In today’s workplace, driven by demographic changes and the evolution in our social attitudes, diversity competencies in managers and leaders are required. Such competencies are based on the following abilities: attitudinal (for example, adapting to other cultural norms, withholding judgment) skills (practicing appropriate etiquette, seeking local expertise). managerial (using culturally appropriate motivational tools) knowledge (following […]
Read More… from Diversity and Inclusion: Key Success Factors for Today’s Companies
In December of 2005, Norway passed a quota law requiring that women make up a minimum of 40% of corporate boards. Corporations had 2 years to comply with the law. As a result of the law, the fraction of women directors went from 5% in 2001 to 40% in 2008. Opponents of the quota argued […]
Read More… from Quotas to Gender-Balance the Board: Norway’s Drastic Action Worked
Even the most well-intentioned people can be swayed by almost subconscious, automatic biases against certain categories of people — what scientists call “implicit out-group bias.” These biases emerge from engrained negative and positive associations that lurk in our minds. A team of researchers from Central Michigan University explored whether mindfulness meditation could help reduce our […]
Read More… from Mindful Meditation Helps Reduce Racial and Age Bias
Many CEOs recognize gender equality as an important strategic priority. However, top-level strategic priorities can be undermined if male middle managers display or enable gender bias through the type of small-scale everyday organizational practices that often go unnoticed… and become accepted as the way things are. As a result, male middle managers are the linchpin […]
Read More… from Male Middle Managers: Linchpins of Gender Parity at Work
Parents will naturally have an impact on their children’s values. New research, however, is showing that the opposite is also true: children, and in particular daughters, are impacting their parents’ values and beliefs. The surprising influence of daughters was previously revealed in studies that compared the decisions of members of Congress and (in a separate […]
Read More… from How a Daughter Might Shape the CEO
According to Jim Johnson of University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, the major demographic trends transforming America today are unprecedented — so unprecedented that he calls these trends “disruptive demographics.” Based on on-going analyses of statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor, Internal Revenue Service and other governmental agencies, Johnson, who is […]
Read More… from Six Disruptive Demographic Trends and What They Mean for the Workplace
While much research has focused on the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on profitability and results, less attention has been paid on the antecedents of CSR — that is, what conditions make a company more likely to become socially responsible. Two researchers from Queen’s University School of Business and Saint Mary’s University investigated whether […]
Read More… from Management Practices that Lead to Corporate Social Responsibility
The annual leadership survey conducted by the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School was focused in 2015 on the development of globally competent leaders. Global competence is required for success as a leader in today’s ‘flat’ world, yet many leaders are weak in this area — and companies may not be training them with […]
Read More… from What Does It Take to Develop Globally Competent Leaders?
Conventional wisdom has it that diversity helps creativity, in that people in homogenous groups are similar to one another with similar ideas and therefore less divergent thinking occurs. Also most research into group creativity assumes that creativity is unleashed by removing conventional constraints. This research, from Professor Jennifer Chatman of the UC Berkeley Haas School […]
Read More… from How Political Correctness Increases Creativity in Mixed-Sex Teams
Singapore is known for the diversity of its population, but you would never glean this from the boards of directors of its companies. A new report, from the NUS Business School's Centre for Governance, Institutions and Organisations working with BoardAGender, shows that Singapore’s boards continue to be overwhelmingly male-dominated and ethnically homogeneous. Based on data from […]
Read More… from Board Diversity Improves Corporate Results: Lessons from Singapore