An amplified emphasis on global competency and a projected demographic shift toward an increasingly diverse population necessitates that businesses and organizations prepare adequately to remain competitive and effective. Training to enhance employees' multicultural competence is often used by organizations to address these impending changes; however, there is little research documenting the degree to which these trainings are effective. Using archival training evaluation data, the purpose of this study was to examine participant estimations of the effectiveness of one such training and also to determine if participant demographic variables including gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and employee classification (faculty or staff) held any predictive value in relation to training ratings. The results indicated that overall most participants found the training effective. Staff, female, or non-White participants were significantly more likely to rate the training favorably. These results suggest that diversity training may be a viable method of addressing changing organizational demographics and provides some insight as to how training group demographics could be used during the training planning and implementation process to individualize the curriculum.

The purpose of this study was to revise the Awareness of Privilege and Oppression Scale (Montross, 2003) and to improve upon the psychometric properties of the original instrument. The APOS-2 is a diversity training outcome measure that is designed to measure the social justice-related construct awareness of privilege and oppression. I retained 26 items from the original APOS (Montross, 2003) and utilized an expert focus group to generate new test items for the APOS-2. Feedback from an expert rater group was solicited and then incorporated into the APOS-2 to help reduce the number of items, improve item content, and evaluate content validity. The newly revised scale was then administered to a combined sample of 484 undergraduate students at a large public university through an internet-based survey. Item-analysis procedures and an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with direct oblim oblique rotation were utilized to further reduce the number of items and then determine the psychometric properties of the final solution. The EFA of the APOS-2 data provided support for the theoretical four-factor solution. The observed Cronbach alpha reliability estimates for the final 40-item total score and subscale scores were as follows: Total score (.92), Awareness of Heterosexism (.84), Awareness of Sexism (.73), Awareness of Classism (.84), and Awareness of Racism (.86). The APOS-2 correlated low and positively (r = .29) with a measure of openness to diversity and negatively and close to zero (r = -.10) with a social desirability measure. These collective data suggest the APOS-2 may be a viable alternative to the original APOS with a stronger initial effort to link item content to the extant literature, improved subscale reliability estimates, continued support for the use of the theoretically derived subscales, and a predictable relationship with measures of convergent and discriminant validity.

ABSTRACT The purpose of the present study was to explore the effects inclusion-exclusion on the job-related attitudes of the organizational workforce. These attitudes included job satisfaction, organizational commitment, burnout, and turnover intention. A quantitative survey was conducted using a sample of employees of a social service organization in San Bernardino County. Participants include employees from all levels and program areas of the social service organization. Study data was collected through the use of a self-report questionnaire. Measures were used to explore commitment to the organization, diversity perception, job satisfaction, turnover intention and burnout, the dependent variables. Using SPSS software to analyze data, descriptive statistics, correlation, and Mann-Whitney U analysis were conducted. More than half of the survey participants, as presented in Table 1 (see Appendix D), identified as women (n=35, 85.4%) and five (12.2%) accounted for the participants that identified as men. Results showed that Inclusion was significantly related to all job related attitudes except burnout, gender and race. Results were consistent with the literature in that inclusion is related to positive work-related attitudes, but inconsistent in regards to its relation with gender and race.

In recent years the terms diversity and inclusion have become major buzzwords across industries and fields of study. Within the field of education broadly, and higher education in particular, a shifting student demographic can be seen across the country. Issues of equity and inclusion have become central complexities for present day educational strategists, and organizations committed to cultivating a culture of inclusion must do so with intentionality. In the context of higher education, this often requires the intentional development of professionals within a particular college or university. There has been a great deal of research concerning the development of cultural competence in traditional aged college students, but far fewer studies address development in higher education professionals. This project seeks to fill that gap. This study explores how higher education professionals develop and demonstrate cultural competence in their professional roles. Through a mixed methods case-study approach (Jupp, 2006), the current study generally addresses how perceived levels of cultural competence in higher education professionals is shaped by participation in an extended diversity training program. Additionally, this study addressed implications for individual career trajectories as a result of program completion and implementation of new learning. In-depth interviews were conducted to explore how participants of an extended diversity training program at a large urban institution conceive of their development of cultural competence. The objective of the program was to prepare participants to facilitate diversity education workshops across campus for their peers. One-on-one interviews explored ways in which participants’ individual development and application of cultural competence skills fits into the context of Social Cognitive Career Theory (Creswell, 2007; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 2002). Additionally, secondary data analysis was conducted to assess participants’ perceived levels of cultural competence throughout the training experience. Study findings indicate that participants anticipate lasting effects from the training experience. The training introduced and ignited a reconfiguration of what it means to engage and work in spaces where institutional and organizational commitments are aligned with personal commitments. Following training, all participants expressed deep commitment to intentionally and actively cultivating a sense of belonging and inclusion in the workplace through shared language, shifts in policy, and more thoughtful interpersonal interactions with colleagues and peers.

