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On March 17, 2018, the founder and owner of Memon Lubricants, a Shell Pakistan Limited distributor located in Sukkur, Pakistan, was trying to find the best recruitment process to hire a new sales team. Memon Lubricants had just opened a second location in Khairpur, approximately 30 kilometres south of Sukkur. Several constraints that affected the process included a tight budget, limited availability of skilled and qualified candidates, and pressure to complete the recruitment quickly, Therefore, the founder wanted to adopt a more efficient recruitment process than the one he had used to hire a sales force at his first branch in Sukkur. He first had to identify the required knowledge, skills, and attitudes of ideal sales representatives. He then had to encourage appropriate candidates to apply for the positions. Generally, he had to improve the current recruitment process.

Many organizations take big actions in the realm of DEI because of something they see another company do--such as publicly declaring themselves champions of people of color or setting an ambitious top-down DEI strategy across the firm. However, these grand stances usually fizzle out, leaving leaders frustrated and saying, "DEI work is too hard. It takes too long to see results." The fact is, DEI isn't a short-term project, and a company making big moves before it has the right culture and structures in place is likely to fail, leaving marginalized employees and customers no better off and giving companies a reputation for hollow promises. Academic research and the author's experience working with firms on DEI strategy suggest that companies tend to follow predictable stages on their DEI journey. In this article, Georgetown professor and organizational psychologist Ella F. Washington describes the five stages: aware, compliant, tactical, integrated, and sustainable. She also includes questions for leadership teams to ask themselves. Understanding what stage your company is in can help you decide where to focus your energies most effectively and keep you from getting stuck.

When members of dominant social groups are accused of discriminating against those with less power and fewer resources, they sometimes seek to deflect criticism by portraying themselves as the victims. Some rely on digressive victimhood, which involves countering accusations of discrimination by reframing the issue as a matter of free speech or religious liberty. The authors discuss how managers can recognize such tactics so they can focus on addressing bias and supporting affected employees.

DEI initiatives that promote social justice in organizations necessarily boost tensions: They make inequities visible and make many people especially those from dominant groups uncomfortable. When workplaces respond to such tensions by simply tamping down conflict, they miss opportunities to solve systemic problems. Here's how they can leverage conflict instead, to foster lasting change.

The case looks at the challenges faced by SEWA Rural, a non-profit organisation located in Jhagadia, Gujarat, India. Started in 1980, the trust has been instrumental in establishing a robust healthcare system in Jhagadia, especially in the areas of child and maternal health. Along with a primary care hospital, the trust is also involved in community health, child care and education, women and girl child empowerment, and vocational education. The trust, currently, is considering its future course of action and its vision is for year 2030. The three protagonists: Dr. Shrey Desai, Dr. Gayatri Desai and Dr. Dhiren Modi, were entrusted with coming up with a plan for the same.

Only 10% of job opportunities are filled with internal lateral hires which represents a missed opportunity for employers and employees alike. Existing workers' institutional knowledge can help them quickly contribute in their new roles. Workers can also gain new skills that align with their career goals, leading to increased retention. Based on their research, the authors offer four practical insights to help companies that are currently underutilizing internal talent.

On October 28, 2021, Mark Zuckerberg, founder, chief executive officer, and chair of Facebook Inc. (Facebook), announced Facebook’s name change to Meta Platforms Inc., reflecting his vision for the company’s transition to metaverse technology. At the same time, Facebook was plagued by multiple scandals related to a data privacy breach, the spread of misinformation on the social media platform, employee whistle-blowing, and surveillance-style marketing and advertising. Trust in Zuckerberg’s leadership was diminishing. Zuckerberg controlled 58 per cent of Facebook’s voting shares, and stakeholders, critics, and regulators were calling for distributed leadership. How could Zuckerberg restore trust in his company and his leadership? What did he need to change to become a more effective leader?</p>

When given a choice, the employees who most need help are likely to opt out.

