Examine Dimensions Assignment

Identify Interventions that Can Help

In this module, you will assess existing organizational practices to determine whether their design and implementation improve (or exacerbate) unconscious bias. You will analyze the diversity and inclusion programs implemented by the Japanese cosmetics company Shiseido, an example selected for your attention by Professor Nishii. You will access a helpful, reusable tool to assess practices. You will also review the assessment and evaluation work you have done and identify possible interventions that can help mitigate unconscious bias. Finally, you will complete your course project, culminating in an action plan for how you will move forward. Your plan may or may not relate to implementing strategies for the entire organization but could be about what you will do as part of your everyday work life.

The Double-Edged Sword of Numerical Goals

Some organizations set numerical goals to increase participation by women and other minority groups in positions of senior leadership. But the research shows that goals that emphasize representation by numbers, well intentioned though they may be, offer both benefits and drawbacks, as Professor Nishii explains.

Video Transcript:

I'd like to say a little something about having a strong focus on representation or numerical targets. It really is a double-edged sword. So sometimes there's no question that in order to push real change you need to have very clear goals and, hold organizations accountable for meeting those goals. A great example that we can see happening right now, is that in a lot of European countries, companies are being held accountable for having a certain percentage of their boards be women. And this started in Norway and in a lot of these context, companies are fined if they don't reach the goal of say having 30 or 40% of their board be women by a certain time, by a certain year. And as a result of this we're seeing a huge change in representation on these boards. Many companies have internal representation goals also, although they may differ in kind of the level of formality in which they track progress against goals, and the way that they talk about these goals. But, a lot of companies still do have representation goals, which can be very helpful. The benefit of having these goals is to ultimately get to a point where you're increasing representation through this target so that, as I stated previously, you have members of historically marginalized groups comprise enough of a part of the overall population that the negative outcomes associated with being a token start to decline, and the unconscious biases that used to be a lot more negative against those groups, also start to weaken. And this starts to lead to real changes in people's assumptions about the types of people who fit various jobs and roles. However there's also research that shows that if people have reason to believe that somebody was hired into a position or promoted into a position because of some aspect of their social identity, then they also tend to assume that the person must not have been hired or promoted because of their competence. And this could end up becoming a vicious self-fulfilling prophecy, because people tend to expect less of people who they assumed were hired because of some demographic characteristic. 

They tend to then provide fewer opportunities for those individuals to excel. And they also tend to interact with these individuals in a way that the minority members, themselves, start to internalize these negative perceptions about competence. Which, of course, then, impacts their level of engagement and performance. And so the very people who were meant to benefit from this focus on increasing representation can end up being the people who are harmed by it. So it's a double-edged sword. It needs to be handled, manage, very very carefully.

Assess Existing Practices

Download the Tool – See – “Assess Existing Document”

Use the  “Assess Existing Document” tool to gauge how well your current practices meet recommendations

You can use the tool on this page to help you make an assessment of the practices that are already in place within your organization. To answer all of these questions fully, you may need to consult with others within your team or discuss it within a wider circle of colleagues. You may find it helpful to continue to use this tool as you continue to develop an awareness of where improvements might be made in terms of diversity and inclusion.

In Japan, where there is a need for economic growth, there is a societal push for women to participate more in the workforce.

Examine Shiseido

"Women are Japan's most underutilized resource," said Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2013. Closing the gap between men and women in the workplace would add an estimated 8 million workers to the workforce of Japan.

Professor Nishii has selected Shiseido, a Japanese cosmetics company, as a prime example of a corporation that both actively promotes gender equality as part of its management strategies and has a disproportionate number of women in senior leadership positions.

Bias Interrupters

There are a number of ways in which organizations attempt to interrupt the role that unconscious bias plays in decision making. For example, research shows that when people are held accountable for their decision making, they tend to engage in more conscious, controlled thinking. Professor Nishii explains more.

Perceptions of Competence

What can organizations do to take to interrupt (and mitigate the negative consequences of) unconscious bias?

Video Transcript:

