How Personality Relates to Attitudes Toward Diversity and Workplace Diversity Initiatives

The present research examined how the Big Five traits Openness to Experience and Agreeableness predicted general attitudes toward diversity (Study 1) and receptivity to concrete diversity initiatives in the workplace (Study 2). Study 1 found that Openness to Experience positively predicted universal diverse orientation, but not pro-diversity belief or sensitivity to diversity. Agreeableness positively predicted universal diverse orientation and pro-diversity belief. In Study 2, Openness to Experience positively predicted universal diverse orientation, but not support for workplace diversity initiatives. Agreeableness positively predicted universal diverse orientation and support for both existing and potential workplace diversity initiatives. We also showed that universal diverse orientation mediated the links between personality and support for workplace diversity initiatives. We discuss how these findings can shed more light on the types of individuals who are more likely to endorse diversity and inclusion, which can subsequently inform more effective implementation and communication of diversity initiatives.

The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House: The Role of Diversity in Anti-Racist Education

Diversity is a strange fruit that requires critical analysis to understand its meaning, value and impact on education. Depending on the era, diversity has been defined in a number of different ways and has a variety of meanings across a range of contexts. The lack of shared meaning and understanding of diversity and who controls the diversity narrative have significant implications for the development of anti-racist pedagogy in gerontological education. This presentation will discuss the history and evolution of the “diversity discourse” and how mainstream notions of diversity impact diversity initiatives, curriculum design and anti-racist pedagogy. Strategies for engaging in an historical analysis of diversity and how this process relates to the design, leadership and ownership of anti-racist curriculum will be discussed, as well as the role of gerontology in leading these efforts.

Avoiding Backlash or Proving One’s Manhood? Beliefs About Gender Differences in Negotiation

Gender differences in negotiation are typically explained by processes that concern women (e.g., women anticipate backlash for assertive behavior). Research has begun to suggest that processes that concern men (e.g., men want to be seen as “real” men) also help to explain gender differences. However, these 2 approaches typically remain disconnected. Thus, we examined both types of processes in 3 studies examining people’s beliefs about the causes of gender differences in negotiation (total N = 931). Our studies showed that people endorsed to a similar, and sometimes even greater, extent processes that concern men as underlying gender differences in negotiation. Moreover, people’s beliefs about the causes of gender differences in negotiation were related to perceptions of the effectiveness of different diversity initiatives (i.e., interventions to reduce inequities) and willingness to support them.

Producing (Musical) Difference: Power, Practices and Inequalities in Diversity Initiatives in Germany’s Classical Music Sector

This article examines whether diversity debates in the Western cultural industries can contribute to the undoing of racialised representations of otherness or reproduce ‘race’-making logics. Based on a year-long ethnography of diversity efforts made at an opera house in Germany, I explore how difference is negotiated in the production of two opera pieces meant to bring together Western and Turkish musical practices. I specifically examine how power relations around ‘race’ and ethnicity play out in processes of commissioning, composing and rehearsal. Situating these creative practices within classical music’s institutional histories and wider discourses of citizenship and belonging in Germany, I examine to what extent racialised representations of difference are challenged or remade. I document how diversity initiatives in the cultural industries, even when aimed at institutional change, proceed within hierarchical parameters that can perpetuate the marginalisation of racialised others, their continued construction as otherness, and the persistence of institutional whiteness.

WinSETT - Creating a Centre for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Dr. Margaret-Ann Armour was a foundational builder of equity, diversity, and inclusion in Canada. This article describes her vision and leadership in creating the Canadian Centre for Women in Science, Engineering, Trades, and Technology (WinSETT Centre, www.winsett.ca) to generate and sustain national conversations and diversity initiatives. We outline the activities associated with these phases — beginning the diversity initiative, building on success, creating capacity, and launching a national centre — to demonstrate how this change effort has evolved. The comprehensive work since 2003 illustrates the focus, tenacity, and institutional entrepreneurship of Dr. Armour to ‘move the dial’ for diversity and inclusion in Canada. She was a pioneer in social entrepreneurship, creating the organizations, initiatives, and networks to support systemic change.

Diversity Initiatives and White Americans’ Perceptions of Racial Victimhood

Seven experiments explore whether organizational diversity initiatives heighten White Americans’ concerns about the respect and value afforded toward their racial group and increase their perceptions of anti-White bias. The presence (vs. absence) of organizational diversity initiatives (i.e., diversity awards, diversity training, diversity mission statements) caused White Americans to perceive Whites as less respected and valued than Blacks and to blame a White man’s rejection for a promotion on anti-White bias. Several moderators were tested, including evidence that Whites were clearly advantaged within the organization, that the rejected White candidate was less meritorious than the Black candidate, that promotion opportunities were abundant (vs. scarce), and individual differences related to support for the status hierarchy and identification with Whites. There was little evidence that these moderators reduced Whites’ perceptions of diversity initiatives as harmful to their racial group.