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Diversity & Inclusion and innovation: a virtuous cycle
Abstract
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to clarify the reciprocal relationship between Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) and innovation to demonstrate how each may be effectively leveraged for the benefit of the other to help businesses grow. The paper aims to expand the discussion around the relationship between D&I and innovation by exploring not only how D&I can be leveraged for better outcomes in innovation, but also how innovation can be leveraged for better outcomes in D&I.
Design/methodology/approach
– This paper explores insights from researchers and practitioners, case examples, and the authors’ professional experiences, opinions and interpretations.
Findings
– Set in the context of current challenges facing business leaders, the paper provides insights, recommendations and case examples about how D&I can be leveraged to bring about innovative products, services and business solutions. It also discusses factors limiting success in the field of D&I calling for innovative approaches that can deliver better outcomes. A set of recommendations and case examples of next generation D&I practices is followed by an example methodology demonstrating value in fostering innovative D&I strategies and results.
Research limitations/implications
– Researchers and practitioners are encouraged to explore and test the proposals further.
Practical implications
– The paper suggests opportunities for the development of more effective approaches to leveraging D&I for innovation, and leveraging innovation for D&I to help businesses succeed.
Originality/value
– This paper highlights a novel opportunity to examine the reciprocity in the interplay between innovation and D&I and broaden the typically unilateral view of this relationship.
... The imbalance of women in STEM occupations reflects a lack of workforce diversity. Diversity in the workforce is beneficial to organizations as it enhances innovation and organizational performance by representing a well-rounded set of backgrounds and experiences (Díaz-García et al., 2013;Friedman et al., 2016;Herring, 2009;Hoever et al., 2012;Steele & Derven, 2015). ...
... Continual innovation is necessary to meet consumers' ever-changing needs and demands for products and services (Dobni et al., 2018;Steele & Derven, 2015). Furthermore, organizations need to build products and services to meet the interests of market populations that are becoming more diverse, and therefore need more internal diversity to serve a broader range of customers (Salomon & Schork, 2003;U.S. ...
There is a need to address the underrepresentation of women in science, technology,
engineering, and math (STEM) occupations for the United States to remain competitive
globally, especially as it relates to staying abreast of the rapid advancements in
technology. Increasing the number of women who persist in STEM occupations can help
address the projected shortage of STEM labor overall, increase diversity, improve
innovation for organizations, and increase the spending power of women. The purpose of
the current study was to examine factors that affect women’s decisions to leave STEM
occupations with the goal of helping managers and leaders of organizations understand
ways to reduce turnover. Social cognitive career theory, organizational support, and
turnover theory were leveraged to understand the perspectives of current and former
women in STEM occupations. This quantitative research involved surveying 657 women
in STEM occupations in the United States through social media platforms. Results
showed organizational support of work–family balance has a higher impact on turnover
than overall organizational support, supervisor support, and coworker support. Additional
investigations are needed to understand the lack of work–family support for women in
STEM occupations and organizational approaches that can improve women’s support
perceptions and reduce attrition rates.
... Adaptation of the team [113, E] x x x x Team Guide Board [35,98] x Regulated discussion culture [99] x x Reflection in Team Retrospectives [6,35] x x x Regular team meetings [96] x x x x Decision-making power for individual team members [100] x x x x Different type profiles in the team [101] x x Suitable team size [96] x x Team has a mission statement or team vision [6] x x x Team cohesion [6] x 3.4 Team output Constant team performance [102] x Internal team performance measurement [102] x x Short release cycle times [35,96] x x x 3.5 Working environment Intuitivity of tools [E] x Task board or dashboard visualization techniques [103] x High availability of supervisors and stakeholders [E] x x Availability of work equipment [E] x x x x High project visibility [6,46,104] x x x Targeted access to tools and methods [105] x x x Targeted access to knowledge [105] x x x Locations optimized for information flow [80] x x Cross-party method usage [E] x x Access to additional premises [E] x x x Low interaction between mechanics, electronics and computer science [66] x x x Presence of the customer in the development process [36,56,70] x x 3.6 Design task Coevolution of objectives and objects [95,106] x Development aligned to product profile [94] x Allow and greet later changes [57,107,108] x x x x Low interface complexity [66] x x x Evaluation of the criticality of projects [46,91] x x x x Clear prioritization of requirements [35,88] x x x x ...
