{"id":3604,"date":"2016-05-25T11:20:29","date_gmt":"2016-05-25T18:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/business\/?p=3604"},"modified":"2016-05-25T16:11:01","modified_gmt":"2016-05-25T23:11:01","slug":"panel-looks-workplace-diversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/business\/2016\/05\/25\/panel-looks-workplace-diversity\/","title":{"rendered":"Panel looks at workplace diversity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Panelist
Panelist Tim Hall addresses the audience while moderator Audrey Iffert-Saleem, left, and panelists Monica Baez, Lawrence Houston III and Angela Batista listen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Workplace diversity can bring inner conflict to an organization, but that\u2019s a good thing as long as it\u2019s managed in such a way that the diverse individuals, their team and the entire organization can use it as a tool for growth.<\/p>\n

That was just one of many points made by Lawrence Houston III, assistant professor of management at the College of Business, during a May 20 panel discussion at Austin Hall\u2019s Stirek Auditorium: \u201cDiversity in the Workplace: What leaders need to know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joining Houston on the panel were Angela Batista, Oregon State\u2019s interim chief diversity officer, and two Oregon State alumni: Tim Hall, class of 1978, chairman of the President\u2019s Board of Visitors for Community and Diversity at OSU, and Monica Baez, class of 1987, a State Farm agent and the owner of the Monica Baez Insurance Agency, Inc., in Corvallis.<\/p>\n

Audrey Iffert-Saleem, executive director of strategic initiatives at the College of Business, moderated the 75-minute discussion, during which each panelist shared a range of personal and professional perspectives.<\/p>\n

Hall, who\u2019s had a long career in public relations\/public affairs, noted that when he was enrolled at Oregon State, he was one of just a couple dozen black students on campus. Batista described a background that included arriving in New York as a child-immigrant from the Caribbean who spoke no English, and Baez recounted being told how she was likely to get certain jobs solely on the basis of being a female minority.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you think that makes you feel?\u201d she asked, referring to having her abilities deemed not as important as her gender or ethnicity.<\/p>\n

Houston, who studies workplace diversity, said organizations need to make a point to explain the purpose of minority-focused programs, both to minorities and non-minorities. Understanding why programs are in place helps everyone accept them, and use them. Houston recalled how as a graduate student at Penn State, he purposely avoided minority-focused programs \u2013 he is black \u2013 because he was offended by what he perceived as the implication he couldn\u2019t succeed without them.<\/p>\n

Had the programs\u2019 purpose been stated clearly, he said, Houston realized later that he likely would\u2019ve taken advantage of some of them.<\/p>\n

In the workplace, simply having people of different nationalities, ethnic groups, religions, etc. doesn\u2019t by itself complete the diversity puzzle, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cInclusivity means people feel that they\u2019re valued as well feeling like they belong,\u201d Houston said.<\/p>\n

Both Houston and Hall touched on effective hiring.<\/p>\n

\u201cHuman resources departments do need to discriminate \u2013 that\u2019s what they do,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t do anyone any good for someone to be hired who can\u2019t succeed. Organizations need to hire people who can do the job and then put them in positions where they can succeed and be promoted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hall said experience has taught him that pretty much all people, regardless of their status or non-status as a minority, can handle not getting hired as long as they\u2019ve gotten a real chance to compete for the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hiring process must be fair, equitable and honest,\u201d he said. \u201cProductivity suffers when workers see leaders embrace cronyism.\u201d<\/p>\n

What leaders need to do, Houston said, after following the type of hiring process Hall says is critical, is \u201ccreate an environment where it\u2019s OK to disagree\u201d and then manage that disagreement in ways that foster growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Workplace diversity can bring inner conflict to an organization, but that\u2019s a good thing as long as it\u2019s managed in such a way that the diverse individuals, their team and the entire organization can use it as a tool for growth. That was just one of many points made by Lawrence Houston III, assistant professor … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Panel looks at workplace diversity”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6435,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[706336,489,706250,706337,706338],"class_list":["post-3604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faculty-research","tag-angela-batista","tag-diversity","tag-lawrence-houston-iii","tag-monica-baez","tag-tim-hall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6435"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3604"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3608,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3604\/revisions\/3608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}