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5.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Leadership in a Diverse and
Inclusive Organization

After reading this chapter students will

1. Define organizational diversity and inclusion
2. Explore a brief social history of how these concepts have become
significant in the current organizational culture
3. Understand various leadership strategies, approaches, and techniques
that apply to this leadership challenge
4. Use various leadership examples and practical applications to
understand how organizational diversity and inclusion can be achieved

5.2 KEY TERMS

• Diversity
• Inclusion
• Adaptive work
• Group-identity
• In-group/out-group

5.3 INTRODUCTION
This chapter will address leadership in a diverse and inclusive organizational
environment. Chapter one defines leadership as “the action of leading a group of
people or an organization” (Oxford University). The challenge explored in this
chapter is leading an organization to embrace a culture of inclusiveness. The
chapter will trace the history of diversity and inclusiveness in organizations and
how leadership theory has embraced these new trends through applying adaptive
work, managing out-groups, discovering a personal mission, and addressing
inclusive personal traits.

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5.4 DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVENESS

Diversity’s definition is quite simple: “the condition or fact of being different
or varied; variety.” The definition of inclusiveness is a little more complex: “the
quality of including many different types of people and treating them all fairly and
equally” (Cambridge Dictionary). For purposes of this chapter, we will use a more
current and targeted description of the two terms. Jim Turley, Former Chairman
and CEO of Ernst and Young and the current Director of Citibank, draws a
distinction between the two: “Diversity itself is about the mix of people you have,
and creating an inclusive culture is about making that mix work” (Groysberg and
Connolly, 2014).

Ajay Banga, MasterCard CEO

My passion for diversity comes from the fact that I myself am diverse.
There have been a hundred times when I have felt different from other
people in the room or in the business. I have a turban and a full beard, and
I run a global company—that’s not common.

5.5 DIVERSITY
Using Turley’s definition, we see that the term diversity represents the
composition of people within an organization. Diversity made its way into
organizations from a legal perspective in 1964 with the passage of the Title VII
Civil Rights Act. Title VII had a significant impact on organizations and their
leadership. The act dictated that certain groups of people had to be provided
a greater opportunity and equal access to careers within all organizations.
These groups included racial, gender, religious, and cultural groups. As time
progressed, Title VII has been amended to include many other different types
of groups as well, which incorporate sexual orientation, age, and disabilities
(Dishman, 2018).
In many ways, the concept of diversity in organizations has evolved from
purely legal compliance to a social justice focus, to a personal awareness and
acceptance. Nevertheless, the concept of diversity and the positive attributes
of diversity have still a long way to go in reaching their full importance within
many organizations. A 2015 study from Deloitte’s Leadership Initiative indicated
that generational shifts may re-define the meaning and significance of diversity.
The study found that Boomers (born 1946 to1964) and Gen. Xers (born 1965 to
1979) saw diversity as a fairness process that focused on protecting members
of specific groups. However, Millennials (born 1980 to 2000) defined diversity
as a mixing of different backgrounds and individual perspectives, including the
more subtle notion of out-groups. These findings indicate that not only is the

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cultural understanding of diversity changing, but also the concept/ identification

