Getting to Diversity
What Works and What Doesn't
Published on 13. September 2022
Book
Hardback
272 pages
978-0-674-27661-1 (ISBN)
Description
"Too many companies don't know how to walk the walk of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Getting to Diversity shows them how."
-Lori George Billingsley, former Global Chief DEI Officer, Coca-Cola Company
In an authoritative, data-driven account, two of the world's leading management experts challenge dominant approaches to increasing workplace diversity and provide a comprehensive account of what really works.
Every year America becomes more diverse, but change in the makeup of the management ranks has stalled. The problem has become an urgent matter of national debate. How do we fix it? Bestselling books preach moral reformation. Employers, however well intentioned, follow guesswork and whatever their peers happen to be doing. Arguing that it's time to focus on changing systems rather than individuals, two of the world's leading experts on workplace diversity show us a better way in the first comprehensive, data-driven analysis of what succeeds and what fails. The surprising results will change how America works.
Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev draw on more than thirty years of data from eight hundred companies as well as in-depth interviews with managers. The research shows just how little companies gain from standard practice: sending managers to diversity training to reveal their biases, then following up with hiring and promotion rules, and sanctions, to shape their behavior. Almost nothing changes. It's time, Dobbin and Kalev argue, to focus on changing the management systems that make it hard for women and people of color to succeed. They show us how the best firms are pioneering new recruitment, mentoring, and skill training systems, and implementing strategies for mixing segregated work groups to increase diversity. They explain what a difference ambitious work-life programs make. And they argue that as firms adopt new systems, the key to making them work is to make them accessible to all-not just the favored few.
Powerful, authoritative, and driven by a commitment to change, Getting to Diversity is the book we need now to address constructively one of the most fraught challenges in American life.
-Lori George Billingsley, former Global Chief DEI Officer, Coca-Cola Company
In an authoritative, data-driven account, two of the world's leading management experts challenge dominant approaches to increasing workplace diversity and provide a comprehensive account of what really works.
Every year America becomes more diverse, but change in the makeup of the management ranks has stalled. The problem has become an urgent matter of national debate. How do we fix it? Bestselling books preach moral reformation. Employers, however well intentioned, follow guesswork and whatever their peers happen to be doing. Arguing that it's time to focus on changing systems rather than individuals, two of the world's leading experts on workplace diversity show us a better way in the first comprehensive, data-driven analysis of what succeeds and what fails. The surprising results will change how America works.
Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev draw on more than thirty years of data from eight hundred companies as well as in-depth interviews with managers. The research shows just how little companies gain from standard practice: sending managers to diversity training to reveal their biases, then following up with hiring and promotion rules, and sanctions, to shape their behavior. Almost nothing changes. It's time, Dobbin and Kalev argue, to focus on changing the management systems that make it hard for women and people of color to succeed. They show us how the best firms are pioneering new recruitment, mentoring, and skill training systems, and implementing strategies for mixing segregated work groups to increase diversity. They explain what a difference ambitious work-life programs make. And they argue that as firms adopt new systems, the key to making them work is to make them accessible to all-not just the favored few.
Powerful, authoritative, and driven by a commitment to change, Getting to Diversity is the book we need now to address constructively one of the most fraught challenges in American life.
Reviews / Votes
A sweeping study of diversity efforts in the United States... a must-read for organizational leaders, especially those who are involved in putting in place policies and procedures meant to increase manager diversity. -- Jennifer S. Hirsch * American Journal of Sociology * This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to learn which practices can actually improve managerial diversity in organizations. * Science * A book that is tailored for anyone who is craving actionable, evidence-based advice about how to create effective programs. -- Elizabeth Weingarten * Behavioral Scientist * Drawing on more than 30 years of data from 800 companies as well as in-depth interviews with managers, two leading management experts set out to explain why, despite increasing diversity in American society, change in makeup of the management rank has stalled, and how to do things better. * Human Givens Journal * The great strength of the book is its consequentialist orientation: diversity programs are evaluated solely on the basis of their impact on gender and racial inequalities in organizations, looking away from intentions and discourses...Rich and stimulating. -- Laure Bereni * La Vie des Idees * These influential sociologists have spent their careers studying why diversity initiatives fail and what it takes to fix them. Their data-driven book doesn't just spotlight the problems-it's packed with solutions. -- Adam Grant * Adam Grant Thinks Again newsletter * Too many companies don't know how to walk the walk of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Getting to Diversity shows them how. It relies on hard data and real-life examples about what works and what doesn't, laying out a case for making real change in a thorough, well-written, no-fluff account. Figures showing effects of diversity programs are absolutely riveting. Bravo. -- Lori George Billingsley, former Global Chief DEI Officer, Coca-Cola Company Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev upended the conventional wisdom of diversity and inclusion practitioners with their seminal article 'Why Diversity Programs Fail.' Now they're back with a data-driven book about one of corporate America's most pressing contemporary issues, offering up required reading that is certain to shift the paradigm once again. -- Ben-Saba Hasan, Global Chief Culture, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, Walmart Inc. Most companies say they want to advance diversity and equity, but they resort to using the same old unsuccessful strategies. In many cases, this is undoubtedly because leaders are uncertain about which approaches really work. Fortunately, Dobbin and Kalev have written an accessible, engaging book that documents which initiatives actually help organizations better reflect the diverse society in which we live-so if you don't know, now you know! This is the book all leaders need to read to achieve results. -- Adia Wingfield, author of <i>Flatlining: Race, Work, and Health Care in the New Economy</i> Getting to Diversity makes good on the promise of its title. Years of research by Dobbin and Kalev have yielded concrete answers to questions about what is needed to achieve diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforces. Among the critical solutions they offer are ways to end sexual harassment and to democratize leadership opportunities-both keys to systemic, lasting, positive reform. At last a book that shows leaders how they can realize change. -- Anita Hill, University Professor, Brandeis University, and author of <i>Believing: Our Thirty-Year Journey to End Gender Violence</i> Getting to Diversity is a compelling, evidence-based book grounded in well-crafted multi-organizational research and the reality of people's experiences at work. This book has the potential to change CEO mindsets, human resource practices, manager behavior, and employee well-being-if only enough people grab it and heed its powerful messages. -- Rosabeth Moss Kanter, author of <i>Think Outside the Building</i>More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge, Mass
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
30 illus.
Dimensions
Height: 219 mm
Width: 142 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
408 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-674-27661-1 (9780674276611)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Frank Dobbin is Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences and Chair of the Department of Sociology at Harvard University. His books include Inventing Equal Opportunity and The Global Diffusion of Markets and Democracy (with Beth Simmons and Geoffrey Garrett). Alexandra Kalev is Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Tel Aviv University. Her award-winning paper "Cracking the Glass Cages?" shows how reducing segregation helps women and people of color to display their talents and move into management.