Lecture 5

Question 1

Diversity as business case:

• Diverse groups do better because:

Answer 1

• Productivity
• Creativity
• Innovation
• Critical
  • Access to students
  • Public Perception

Question 2

Diversity as learning goal

Answer 2

• Students learn in diversity
→ Learning goals on level of process
→ Interaction
• Students learn about diversity
→ Learning goals on content level 
→ Linking content to personal experiences

Question 3

Diversity as justice/moral issue

Answer 3

• Equal opportunities
• Student recruitment and progression
• “Us vs them” to “us”

Question 4

EXCLUSION: Low belonginess and low value in uniqueness

Answer 4

Individual is not treated as an organizational insider with unique value in the work group but there are other employees or groups who are insiders.

Question 5

DIFFERENTIATION: low belonginess and high value in uniqueness

Answer 5

Individual is not treated as an organizational insider in the wg but their unique characteristics are seen as valuable and required for group/organization succes

Question 6

ASSIMILATION: High belonginess and low value in uniqueness

Answer 6

Individual is treated as an insider in the wg when they conform to the dominant culture norms and downplay uniqueness

Question 7

INCLUSION: HIGH belonginess and high value in uniqueness

Answer 7

Individual is treated as an insider and also allowed to retain uniqueness within the workgroup

Question 8

THE VU MIXED CLASSROOM EDUCATIONAL MODEL

PHASE 1: SENTISIZING

Answer 8

Interventions aimed at creating a safe learning environment

Goal: capitalizing on perspectives

Two main themes: sensitizing students to their own frame of reference and the existing diversity in the group, and creating a safe learning environment to do so

• Safe learning environment: students can express their ideas, beliefs, requirements and identities freely in an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect, empathy and open mindedness

Question 9

Phase 2: engaging

Answer 9

interventions aimed at stimulating constructive interactions

GOAL: capitalizing on perspectives

One of the main goals in phase 2 is that students learn how to interact with perspectives, approaches and styles different from their own.

Learning goals phase 2:

• Students recognize and are willing to explore perspectives and approaches that differ from their own;
• Students are able to interact with these perspectives in a constructive way;
• Students recognize unease and tension when they arise in interactions, and have practiced dealing with them.

Question 10

phase 3: optimizing

Answer 10

Interventions aimed at using perspectives to enhance learning experience

Goal: capitalizing on perspectives

Learning goals phase 3:

• Students actively seek and consider perspectives and approaches different to their own;
• Students are able to switch between these perspectives and approaches;
• Students are able to integrate and combine perspectives when analyzing problems or cases;
• Students can demonstrate combining different perspectives to formulate creative solutions, both individually and in a group setting.

The learning climate is an important factor in student learning. Climates that are experienced as inclusive have a positive impact on student belonging and therefore on student motivation, academic engagement and success, whereas learning climates that are experienced as less inclusive can negatively influence students’ learning outcomes, particularly for students with minority identities

Question 11

WHY A VU MIXED CLASSROOM EDUCATIONAL MODEL?

Answer 11

• To improve education
• Students need to learn how different perspectives that are dominant in their own field relate to other academic perspectives, and how to build upon them
• For students to flourish in diverse group settings
• VU VALUES: Personal, open and responsible

Question 12

Status

Answer 12

powerful mechanism shaping the inequitable distribution of material resources within social systems.

Status is less an attribute of individuals than an aspect of occupying a particular location in the social structure and is determined by shared beliefs about the value of particular characteristics and the individuals possessing such characteristics.

Max Weber (1922/1978) states, “stratification by status goes hand in hand with a monopolization of ideal and material goods or opportunities”. As such, higher status groups define what is considered legitimate, appropriate, valuable, and rational in terms of individuals’ behaviors, tastes, and values.

According to SCT, initial status differences among group members shape members’ expectations for their own and others’ competence, merit, and motivation. These status beliefs can be spread to others through social interaction.
à Thus, if a student suggests through attitude or behavior that a low status student is less competent, this attitude or behavior can lead others to expect less from the low status student as well.

When the comparative groups differ in status, we believe focusing on them reinforces the status hierarchy operating in the classroom because students will not only see themselves as “different” from other students but also relatively more or less valued or respected based on where they fall in the status hierarachy.

