The reading for this week talked about the barriers that many people still face in the modern workplace. Resisting others, homogenizing, and marginalizing are all ways that diversification in the workplace is thwarted. Some of it is intentional; hateful or malicious acts directed at people who are different from the dominant majority. Some of it is just "the way it has always been;" outdated or shortsighted policies that make being part of a minority group an uncomfortable and unproductive organizational experience.
For this interactive lesson, I want you to explain how an organization can use communication to create a more openly diverse workplace. Create a powerpoint presentation with a slide for each barrier, and a slide detailing your general and specific strategies for combatting these barriers in your fictional organization, using the specific prompts below. You should:
1. Briefly describe of the barriers to a diverse workplace.
Create a solution. Speak generally about how organizational communication can be used to create a more diverse organization. This could include policies, tactics, strategies, examples of formal or informal communication. First think big, in terms of organizational culture. What kind of culture would create a more inclusive environment? Now, bring it down to the level of strategy - how could an organization use communication to create this culture. (1-2 slides)
3. Build detail around your strategy. How exactly would you put it into place and enact it? How would this create a more diverse workplace? Why do you think it would be effective? What might stand in the way of success? (1-2 slides)
4. Finally, go to the website of a Fortune 500 company and search for "diversity" and "diversity initiatives." What results do you get? Think about how those results relate to any of the concepts (either problems or solutions) discussed in the reading. Based on these examples (but not copying), create a diversity statement for your organization.