Organizational Measures
Empowering Voices: Communication Strategies for Racial Equity
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Pascale Caidor
This paper delves into the outcomes of a participatory research initiative conducted in collaboration with a Canadian non-profit organization committed to tackling issues related to anti-Black racism and workplace challenges through strategic public relations campaigns. The research aims to enhance our understanding of communication practices tailored to the needs of racialized communities. Preliminary findings reveal that these practices encompass various elements, including physical space utilization, proximity strategies, community event organization, and the creation of engaged multilingual media content. The study explores how these practices empower non-profit organizations (NPOs) to expand their reach, empower individuals, and amplify member voices on racial inequality in the public sphere. NPOs play a pivotal role as agents of change, mobilizing community members, fostering empowerment at both individual and collective levels, and promoting diverse and authentic voices. This collaborative research endeavors to shed light on the unique communication practices employed by Black communities to address racial inequality. It underscores the crucial role of NPOs as catalysts for change, enabling these communities to assert their voices, champion diversity, and shape public discourse. To fulfill research objectives, a qualitative and interpretative methodology was adopted. It involved immersing within the organizations' contexts, observing practices, interactions, and internal culture. Data collection methods included questionnaires for communication officers, group interviews, semi-structured individual interviews, and ethnographic observation during NPO communication events. Overall, this research sheds light on vital communication strategies in addressing racial inequality, emphasizing the role of NPOs as facilitators of positive change in marginalized communities.
Perceptions of State Government Employees on Diversity and the Citizen Outcomes From Diversity in Government View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Joseph Smith
Growing public and organizational awareness of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has contributed to additional training on DEI within governmental organizations. Previous research demonstrates benefits to the citizens served when government organizations increase the diversity within their workforce. Governmental organizations primarily rely on DEI training to increase positive DEI perceptions for employees in the workplace without understanding the specific needs of employees. In practice, government organizations have not sought to understand employee DEI perceptions before administering additional organizational DEI training. This study uses the Reactions to Diversity Index (RTDI) survey instrument to examine the employee perceptions of diversity within a United States State Government organization. The RTDI assesses employee positive and negative perceptions of diversity in emotional, behavioral, judgments, personal consequences, and organizational outcomes categories. Our study seeks to determine the impact on DEI perceptions regarding governmental employees' headquartered job location, non-mandatory training attendance, and employee gender. Comparing the means of this categorical data may lead to new training and outreach efforts, improving DEI positive perceptions for the specific governmental organization studied and providing a model for other governmental organizations seeking to strengthen positive DEI perceptions in their workforce.
A Cluster Analysis of Organizational Culture: Reinvestigating the Relationship between Organizational Engagement and Organizational Narcissism
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Elif Özge Erbay, Hande Tasa
Organizational narcissism occurs when their members have unrealistic beliefs about their organizations’ attributes such as it is extraordinary, omnipotent and omniscient among others. Since this belief may be harmful for organizational efficiency, investigating the antecedents of that feeling of grandiose would be very explanatory for future research. Our previous study which has been conducted to investigate the moderating effect of organizational collectivism and individualism on the relationship between employee engagement and organizational narcissism, revealed only the presence of moderating effect of individualism on the proposed relationship. Moreover, the result of our first study showing both collectivism and individualism have positive relationships with organizational narcissism has been surprising, because it has been considered that collectivism and individualism were two opposite poles of the culture in an organization. However, it has been very enlightening to discover that an organization may have collectivist and individualist at the same time, but with a different intensity. Therefore, this following brand-new study aims to reinvestigate the effect of organizational culture on the relationship between organizational engagement and organizational narcissism, but this time, a cluster analysis will be conducted to indicate the effect of engagement on organizational narcissism in four different combinations in which collectivism and individualism are high or low in each pattern. It has been planned to collect data from 400 white workers from Istanbul, Turkey; and we expect to show different moderating effects of each pattern of collectivist and individualist cultural attributes on the relationship between organizational engagement and organizational narcissism.
