Psychologists Find Diversity Programs Give Illusion of Corporate Fairness

[HereSince1628]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130403121940.htm

Diversity training programs lead people to believe that work environments are fair even when given evidence of hiring, promotion or salary inequities, according to new findings by psychologists at the University of Washington and other universities.

The study also revealed that participants, all of whom were white, were less likely to take discrimination complaints seriously against companies who had diversity programs.

Workplace diversity programs are usually developed by human resource departments to foster a more inclusive environment for employees, but aren't typically tested for their effectiveness. Nonetheless, their existence has been used in courtrooms as evidence that companies treat employees fairly.

"Our fear is that companies may prematurely stop thinking about diversity among their workers because they've credentialed themselves with these programs," said Cheryl Kaiser, lead author and a UW associate professor of psychology. "Our findings suggest that diversity programs can be window dressing -- even those that do very little to increase diversity may still be perceived as effective."

Many diversity programs seem rational, she said. "By their design and goals, we're inclined to assume they would be successful. The catch is that since very few are tested for efficacy, these rational assumptions may not actually map onto the reality."

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[Newest Reality]

1. All corporate

fairness is an illusion.

The only reality is profit. Nothing trumps that. Not life, the planet or anything else.

[HereSince1628]

2. It's interesting that the interpretation was also made by judges hearing cases

as well as employees about their work environment.

This willing acceptance of illusion could be a difficult problem to overcome during a lawsuit.

[IrishAyes]

3. Old White Men

A friend showed me the website of her alma mater, promoting some big diversity workshop for the students. Now this is a school with a fair amount of minority students and faculty, but every last one of the 14 faculty in charge of presentation were middle-aged to older white men in dark suits with white shirts and conservative ties and pretty much buzz cuts. They looked like peas in a pod. Yet they saw no problem in lecturing others on diversity.

Made me sick.