Importance of Diversity Inclusion in the Workplace – Lourdes Mestre – PSYCH 424
As I pondered on this week’s lesson and the continued racial injustices cemented into modern society and civil unrest in our country and across the world, I felt inspired to write about the time in my 20s when the positive benefits of Affirmative Action helped catapult my first career. An interesting curiosity along this journey in earning a degree in the field of psychology is that it allows you to cognitively continue to work on yourself, so as to increase your levels of self-attainment and self-actualization, and that in that process there is a healing that occurs. I will be 50-years-young when I earn my BA in Psychology from Penn State, essentially a 20th-century individual with a 21st-century education. The first time I personally sought out psychotherapy was as soon as I became an adult at 18-years-old for trauma and issues at home, and it was the best decision I ever made for myself during that time. My therapist was able to diagnose my birth mother as borderline personality and bipolar, and she gave me a number of her own textbooks with information on both of these mental health disorders for me to read and understand the symptoms. I was also diagnosed at the time with generalized anxiety disorder and anorexia nervosa, and through the work I did in this helping relationship (without medication) I learned about cognitive behavioral tactics to help reduce anxiety and my anorexia quickly went into remission – thank heavens! Regretfully, my birth mother decided to refuse continued treatment at the time, and to this day she still refuses the diagnoses, treatment, or medication for her conditions. In fact, this is one of the reasons that drives my personal “why” for pursuing advanced studies in the field of psychology beyond an undergraduate degree – to help reduce the stigma of mental health disorders in minority or marginalized communities, specifically for women and children, through creative positive interventions and behavioral approaches.
The reason I share this very personal story (which I’ve never shared publicly) has to do with the diversity that comes from the different experiences, hardships, and challenges minorities such as myself have to overcome – which starts during child development phases, even before we reach adulthood. Those of us with grit and desire to improve our lives and elevate to a healthier and more balanced life sometimes have a theoretical mountain to climb in order to reach our desired destination. It is because of these experiences that we see things from a different perspective, and we see things with fresh eyes. However, our perspectives or opinions may not always be well received, which our text discusses that while diversity increases “creativity and innovativeness for both individuals and groups,” if tensions flare it can “also lead to negative effects, such as prejudice, discrimination, and even conflict” (Gruman et al., 2016).
In research published by the U.S. Department of Education back in 1989 on college completion rates, findings state that “Black and Hispanic completion rates lag seriously behind those of Whites and Asian Americans,” where the largest “enrollment loss occurred during the first year and after the eighth semester” concluding that both “socioeconomic status and academic ability influence persistence” while the “cumulative effect of socioeconomic status and ability is greater than the influence of either factor by itself” (Porter, 1989). In Porter’s report, he identified that the “completion rates for Black and Hispanic students are between 25 and 30 percent” a striking comparison to the “more than 50 percent for Whites and Asian Americans” (1989). The report states that while “completion rates for all ethnic groups are higher in the independent sector,” they highlight that “Hispanics are the exception, however: their completion rate at independent institutions is less than 2 percentage points higher than in the public sector, not a meaningful difference,” yet, the “dropout rate for Hispanic students, especially those in the independent sector, appears to increase substantially after four semesters” (Porter, 1989). In my particular case, I made it through seven semesters in college right after high school before events outside of my control forced me to drop out of college in my early 20s – quite close to the statistics referenced in Porter’s research.
I do agree with Gruman et al. in their summary of the chapter, that while diversity inclusion in the workplace does lead to new perspectives, as well as increased creativity and innovation. However, when “diversity leads to conflict is important because conflict itself may be beneficial or harmful” and can also hurt innovation and creativity efforts (Gruman et al., 2016). Even though I never completed my Bachelor’s in my 20s, I was able to navigate the corporate landscape and work directly at or alongside Fortune 50 companies. I found a particular niche in the retail industry, and I became a diversity management hire through Affirmative Action programs – winning these slots over Hispanic candidates with degrees. Obviously, there are a whole lot of personal doubts and imposter syndrome symptoms that come along with being hired through the help of Affirmative Action implementations. So I always just had the mentality that my work ethic had to be flawless, and that my opinions be somewhat tempered, which research conducted by Nemeth states that minorities may be aware that “normative and/or informational influences could possibly be present” whereas “normative influences compel minority individuals to be accepted and therefore wish to avoid the disapproval that emanates from maintaining a minority viewpoint,” as well as the informational influences I was in the midst of, where “majority judgments are therefore likely to be correct” (Nemeth, 1986). Within some of the retail management fields and executive positions that I held, I was always the only Hispanic within my paygrade. My close work colleagues always included the other diversity hires who were peers, and sometimes we sat in meetings with 30-40 other executives – who were in other words, the majority and mostly Caucasian American – listening to decisions being made for minority demographic markets. In these situations, it was typically myself alongside a Black or Asian peer – two voices at most – expressing our points of view in order to impact and influence the judgments of the majority. Unfortunately, we lost some battles – however, the key is that we had a seat at the table in order to at least be able to express an opinion or point of view that comes from a minority perspective.
One of my favorite athletes of all time is the legendary Serena Williams, and a couple of years ago she launched a social media campaign for her new clothing brand – a movement she coined #BeSeenBeHeard (Williams, 2021). The most important part of the process in establishing a multicultural perspective is for minority voices to “be seen” and “be heard” (Williams, 2021), as success will be reaped through embracing multiculturalism at all levels in our society. I also deeply believe there is truth in Ms. Williams’ recently shared quote “no matter what you want to achieve, believe in yourself, be dedicated, work hard for it” (Williams, 2021), and this has been a personal motto in my life.
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Both Gruman et al. and Nemeth discuss that “minority points of view can challenge the prevailing way of thinking, and therefore can stimulate greater creativity” (Gruman et al., 2016; Nemeth, 1986) and increase “positive outcomes related to diversity within groups” which include “creativity, innovation, and potentially improved problem solving” (Gruman et al., 2016). To this day, I feel lucky and blessed to have been selected through Affirmative Action programs, and I was able to accomplish many successes throughout my career. In contrast, without these AA diversity interventions that created career opportunities for me, I may have not been able to achieve the accomplishments that I did reach without a college degree. It wasn’t easy working alongside some colleagues or peers who did not respect you due to how I was hired or my lack of education, however, I did experience being a team member in some work pods who truly valued diversity – and we accomplished creativity and innovation that led us to company-wide recognition, including my own personal corporate milestone awards and promotions. In a couple of these particular corporate settings, I did experience direct and indirect racism, discrimination, and harassment – yet overcoming these challenges made me a stronger and more resilient individual. I hope that this new generation in the 21st century can help fix or bring solutions to the racial divides in our country and globally, through positive social interventions that unite instead of divide.
What are your thoughts on Affirmative Action programs that promote inclusive and diverse multiculturalism? Do you see diversity as a catalyst to innovation, creativity, and progress?
References
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2016). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.
Nemeth, C. J. (1986). Differential contributions of majority and minority influence. Psychological Review, 93(1), 23–32. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295x.93.1.23
Porter, O. (1989). Undergraduate Completion and Persistence at Four-Year Colleges and Universities M Completers, Persisters, Stopouts, and Dropouts. U.S. Department of Education. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED319343.pdf
Williams, S. (2021). @Serena • Instagram. @Serena on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/serena/
Tags: affirmative action, creativity, Diversity, diversity in the workplace, hispanic, inclusion, innovation, minority, normative influences