Every year America’s workforce becomes more diverse, but change in the makeup of the management ranks has stalled. The problem has become an urgent matter of national debate. How do we fix it? Bestselling books preach moral reformation. Employers, however well intentioned, follow guesswork and whatever their peers happen to be doing. Frank Dobbin will discuss findings from his recent book with Alexandra Kalev, Getting to Diversity: What Works and What Doesn’t, which offers a comprehensive, data-driven analysis of what succeeds and what fails. The upshot: It’s time to focus on changing systems rather than individuals.
Frank Dobbin is Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences, and chair of the Department of Sociology, at Harvard. His Inventing Equal Opportunity (Princeton U. Press 2009) shows how HR managers and activists defined what it meant to discriminate in the eyes of the law, elaborating the definition over time. His Getting to Diversity: What Works and What Doesn't with Alexandra Kalev (Harvard U. Press [Belknap] 2022) looks at the effectiveness of dozens of different diversity programs, in over 800 companies across more than 30 years, to answer the questions: Which programs help, which hurt, and how can harmful programs be improved? Dobbin and Kalev are now investigating university programs designed to promote faculty diversity, using similar methods to sort out which are most effective.
17:00 - 18:00 Refreshments
18:00 - 19:00 Lecture
19:00 - 19:30 Drinks reception
This is a hybrid event. Places are available online or in-person
Book your in person place here
Book your online place here
Selwyn College, Quarry Whitehouse Auditorium