of diversity has become an accepted social norm (Dishman, 2015).
As mentioned above, this newer classification occurring in literature is
the formation of out-groups, both a simple and yet complex group formation.
It’s simple in that this group formation has existed over past generations and
is commonly recognized. Yet, it’s complex to understand and embrace. The
out-group formation dynamic is created during childhood and young adult
periods and can carry forward in one’s life. The formation dynamic may include
categorization by abilities, e.g. intellectual vs athletic, perceived looks, odd
interest associations, or non-conforming friends. Indeed, we refer to the creation
of popular cliques and those who are outside of the norm as not accepted. This
same group formation behavior is also seen and present in organizations.
The out-group categorization seen in organizations is triggered by those who
cannot identify with the values, beliefs, or norms of those with whom they work.
For example, into this categorization would fall the individual who works on a
production line and wants to place a religious picture or figure in their workplace.
While at first glance it may seem this practice should not be seen as an out-group
trigger, it may become so if the workers around these individuals begin to make fun
of the practice and separate themselves from this individual. The act of making fun
of the practice can create a bond between those who do the criticizing—in-group—
as well as creating an out-group who display the behavior. The results of this out-
group creation can, and usually does, lead to negative personal performance and
overall reduction in production output.
A much more subtle reason for out-group formation within organizations can
come from the feeling of unknown exclusion. For example, new employees or even
long-tenured employees who are considered “non-contributors or burdens” by the
rest of the employees might experience this feeling. In either case, an out-group can
be formed that knows they are excluded but do not know why. An example of an
organizational treatment that becomes a trigger for creating an out-group may be as
simple as who gets invited to lunch. The member of the out-group has no idea why
they are excluded, other than they are. In this case, the unknown causal factor is
most insidious and can be one of the most difficult to overcome (Northouse, 2018).
When leaders are attempting to pivot the organization to one that embraces
diversity and adopts an inclusive culture, they must understand that out-group
strategies must be a part of their overall effort to ensure the goal is met. They
additionally must remember that this move takes a personal commitment by
the leader to adopt personal values and behaviors that will demonstrate the
organization’s commitment.

5.6 INCLUSIVENESS
To understand what it means to be an included member of a diverse workgroup,
let’s examine the inclusion experience of an individual. The inclusion experience

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goes beyond the workplace to the whole of an individual’s experiential domain.

Whether an employee feels included in a workgroup will depend on the richness of
experiences outside the workplace. To visualize this concept see figure 5.1, which
illustrates that the inclusive experience starts with the individual and evolves as
the individual experiences inclusive events in larger and more impersonal settings.
After gathering inclusive experiences at the initial levels, the individual begins to
interact with organizations. As a member of an organization, an individual brings
with them their past experiences with inclusion and exclusion, which creates
expectations around future inter-relations within the workplace (Fredman and
Deane, 2013).

Figure 5.1: The Individual Inclusive Experience

Source: The Practice of Inclusion in Diverse Organizations, p 17
Attribution: Corey Parson, adapted from B. M. Ferdman
License: Fair Use

The individual, as a member of an organization, uses their experiences to

evaluate the leadership’s behavior concerning diversity and the organization’s
culture, values, and philosophy as they relate to diversity. The individual will
evaluate the leader’s behavior based upon communications, invitations to be a part

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of things, organizational policy, procedures, training opportunities, and ultimately

promotional opportunities. The organization’s new employees may use this
experiential understanding of inclusion to determine whether the organization’s
culture, leadership, and workgroups embrace inclusive practices that warrant
continued association. The inclusion experience (table 5.1) is a lifelong process
that continues to evolve and mature (Fredman and Deane, 2013).

Table 5.1: Components of the Inclusion Experience

Feeling safe (self and Do I feel physically and psychologically safe?
group) Do I feel secure that I am a full member of the group?
Do I feel that my contribution will be respected and
valued?
Feeling involved and Am I a fully accepted participant in workgroup actions?
engaged Do I feel I have equal access to all resources of the
workgroup?
Do I feel part of a collaborative team?
Feeling respected and Am I being treated the way I would like to be treated?
valued (self and group) Do members of the workgroup respect me?
Do others of the workgroup care about me?
Feeling influential on Do I listen when considering important decisions?
decision making Are my ideas considered, and do they influence decisions
in my group?
Feeling authentic – Can I honestly be myself with my workgroup?
bringing one’s whole self to Can I have an open and honest dialogue with my
work workgroup?
Validating that diversity Does my organization value diversity?
is recognized, attended to, Can my organization openly discuss and share ideas on
and honored diversity issues?
Are there barriers in the organization based on my
identity?
Source: The Practice of Inclusion in Diverse Organizations, p 38.
Attribution: B. M. Ferdman
License: Fair Use

5.7 THE INCLUSIVE ORGANIZATION

Thomas and Ely (1996) identify three organizational paradigm shifts in
understanding and acceptance that need to take place for the organization to learn
and adopt an inclusive group-identity culture:
• The discrimination-fairness legal paradigm, which is focused on
assimilation and conformity between race and gender, as well as other
softer categories.

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