrige to read the full case study. The other study chronicles how a popular hotel chain in India used various Six Sigma and quality techniques to train its employees and improve customer service. To read more, visit http://tinyurl.com/india-hotel-case-study. SCHOLARSHIP AWARDED Richard Lu, a student pursuing a master’s degree in engi- neering management at California Polytechnic State University-Pomona, received this year’s Richard A. Freund International Scholarship. Lu, of Riverside, CA, was awarded the $5,000 scholarship, which is named for a past ASQ president and supports a quality professional’s graduate studies. In addition to Lu’s studies, he is an engineer for the U.S. Navy’s Naval Sea Systems Command. An organization’s mission can have a great influence on whether busi- ness and quality professionals decide to work with an organization—in particular, ones that provide training, certification, membership or books and publications related to quality, continuous improvement or perfor- mance excellence. That was one of the key findings from a global brand and reputation study ASQ recently commissioned to understand more about the needs of business professionals and quality professionals, how they choose to partner with organizations such as ASQ, and what ASQ must do to adapt to the ever-changing quality land- scape. A total of 1,243 respondents from eight markets participated in the study, which was conducted by Interbrand, a global brand consultant. Among the other findings from this year’s study were: • Growth and customer service were ranked top priorities for business professionals—higher priorities than profitability. • ASQ already provides a strong user experience—better than its competi- tors. • The internet is the only touchpoint that delivers a globally consistent number of introductions to ASQ, and word of mouth is generally the most effective introduction to ASQ. The study’s findings affirmed that there are no serious roadblocks in terms of brand health as ASQ expands globally. But to continue to evolve, stay relevant and continuously improve the customer experience, ASQ must: • Leverage word of mouth through programs to attract more members and customers. • Prioritize website improvements to ensure visitors can find what they are looking for easily and quickly. • Emphasize ASQ’s mission and unique value proposition to differentiate itself from competitors. Pat La Londe, ASQ’s incoming board chair, recently wrote about ASQ’s mis- sion and the study’s findings in a guest post for ASQ’s “A View From the Q” blog, which can be found at http://asq. org/blog/2015/08/does-mission-matter. ASQ JOURNAL SPOTLIGHT QP occasionally highlights an open- access article from one of ASQ’s seven other journals. This month, read “Why and How TQM Leads to Performance Improvements,” which appeared in the July edition of the Quality Management Journal (QMJ). Authors Javier García-Bernal and Marisa Ramírez-Alesón describe how evidence shows that total quality management (TQM) improves organizational performance. Researchers, however, disagree on why and how such improvements occur and on who really benefits. The article tests hypotheses relating to TQM adoption and the path from wealth creation to wealth appropriation. To access the 15-page article in PDF format, click on the “Current Issue” link on QMJ’s webpage at http://asq.org/pub/qmj. From there, you also can find a link to infor- mation about subscribing to the quarterly publication. RESEARCH STUDY OFFERS ADVICE ON ASQ’S OWN REPUTATION, BRAND EFFECTIVENESS Healthcare Performance Excellence: A Comparison of Baldrige Award Recipients and Competitors Ronald C. Schulingkamp and John R. Latham Why and How TQM Leads to Performance Improvements Javier García-Bernal and Marisa Ramírez-Alesón Cost-Quality Tradeoff in Healthcare: Does it Affect Patient Experience? Sriram Venkataraman V O L U M E 2 2 , I S S U E 3 22 3 QUALITYMANAGEMENTJOURNAL2015 www.asq.org QualityManagement Journal