At its launch, the ERASMUS programme was revolutionary and provided literally unbelievable mobility. After 30 years, the stats and results are impressive. However, the look-and-feel of ERASMUS reports and events suggest a political and administrative focus rather than a celebration of a European spirit and integration. Other initiatives, like Pulse of Europe, show enormous spirit but lack the content or structure of established programmes. A combination of spirit and structure would be ideal – but is only found in few initiatives, like AEGEE.
Author: Michael Stuber
190 article(s)
Seven Changes that make your Gender Equality work impactful, accepted and valuable
Hundreds of leading women at the World Women Leadership Congress in Mumbai filled the large ballroom with stunning expertise and vibrant engagement. The only panel of that day, 17 February, discussed a delicate question: The invisible dynamics of gender bias. The only man on the panel, Michael Stuber, shares his top recommendations from 20 years of experience in advancing Gender Diversity on the occasion of International Women’s Day (8 March).
How D&I leaders should be D&I role models and work more with the mainstream majority
For twenty years, D&I was demanding inclusive behaviour and high ethical standards from dominant groups while running programmes for women and minorities. The analysis shows that this has to be reversed: D&I leaders should role model their ideals and work a lot more with the mainstream majority.
D&I must step out of its own comfort zone
D&I is stuck in routine, generic strategies and a copy-and-paste mentality. This analysis shows how a lack of relevance to the business and too much regulation is limiting the scope and impact of Diversity. A new business focus can bring back the change into D&I and unleash intrinsic energy. Continue reading
D&I could be a powerful alternative to Nationalism – if pitched effectively
It felt as if overnight many achievements of 20 years of D&I work were ruined when nationalistic and post-truth campaigns received support and were partially successful. A root cause analysis shows how badly managed globalisation and virtualisation led to fragile communities. D&I has the power to offer an alternative – but for that, it needs to be re-framed.
Post-truth dynamics in the D&I field and what we should do about it
While the Internet jokes about seemingly silly populist media statements, the successes of simplistic, fact-free campaigns continue to horrify experts, including D&I stakeholders. However, the impact of accelerating post-truth dynamics on D&I is largely underestimated as is the responsibility of Media and ourselves.
Praxisnahe AkademikerInnen
Die jährliche Diversity-Konferenz von Tagesspiegel und Charta der Vielfalt präsentierte mit „Visions of Diversity“ ein neues Format. Fünf AkademikerInnen stellten in 7-minütigen Statements ihre Zukunftsbilder für D&I vor – und ihre Forderungen.
Book Review: Overcoming Bias (by Jana/Freeman)
The enthusiasm about neuroscientific evidence about how our brain deals with differences continues to be high. As much as D&I practitioners appreciate the additional knowledge about barriers to making the most of difference, they are looking for robust ways to mitigate Unconscious Biases. A new book offers help.
Deutschland braucht ein Einwanderungsgesetz – vor allem für das eigene Selbstverständnis
Die BMW Stiftung Herbert Quandt lädt ein und sie kommen: Der Bayerische Innenminister Herrmann und SPD Bundestagsabgeordneter Oppermann. Vor ausgewählten Gästen tauschten sie am 26. Oktober 2016 in der BMW Welt in München Positionen zu einem etwaigen Einwanderungsgesetz aus. Eine Nachlese von Michael Stuber
Case Study: Involving Top Management Levels in shaping the Gender Diversity agenda
If you feel you need to reshape your Gender Diversity strategy and want to make sure top management is not only on board but actively engaged, why don’t you run workshops on the business case & strategy design with your first levels? One large country organisation of a global firm did that and received detailed input and lists of active supporters with whom they proceed. Continue reading
Consolidated online resource for European gender data: Excellent policy data, weak for D&I
The European Union’s Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) has introduced a new online resource for Gender Statistics. It aims at serving as a comprehensive knowledge centre for gender statistics on various aspects of (in)equality between women and men. Initial tests show that the focus of the database is more on general demographics and public policy concerns than on employment or management.
Case Study: The Power of Unit-specific D&I objectives and action plans
Going their own way has led one global business sector of a blue-chip Corporation to the highest levels of D&I energy and engagement. Their unit-specific approaches to action-planning combined with a globally compatible storyline provided both coherence and freedom to tailor approaches. They became best practice within their Industry.