Today's urban schools are composed of students from diverse cultural backgrounds and varying levels of academic readiness. At the same time, approximately 88% of teachers are White and middle-class. The dispositions of teachers have important educational ramifications. Teachers' beliefs structure the classroom atmosphere, influence perceptions regarding the abilities of students, and impact how they teach and expect students to learn and behave. In order to foster an accepting and productive learning environment, teachers must have cultural awareness. To ensure that all learners receive a solid academic foundation, teachers must be able to instruct dissimilar students. Special educators have been trained to work with students with unique, special needs, but the reality of today's demographics - and special education classrooms in particular - mandate that they also have the cultural knowledge to effectively serve diverse students. Perceptions and attitudes of elementary special education teachers regarding their cultural awareness and beliefs need to be explored. This study examined the cultural awareness beliefs of elementary special educators working in urban school districts located in southeast Texas. The research also needs to ascertain whether ethnicity or length of service effected such teachers' cultural awareness beliefs. Using the Cultural Awareness Beliefs Inventory (CABI) instrument, the investigator gathered self-reported data from 54 participants. The reliability and validity of the instrument were determined to be sound by previous investigators. The CABI contains eight major components: Teacher Beliefs, School Climate, Culturally Responsive Classroom Management, Home and Community Support, Curriculum and Instruction, Cultural Sensitivity, Cultural Awareness, and Teacher Efficacy. Data were analyzed using percentage analysis and one-way analysis of variance. The findings include: 1) Participants had favorable perceptions towards the School Climate, Culturally Responsive Classroom Management, and Cultural Awareness variables; 2) Participants had unfavorable perceptions regarding Teacher Beliefs; 3) In contrast to some previous research, it did not appear that teaching experience impacted cultural beliefs; and 4) Importantly, it was discerned that teachers' ethnicities yielded statistically significant effects on their cultural awareness and beliefs regarding African American special education students.

The present doctoral thesis deals with diversity management and clarifies its concepts. The objectives of the thesis include comprehensive characterisation of diversity management as an element of corporate culture, description of roles of managers, departments of human resources and the role of the top management. Additional goals include charting the current scheme of diversity training and describing the inter-relations between corporate culture and diversity management. The chapter devoted to concrete case studies in companies which are focusing on diversity management or equal opportunities explores the current situation in the field with the aim to provide its analysis and evaluation. The thesis consists of two sections (focused on the theoretical framework and the research (case studies itself) and comprises seven thematic chapters. Throughout the thesis, interrelationships with management of human resources, corporate culture, management-oriented training, as well as the appreciation of diversity are highlighted. The thesis provides comparison between equal opportunities policies and diversity management and examines organisational development from the viewpoint of diversity development and diversity in the workplace. The author analyzed in detail diversity management using semi-structured...

Charles University in Prague Faculty of Arts Department of Adult Education Program: Pedagogy Zuzana Krištofová The Analysis of Working Environment in terms of Diversity Management and its Implementation in Corporate Practice Abstract thesis supervisor: Doc. PaedDr. Ludvík Eger, CSc. 2012 ABSTRACT The present doctoral thesis deals with diversity management and clarifies its concepts. The objectives of the thesis include comprehensive characterisation of diversity management as an element of corporate culture, description of roles of managers, departments of human resources and the role of the top management. Additional goals include charting the current scheme of diversity training and describing the inter-relations between corporate culture and diversity management. The chapter devoted to concrete case studies explores the current situation in the field with the aim to provide its analysis and evaluation. The thesis consists of three sections (focused on the theoretical framework, theoretical-research aspects and the research itself) and comprises seven thematic chapters. Throughout the thesis, interrelationships with management of human resources, corporate culture, management-oriented training, as well as the appreciation of diversity are highlighted. The thesis provides comparison between equal...

No description available.

No description available.

Consulting to the RIDE from a systems psychodynamic stance is different from other group relations training events. Consultants found it difficult to take up their roles as consultants and containers. They were not prepared for the impact of the island on the event and especially on themselves as consultants. The consultants had to work harder to contain their own feelings and anxieties in order to take up their roles. The symbolically laden setting of the RIDE predetermined that the diversities of race and gender were worked with while other diversities were largely ignored. During the RIDE, the consultants felt more anxious, fearful and inhibited. The consultants had to provide containment for the event as a whole, for the group and their fellow consultants as well as for themselves. The consultants found that they had never experienced a more enriching experience than they did with the RIDE. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)