Organizing Better
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Authorizing a Rotating Equity Advocate Role for Inclusive Workplace Practice: Emergent Diversity Equity through Bottom-up Change View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Michael Moon
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives adopt primarily a muddled, laissez faire approach to instituting change in organizational culture and operations. To normalize relevance, DEI training necessarily glosses over existing localized practices and responsibilities, leaving participants to cobble together their semblance of equitable practices. Unless each participant is trained and enabled to diagnose, coordinate, and instigate bottom-up change to engage collaboratively on collective DEI programmatic goals, reversion to status quo is a reasonable and likely outcome. As a corrective, I propose an equity advocate role that rotates among workgroup members in which the designated advocate is trained to observe group process and call out concerns when necessary to ensure that work and decision-making are equitable and inclusive. Instituting this role formally authorizes group members to examine how their work in "real time" may at times be inconsistent with DEI initiatives. Taking up this role, along with one's formal job role, calls on each person to practice taking responsibility for DEI implementation. Benefits beyond typical training regimens include: broad and substantive participation across group members; shared responsibility; application of principles to "real time" local work practices and tasks; role-based change agency; peer learning and role modeling; localized equity initiatives; and learning and practicing bottom-up change intervention. Broadly deploying the equity advocate role establishes contexts in which the work of DEI can become integral to the existing work of the organization. Without such operationalization, visions of greater inclusion will likely remain aspirational rather than enacted.
Featured Political Gaslighting of Trolls Under the Duterte Regime View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Janielle Villamera
When communication in social media platforms is used as a means for political control, it allows for a culture of truth manipulation and historical distortion to exist. The creation of troll armies as part of the government operations in countering critics and dissidents alike was to engage them in futile discourses. Composed of digital influencers, fake accounts, and algorithmic bots, their goal is to seemingly inflate Duterte’s supporters, while also practicing a messianic culture in public opinion. Examining the psyche of online political trolls during the Duterte regime, this study explores how disinformation campaigns thrived through the social phenomenon of political gaslighting. Danah Boyd’s concept of “attention hacking” elaborated how trolling is used as a psychological warfare against information in digital media spaces. Through a psychological approach, this study discusses the culture of influence, how trolls have the power to manipulate narratives to a convincing degree, which eventually translates to additional voter support. Rather than showing the large comprehensive network of trolling, this study contributes to the moral particularities and justifications that understands the developments of their interpersonal relationships as online political trolls. As the strategies of political deception in populism continues to advance, the troll presence and impact welcomed a wide support base of Duterte that carried over after his regime, which argues trolling as a propaganda used as a response to arguments and grievances, as well as to form beliefs, sentiments, and opinions.
The Recruiting Trap that Kills Diversity: Root Causes, Empirical Evidence, and Steps to Overcome the Recruiting Trap View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Thomas Seemann, Melanie Seemann
A large body of empirical research shows how prejudice and cognitive biases affect the hiring decisions of recruiters. People who are likewise and match certain norms are favored. Laws, regulations, and cooperate policies have limited success in preventing these biases. We propose a phase-gate recruiting process as a way to reduce or overcome the recruiting trap. A foundational principle of this framework is that there is not a single-best candidate that need to be identified and recruited, but that there are many candidates that will perform great depending on the situational circumstances. The resulting recruiting process comprises of three gates: the qualification gate, the motivation and integrity gate, and the diversity gate. This enables corporations to overcome biases and foster organizational diversity leading to a more talented, engaged, and diverse workforce.
Resistance to Access, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Confessions of an Arts Consultant View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Antonio C. Cuyler
As a consultant who partners with and supports a variety of cultural organizations, I have observed a variety of ways in which people express their resistance to access, diversity, equity, and inclusion (ADEI). In this paper, I describe the ten myths and misunderstandings some folx in the arts have said when the passive aggressively resist ADEI work. In addition, I anonymously share key data points from climate surveys and focus groups and how I approached working with clients to devise a meaningful path forward on their ADEI journey. Lastly, I conclude by posing some philosophical and practical questions about how to collect critical and actionable data to strategically cultivate a culture responsive to ADEI.
The Arizona Ban on Ethnic Studies: How do Corridos Shape Identity and Resistance View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Angelica Loreto
This study explores the benefits of using oral storytelling in Ethnic Studies classes as a methodology for self-reflection for student empowerment in providing a sense of place where language, culture and identity are accepted. By utilizing secondary research I focus on the ban on multicultural teaching in Arizona while presenting a biased and targeted attack on the Chicano community. This work suggests that macroaggressions and obvious targeting are consistent to the historical traumas of these communities in and out of the education system. Thus, I call for a furthering of place-based pedagogy/teaching that utilizes corridos showing how cultural hegemony expression has been revoked by these tyrant attacks and accepted by mainstream society.
A Framework for Community Diversity and Inclusion in Liveability Related Service Delivery View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Katie O'bryan, Paul Kellner, Paul Satur
Australian water authorities have long been powerful drivers of liveability, resilience and sustainability outcomes in the cities and places they service. They thus play a critical role in enabling the health and wellbeing outcomes of all people through the many water servicing outcomes they provide. This paper presents the outcomes of a transdisciplinary research project that sought to develop a community focussed diversity and inclusion framework to support Melbourne Water - one of Australia's largest water authorities - to deliver liveability related servicing outcomes in ways that would enable a greater access, uptake and enjoyment for the many diverse communities throughout the city of Melbourne. A two-phase methodology was developed, drawing together organisational and Monash University researchers’ expertise in Integrated Water management; Law, Safety and Risk; Human Behaviour Change and Review Science. First, a legislative and regulatory review sought to understand the legal obligations, policies and strategic commitments for the organisation on a national and state level. Concurrently, a strategic and practice review and an evidence review explored what works to promote community diversity and inclusion within land and waterway management? The findings from these reviews were synthesized and used to inform stakeholder interviews and co-design workshops. This research will provide Melbourne Water with guiding principles and tools to put in place a systems based approach to its service delivery, which acknowledges the intersectional nature of community diversity, providing a basis for achieving multiple benefits through place-based service delivery. It can provide a model for other statutory authorities to draw upon.
Competency Needs, Proficiency, and Gender Mainstreaming Among Rank-and-File Employees: Basis for a Proposed Gender-Responsive Program View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Mary Rose Hibo
Competencies are those observable, measurable, vital knowledge, skills and attitudes that are translations of capabilities considered essential for any organization’s success (Civil Service Commission, 2016). Interpersonal skills and communication skills are regarded as most vital among competency skills (Rufino, et al 2018). Furthermore, organizations should be involved and invested in trainings for employees to enable them to perform their job efficiently and effectively for increased productivity (Joseph, 2015). Besides, enhanced competencies and proficiencies provide any organization with a competitive edge. This study considers the perceived level of competency needs and proficiency of 62 level 1 rank-and-file employees of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) and propose gender-responsive programs. It reviews the gender mainstreaming level per entry point and tests their relationship. A descriptive correlation research design was utilized along with the Philippine Commission on Women’s Gender Mainstreaming Evaluation Framework (GMEF). Results shown a strong and positively significant relationship between the perceived level of competency needs and proficiency with a value of r = .71 and p=.00 > 0.05. Furthermore, results signified a weak and no significant relationship between competency needs and gender mainstreaming level per entry point with a value of p=<0.05. Similarly, there is a weak and no significant relationship between proficiency and gender mainstreaming level per entry point with a value of p=<0.05.
