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Challenging the status quo.How important is equality in business

and management education?

Dr. Nicolina Kamenou-Aigbekaen, Heriot- Watt UniversityDr. Adelina Broadbridge, University of Stirling

Ethos for equality

• Need to push the agenda from the position of realising and releasing talent so that all staff and students have the opportunity to utilise and contribute their talents to the best advantage of themselves and the organisation

Background : the facts

• Women staff = 60%• Women academic staff = 49%• Women professors = 24%• Women senior managers = 26%• Women on Academic Court = 25%• Pay gap = 23%• Universities and new public management is

based on male cultural norms

Background : the issues for women academic staff

• Balance of activities?– Research– Teaching– Administrative roles– Pastoral care– Representation on committees

• Women themselves?• Lack of mentoring and role models?

Business and management is male dominated

• Management theories are based on male norms and values

• Seminal works carried out by men on men • Many are accepted and don’t come under the

criticism they deserve• Male=the ‘norm’; female=the ‘other’ (Bendl)• Academics and students need to challenge

existing norms• Lack of focus on gender as a research field

Structural issues

• Various gender discrimination practices have been neutralised or eliminated

• Yet, gender discrimination remains in more subtle forms• Women & minorities face more constraints in the

workplace because of organisational factors• the ‘glass’ metaphor is still alive• Men (white, middle class) have the power and authority

to define what constitutes occupational success• Many women can feel marginalised and their

confidence eroded thus restricting their careers

Gender mainstreaming

• ensuring that the concerns and experiences of women and men are an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all spheres so that women and men benefit equally

Current students represent our future business leaders

• If the curriculum properly raises and addresses equality and diversity issues it will hopefully result in organizational cultures that embrace and recognize gender and diversity issues far better than is currently the case

Experiences from staff engaging with equality in management/ business schools

• Equality is no longer seen as an issue with many students

• They believe organisations no longer discriminate – a thing of the past

Reflecting on student written evaluation:• ‘The tutor [woman] was quite pretty’• ‘[Woman lecturer’s name] has to be one of the ugliest

people I’ve seen’• ‘Speak up bitch’

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Equality and Diversity in the business management curriculum

• Most research and writings on management learning and diversity have American origins

• Neutrality in management theories in relation to gender, race, religion, disability, age, sexual orientation..

• Debates that not actually neutral but consciously discriminatory in ‘masculine, white… etc’ nature of theories (Brewis). Implicit assumption of white, male, heterosexual norm.

• Debates on whether equality and diversity should be mandatory within the business and management curriculum .

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Should diversity education be mandatory?• Bell, Connerley and Cocchiara (2009): need for mandatory

diversity education for management students.• Diversity has been well researched in management literature

BUT with limited practical effects (Ibid.)• This is partly due to the fact that this research has not been

disseminated to the public, including students in management/business schools.

• Most of the debates on this area have taken place in America. The (American) Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business includes specific statements in relation to equality/diversity in management education BUT has not mandated the need for a course on equality/diversity to business/management school students (Ibid).

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• Moral, ethical and business rationale for embedding diversity teaching in the business management curriculum.

• Bell et al. (2009) argue that the limited diversity in academic and administrative staff contributes to the lack of mandatory diversity education for management students.

• “As management scholars and educators, we share the responsibility for helping to change [discriminatory] attitudes, particularly since susceptibility to attitude change is greater during early adulthood than during middle adulthood” (Visser and Krosnick, 1998, in Bell et al (Ibid.))

Bell, M., Connerley, M. L., Cocchiara, F.K. (2009) ‘The case for mandatory diversity education, Academy of Management Learning and Education, Vol. 8 (4): 597-609

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Experiences of students and staff in relation to equality/diversity courses

• Critical management curriculum addresses discrimination in the workplace, but typically as an ‘add on’.

• Some management/business schools now offer ‘dedicated ‘Equality in the workplace/diversity management courses at UG and PG levels. Typically optional courses

• Mandatory diversity courses within business/management schools very limited (if at all present)

• Positive bias? Students who are open to diversity issues more likely to enrol, if courses are optional

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Experiences from students registered on Diversity Management courses

• School of Management and Languages, Heriot-Watt University

• Diversity Management (UG)/ Managing Diversity in Business (PG) courses

• Cover key strands of equality, critique of neutrality of management theories, key factors having an effect on different social groups’ career experiences, stereotyping, segregation etc.

• Self-reflection exercise at end of course. “Reflective learning is not what happens to a student, it is what the student does with what has happened” (Bourner, 2003: 296).

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Reflective summaries from students consistently indicate:

• heightened sensitivity to equality issues in the workplace and society

• Increased understanding of discriminatory cultures and structures, but also..

• Understanding of their agency and their role/negotiated power within these cultures and structures.

• More confidence in challenging discrimination in the workplace

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“Before taking this course, I would shy away from challenging discriminatory comments, when I came across them.. Now, I feel much more equipped to do so” (male white student)

“I didn’t always realise that my comments may be hurtful to some groups.. I thought it was just funny.. Now I know that I need to be more sensitive to how people from other groups may feel..” (male white student)

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“I have a new understanding of the experiences of professional women […] After [taking] this course, I realise the difficulties and challenges they face.. [especially] when it comes to work-life balance” (male Chinese student)

“Before, I never recognise[d] the existence of stereotypes and discrimination in my life. But now, I realise that I should protect my own rights and fight against discrimination in the future” (female Chinese student)

“In fitting in to new culture, we should not lose our identity” (female Chinese student)

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Time for discussion…

• Experiences of staff in engaging with equality in the business management curriculum (through for e.g. teaching, promoting equality in school/university etc). Reflections? Ways forward?

• Views on whether equality/diversity should be mandatory in business/management schools.