Establish or enhance systems for generating feedback from students, faculty and
staff about the status of campus climate; utilize survey information in
formulating future strategies (University of Colorado at Boulder, Campus
Diversity Plan: A Blueprint for Action, July, 1999).
In addition to periodic discussions with women and minority faculty, a chair or
dean may want to conduct exit interviews to enhance his or her understanding of
the job satisfaction, work experience, and unique problems of women and
minorities (Ohio State University Handbook, 1988).
Continue to develop an exit
interview process to identify opportunities for improvement in retention of
faculty of color, in addition to identifying other issues (University of
Colorado at Boulder, Campus Diversity Plan: A Blueprint for Action, July, 1999).
Continue to develop an exit interview process to identify opportunities for
improvement in retention of faculty of color, in addition to identifying other
issues (University of Colorado at Boulder, Campus Diversity Plan: A Blueprint
for Action, July, 1999).
Conduct periodic surveys of the external community to assess the university's
image with respect to diversity issues as well as community needs and
expectations of the university in these matters (The Report of the Diversity
Action Committee to the University of Connecticut, Board of Trustees, 2002).
Measure the effectiveness of recruitment efforts (Digh, 1999).
Rather than rely on informal lines of communication to convey ambiguous
promotion criteria, institutions should develop clearly stated standards and
procedures to achieve equality of treatment and to ensure that new faculty
understand their responsibilities. To eliminate uncertainty about performance,
each faculty member should be evaluated annually and the criteria for evaluation
should be outlined in advance (Turner, 2002).
Conduct post-recruitment interviews with faculty of color that have been hired
(Turner, 2002). Service to the community, especially diverse communities will have to be seen as
exceptionally meritorious and should be a primary criterion for evaluation
(Bowser, Jones & Young, 1995).
Universities should collect data on the number of faculty. The data should
reflect a comparative perspective between non-minority and minority faculty.
Types of information that should be collected include:
Discipline or field of study
Years in rank at assistant, associate, and full professors
Number of assistant, associate, and full professors
Number of leave and why (Dumas-Hines, Cochran, & Williams, 2001).
Conduct a Presidential annual review of divisional and academic schools/colleges
anticipated hires, areas of underutilization, availability data, and diversity
action plans ("Best Practices," 1998).
Hold managers accountable for the level of their diversity efforts through
incorporating accomplishments into the annual evaluation process ("Best
Practices," 1998).
When hiring faculty with work expectations centered around diversity-related
activities, it is important to recognize the value of these contributions in
tenure evaluation, whether the contributions are in diversity research,
teaching, or service (CEMRRAT, 1996).
Evaluate criteria applied in evaluations for promotion and tenure. Reliance on
narrow definitions of "merit" that emphasize publication in traditional journals
may slight new or emerging areas of scholarship or practical applications of
theory to real-life problems (Alger, 2000).
Courses on ethnic studies or courses that include minority perspectives should
be taken as seriously as mainstream courses, when weighting merit in teaching
(Alger, 2000).
If collegiality is a criterion used for faculty evaluation processes, it is
important that this subjective criterion not be used against faculty members
whose work and ideas challenge traditional orthodoxy in their departments and
institutions (Alger, 2000).
Ensure that existing evaluation criteria are applied with a broad enough
perspective so that each individual's true contribution to the learning
environment, both in and outside the classroom, are fully and fairly taken into
account (Alger, 2000).
By measuring things like turnover, retention, recruitment, productivity, salary
equity/disparity, and advancement and
succession, an organization can determine
whether it effectively values and manages diversity (Frase-Blunt, 2003).
Conduct post-exit interviews to get more candid comments from former employees (Barbian,
2003).
Evaluation should be conducted as part of an effective diversity training
program. Evaluation provides an opportunity to assess the effectiveness of the
diversity training provided by the organization. Long-tern evaluations are more
effective than short-term evaluations because evaluation provides follow-up
information about the short-term effects of diversity training, as well as more
in-depth information about how the changes in attitudes and behaviors have
affected the organizational culture and the way employees interact with each
other and perform their jobs. Without specific information about a training
program's strengths, weaknesses, and impacts, changes to improve content and
delivery are impossible (Wentling & Palma-Rivas, 1999).
