Dr. Luisa Amelia Dempere Past-Chair President’s Council on Diversity Academic Administrators Leadership Seminars: New Administrators Orientation Wednesday, November 19, 2014 Managing for Diversity & Issues in Recruitment

AGENDA Historical Perspective on Diversity Issues in Recruiting Managing for Diversity President’s Council on Diversity

Defining Diversity The full spectrum of human differences and similarities, including immutable and mutable characteristics yielding unique perspectives.

Other way to “see” it... Society for Human Resource Management

<<< >>2005 Historical Perspective 2014

Issues in Recruiting

LAWS ~ COMPLIANCE LAWS ~ COMPLIANCE Executive Order Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Equal Pay Act of 1963 Immigration Reform & Control Act of 1986 Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 Uniformed Services Employment & Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Equal Employment Opportunity Affirmative Action The enforcement of statutes to prevent employment discrimination The effort to achieve parity in the workforce through outreach and eliminating barriers in hiring

It is illegal to discriminate against an applicant or employee because of that person’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetic information. It is also illegal:  To publish job advertisements that show a preference for or discourages someone from applying for a job based on the above-referenced reasons.  To make decisions about job assignments and promotions based on the above-referenced reasons.  To discriminate against an employee in the payment of wages or employee benefits on the above-referenced reasons. I T ’ S T HE L AW !

S YSTEMIC D ISCRIMINATION Involves a pattern or practice, policy, or class case where the alleged discrimination has a broad impact on an industry, profession or employer. Examples of systemic discrimination:  Discriminatory barriers in recruitment or hiring.  Discriminatory restricted access to management trainee programs and to high level jobs.  Exclusion of qualified women from traditionally male dominated fields of work.  Disability discrimination such as unlawful pre-employment inquiries.  Age discrimination in reductions in force and retirement benefits.

<<< Faculty Diversity

An article published in The Academy of Management Journal examined the impact of group diversity on academic performance. For the study, the researchers defined diversity by cultural identification. They created 19 culturally diverse groups and 17 culturally homogenous groups composed of white-Americans At the end the diverse teams had surpassed the homogenous groups in overall performance. In fact, the diverse groups far exceeded the homogenous groups in the “Alternatives generated” (read: innovation) score. Faculty Diversity (Cultural Diversity's Impact On Interaction Process and Performance: Comparing Homogeneous and Diverse Task Groups)

“Diverse groups of problem solvers — groups of people with diverse tools— consistently outperformed groups of the best and the brightest. If I formed two groups, one random (and therefore diverse ) and one consisting of the best individual performers, the first group almost always did better. In my model, diversity trumped ability.” Page, Scott E. ( ). The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies. Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.

Cognitive functioning is a term referring to a human’s ability to process thoughts. Cognition mainly refers to things like memory, the ability to learn new information, speech, understanding of written material.

Identity diversity and cognitive diversity often go hand in hand. Two people belonging to different identity groups, or with different life experiences, also tend to acquire diverse cognitive tools. Page, Scott E. ( ). The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies. Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.

Cognitive vs identity diversity Cognitive diversity doesn’t improve performance when it comes to routine tasks, like flipping burgers. Routine tasks are better done by individuals. In dealing with complex tasks like engineering problems, or tasks requiring creativity and innovation, or managerial issues, cognitive diversity is a key explanatory variable in levels of performance.

Cognitive diversity has four dimensions: Diverse perspectives: people have different ways of representing situations and problems. Diverse interpretations: people put things into different categories and classifications. Diverse heuristics: People have different ways of generating solutions to problems. Diverse predictive models: Some people analyze the situation. Others may look for the story... Page, Scott E. ( ). The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies (p. 7). Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.

The best perspectives create landscapes with a single peak— they organize the information in such a way that a single, obvious solution becomes clear. Page, Scott E. ( ). The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies (p. 46). Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition. When people see a problem from the same perspective, they are likely to get stuck on the same local peaks. Diverse Perspectives: Perspectives are ways of seeing the problem. They create different landscapes.

Diverse interpretations: people put things into different categories and classifications.

Watching shapes in the clouds...

Diverse heuristics: People have different ways of generating solutions to problems. Some people like to talk through their thinking about problems; others prefer to write out his solutions first and then talk.

The more productively a perspective organizes reality, the more heuristics people can create to work in that perspective. Innovations can arise from rearranging the box with a new perspective or from exploring parts of the box that have been ignored with new heuristics. Diverse perspectives are more likely to lead to breakthroughs; diverse heuristics are more likely to lead to iterative improvements.

Why is diversity vital for innovation? Comparing the solving of problems with climbing rugged landscapes. People with different perspectives might enable a group of diverse people to do better than a group of like-minded experts who think they know they are on climbing the highest mountain. Mount Everest

Multiple Perspectives and Heuristics are Essential We Now Work in Teams

…which shows the advantage of working in teams…

Making a Difference: This does not imply the irrelevance of ability. Ability still matters, but so does diversity. And, once an ability threshold has been met, diversity matters more than ability. Scott Page, from Academy of Management Perspectives, Nov. 2007, page 11

Galton’s Steer At the 1906 West of England Fat Stock and Poultry Exhibition, 787 people guessed the weight of a steer. Francis Galton collected the data and found the average guess was 1,197 pounds. The actual weight of the steer was 1,198 pounds.