... High potential for elaboration [118] x x x High problem solving competence [113,122] x x Concepts of customer-developer communication [36] x x x x Existence of agile basic competencies [123] x x x 4.3 Individual styles of thinking & acting Diversity in employee composition [6,101] x x ...
Background: Companies in physical product development strive to integrate agile approaches into different organizational units. However, the purposes they are pursuing are very diverse (improve product quality, achieve shorter development times, etc.). While the individual goals are different, the number of agile approaches has increased. Despite the large variety, it has been shown that companies in the field of physical product development are faced with great challenges due to the integration of agile approaches. Aim: The challenges of an agile transition are to be facilitated by the situation- and demand-oriented application of agile principles and appropriate factors. Method: For this reason, influencing factors on the agile capabilities of companies were identified and clustered in this article. In addition, the factors were assigned to agile principles for mechatronic system development, whose application positively influences the respective factor. Result: From this information, a methodology was developed that supports method and process developers in describing the respective situation in which an organizational unit is situated. Based on this, a requirement profile for the method or process solution to be developed is derived from the factor-principles-cluster. Conclusion: This methodology enables process developers to develop and apply tailor-made agile practices for the respective organizational unit. This is intended to keep the expected challenges of agile work in physical product development as low as possible.
... Un aumento en el costo de lanzar un nuevo producto o servicio innovador, puede inducir a las organizaciones a competir más agresivamente por el liderazgo, lo cual puede generar mayores costos y cambios radicales, en servicios o soluciones innovadoras (Borkovsky, 2017;Steenhuis, 2017;Kim et al., 2016), aunque, en el desarrollo de nuevos productos y servicios, las tasas de fracaso son extremadamente altas, no obstante, los proyectos fallidos pueden dar lugar a importantes conocimientos, capacidades y/o habilidades (Schilling, 2015;Steele y Derven, 2015). ...
La innovación transforma el conocimiento científico y tecnológico en riqueza económica, bienestar social y desarrollo humano, por lo que su propósito adquiere valor en la medida en que trasciende a la sociedad. Por lo tanto, desde el ámbito empresarial, la organización implementa estrategias de innovación, utiliza los recursos y capacidades de los que dispone para implementar efectivamente las tecnologías existentes, y para crear otras nuevas capacidades mejorando su competitividad. En este sentido, la investigación tuvo como objetivo establecer el perfil innovador de un grupo de Mipymes que participaron en el proyecto Actívate Valle – Incremento de la innovación en las Mipymes en el departamento del Valle del Cauca 2020, financiado por la Gobernación del Valle. Para establecer el perfil innovador, se hizo una caracterización de las empresas, se identificaron las actividades de innovación que han realizado, se describió la estrategia de innovación que han utilizado, así como el desempeño financiero que han logrado generar en el período 2017- 2019. Los resultados evidencian que, a pesar de que las empresas reconocen que han realizado innovaciones, les cuesta determinar cuál es la estrategia que utilizan para innovar y qué tan innovadores son los productos, servicios o procesos realizados. También se encontró que hay una baja destinación de recursos para actividades de innovación, así como un bajo uso de la protección de la propiedad intelectual. Los resultados de este estudio aportan elementos para tomar decisiones relacionadas con la política de ciencia, tecnología e innovación, el fomento a la innovación, el fortalecimiento de las capacidades y el desarrollo de redes de capital social en función del crecimiento económico, social y productivo.
... Innovations and diversity are crucial prerequisites of organizational success in the new economy [52]. We have planned to thoroughly examine the relationship between DOC and IWB and to verify the extent to which it can be influenced by teamwork climate. ...
Representatives of municipalities and their management are invited to develop new managerial skills in order to implement modern approaches to management. Diversity management means using the diverse potential of employees to meet the innovation and development goals of the offices. The aim of our research is to examine the context of beliefs, values, and rules of diverse organizational culture (DOC) and innovative work behavior (IWB) through the mediation effect of teamwork climate, transmitting and moderating this direct effect in the environment of Slovak municipalities. A mediation model was applied using the Sobel test for the mediation effect. A series of regression analyses were used to identify the proposed hypotheses. The mediation effect was correctly estimated. The direct effect of the beliefs, values, and rules of DOC has enhanced IWB. However, a certain part of them that leads through teamwork climate slightly dampens IWB.
