Nineteenth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

Within today’s initiatives to create diversity, inclusion and equity, there remains the lack of real change that builds progress and synergy in the workplace. In many organizations, diversity is still very much a categorized process that identifies and stratifies team members by race, gender, and other protected classifications. In many cases, these classifications have not built the natural practices and approaches that create engagement. They also have not solved the practice of preferential selection of diverse candidates and employees, which then leaves many without opportunities. The intent of this session is to explore the promise of inclusion as a catalyst for full engagement of all employees; including white males, management, and leadership. The inclusion promise also addresses the natural inhibitors of diversity programs, i.e. bias and unconscious bias, the fear that increased diversity will diminish opportunities and most importantly the issues related to power. Participants will work through and discover effective approaches to diversity and inclusion that can be integrated into new and mature initiatives.