Kulturelle Vielfalt: Kontext ist alles
Welche Dynamik sich zwischen zwei Kulturen entfaltet hängt nicht nur von den jeweiligen (vermeintlichen!) Besonderheiten ab, sondern wesentlich von örtlichen und zeitlichen Gegebenheiten. Dieser sogenannte Kontext ist entscheidend für das Verständnis inter-kultureller Prozesse. Dies gilt umso mehr, als dass sich Werte, Grundannahmen, Normen oder Maßstäbe mit dem jeweiligen Kontext verändern – bis hin zu willkürlichen Festlegungen. Kontext-Kompetenz wird damit zum Erfolgsfaktor im Umgang mit kultureller Vielfalt.
Jetzt NEU: Vielfalt endlich bunt
Wirklich gutem Marketing gelingt es, Kühlschränke an Inuit zu verkaufen – so hieß es einmal. Geniales und zudem wohl hochbezahltes Marketing ist es, Vielfalt als „bunt“ zu spezifizieren und dies als Markenwert zu etablieren.
Gender-Krampf: Selbst „Spitzen-Väter“ polarisieren
Zum 11. Mal verlieh die Lifestyle Bakery Mestermacher ihren Preis „Spitzenvater des Jahres“ – diesmal an zwei engagierte Männer. Kanzlerin Merkel betonte in ihrem Grußwort, dass sie eine „Entscheidende Rolle“ in der Gleichstellung spielten. Trotz – oder wegen – des medialen und politischen Lobs: Die Preisverleihung ist heftig umstritten.
Cultural Diversity – From normative models to exploring existing realities
Learning about differences can be tricky as it may well lead to putting (groups of) people in boxes. ‘Men are from Mars’ is one example for the stereotyping risk, and many traditional cultural models fostered categorisation – even in categories that did not exist before. Exploring the realities of cultures as they exist is an intriguingly easy alternative.
The 20th year of Diversity – how much news can we still expect?
What else can we possibly do to advance D&I further? Not an easy question when you have already implemented various strategies for 5 or 10 years. Or, in our case, 19.
„Wir sehen den Kern des Problems nicht!“ (Pressemitteilung)
Kölner Diversity-Papst über Sexismus und Rassismus im deutschen Alltag. Zur den aktuellen Diskussionen über sexualisierte Gewalt und Flüchtlinge erklärt der Diversity-Forscher, -Publizist und -Berater Michael Stuber: „Stereotype lenken von den tieferen Ursachen ab: Stimmungsmache gegen Flüchtlinge und die Normalität von Sexismus in Deutschland.“
New evidence about Unconscious Bias shows this concept is not the silver bullet
Current research into Unconscious Bias shows that the awareness for and concern about expressing bias does actually help to accept feedback about bias and to take bias-reducing actions. The study conducted by Perry, Murphy and Dovidio (in press) found that white participants with high scores on a newly developed Bias Awareness Scale were likely to accept the (fictive) results of a bias measure indicating their preference for white individuals over black individuals. Participants with a lower Bias Awareness tended to reject such feedback. Moreover, the personal acceptance of bias feedback turned out to be the crucial tie between Bias Awareness and bias-reducing activities when participants were told to be biased. These findings confirm that Unconscious Bias training alone will not turn the totality of subtle and blatant discrimination, imbalance and inequalities into a fair and inclusive culture.
Umgekehrter Bias: Wenn persönliche Überzeugungen den Blick auf Daten und Fakten verstellen
Die Hoppenstedt Firmendatenbank bot viele Jahre einen Fundus an Daten, unter anderem zu Frauen in Führungspositionen. Diese erlaubten Analysen nach Firmengröße und Branche, auch über Jahre hinweg und wurden in der Vergangenheit von Journalisten großer Medien als Aufmacher genutzt. Inzwischen heißt Hoppenstedt Bisnode und der Datenriese arbeitete für die aktuelle Gender Auswertung mit dem Kompetenz-Zentrum Frauen im Management der Hochschule Osnabrück zusammen. Aus dieser Kooperation durften wir eine saubere Analyse und einen sachlichen Bericht erwarten. Auch nach mehrfachen Begutachtungen erscheint der Bericht eher als Beispiel für ideologischen Datenmissbrauch und einen durch persönliche Voreingenommenheit verstellten Blick.