... These spaces act as neutral zones for stirring creativity based on interaction and mutual learning among stakeholders, supported by dedicated platforms, and toolkits. The place-based perspective recognises that innovation \needs a home" [Carstensen and Bason (2012, p. 5)] and \fertile ground" [Sonea (2016, p. 173)] for manifestations that foster diversity, inclusion, openness,°e xibility and collaboration [Steele and Derven (2015); Schmidt and Brinks (2017)]. In these structures, the charge for leadership is to advocate, cultivate, include and develop a mix of talent. ...
Although innovation laboratories offer creative and distinct physical spaces for mediating and directing innovation processes, research on their applicability for co-creative learning during serious play, particularly through Lego Serious Play (LSP) workshops remains limited. Previous studies suggest that serious play workshops tend to focus on scenarios, problem solving and reflective processes, with limited considerations for joint co-creation and learning potentials within innovation laboratories. Motivated by the creative prospects of metaphoric representations and shared stories, this study explores the possibilities of harnessing LSP for co-creative learning in innovation laboratories. This case study draws theoretical insights and practical relevance from a co-creative learning workshop involving three learning scenarios within a Middle Eastern and emerging economy context. Findings from the workshop show variability in representations, interactions and reflections, shaping possibilities for co-creative learning in innovation laboratories. Representations focus on systems, solutions and problems during fragmented, model-supported, model-mediated and integrated interactions that underpin a range of instance-based, variance-based, convergence-based and divergence-based reflections. These insights contribute to co-creation literature that views value creation as an amalgamation of open, collaborative and user innovation. The study concludes by discussing its theoretical implications, practical applications, and methodological limitations, which serve as the basis for future research directions.
... There are various advantages to an inclusive workplace. EE, organizational commitment, job satisfaction, employer branding, reduces attrition, lower level of conflicts (Nishii, 2013;Daya, 2014;Steele and Derven, 2015). This has direct implication to managers to effectively harness inclusion practices at workplace encouraging acceptance of diverse opinions irrespective of who is giving it. ...
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the relationship between inclusive leadership (IL) and organizational inclusion (OI) in literature and explores the contribution of IL and OI in human resources development (HRD).
Design/methodology/approach
The systematic literature review was undertaken from peer-reviewed journals. In total, 68 articles were critically analyzed to be included in the review highlighting the relationship between IL and OI.
Findings
The paper provides insights into leader behaviors that foster IL and how it differs from other styles of leadership. The paper also proposes a theoretical model to show the relationship between IL and OI.
Practical implications
The study will facilitate creating awareness in practitioners and academicians who think inclusion is mostly concerned with disabled learners, which is misleading. The paper will help the concerned stakeholders to formulate HRD practices to foster an inclusive culture at work.
Originality/value
The paper explores an area less researched and is among the few review papers investigating through the relationship between IL and OI and how they impact HRD practices in an organizational set-up.
... The organisation must have a relatively egalitarian, non-bureaucratic structure. Steele and Derven (2015) recommend the following actions to foster an inclusive environment: n Advocate -promoting inclusion and valuing diversity n Cultivate -nurturing an ecosystem of inclusion, where diverse employees and their opinions, perspectives and ideas are invited, implemented and rewarded n Include -leaders provide a visible, consistent role model and help teams to consciously address issues related to different styles of communication, cultural preferences and expected norms to promote full engagement of complementary skills and perspectives. ...
This literature review provides the basis for a larger project that aims to provide a framework for the Emergency Services sector (EMS) to support diversity and inclusion through EMS organisations.