Wisdom of the Crowd Information Aggregation On Who Wants to be a Millionaire, the lifeline is correct 2/3 of the time. The audience is correct: 9/10 times!

Goldcorp Challenge In 1999 CEO Rob McEwen instructed his geologists to release all geological records to the public. The “Goldcorp Challenge” offered $575k to anyone who could find the gold and drew 1,200 people from 50 countries. Results: 110 sites identified 50% new, 80% produced gold. 8 million ounces found. Company value up from $100 million to $9 billion!

“… if a loved one requires open-heart surgery, we do not want a collection of butchers, bakers and candlestick makers carving open the chest cavity. We’d much prefer a trained heart surgeon, and for good reason.” Scott E. Page

M YTHS A BOUT H IRING A D IVERSE F ACULTY Relatively few qualified women or minority candidates are available, and these are highly sought-after, so we are unlikely to recruit them.  Data (Ford Foundation) suggest that minorities are not sought-after:  Minority Postdocs: 54% never approached by any institution. We only use quality as a criterion for hiring… adding diversity will therefore compromise quality.  Hiring a more diverse faculty will improve quality, not compromise it.  More heterogeneous groups have greater creativity, bring wider range of viewpoints to an academic endeavor. We are doing everything we can, so the situation is already the best it can be. The problem is all due to older long-term faculty, so once they die/retire, things will automatically improve.

N ON -C OMPLIANCE L IABILITIES Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP)  Authority to cancel, terminate or suspend federal contracts and awards in whole or in part for failure of the contractor or subcontractor to comply with the nondiscrimination provisions of the contract.  Authority to declare UF ineligible for further federal contracts or extensions or other modifications of existing contracts. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)  Authority to award compensatory and punitive damages to a complainant (depending on the size of the employer (over 500 employees – limit is $300,000).

An effective faculty diversity program fosters an academic community that reflects a diverse range of interests, abilities, life experiences and worldviews that enhance the academic mission of the University of Florida. An effective faculty diversity program supports the equality of opportunity which ensures that the University of Florida can fully utilize the intellectual resources embedded in our diversity and maintain our legitimacy as a public university receiving federal funds. B USINESS C ASE F ACULTY D IVERSITY

A diverse faculty reduces the probability of ‘groupthinking’ where pressure to conform within a group can prevent good decision making as independent thinking is lost. A diverse faculty creates a greater engagement of a full range of differences in producing the synergies that leads to breakthroughs in productivity and innovations. A diverse faculty provides a broader pool of skills, talents and perspectives to draw from for problem-solving and organizational success. B USINESS C ASE F ACULTY D IVERSITY

Managing Diversity

Diversity Retention = Inclusion!

Inclusion Diversity Law Diversity without inclusion, will not work.

Potentially limiting concepts and strategies... “Benchmarking” --- Not having to re-invent the wheel... “A good fit”--- Fit what? “Participation” --- Not necessarily inclusion

Problems of Diversity Getting the benefits of diversity depends people being able to work together. We would expect that some people who are diverse in identity terms find it difficult to work together effectively. Communication (Problem solvers with diverse perspectives may have difficulty understanding each other) Misunderstanding and Mistrust Less comfortable atmosphere (We are all more comfortable with like-minded individuals)

If well managed, identity diversity can create benefits, provided it correlates with cognitive differences and provided the task is one in which diversity matters. Page, Scott E. ( ). The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies (p. 15). Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition. If people do not believe in the value of diversity, then when part of a diverse team, they are not as likely to produce good outcomes

Wisdom of the Crowd Information Aggregation

Many corporations such as Apple, Toshiba, Texas Instruments, Philips, BASF, GlaxoSmithKline, Procter & Gamble, the BBC and Nokia have embraced open innovation, realizing the benefits of harnessing inventiveness from outside their corporate walls.

Final Thoughts from Scott Page Our individual abilities are not likely to growth much anytime soon. Our collective diversity can grow. Diversity is our best hope to solve problems and to create innovations.

UF P RESIDENT ’ S C OUNCIL ON D IVERSITY D R. S HARI R OBINSON C HAIR P RESIDENT ’ S C OUNCIL ON D IVERSITY

Two-year membership term Faculty, staff, administration, students, community members Monthly Meetings Diversity Action Plan – developed by Council and reviewed by vice presidents, college deans, directors, and chairs Committees UF President’s Council on Diversity

1. Clearly define and publicize the University’s commitment to diversity. 2. Create a welcoming environment for individuals of all races, genders, nationalities, religions, sexual orientation, sexual identity & expression, viewpoints, ethnicities, & for those with disabilities. 3. Recruit and retain more women and individuals from diverse backgrounds in faculty positions.* 4. Recruit, retain & graduate more of undergraduate and graduate minority students and women (or men) in fields where they are not well represented.* *These targeted outreach and recruitment efforts are undertaken to provide meaningful opportunities for all, including people from under-served groups, within the context of regular, broad-based outreach and recruitment. UF Diversity Action Plan Initiatives

5. Provide incentives to academic units and academic support units for developing best practices and models for increasing diversity. 6. Provide high quality diversity education, orientation, and training available to all members of the university community. 7. Collect data and create databases to systematically and effectively assess progress to achieve diversity goals. UF Diversity Action Plan Initiatives (continued)

Thank you! Questions?