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Diversity and Inclusion |
Achieving Inclusion Amidst Unconscious Bias, Microaggressions, and Polarized Positions
Dr. Alexis Smith Washington — Spears School of Business Senior Inclusion Officer, Associate Professor of Management and William S. Spears Chair of Business Administration
Today’s workplace is awash with common platitudes and pep talks. Be your best self. Bring your whole self to work. Bring the best out of others. These suggestions, fueled by a focus on authentic, conscious, and engaged leadership development, are well-intended but come during an age of nationwide ideological and political tur- moil. As a result, many workplaces become fraught with deepening interpersonal tensions as well-intended leaders struggle to inspire greatness from their followers. Without tools to acknowledge and address people’s deep-level diversity (differences of thought, values, and ideology), many leaders will continue to spin their wheels attempting to forge unity from division. The purpose of this talk is to give language to the underpinnings of these divisions. Research in management science (psychology, organizational behavior, and behavioral economics) has long recognized the processes underlying our divided state. In this talk/workshop, we will explore this body of knowledge in order to apply this research to the ongoing challenge of constructing an inclusive workplace. We focus specifically on fundamental psychological processes of unconscious bias, as well as how they give rise to behavioral microaggressions (alienating acts of subtle bias) and further entrench polarized factions among groups of people. Our goal is to name these processes and identify the tools that leaders, managers, and individuals may use to overcome these many automatic processes to achieve greater inclusion and coop- eration in their workplaces. This seminar is sponsored by the Department of Management and the Center for Executive and Professional Development in the Spears School of Business at Oklahoma State University. Participants earn 0.1 or 0.4 con- tinuing education units (CEUs) depending on the length of the seminar. » KORN FERRY COMPETENCIES Attracts top talent | Values differences | Drives engagement | Interpersonal savvy | Demonstrates self- awareness | Build effective teams
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The Center for the Future of Work in the OSU Spears School of Business offers various certificate programs and customized professional development.
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