... Empirical research works and theories have flourished in an attempt to investigate the relationship between diversity and organizational performance. Despite a vast body of knowledge, the nexus is still muddled with contrasting outcomes: whereas at one end, diversity is associated with enhanced creativity; innovation; better problem-solving ability; sustainable competitive advantage; and superior firm performance (Barney and Wright, 1998;Cox, 1993;Kundu et al., 2019b;Phillips et al., 2006;Richard and Miller, 2013;Steele and Derven, 2015;Van Knippenberg et al., 2004), alternatively, diversity has also been linked to higher levels of dissatisfaction and turnover (Milliken and Martins, 1996;O'Reilly et al., 1989); a sense of organizational detachment (Tsui Much of the research has employed actual diversity measures that mostly focused on individual levels of management (i.e. either top, middle or lower levels of management) and therefore concentrated on narrow dimensions of diversity (Allen et al., 2007). ...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between employees’ perceptions of diversity within management levels (i.e. senior management, middle management and lower management levels) and perceived organizational performance. The study also examines differences in perceptions of diversity within different levels of management across nature and ownership forms of organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
Primary data were gathered from a sample of 400 employees from 162 organizations of diverse industries operating in India. Statistical techniques like analysis of variance and stepwise multiple regressions were used to analyze the data.
Findings
Employee perceptions of diversity at the senior, middle and lower management levels of organizations are weakly, most significantly and positively, and negatively related to perceived organizational performance. It has also been found that the perceptions of diversity within different levels of management differ across nature and ownership forms of the organization.
Research limitations/implications
The study relies on self-reported questionnaires as the method of data collection, which can lead to common-method bias. Hence, further studies can collect data by using multiple sources. In addition, future researchers can employ both subjective and objective measures to fetch results that are more valid.
Practical implications
To harvest the benefits of diversity, organization should foster positive perceptions among employees toward diversity.
Originality/value
The study gives new insight into why employees’ perceptions are significant in considering the possible outcomes of diversity.
... The organisation must have a relatively egalitarian, non-bureaucratic structure. Steele and Derven (2015) recommend the following actions to foster an inclusive environment: n Advocate -promoting inclusion and valuing diversity n Cultivate -nurturing an ecosystem of inclusion, where diverse employees and their opinions, perspectives and ideas are invited, implemented and rewarded n Include -leaders provide a visible, consistent role model and help teams to consciously address issues related to different styles of communication, cultural preferences and expected norms to promote full engagement of complementary skills and perspectives. ...
This paper stems from the need to find a renewed interpretative key of the concept of social innovation in territorial approaches: this was done by observing different forms of research, as well as methodological-disciplinary perspectives. To this end, the analysis is based on a systematic review: on one hand, considering the presence of the keyword social innovation combined with the concepts of entrepreneurship, inclusion and co-production; on the other hand, it addresses the presence or absence of any territorial or urban perspective. The aim of the review is to get a better understanding of urban/territorial elements present in the current social innovation academic landscape, and to identify new directions toward which different approaches to SI entail applications to the urban policy field.
L'articolo nasce dalla necessità di trovare una rinnovata chiave interpretativa univoca sul concetto di innovazione sociale negli approcci territoriali, osservando le diverse declinazioni di ricerca e prospettive metodologico/disciplinari. A tal fine, l'analisi pro-posta nel contributo è basata su una systematic review: da un lato considerandola presenza della keyword innovazione sociale abbinata a i concetti di imprenditorialità, inclusione e co-produzione; dall'altro la presenza o meno di una prospettiva territoriale o urbana. L' obiettivo dell'articolo è fornire un'analisi su quali aspetti comuni sono pre-senti nell'attuale panorama accademico, cercando nuove direzioni verso cui i diversi approcci necessitano una attenta applicazione ad importanti questioni territoriali.
In global scenario it is necessity for all the organizations to employ diversified workforces. Workforce diversity helps the organization in improving productivity and innovative performance. The workforce diversity and inclusion strategies are directly linked to innovative business; they encourage employees to have different perspectives and ideas which drive innovation. To deal with global challenges through innovative performance, organizations have robust programs and policies to recruit and retain diversified workforces. Through this chapter, the author addresses how workforce diversity is fostering innovation in contemporary organizations.
AI image captioning challenges encourage broad participation in designing algorithms that automatically create captions for a variety of images and users. To create large datasets necessary for these challenges, researchers typically employ a shared crowdsourcing task design for image captioning. This paper discusses findings from our thematic analysis of 1,064 comments left by Amazon Mechanical Turk workers using this task design to create captions for images taken by people who are blind. Workers discussed difficulties in understanding how to complete this task, provided suggestions of how to improve the task, gave explanations or clarifications about their work, and described why they found this particular task rewarding or interesting. Our analysis provides insights both into this particular genre of task as well as broader considerations for how to employ crowdsourcing to generate large datasets for developing AI algorithms.
