Canadian HR Reporter

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(prices subject to change without notice) authors found the rhetoric of di- versity not only makes white men believe women and minorities are being treated fairly — whether that's true or not — but they them- selves will be treated unfairly. e implications are troubling as groups that typically occupy positions of power — such as white men — may feel alienated and vulnerable when their com- pany claims to value diversity, said the authors. "is may be one explanation for the lacklustre success of most diversity management attempts: When people feel threatened, they may resist efforts to make the workplace more inclusive." In a way, it's understandable, ac- cording to co-author Cheryl Kai- ser, associate professor of psychol- ogy at the University of Washing- ton. Many diversity strategies came about as a reaction to civil rights laws in the United States, when organizations were told they can't discriminate, she said. "But they weren't told how to avoid doing that, so this is where human resource groups, legal groups and companies developed what seemed like, on the face of it, rational strategies to avoid dis- crimination. But the problem is a lot of those aren't tested so… a lot of times… they seem like best guesses." It's very easy to make a compel- ling case for diversity and inclu- siveness, but there are no clear goals or benchmarks that have to be followed up with, said co-au- thor Tessa Dover, a PhD candidate in social psychology at the Univer- sity of California in Santa Barbara. "It's become so popular because it's sort of a very easy way to show you're socially conscious and try- ing to do the right thing without having any sort of benchmark that you're judging yourself against, so it's sort of a safe way to show you're socially conscious." Background In one experiment, the research- ers — including Brenda Major, a distinguished professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of California — had white male university students go through a hiring simulation for a job at a fictional firm. For one-half of the applicants, a recruitment video mentioned the firm's pro-diversity values; for the other half, the di- versity was not mentioned. e students then went through a standardized job interview and had their performance videoed, along with their cardiovascular stress responses measured. e result? ose interviewing for the pro-diversity company performed less well and were more stressed. ey also said they expected more unfair treatment and discrimina- tion at the company. e pro-diversity messages sig- nalled to these men they might be undervalued and discriminated against, according to the authors. "ese concerns interfered with their interview performance and caused their bodies to respond as if they were under threat…. the responses exist even among those who endorse the tenets of diver- sity and inclusion." These men probably assume the workplace is already fair and diversity efforts are perhaps more than is needed to make it fair, said Kaiser. "My sense is that they think, 'Maybe these programs aren't necessarily needed and what they do is discriminate against men,'" she said. "Everyone wants to think of themselves as fair and open- minded and they'll treat people with respect… There's other work showing a lot of times when Americans endorse multicultural- ism, it's in the abstract; but once it becomes more concrete, there's more resistance." Oftentimes, organizations ex- clude the one group they need to include in order to ensure success, said Michael Bach, founder and CEO of the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion (CCDI) in Toronto, who agreed "straight, white, able-bodied men" may feel threatened or undervalued by di- versity initiatives. He cited as a consideration Canada's Employment Equity Act, which focuses on the protection of four groups: women, visible mi- norities, people with disabilities and Aboriginal Peoples. "It is a social justice mentality where one must lose for the other to gain, and at no point does it say, 'Hey, in industries where there is gross underrepresentation of straight, white, able-bodied men, we should focus on that.'" Minorities not convinced In another set of experiments, the researchers found diversity initia- tives seem to do little to convince minorities that companies will treat them fairly. But it depends on how minorities view the world, said Dover. "People who have faith that the world is fair tend to believe these (diversity) messages at face value, is what our data suggests, where- as those who are more skeptical about the fairness of the world tend to not take these diversity initiatives and diversity messages into strong consideration when they're thinking about discrimi- nation and how they'll be treated." Policies are only as valuable as the paper they're printed on, said Bach. "I can put anything in a policy — it's how does it actually come to life? And certainly we have seen examples of organizations where they had a 'policy' but the reality was very different," he said. "It's not that the policies didn't work, it's that the employers didn't en- force them… the whole idea of a zero tolerance policy is it's 'One strike you're out,' ergo, you've got to enforce it, and that means firing people," he said. "You really do have to have mechanisms in place to make sure that people can and are encouraged to speak out to, to report, without fear of repercussion, so that they really see they have a voice and an ability to express that voice." Policy protection And even when there is clear evi- dence of discrimination at a com- pany, the presence of a diversity policy can lead people to discount claims of unfair treatment, said the authors. "People see a discrimination claim as less valid or less legitimate when it comes from a company that explicitly values diversity or has diversity initiatives in place," said Dover, citing earlier studies. But the article is very U.S.-cen- tric, said Bach. "Of course, we don't have leg- islation like affirmative action; we have legislation, it's just nothing like affirmative action… the Em- ployment Equity Act doesn't even come close to comparing," he said. "I don't think that the courts in Canada, be it the human rights tri- bunals or actual courts, have seen fit to say, 'Well, X company has a diversity policy, therefore, it can't be a discriminatory environment.' We haven't been seeing that." Recommendations For diversity initiatives to have greater success, managers should appreciate the potential effect of diversity messages on groups that have traditionally been favoured in organizations, said the authors. at doesn't mean avoiding key discussions or efforts to boost diversity, but spending more time crafting messages and designing programs that are more effective because they come across as more inclusive. "That's important to under- stand because (leaders are) also going to be creating norms and be influential in the organization so if they're threatened, that might affect how they evaluate women and minorities," said Kaiser. "Most importantly, it's figuring out what we're trying to accom- plish and how to have diversity programs that have oversight and accountability." Education is critical, said Bach. "People need to understand that the experiences of a trans per- son, it's not about some deviant dressing up in women's clothing so that he can go into a women's washroom, that is not even re- motely the case. It's to under- stand the experiences of a person whose skin is not white in colour, that they experience life differ- ently than myself. And we need to understand that and once we have that understanding, we then develop some empathy," he said. "It is not putting all straight, white, able-bodied men in one camp and everybody else in the other — that's not the case at all. It's about educating all Canadi- ans on the value of diversity and inclusion and the benefits to our society, not just economically but holistically." And it cannot be over-estimat- ed that tone from the top is criti- cal, meaning not just the most senior person but everyone who reports to her must take owner- ship of this, said Bach. "And it's not just to say that they memorize the speaking notes the communications group gave them, it's to say that they under- stand why this is critically impor- tant and they understand it is their job to push it through the organi- zation, to root out behaviour that is counter to their culture or at least the culture they aspire to; to make sure they themselves, as well as their direct reports and all of their people, are educated on the value of diversity and inclusion, on the value to the organization as a business imperative." Some groups feel undervalued DIVERSITY < pg. 1 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the government's swearing-in ceremony in Ottawa in November where he named a young, ethnically diverse and gender-equal cabinet. Credit: Blair Gable (Reuters)

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