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Confronting Social Injustice in Organisations

Module description

Our societies fail to ensure equality and equity for all. As a result, many people, through no fault of their own, are systemically disadvantaged. Although these problems are often structural in nature—an injustice that must be rectified—how can leaders harness social-scientific theories and methods to create positive change in their organisations and help employees adaptively navigate barriers to their success? This module will provide students with the knowledge to identify, understand, and address social injustices in organizations. It will also give students actionable, evidence-based tools for addressing these problems to ensure that organizations are diverse, equitable, and inclusive so that their members can thrive.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module will cover research designed to address social injustices, helping to level the playing field in organizations. In doing so, we will cover pressing issues, such as achievement gaps, sexism, racial bias, transphobia, xenophobia, workplace diversity, health disparities, and environmental injustice. Class discussions will focus on theory and how the methods can be adapted by leaders to address these critical social problems in organizations.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Identify various social injustices within organizations
• 2. Discuss social-scientific theories that help explain these injustices

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Critically evaluate social-scientific theories and intervention methods
• 4. Explain social-scientific methods that can be employed to change organizational cultures and improve diversity, equity, inclusiveness, and employee performance

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Apply and adapt various interventions methods to organizational settings

Syllabus plan

INTRODUCTION

• Primer on social-psychological interventions and social norms

ADRESSING PERFORMANCE GAPS IN ORGANIZATIONS

• Growth mindset
• Attributions
• Socioeconomic Status
• Identity threat and self-affirmation
• Belonging in the workplace
• Women in STEM

ADDRESSING HEALTH AND WELL-BEING IN ORGANIZATIONS

• Physical health disparities
• Mental health disparities
• Stigma

ADDRESSING BIAS, CONFLICT, AND RELATIONSHIPS IN ORGANIZATIONS

• Bias in the workplace and the role of empathy
• Repeat offenders in the workplace
• Intergroup bias and reconciliation
• Resolving contentious relationships
• Sexism
• Ageism
• Transphobia
• Xenophobia
• Diversity in the workplace

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you have been deferred for any assessment you will be expected to submit the relevant assessment. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be expected to submit the relevant assessment. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of referral will be capped at 40%

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Walton, G. M., & Wilson, T. D. (2018). Wise interventions: Psychological remedies for social and personal problems. Psychological Review, 125(5), 617.
• Blackwell, L. S., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Dweck, C. S. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Child Development, 78(1), 246–263.
• Silverman, D. M., Hernandez, I. A., & Destin, M. (2021). Educators’ Beliefs About Students’ Socioeconomic Backgrounds as a Pathway for Supporting Motivation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 01461672211061945.
• Sherman, D. K., Hartson, K. A., Binning, K. R., Purdie-Vaughns, V., Garcia, J., Taborsky-Barba, S., ... & Cohen, G. L. (2013). Deflecting the trajectory and changing the narrative: How self-affirmation affects academic performance and motivation under identity threat. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104(4), 591.
• Brady, S. T., Cohen, G. L., Jarvis, S. N., & Walton, G. M. (2020). A brief social-belonging intervention in college improves adult outcomes for black Americans. Science Advances, 6(18), eaay3689.
• Okonofua, J. A., Saadatian, K., Ocampo, J., Ruiz, M., & Oxholm, P. D. (2021). A scalable empathic supervision intervention to mitigate recidivism from probation and parole. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(14).
• Dovidio, J. F., Love, A., Schellhaas, F. M., & Hewstone, M. (2017). Reducing intergroup bias through intergroup contact: Twenty years of progress and future directions. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 20(5), 606–620
• Goldenberg, A., Endevelt, K., Ran, S., Dweck, C. S., Gross, J. J., & Halperin, E. (2017). Making intergroup contact more fruitful: Enhancing cooperation between Palestinian and Jewish-Israeli adolescents by fostering beliefs about group malleability. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 8(1), 3–10.
• Aronson, E. (2002). Building empathy, compassion, and achievement in the jigsaw classroom. In Improving Academic Achievement (pp. 209–225). Academic Press.
• Becker, J. C., Zawadzki, M. J., & Shields, S. A. (2014). Confronting and reducing sexism: A call for research on intervention. Journal of Social Issues, 70(4), 603–614.
• Burnes, D., Sheppard, C., Henderson Jr, C. R., Wassel, M., Cope, R., Barber, C., & Pillemer, K. (2019). Interventions to reduce ageism against older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Public Health, 109(8), e1–e9.
• Kalla, J. L., & Broockman, D. E. (2020). Reducing exclusionary attitudes through interpersonal conversation: Evidence from three field experiments. American Political Science Review, 114(2), 410–425.
• Kalev, A., Dobbin, F., & Kelly, E. (2006). Best practices or best guesses? Assessing the efficacy of corporate affirmative action and diversity policies. American Sociological Review, 71(4), 589–617.
• Sparkman, G., & Walton, G. M. (2017). Dynamic norms promote sustainable behavior, even if it is counternormative. Psychological Science, 28(11), 1663–1674.

Key words search

Motivation; diversity; equity; inclusiveness