The objective of the study was to identify the factors of diversity that influence innovation in countries. For that, a quantitative methodology was adopted regarding the approach, being descriptive regarding the objectives. The multivariate statistical technique used for data analysis was multiple linear regression. The sample was composed of 127 countries from secondary data, extracted from the index-es: World Economic Forum and Social Progress Imperative. The results showed that among the eleven variables of the diversity used in the study analysis, six variables had an impact on the innovation of the countries, which are: women’s study years, education inequality, homosexual tolerance, freedom over life decisions, religious tolerance and discrimination and violence against minorities. Although it is not yet possible to generalize conclusions from the results found, being that a limitation of the present study, it has also showed that there are indeed implications between innovation and aspects of diversity.
Succession planning is a professional stratagem that is gaining considerable attention in the healthcare arena. As research grows, understanding the phenomenon is essential for effective leadership performance in healthcare organizations (HCOs). The goals are to identify common themes and strategies for best practices in the twenty-first century to educate and assist potential, current, and future leaders in HCOs using succession planning for continued growth and future development. With the fluctuating environment within healthcare, leaders require practical plans and programs to sustain growth. Succession planning offers the opportunity over time to develop essential personnel into high-performing and valuable assets through the strategic application process. Succession planning needs talented employees to lead HCOs to success. The chapter focuses on reviewing succession planning strategies for leaders in HCOs.
Numerous research studies reveal when leadership includes diversity and inclusion in the business ethics of the organization, it can have a positive effect on the health and well-being of all stakeholders. Work-life balance (WLB) in the workplace provides a new ethical construct being pursued by developed nations and public and private organizations around the world. The effectiveness of some WLB benefits is questionable because supervisors found a ‘one-size-fits-all’ WLB policy complicated to manage in a diverse workforce. This chapter explores broadening the ‘one-size-fits-all’ policies to a ‘create for implementation’ design. Practical applications will be shared to help diversify one’s hidden biases that might help mitigate unfavorable attitudes and behaviors of non-supporting WLB supervisors.
The Higher Education landscape has experienced seismic shifts over the last decade, with pressure arising from increased accountability (e.g. Olssen, 2016) and a growing metric-driven culture (e.g. Clarke, Knights, & Jarvis, 2012). Indeed, one of the only constants experienced by those working in Higher Education is change (see Chapter 1), which creates a high-stress environment (Murphy, 2011).
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework that can be used to enhance the effectiveness of global teams.
Design/methodology/approach
– The objectives of this paper are to provide a practical, concise framework for organizations that are using or considering global virtual teams. Based on extensive consulting research and literature review, the paper describes how global virtual teams can use Diversity & Inclusion, structure and processes to promote desired outcomes.
Findings
– With globalization and skill shortages, global virtual teams are required to meet critical organizational objectives. Often these teams fall short of their promise, due to the complexity and lack trust and formal processes. This paper presents a framework to address these challenges.
Practical implications
– Global virtual teams can use the proposed framework presented in this paper to promote high performance in both results and relationships.
Originality/value
– This paper presents an original framework for optimal global team functioning.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to share best practices for diversity and inclusion from six global companies and to make the business case for its importance.
Design/methodology/approach
– In-depth interviews were conducted with diversity and inclusion leaders in the USA from Volkswagen, Sodexo Health Care and Government Services, Sanofi, L'Oreal, BASF North America, and China Merchants Bank New York.
Findings
– Key findings related to the importance of tailoring global diversity and inclusion strategies and programs to local needs; embedding practices throughout the organization; multiplying impact through external partnerships and leveraging this as a source of innovation.
Research limitations/implications
– The article provides a range of diversity and inclusion best practices that can be adapted by different organizations, as multiple industries (including pharmaceuticals, banking, automotive, etc.) are included. However, the findings do not represent a comprehensive picture of all global diversity and inclusion best practices.
Practical implications
– The article provides a range of diversity and inclusion best practices that can be used to benchmark other organizational practices and to add new programs and initiatives for better D&I impact.
Originality/value
– This is a fully original paper which combines secondary research with illustrative quotes.
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