As a result of globalization, developing markets, and demographic changes in the U.S. labor force, the United States has become increasingly diverse. Therefore, diversity and inclusion is a vital part of our society. Diversity is often viewed as a double-edge sword. Proponents argue that the benefits of diversity include greater creativity, innovation, and improved organizational performance. Opponents argue that organizational diversity is costly, increases conflict, and is overall unfair. No matter what side of the diversity argument that you find yourself, there is a general sentiment that diversity alone, is not enough. The goal is to make workplaces inclusive. In 2014, the Office of Personnel Management introduced the New Inclusion Quotient (New IQ) in an effort to make the federal government more inclusive. The New IQ includes five inclusion factors which include an environment that is fair, open, cooperative, empowering and supportive. Using data from the 2015 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, this study examines the appropriateness of the New IQ. The study also examines the relationship between inclusion and employee engagement.

This conceptual article proposes the establishing of the position of a corporate jester to support organizational change processes. The article focuses on the inevitable transformations companies have to go through, given the diversification and pluralization of the workforce. The corporate jester theoretically is framed as part of an organizational "comical artifact staging", that by utilizing humor as an element of organizational change, experiences more openness and less resistance than more educative tools. (author's abstract)

Since 2013, over half of all gender-selective women's colleges in the United States have adopted admission policies that outline varying biological, social, and legal criteria for who may apply to their institution. In effect, these policies opened the gates to admission, driven by the goal to be more inclusive to transgender applicants, especially trans* women. This dissertation examines if and how these policies enact missions of social justice, diversity, and inclusion through the informal practices, production, and regulation of gender on campus. How do gender-selective women's colleges go from trans* admitting to trans* serving? Through a nine-month ethnography of trans* admission policies at two gender-selective women's colleges, including 126 interviews with students, alumni, faculty, staff, and administrators; archival document analysis regarding trans* and queer history on campus; and participant observation of events and spaces on campus with trans* students, my objective is to describe the world that takes shape when gender and feminism become institutionalized, routine, and used as descriptions to both include and exclude. I contend that the impact of these admission policies is not limited to the application process, but rather the experiences of matriculated students are shaped by the gendered norms and discourses structured within the policies themselves. Findings suggest that despite the fact that these policies, formally, allow for transgender students to apply and enroll to gender-selective women's colleges, institutionalized commitments to inclusion obscure and even intensify existing gender inequality, particularly for students who do not fit within normative ideals of the "right way to be trans*" including those who are low-income, non-white, and trans* men. Because the feminist missions of these colleges continue to reaffirm an ideal of cisgender womanhood on campus, the extent to which these inclusion policies were able to make fundamental structural changes in how gendered power, resources, and opportunities are distributed was limited at best. As such, this dissertation is a call to think about gender as an institutional product; not simply in terms of the politics that are attached to the experiences, bodies, and identities, but in the very constitution of gender as a social category. As an ethnography of how these categories become comprehensible, admissible, and livable, this dissertation complicates our understanding of how policies work, how gender is reinforced in the women's college setting, and how to transform institutional practices through a trans* justice framework. / Doctor of Philosophy / Since my graduation from Smith College in 2013, over half of all gender-selective women's colleges in the United States have publicly adopted admission policies outlining up to fourteen different combinations of biomedical, social, and legal criteria for who may apply to their institutions. In effect, these policies define fourteen different ways to be a "woman" that honor both the experiences and identities of students as well as the histories, traditions, and missions of gender-selective women's colleges. While I am proud of my alma mater for adopting such a policy, I have been struck by the ensuing tensions and debates that occurred among students and my fellow alumni about who belonged within our community. My time at Smith equipped me with new concepts, identities, and possibilities of what community means by being with people of other sexes, genders, races, sexualities, abilities, socio-economic statuses, and mindsets. Gender in this feminist space, in other words, was about so much more than a singular common experience of biology. Hence, the trans* policy raised more questions than answers for me: How do my trans* peers experience the woman-centered atmosphere of gender-selective women's colleges? In what ways do these policies and other institutional practices support these students? Through this dissertation, I sought to understand the experiences of trans* students enrolled in two gender-selective women's colleges by mapping the implementation and impact of trans* inclusion on campus. I wanted to know how these policies—and gender-selective women's colleges more broadly—shape institutionalized feminist missions of social justice. Over the span of nine-months, I spent time at two gender-selective women's colleges, one with a policy that admits trans* women, men, and non-binary students and another that limits trans* admission to trans* women, and conducted 126 interviews with students, alumni, faculty, staff, and administrators; archival document analysis regarding trans* and queer history on campus; and participant observation of events and spaces on campus with trans* students. I found that despite the fact that these policies, formally, allow for transgender students to apply and enroll to gender-selective colleges, the institutional commitments to inclusion obscured and even intensified existing gender inequality particularly for students who do not fit within normative ideals of the "right way to be trans*" including those who are low-income, non-white, and trans* men. Because the feminist missions of these colleges continue to reaffirm an ideal of cisgender womanhood on campus, the extent to which these inclusion policies were able to make fundamental changes to support transgender students was limited at best, and violent at worst. This does not suggest that there was no hope. Rather, students found ways to navigate these formal policies, resources, and spaces to create safer environments for their community, surviving and thriving in environments that were antithetic-to-hostile to their inclusion. As a result, I conclude that the implementation of a singular policy is not an adequate solution to full inclusion. Rather, we must consider how policy and practice may limit inclusion through intersections of race, class, sexuality, ability, and other axes of identity. As such, this dissertation is a call to think about how gender-selective women's colleges can go from trans* admitting to trans* serving.

