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November 28, 2006 11:16

That Diversity Training Session You Just Sat Through? It Doesn't Work

Posted by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen | Comments (10) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0) | Email This

You're a manager at a large firm. Every so often you sit through a day of diversity training, designed to teach you how to better manage, hire and promote minorities and women. The goal is worthy, you figure, and if your company spends so much money on these sessions then they must work.

Odd that year after year you look around at the other execs and see the same old faces.

Therein lies the proof: these expensive and time-consuming training programs simply don't work in moving minorities and women into upper management. Those are the findings of a new study published in the American Sociological Review. Worse, it's apparently the first time anyone's actually bothered to check.

Three academics--Frank Dobbin, professor of sociology at Harvard, Alexandra Kalev of the University of California, Berkeley, and Erin Kelly of the University of Minnesota--did bother. They mined 30 years of employment data from 700 companies across nine industries to study the effects of programs to address a chronic shortage of minorities in business's upper ranks.

Those programs typically fall into three categories: diversity training that seeks to change the behavior and attitudes of managers; mentoring or networking; and task forces or staff delegated specifically to help retain and promote minorities and women.

Of the three, diversity task forces work best, boosting black women into management positions by 30%, black men by 10% and white women by 14%.

Mentorships also helped, particularly for black women. In chemicals and engineering, for instance, companies that sponsored mentorship programs saw a 25% jump in black women in management.

Diversity training aimed at tamping bias among managers may actually make things worse: these programs typically were a 6% decrease in the proportion of black women in management.

Why? I called Frank Dobbin to find out. "It's all about accountability," he says. Attending a training program is a passive activity: you sit in a room while some highly paid consultant shows you PowerPoint presentations and videos about racial sensitivity and the benefits of diversity. You eat a donut. Then you go back to your desk and check your e-mail.

On the other hand, task forces set goals. "You sit around a table and brainstorm," says Dobbin. "You say, We're having trouble attracting black men. And someone says, Let's try recruiting at historically black colleges. Then at the next meeting you show your results."

The way to increase diversity among staff, says Dobbin, is "to treat it like any other business goal." Just do it; don't just PowerPoint it.

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Reader Comments (10)

Tony Sanchez:

I have yet to read the study on diversity training, but it sounds like what I have experienced. Diversity training. is similar to cultural sensitivity training and sexual harrassment training. It's great for the trainer and the training company, but there is no evidence of changes in the workplace. After a recent sexual harrassment training at my work, the only immediate change was an increase in jokes from both men and women. It is better, I believe, to deal with racial and sexual conflicts quickly and strongly. That is the message that will be respected.

Posted by Tony Sanchez | November 29, 2006 9:34 AM

apurv:

I agree with the conclusions presented. However, a lot of diversity training is about transfering "risk"- if an employee does something that is racist and the organization hasn't provided diversity training then the organization is in trouble and the entire organization gets blamed. However, if the organization can point to something they did- like a diversity training class then it is the employee who is at fault.
Hence this is CYA on part of companies and it sounds good to say that they have diversity training

Posted by apurv | November 29, 2006 12:36 PM

Kevin L.:

Why does your article only focus on the black male/female and white female perspectives? Certainly there are other minorities in the workforce these days.

It's hard to take your article seriously when you leave out others with the same concerns (i.e. - even your diversity argument is corrupt). If diversity empowerment efforts are consistent with the narrowmindedness of this article then you'll never see an improvement in minority hiring practices.

Posted by Kevin L. | November 29, 2006 1:58 PM

paula fordham:

Diversity in the workplace will be respected and supported only if the leadership of the orgainization respects and support the issues surrounding diversity in the work place.

The attitudual climate of any organization is illustrated and demonstrated daily within the orgainzation. Some individuals feel very comfortable exercising bias practices because it is never addressed as an issue of concerns by the leadership of the orgainzation.

Bias practices, double standards, and overt racism is often modeled by individuals and managers. However if the leadership and managers of the orgainzation denounces these ugly behaviors and practices, the climate would change. Remember that the leadership of the orgainzation attitude toward diversity in the workplace is embraced, the cultural compentency would be modeled.

Posted by paula fordham | November 29, 2006 2:10 PM

Erin Shannon:

I must agree. Training must be followed by action steps. I believe the role diversity training provides is "awareness." Training is the start of a process, not the cure-all.

Posted by Erin Shannon | November 29, 2006 5:41 PM

Michael Brown:

The results also show a problem in society: Black women exceeded both White women and Black men because including them was a race and sex diversity hit. Another question is how much are their contributions valued?

Posted by Michael Brown | November 29, 2006 10:13 PM

Egghead:

The 30% increase in black women in management stat is very telling and takes some ammunition away from this blog’s argument. Hiring/promoting a black woman advances two demographic goals with just one stroke of the pen. Businesses realized this and actively encouraged human resource decisions based on that effect. It’s quick, effective, and – best of all – measurable. So it’s not entirely correct to say that the business world did not bother looking at the effectiveness of their diversity programs. They did, and the significantly higher percentage of increase in black women in management is the result.

Posted by Egghead | November 30, 2006 12:41 PM

robert edward cenek:

Great post!!

Dobbin, Kalev and Kelly's study clearly confirms my personal experiences while leading training and development functions in several Fortune 200 firms.

Training by itself rarely produces organizational change. True organizational change occurs when a firm's leaders commit to personal change, and unequivocally expect others to share and demonstrate the same beliefs. The failure for such teams to do this is really the underlying reason why many great organizational initiatives ultimately become deemed as "fads" or failed programs. That being said, successful change admittedly requires more than just a frenzy of emotional energy and muscle. All pieces of the firm's organizational architecture - e.g., systems, structure, leadership practices, people competencies - must be aligned and supportive of the new direction.

Advancing diversity in a large complex organization most effectively occurs by altering the firm's power base. Once large firms begin to have a a more diverse power base, the path upward for other minorities becomes easier. Few white, Anglo-Saxon upper management teams have a personal attachment to advancing diversity, unless of course a more activistic board is closely monitoring their progress - and holding them accountable.

robert edward cenek
www.cenekreport.com

Posted by robert edward cenek | November 30, 2006 9:07 PM

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Posted by paula fordham
November 29, 2006

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Nina Subin

Lisa Takeuchi Cullen is a staff writer for TIME. She blogs about work. Why? Because TV was taken. Think of her as the grumpy colleague ranting by the water cooler.
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