So in addition to designing HR practices in a way that help to interrupt the role of unconscious biases, there is a lot that can be done to help managers be aware of how their everyday behaviors can also impact unconscious bias. So in order to help counteract negative assumptions about competence and leadership potential among women and other minorities, leaders can do the following: so first, they can offer the floor whenever possible to women and members of other historically marginalized groups. Get people used to hearing from women and minorities. Get, help them get used to seeing them contribute in meaningful ways. In 2014 President Obama held a conference, a press conference. And he called on 8 reporters, and all 8 of them were women, and this made headlines around the world. But had only men been called on, it would not have been news. It would have just been another ordinary day. And so actions like this, giving people the floor, can really be a powerful bias interrupter. A second thing that leaders can do: they can publicly acknowledge the accomplishments of women and other minorities to help invalidate doubts that other people might have about their competence. So for example in one study, a professor introduced a female teaching assistant to the class just by using her name. Whereas in another section of the class, she introduced the teaching assistant by outlining all the ways in which she was qualified for this role, so about all her expertise. And it turns out that when the faculty member introduced the female TA, by focusing on her competence, she received much higher ratings of competence from the students. Another thing leaders can do is push back when people say that a woman or a minority isn't ready, or isn't qualified enough for a particular position. Remember that people are consistently more willing to take risks on a man, based on their potential. And so what leaders can do is either point out that other people being considered also don't have the expertise, they haven't previously done the job or point out reasons why the particular candidate might be good in the role. Related to that, leaders, and actually everybody, should focus on counteracting negative stereotypes about competence with at least three specific reasons for including somebody, for considering somebody for a role. And the purpose is to balance out the gut instinct that people have about excluding a particular individual, based on their assumptions of competence. And when you focus on reasons to include somebody rather than reasons to exclude them, you end up with a very different outlook. And the last thing to keep in mind is to be very mindful of the attributions that are being made for the success and failure of employees. And to make sure that success is attributed fairly and to ability just as much for women and members of minority groups as it is for men.

Evaluating the Same Behavior Differently

In this video, Professor Nishii makes a business case for reducing the unintended negative consequences of unconscious bias during personnel decisions.

Video Transcript:

Okay, so here are some tips on how to counteract the way that unconscious biases lead to differential evaluation of equivalent behavior. So one, it's really important to be specific about what constitutes excellent performance, and make sure those criteria are set in advance, because the research shows that if there is agreement ahead of time about what we're looking for in a candidate, then the bias tends to disappear. Second, hold decision-makers accountable for their evaluations, and they will be more careful. Third, recognize that in an effort to avoid negative reactions due to norms about how they ought to be, women are less likely to advocate for themselves. So this means that just because a women isn't tooting her own horn, doesn't mean that she lacks confidence about her ability to do something. So, what this suggests for managers is that it's a good practice to invite them, give them explicit permission, to advocate for themselves. A fourth thing that managers can do is listen very, very carefully for the likability penalty. So particularly when making performance evaluation ratings or making hiring decisions, it's important to see whether or not people are expressing concern or support similarly, for the same behavior cross groups. And so, for example, you hear bias language like so and so is bossy, or pushy. You can ask for a specific example and then ask, well would your reaction have been the same if a man engaged in that behavior, for example. And the fifth thing that managers can keep in mind is to audit who's doing what we might call office housework. That is, all that kind of communal service-oriented and support work which is really important for making an office function well. And make sure, that some people aren’t doing additional work without also receiving some form of additional reward for the investments that they are making.

The Ways People Interact

What are some of the helpful actions you can take when you see behavior that suggests unconscious bias is at work?

Video Transcript:

Okay, so there are also a number of tips that I can share for how to interrupt how unconscious bias influences the way that people interact. So earlier I talked about how women tend to be talked over more often than men, and also that they tend to receive less credit for their ideas. And so here are a few tips. One, it's important to set a no interruptions rule while anyone, male or female, majority or minority, is pitching an idea. And there's a company in Silicon Valley called IDEO that has institutionalized this by having somebody wear one of those bells you see on the lobby counter when you check into a hotel late at night. Ding. And so, the person who wears the bell, does a little reminder ding when somebody talks over another person so that you're kind of re-training people to listen more carefully rather than interfere with their colleagues. A second tip is to practice bystander intervention. 

So don't remain silent. You can stop an interrupter in his or her tracks by saying, "wait a minute, wait a minute. Let the person finish". And that can go a long way. Third, it's important to think proactively about engaging in micro affirmations as opposed to micro aggressions. So this involves things like nodding your head and listening carefully, showing support while somebody else is talking. Look interested, and that makes a really big difference. A fourth is to give credit where credit is due. So be aware of stolen ideas, and look for opportunities to acknowledge the individuals who first proposed a particular idea. And related to that is support your female and minority colleagues. If you hear an idea that you think is good, back it up. Help bring attention to that idea so people get more accustomed to hearing these good contributing ideas from women and minorities. And the last one is advice given by Tina Fey, who's a famous comedian, and she says that two of the most important rules, and they're more for a successful improvisational theater where you have to be open to what the other person is saying and respond and keep the conversation going, is to respond to what somebody else by saying yes. By saying yes you're signaling that what that person has said is important, and you're open to hearing about it. However, the second step is that you have to follow yes with "and" because saying "yes, but" is pretty much the same as saying no. It's pretty much the same as shutting down somebody else's idea. But if you say "yes, and", what that does is it changes a framing in your mind so that you're building on what somebody has said rather than talking over what somebody has said. And I've talked to executives that have actually tried this in an executive meeting that might last an hour, and they were surprised at how often they stumbled, how often they had to catch themselves from saying "yes, but". So challenge yourself to try that, to see how much you might actually be able to contribute to opening up conversation and providing more people in the group with voice.