The United States has a troubled history with race relations. African Americans have immeasurably experienced racism and racial oppression in various forms and in many sectors of the American society. One of the sectors that the racial inequalities of our past have affected is the employment sector. Many Americans experience the workplace on a daily basis and therefore experience the inequities that persist in such environments. This study explores African American experiences with race in the workplace and the way that race shapes today's workplace. Specifically, this study analyzes the experiences of African American professionals working at for-profit organizations and their perceptions of the way that race shapes their organization's culture. This study employs a constant comparative analysis of qualitative interviews using Critical Race Theory as a guide. The interviews explored the manner in which race, Diversity and Inclusion (DandI) programs, and communication affect organizational culture. The thesis further questions if and how organizations are working to create and sustain a more equitable workplace for all employees. The findings suggest that African American professionals perceive that their organizations are welcoming and inclusive of all minority groups. They also perceive the organizational culture to be friendly and family-oriented where open, positive, and encouraging communication exists. The professionals feel that their organizations are generally interested in diversity, however they feel the organization's engagement with diversity practices is not sufficient. The findings of this study could be used as a tool for organizations to reevaluate their diversity practices and to ensure that they are creating an equitable workplace. / Master of Arts / The inequalities caused by racism and the systematic oppression of African Americans in the United States are present in many areas of contemporary American life. African Americans are still faced with problems that stem from the country’s past with race and are affected by these problems in many ways. One area that African Americans must deal with race is the workplace. The inequalities that were created in the past have caused race to play a significant role in the way that African Americans experience the workplace. This study explored the experiences of African American professionals in the workplace and the way they perceive race to play a role in shaping their organization’s culture. The findings of the study explain that African American professionals perceive that race has a definite effect on their organization’s culture. The professionals believe that their organizations have a general interest for diversity, but they have not adequately addressed the lack of racial and ethnic diversity in the workplace. They reported that the organizations are inclusive and provide an environment where they can be productive and develop professionally. Today’s organizations have made a step in the right direction of diversity, but there is much work left to do.

Yes / In this study, we aim to develop an understanding of the similarity between migration and expatriation, identify both as elements in diversity, and draw attention to the additional layer of ethnic diversity created by the high number of top management expatriates in some Nigerian subsidiaries of transnational corporations. Using the qualitative research design, we thematically analysed data from semistructured interviews with six indigenous managers in four transnational corporations. We found a significant number of expatriate managers in two subsidiaries and a lack of diversity management framework to address the new layer of diversity as reflected in the unequal treatment of indigenous managers. We conclude that migration and expatriation are similar and could be better managed through effective diversity management framework.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand Indiana High School principals’ perceptions and practices of cultural competence in their schools. The projected changes in the demographics of the United States (US) school age population will result in traditionally underserved ethnic minority students being the majority in US schools in the next few years. Despite the billions of dollars that have been spent to close the achievement gap (TAG) between Whites and traditionally underserved ethnic minority students, TAG persists. Scholars have proposed that cultural dissonance, incompatibilities between a school’s culture and that of its students, may be a reason for TAG. As a result, cultural competence may be a vehicle that institutions can use to reduce cultural dissonance and close TAG. This study used a phenomenological framework and utilized semi-structured interviews to obtain data from 10 Indiana High School Principals whose schools had at least a 40% traditionally underserved ethnic minority population. The data were analyzed using Lindsey et al’s (2009) <i>5 Essential Elements of Cultural Proficiency</i> as well as 15 indicators of cultural competence that were gleaned from their research. Open coding was conducted using a framework described by Tesch (1990) to identify emergent themes from the principals’ commentaries. Results showed that principals demonstrated high proficiencies in assessing their cultures, valuing diversity, and adapting to diversity within their institutions. Growth, however, is required in their abilities to manage the dynamics of difference within their institutions and their propensity for institutionalizing cultural knowledge.

