Engaging Diversity for Organizational Transformation

1
Engaging Diversity for Organizational
Transformation
2
Approach

• Unique Approach to Diversity Education Dialogue
  Talk Together
• Share the Problems/Burdens/Solutions
• We have to co-construct new relationships
• Race, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Religion,
  Class, Ability
• Engage in Diversity Education
• Fun, Intense, Emotion, Challenging, Rewarding
• Mostly learning about self, not the other
  enhancing capacity to better relate to others

3
Understanding American/Earth Identity through
Alien Eyes

• What would aliens think about how we do social
  identity and intergroup relations? What would
  they discover?
• Gender, Race, Sexual Orientation, Religion, Age,
  Class
• Third Rock from the Sun

4
Theoretical Overview, Rationale, Methodology

• Intergroup Dialogue University of Michigan
• can be broadly defined as a face-to-face
  facilitated learning experience that brings
  together people from different social identity
  groups over a sustained period of time to
  understand their commonalities and differences,
  examine the nature and impact of societal
  inequalities, and explore ways of working
  together toward greater equality and justice.
• Transformational Social Therapy
• Created by Charles Rojzman over the past twenty
  years as method of engagement to transform both
  individuals and institutions for improved
  coexistence and cooperation. TST utilizing group
  psychodynamics to assist participants in
  developing the capacity to change
  socio-institutional practices to achieve a
  profound transformation of ways of living and
  working with others.
• Goal Multicultural Competency

5
Theoretical Overview, Rationale, Methodology

• Intergroup Dialogue
• The goals of IGD include the development of a
  consciousness about social identity and social
  group differences by examining individual and
  group identities, behaviors and power
  relationships and forge connections across
  differences and conflicts by building caring and
  reciprocal relationships where participants can
  learn to listen and speak openly, engage with
  one another seriously, take risks, explore
  differences and conflicts, and discover common
  ground as well as build coalitions for social
  action.
• Unlike feel-good types of cross-group encounters
  that attempt to promote understanding by
  avoiding, masking, or overcoming conflicts,
  intergroup dialogue recognizes that communicating
  about and, if possible, working through conflict
  are both positive and necessary parts of the
  intergroup encounter. Such disagreements and
  conflicts can become valuable opportunities for
  participants to engage in significant
  conversations about different perspectives and
  tensions shaping relationships.

6
Theoretical Overview, Rationale, Methodology

• Transformational Social Therapy Charles Rojzman
• TST involves the harmonization of motivations,
  where participants are required to express the
  negative in order to bring out information we
  need to know about real needs and suffering of
  participants in order to know what is required to
  motivate people to change
• Rojzman argues that We cant change people, but
  people will change if they are motivated to do
  so. Rojzman says that TST is not about changing
  people or relations, but to raise awareness of
  the lack of trust, fears and prejudices, so that
  people will become willing to change themselves
  in ways they themselves determine.
• For Rojzman, peace can only come about when
  groups move from violence to conflict. For him,
  conflict is a natural, normal part of life
  because of the diversity of experiences,
  thoughts, practices and ideas. People are violent
  when conflicts are not able to express themselves
  in a peaceful manner. He argues that in order to
  avoid violence, we should stop avoiding conflict.
  In practical terms and in terms of practice, this
  means creating encounters between people where
  there are no paranoid fantasies about others.

7
Multicultural Competency
the awareness, knowledge and skills needed to
work and live with others who are culturally
different from self in meaningful, relevant, and
productive ways
8
Awareness

• A belief that differences are valuable and that
  learning about others who are culturally
  different is necessary and rewarding
• A willingness to self-examine and, when
  necessary, challenge and change their own values,
  worldview, assumptions, and biases

9
Knowledge

• Knowledge of diverse cultures and oppressed
  groups (i.e., history, traditions, values,
  customs, resources, issues)
• Knowledge about how gender, class, race,
  ethnicity, language, nationality, sexual
  orientation, age, religion or spirituality, and
  disability and ability affect individuals and
  their experiences

10
Skills

• Ability to identify and openly discuss cultural
  differences and issues
• Ability to assess the impact of cultural
  differences on communication and effectively
  communicate across those differences
• Ability to gain the trust and respect of
  individuals who are culturally different from
  themselves

11
Dimension of Identity
12
Multicultural Self-Assessment

• Identify Groups/Issues
• Excel
• Limitations/Significant Areas for Growth
• Gender, Race, Sexual Orientation, Religion, Age,
  Class
• Share Results with Partner
• What did you learn? Self or Other

13
Learning from the Aliens - Again
14
Engaging Diversity Gallery Walk

• Examination of Multicultural Incompetency and
  Bias
• Please identify an incident that you participated
  in, observed or were the victim of someones
  actions, behaviors or judgments that reflected
  discriminatory or bias behavior against you, a
  colleague/employee or customer/client. (Ex.
  During the discussion of a candidate we were
  considering hiring, one of the managers
  questioned a womens marital status.)

15
Engaging Diversity Gallery Walk

• Examination of Multicultural Incompetency and
  Bias
• Place Responses on Wall
• Read the Responses - Silence
• Dialogue
• What surprised you?
• How did it feel to read the comments?
• Admission of Guilt Perpetrators?
• Revealing of Pain Victims?
• Commentary of Organization and Leaders?

16
Engaging Diversity Gallery Walk

• The males of the organization in leadership
  positions receive the title of officer of the
  company as well as the title of VP and 25,000
  bonuses while females do not get either
• While being introduced by a Senior VP at my
  organization, I was referred to as a real smart
  cookie. Would the same description have been
  asked if I were male?
• During an interview the hiring manager assumed
  the applicant had an accent and wanted his
  authorization to work in the U.S. without
  sponsorship being checked simply because he had
  an Hispanic name before he even spoke to him
• I was giving an employee a performance review and
  he was not happy with the amount of his
  compensation increase. He told me not to Jew him
  down, which is a term I had actually never heard
  before.
• A candidates age was discussed on whether he
  should be hired because of it.

17
Value of Dialogue for Value of Dialogue for
Individual and Organizational Transformation

• Confront Conflict/Focus on Problems
• Solving Problems
• Organizational Assessment - Collective
  Intelligence
• Diminishing Tension/Conflicts
• Building Community
• Facilitating Professional Development/Healing
• Increasing Success Numbers, Money, etc

18
Power of Dialogue

• How do you build community in your organizations?
  
• How do you address issues related to social
  identity?
• How could dialogue enhance your work environment?

19
Educational Programs and Contact

• www.temple.edu/ideal/sss
• Engaging Diversity, Keeping It Real Introduction
  to Intergroup Dialogue May 20 8am-5pm - 50
• Graduate Certificate in Diversity Leadership 12
  Credits, 4 Courses
• tchet_at_temple.edu - 215-204-5509