According to a new research study conducted by the University of Colorado (below), women and minorities who promote diversity in hiring often receive lower employment reviews as compared to white men who are lauded for the same practices.
The study was authored by David Hekman, assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship at the Leeds School of Business, Maw Der Foo, an associate professor of management and entrepreneurship, and Wei Yang, a CU graduate student. The three researchers conducted two separate tests to determine the impact of valuing diversity on performance ratings. First, the researchers collected information from 362 business executives involved in the same leadership training seminar. The data included assessments of the executives’ attitudes towards diverse hiring and ratings of the executives by their supervisors. Women and nonwhites who placed a high value on diversity were seen as selfish or incompetent.
In the second test, actors were used to portray human resource managers advocating for certain candidates in front of a test audience. Audience members penalized the women and nonwhite managers for advocating for diversity, while the white men were not criticized.
The researchers hypothesized that the penalties women and nonwhites face when attempting to foster diversity contribute to the lack of pay equity among women and minorities and lack of upper-management positions held by women and nonwhites.
What do you think? How can we, as employers or employees, work to mitigate the findings of this report? What are the benefits of having a diverse workplace? What are the biggest challenges in reaching diversity and equity in the corporate or public sphere?
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