To succeed, almost every employee needs work/life support at some point. Women and people of color need it the most, research shows, because they face greater challenges and have fewer resources available to them. They are also the least likely to receive it, however, and as a result often are forced to change or leave jobs and lose out on opportunities for advancement. Given that situation, the authors decided to examine what effects various corporate work/life programs had on the management workforce. Analyzing data from more than 800 U.S. companies over 30 years, they found that when companies offered flexible work schedules, family leave, and childcare support to all employees, the percentage of women and people of color in management rose significantly. In fact, those work/life benefits had a larger impact than the most popular racial--equity programs did. Companies have long known that programs promoting work/life balance boost productivity, reduce turnover, and improve employees' mental and physical health. And now it's clear that they are also a powerful way to increase organizational diversity.

Companies today need cross-silo collaboration to survive a volatile competitive environment and grow revenue. But often their performance management systems discourage it. Indeed, in research involving more than 8,000 senior managers in biotech, banking, consumer products, energy, law, and other sectors, the authors found that a siloed approach to performance targets is a huge barrier to collaboration. Too many companies incentivize employees to take an overly narrow, short-term view, which makes them scramble to hit their numbers and lose sight of their organizations' bigger objectives. This article offers a better approach and outlines specific ways companies can retool their performance management systems to boost collaboration. It starts with implementing a four-part performance scorecard for every employee that establishes shared goals for tackling big challenges while still holding people accountable for delivering individual results. Each component--cross-silo goals, team goals, individual goals, and long-range programs--is weighted according to its importance in helping the company achieve its strategic aims.

Researchers interviewed a diverse group of employees to gain insights into their experience of inclusion in the workplace. They found that inclusive leaders are skilled at creating voice space an environment in which employees feel confident about openly communicating their ideas, recommendations, concerns, or other work-related opinions. Based on their study, the researchers offer four ways leaders can create voice space while elevating the confidence of their team members.

Honorable Mention; 2022 DEI Global Case Writing Competition. It is March 2022, and Imani Furaha, founder and CEO of Dynamo Relations, is at a key point with respect to the next step of her company's growth. After growing her public relations and brand management firm in both 2018 and 2019, the company had been hit by hard times during the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing her to make some tough adjustments. As the pandemic waned, Furaha was ready for lucrative new projects. But what had at first looked like the project that could give Dynamo a huge lift, turns out to be possibly detrimental to a star employee-Nathaniel de Guzman-who was born with cerebral palsy. Dynamo just received a proposal from one of its biggest clients, the mayor of Chicago, who is running for governor of Illinois. The mayor wants de Guzman as her key PR representative on her campaign and he clearly has the required skills and experience, but Furaha has many concerns. Are there increased physical risks for de Guzman due to the many on-site appearances required with a statewide campaign? Will Dynamo have to bear additional costs associated with his travel and work accommodations for this assignment? Might he become tokenized as a "voted-getting" element?

Ivan and Lana Kuznetsov are a dual-career couple and parents to four young children. Having immigrated to Canada from Russia in 2012, they are both in the process of rebuilding their careers. Ivan already has what can be considered a successful career, with local credentials, experience, and a good professional network, but he is not quite satisfied and considers making a change. Lana's career in Canada is in its early stages. As a recent college graduate, she is only beginning to realize her dreams and is working in an entry-level part-time position. When Lana receives a full-time job offer that will require her full attention and energy, the couple need to decide whose career to prioritize, as one of them will have to focus on the family. Over a person's lifetime, multiple career choices are made that are also related to their other life roles. Each spouse has different reasons and motivations for the vocational choices they make that affect both of their actions throughout their lives. In a situation of conflicting goals, where both spouses cannot work full-time, and one of them has to make a sacrifice, each option has potential benefits and risks.

In March 2021, a group of junior investment banking analysts at the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., an American multinational investment bank, told senior management that they were suffering burnout from having to work 100-hour weeks. Nearly a year since the start of the pandemic, this workplace culture crisis heightened the importance of senior leadership prioritizing employees' mental and physical health. In addition, it drew attention to the importance of person-organization fit and to the changing labour market. A top-ranked undergraduate business student recently received a full-time job offer from Goldman Sachs. After learning of critical incidents of employee burnout at the firm, she was considering whether the company culture aligned with her values and whether she would be a good fit there.