Evaluation is an ongoing process and is critical to the success of any diversity
initiative (Wentling & Palma-Rivas, 1999).
Evaluation is a way to fight against critics, according to Jackson and
Associates (1992) (Wentling & Palma-Rivas, 1999).
Evaluation results may provide support for continuing with diversity programs (Wentling
& Palma-Rivas, 1999).
Four typical measurement systems are:
"A needs assessment which can be developed through an employee opinion survey
and provide a base line on attitudes and perceptions about employee differences.
Before and after assessment of recruiting which measure how effective a
company's recruiting programs are before and after they put certain diversity
measures in place.
Retention statistics, such as an analysis of who's leaving the company and why
and where they are going, or exit interviews.
Customer surveys to find out whether diverse groups of customers are being
adequately served" (Klimley, 1997).
Many companies have started incorporating diversity into their annual employee
surveys (Klimley, 1997).
Effective diversity initiatives require accountability throughout management
ranks. "Linking management's personal financial success with diversity progress
has been effective in emphasizing the importance of diversity and making
significant progress. Executive management bonuses are often to both setting and
achieving diversity goals. A 360-degree performance review survey that includes
questions assessing behavior in the areas of respecting differences and
diversity is another tool that has been used to increase awareness and
individual accountability" (Salomon & Schork, 2003).
Managers' performance reviews should include how well they manage diversity
(Swanson, 2002). During performance reviews, managers need to do a better job of communicating to
their employees on how to get promoted. Managers also need to provide help with
what employees need to learn and accomplish so that they perform more
effectively (Swanson, 2002).
Provide opportunities for employees to give feedback on the leadership styles of
their managers or supervisors so that leaders can see how their style fits a
range of different people (Swanson, 2002). Conduct some sort of evaluation of the effectiveness of your retention programs.
These techniques could range from simply comparing rates of tenure and promotion
for women and minority faculty to other faculty, to monitoring department
searches for effectiveness, to hiring consultants to investigate why women and
minorities leave their positions (Phillips, 2002).
One faculty program conducts exit interviews for departing employees. Specific
questions are asked regarding the reasons for leaving the university, and this
information is compiled and distributed quarterly to administrators (Phillips,
2002).
"The need to assess the quality and effectiveness of diversity efforts within
organizations is based upon six principles:
The impact of diversity upon performance can and should be measured.
There should be a linkage between diversity achievement and business
performance.
The assessment of diversity effectiveness can be quantified.
The assessment process can be repeated each year to measure longitudinal
progress in diversity.
Diversity metrics should include financial performance.
However, in order to provide a balance between financial performance and
diversity progress, the role of a company's constituencies - distributors and
the public - must be considered" (Bhote, 2002).
"Organizations can evaluate the success of their diversity efforts by asking:
Do non-traditional employees perceive low levels of prejudice and
discrimination?
Do non-traditional employees deem organizational reward systems fair and
unbiased?
Do non-traditional employees perceive that they have access to important
information?
Do non-traditional employees perceive they have opportunities to acquire and
develop new skills and advance their careers" (Comer & Soliman, 1996)?
Susan Funk, President of the Diversity Difference, suggests eight steps for
building a measurement process (Workplace Diversity Network, 2000):
Define the objective of the diversity/inclusion effort.
Select an appropriate mix of process, outcome and feedback measures.
Choose both short-term and long-term measures.
Evaluate the cost/benefit of proposed measures.
Integrate selected measures into existing measurement systems.
Create baseline measurement.
Implement desired policies and practices.
Review the process, outcome and feedback measures.
"Practical ways to measure the effectiveness of diversity training are:
Distribute opinion surveys that measure how well diversity ideas are received.
Calculate turnover rates and the cost to replace underrepresented workers who
leave.
Review attendance records because absenteeism generally decreases when people
feel valued.
Monitor affirmative-action statistics to ensure that minorities are represented
at all levels" (Martinez, 1995).
Best practice companies:
Track the overall effectiveness of diversity succession planning
Use statistical planning initiatives by asking key questions.
Study surveys and results by demographics within the company or organization
Solicit feedback and suggestions.
Continually evaluate managers' performance and commitment
Keep their hand on the pulse of the entire employee population
Keep messages concise and programs focused (Fraser, 2003).
