Equal Opportunity Innovations at Work: Mechanisms for Reducing Job Segregation

自1964年民权法案通过以来，公司已经试验了数十种不同的创新，旨在减少职业隔离和增加劳动力多样性。迄今为止，很少有人研究平权行动计划、多样性培训和多样性委员会等角色创新在改变组织人口结构方面的作用。该项目旨在研究这些项目是否以及如何有助于提高美国工作场所的性别、种族和民族多样性。在之前的研究中，我结合了平等就业机会委员会1971至2002年间关于机构劳动力特征的年度数据和关于833家私营部门机构就业做法的纵向调查数据。我发现一些创新在减少职业隔离方面非常有效，而另一些则无效。赋予组织责任和问责的创新--多样性委员会、多样性工作人员和扶持行动计划--之后是管理多样性的增加。但是，旨在通过解决偏见和社会孤立等已知原因来减少种族隔离的创新并未奏效。多样性培训、多样性绩效评估、网络计划和指导计划之后，多样性并没有显著增加。目前的研究项目涉及对公司的深入研究，这些公司在增加劳动力多样性的计划上取得了不同程度的成功。通过仔细比较多样性计划的机制，我将检查多样性办公室、多样性特别工作组和平权行动计划的哪些活动导致组织多样性的增加。其策略是将这些创新取得成效的公司与没有取得成果的公司进行比较。这项研究应该会为寻求利用美国日益多样化的劳动力的公司提供重要的见解。

Since the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 firms have experimented with dozens of different innovations designed to reduce job segregation and increase workforce diversity. To date there has been little research on the role innovations such as affirmative action plans, diversity training, and diversity committees in changing organizational demography. This project is designed to examine whether, and how, these programs contribute to increased gender, racial, and ethnic diversity in American workplaces. In previous research, I combined annual Equal Employment Opportunity Commission data on establishment workforce characteristics between 1971 and 2002 with longitudinal survey data on employment practices in 833 private-sector establishments. I found some innovations to be highly effective in reducing job segregation and others to be ineffective. Innovations that assign organizational responsibility and accountability -- diversity committees, diversity staff, and affirmative action plans -- have been followed by increases in managerial diversity. But innovations designed to reduce segregation by addressing known causes, such as bias and social isolation, have not been effective. Diversity training, diversity performance evaluations, networking programs, and mentoring programs have not been followed by significant increases in diversity. The current research project involves intensive study of 64 companies that have had varying success with programs to increase workforce diversity. Through careful comparisons of the mechanics of diversity programs, I will examine which activities of diversity offices, diversity taskforces, and affirmative action plans lead to increases in organizational diversity. The strategy is to compare companies in which these innovations have shown results to companies in which they have not. This research should provide important insights for firms seeking to make use of America's increasingly diverse workforce.