Question 13

Examples of how pedagogy may reinforce group boundaries

Answer 13

the use of McIntosh’s (1988) article, “Unpacking the Invisible Backpack.” The degree to which a student agrees with a series of statements presented in this article indicates the degree to which he or she reaps the benefits of White privilege.

the “I am” activity (Allard, 2004). In fact, the stated goals of the activity are “(1) to help students learn about themselves by examining the roles and group memberships . . . by which they define themselves and (2) to further examine student self-descriptors for indications of roles and memberships they perceive as most important.”

course design and textbook selection: encourages intergroup comparisons that emphasize one group’s standing relative to another. umbrella terms à But even when there is not an artificial collapsing of subgroups into an umbrella category, these practices may encourage students to view others quite narrowly, as defined by one or two historical events or characteristics. Hence, this contributes to stereotyping rather than promoting understanding of others as individuals. The othering process increases the potential for strengthened group boundaries as well as stereotype affirmation

Question 14

Cheryan and Bodenhausen (2000) found that making even positive stereotypes salient can depress performance of stereotyped students

Answer 14

Our first concern is the way in which representation of status groups often hinges on stereotypes about those groups

Brezina and Winder (2003) found that increasing an individual’s awareness of the relatively disadvantaged position of certain status groups contributes to negative stereotyping

Question 15

Cooperative learning

Answer 15

Cooperative learning occurs when students engage in a collective task in a small group. Also helps minimize the consequences of status differences because students understand upfront that each member possesses unique resources required to achieve their common goal. 5 principles: task interdependence, face-to-face interaction, individual accountability, interpersonal skills, and group processing

Question 16

Status interventions

Answer 16

practices which attempt to rearrange the status hierarchy such that the consequences of status differences on learning outcomes are minimized. Students must participate equally in a process for effective status interventions. If high status students dominate the group interactions, this increases the status problem, because a student’s level of interaction is a strong predictor of his or her learning

Question 17

One of the best-known cooperative learning techniques is the jigsaw technique:

Answer 17

tasks in small heterogeneous task groups and each student possesses a piece of the knowledge required to complete the task. The group is fully interdependent; every student is an expert in a distinct area and must share his or her knowledge with the task group for the group to be successful.

Question 18

two SIT approaches to reducing intergroup bias:

Answer 18

à recategorization and decategorization.
Research in this area has primarily focused on equal status interactions in experimental settings; however, the close relationship between social identity and status group membership) suggests that these approaches will be promising status interventions as well.

Question 19

Recategorization

Answer 19

serves to reinforce students’ sense of belonging to the whole either by emphasizing membership in a superordinate or by making cross-cutting classifications salient.
- Categorizing others as in-group members rather than out-group members should result in more positive evaluations of others

• Another way to foster recategorization is to create identity groups that cut across status groups— referred to as cross-cutting categorization

Question 20

Decategorization

Answer 20

people see each other more as individuals than as members of particular status groups, requires open self-disclosure and social comparison. Decategorization techniques, such as sharing personal narratives, may be particularly valuable for low status group members, because being individuated may allow them to keep at bay lower expectations of competence associated with their status group.

Question 21

A central issue with these two approaches, recategorization and decategorization

Answer 21

is that students could perceive their important social identities, or their distinctiveness, as being threatened (i.e., not valued, ignored, or dismissed) by the instructor. One option to deal with this concern is to take care not to represent one identity as superior to another.

Two research-informed strategies for reducing the degree of stereotyping in the management classroom: (a) providing accurate, unbiased information and (b) encouraging perspective taking.
- to undermine stereotypes, we must make sure to provide accurate, unbiased, and stereotype-inconsistent information.

Question 22

However, completely eliminating awareness of category-based social status in the classroom is undesirable and unlikely for two reasons.

Answer 22

àFirst, structural barriers exist for lower status groups and must be understood in their historical context and in their contemporary forms.

Second, when students leave the classroom they return to the “real world” where these status hierarchies operate as a matter of course, and we would be negligent if we did not help prepare students to recognize, navigate, and hopefully dismantle such hierarchies.

Hence, the diversity education dilemma does not have simple solutions. But, by using interventions such as those discussed above to minimize the “real-world” hierarchy in our classrooms, instructors can increase learning and ultimately may reduce discrimination in the workplace as our students become managers themselves and set the tone in their respective organizations.