<p>  </p> <p>Social justice researchers and practitioners have beckoned post-secondary institutions to provide inclusive and culturally responsive instructional practices that promote students' sense of belonging and empowerment. However, little research has demonstrated how competent intercultural behaviors can connect to one's integration of culturally responsive teaching. Therefore, this explanatory sequential mixed-methods study examined the interplay between these components within a distinguished undergraduate peer learning program, Supplemental Instruction (SI). Undergraduate SI leaders’ behaviors were examined for their intercultural competence level, potential influencers, and valued commitment to diversity and inclusion. This study was supported and guided by Hammer’s (2012) Intercultural Development Continuum (IDC) and Gay's (2018) Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) practices. Quantitative data were collected using Hammer's (2012) Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), and qualitative data were in the form of interviews and analyses of leaders' session plans. The findings revealed that participants overestimated their intercultural competence. Relatedly, participants expressed concerns of uncertainty beyond solely acknowledging diversity and addressing intercultural insensitivity. Curricular and co-curricular programming were potential influencers to the leaders' intercultural competence knowledge (i.e., cultural self-awareness, culture-general, and culture-specific). Additionally, implications include recommendations for higher education administrators' initiatives for more inclusive and culturally responsive peer-learning programs. </p>

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Thesis advisor: Shawn McGuffey / Thesis advisor: Zine Magubane / In this dissertation, I show how the racial conflict theory promoted in the book White Fragility isn’t the only useful perspective to explain negative responses to the training and other activities by DEI administrators. Specifically, I argue a class analysis can illuminate the antagonistic relationship between DEI administrators and other stakeholders. Since DEI professionals are an extension of the management class, which is responsible for regulating the behavior of students and employees on behalf of employers in educational institutions, it is predictable that some students and employees will respond with silence, anger, and disengagement. If it is true that these negative responses cannot be reduced to White Fragility, then DEI professionals need to appeal to the interests of their audience and clearly show how their activities can actually be beneficial for students and employees despite the fact that they are extension of management. This dissertation includes three of my articles on administrators in higher education that helped me to develop the aforementioned argument. The first article argues that we should expect race-conscious student services administrators to experience role conflict when students complain about the ways that the executive-level administrators contribute to the reproduction of racial inequality. I contend that role conflict arises because student-centered administrators have to navigate the contradictory expectation of being an advocate for students with grievances about the institution while helping the executive-level administrators improve the reputation and revenue-stream for the university. Therefore, students cannot always expect student-centered administrators to effectively highlight and address their grievances. The second article argues that students who complain about inequity on campus should expect student-centered administrators to respond with self-help coaching. I use the term self-help coaching to capture the process when administrators teach complainants how to highlight and remedy organizational problems themselves. The third article focuses on the ways that student equity administrators (i.e. specialists who work in offices focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, and multicultural affairs) frame their work as beneficial for students. Specifically, I describe three types of frames: expert accountability, affirmation, and advocacy. In the conclusion, I show how DEI professionals can use this information to appeal to the interests of students and employees who recognize their antagonistic relationship with management. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

In this case study, The King and Baxter Magolda (2005) Intercultural Maturity Model was utilized as the explanatory framework for the development of intercultural maturity in a globally networked learning environment (GNLE) with college students. Through ethnographic data collection strategies and qualitative analysis of interviews, observations, narrative inquiry, and student artifacts, I explored the developmental stages of the intercultural maturity of study participants in a GNLE with college students from three international universities in South Africa, Europe, and the United States. I sought to determine if any relationship existed between the development of intercultural maturity and the study of jazz. This research inquiry represented a distinct opportunity to examine if student activities in jazz subjects might ground new theories for the attainment of intercultural maturity. A globally networked classroom of jazz students presented a salient opportunity to observe if interactant traits could mature, instigated through jazz curricula, and whether such a model had explanatory potential in a web-based context. The findings were instructive for considerations comparative to traditional developmental models of intercultural maturity, with a particular focus on the efficacy of asynchronous and synchronous student interactions within the activities. The context of a GNLE, an interesting alternative to study abroad when considered as a teaching and learning paradigm instead of just a technology modality, facilitated rich descriptions and data to gauge students’ demonstration of the domains of the King and Baxter Magolda (2005) Intercultural Maturity Model. Adding jazz curricula and pedagogy to the GNLE environment, situated between cohorts geographically apart, allowed for a reimagining of the King and Baxter Magolda Intercultural Maturity Model to A Jazz Orientation of the Three-Dimensional Developmental Trajectory of the Intercultural Maturity Model.