Honorable Mention; 2022 DEI Global Case Writing Competition. In November 2021, Activision Blizzard, Inc., the California-based maker of popular videogames such as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, faced several challenges concerning issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The challenges stemmed from a lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) that charged the company with rampant gender discrimination and sexual harassment, which (the suit alleged) had been going on for years. This was followed by an exposé in the Wall Street Journal that blamed company CEO Robert A. Kotick for not keeping the board informed of these issues. Accompanying all this was pushback from Activision's two major customers, Microsoft and Sony, who demanded that the company address the charges. Activision's board chairman, Brian Kelly, and lead independent director, Robert J. Morgado, had to respond to these challenges amid the backdrop of mounting employee unrest. One major step they took was to appoint the board's two female directors, Dawn Ostroff and Reveta Bowers, to examine possible solutions. Students will put themselves into the shoes of Ostroff and Bowers and formulate recommendations.

The traditional performance management process does not provide good data and inspire employees to perform better. We need to move on to a new way of measuring and accelerating performance. The first step to a better system is to remove the common practices that cause so much strife: no mandated goals, complicated rating approaches, or strictly annual performance conversations. We also need to stop collecting and using unreliable, stale data to inform downstream talent decisions.

dotin.in was a technology start-up founded by Ganesh Iyer in California, a spin-off from a product venture incubated by Cisco Systems created to solve the attraction and retention of talent. Leveraging their understanding of artificial intelligence (AI), natural language processing (NLP), and machine learning (ML) techniques, dotin incorporated the motivation science developed from the Color Munsell Theory. The insights of individual motivations are assessed through a quick 60-second color preference assessment based on Holland's vocational personality type, Gardner's multiple intelligence theory, and the Color Munsell System. It also incorporated an assessment of learning style to develop individual fit reports for specific job roles. dotin then based their report of fit based on a standard job competency dictionary of ONET taxonomy. The patented product was proposed as an end-to-end solution for talent management. dotin appealed to the recruiter community by providing a large database of potential candidates comprising passive job seekers. This database was developed by accessing and stitching together applicant information from multiple data sources, compliant with data privacy norms and laws. Recruiters could then connect with these passive applicants and invite them for specific job opportunities. If the applicant evinced interest, they responded to a one-minute color motivation patented assessment. The emerging analysis delivered a comprehensive functional (skill) fit, motivation and behavior, and preferred learning style. The resulting report offered insights to recruiters who hire internal and external talent. By assessing the fit and suitability for future roles, organizations could make informed data-based decisions on the potential capability of their talent and succession pipelines. The dotin assessment suggests appropriate development interventions to develop future leaders based on individual learning styles and motivation.

Second Place Winner; 2022 DEI Global Case Writing Competition. This case features a high-performing employee, Fatima Hassan, with an invisible disability and whose career may also be affected by her gender and religious identity. Traits related to Hassan's autism contribute to her success but also present challenges, so she seeks out a disability accommodation that could be perceived as a perk by her peers. She would also like to be considered for a promotion. Her manager must decide how to respond to the initial accommodation request while also assessing whether Hassan's disability is relevant when making a promotion decision. All this takes place in a unionized setting in which the collective agreement must be respected, creating decision-making constraints. The case is fictionalized but based on actual experiences and companies.

This two-part case describes the efforts of the Longueuil agglomeration police department (SPAL) and Fady Dagher, its chief of police, to improve relationships between the officers and the communities they serve. In the wake of a policy implemented by the Quebec government to create a more community-based police force, the SPAL had adopted a community policing approach to this effect. The focus of this case is the fundamental transformation of police culture to highlight not just protection but also collaboration, with the police also playing a social role.

This two-part case describes the efforts of the Longueuil agglomeration police department (SPAL) and Fady Dagher, its chief of police, to improve relationships between the officers and the communities they serve. In the wake of a policy implemented by the Quebec government to create a more community-based police force, the SPAL had adopted a community policing approach to this effect. The focus of this case is the fundamental transformation of police culture to highlight not just protection but also collaboration, with the police also playing a social role.