Several of our faculty members explore research topics related to discrimination and the experiences of historically underrepresented communities. This ranges from looking at underrepresentation in specific industries, to how jobs and tasks are assigned and how entrepreneurs and employees from different backgrounds are supported (or not) by colleagues.
This expertise is shared with students through courses that treat equity, diversity and inclusion challenges, and through curated readings, case studies and examples for discussion. Desautels is exploring ways to further increase and enhance inclusive education and teaching practices. This includes reinforcing pedagogy adoption that serves all students, regardless of background or identity, and supporting overall engagement with subject material focused on equity, diversity and inclusion.
A sample of Desautels faculty members have shared how they are touching on these topics in their teaching and research:
Teaching
Daphne Demetry
Assistant Professor, Strategy & Organization
Course instructor: Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship (MGPO 362)
In my Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship course, I share with students the diversity of experiences of real-life entrepreneurs, countering the media’s often-limited stereotype of who can become an entrepreneur. To do this, I discuss my research on alternative pathways to venture creation, like . In the classroom, I discuss the challenges that women and underrepresented minorities, such as black entrepreneurs, face in their startups and brainstorms ways to bring more diversity and inclusion to the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Lindsay Holmgren
Associate Professor (Teaching), Strategy & Organization
Course coordinator: Expressive Analysis for Management (BUSA 250)
Course instructor: Global Leadership (MGCR 629) and Social Context for Business (MGCR 360)
Crucial to my instruction is the encouragement of dialogue, including first-person accounts of experience and the capacity to receive those accounts with open minds, suspended judgement, and acknowledgement of one's own biases. With these conditions in mind, I work to cultivate a safe space for students to share their experiences of difference, whether those differences pertain to gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, national identity, or degree of privilege. Moreover, I equip students with the vocabularies necessary for clear communications and encourage them to consider how their audiences will receive their language. In my view, this creates a learning environment in which difference can be understood, respected, and celebrated, thus contributing to socially conscious advancements in our myriad global economies.
Paola Perez-Aleman
Associate Professor, Strategy & Organization
Course instructor: Business-Government Relations (MGPO 365); Strategies for Developing Countries (MGPO 475); Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation (MGPO 438); Strategic Management: Developing Countries (MGPO 651); International Business and Government (MGPO 707)
Understanding the experience of diverse people, groups, and places around the world is crucial for learning, knowledge building, innovation, and problem-solving. Drawing on my field-based research, my six Strategy and Organization courses recognize the benefits of valuing different experiences and diverse knowledge. Gaining an understanding of excluded and marginalized peoples fosters better citizens, worldly managers, and inclusive communities.
Research
John-Paul Ferguson
Associate Professor, Organizational Behaviour
My research interests include large-scale studies of employment-segregation patterns and the effectiveness of various diversity programs. My work on large American workplaces has shown for example that racial segregation between workplaces has grown over the last generation, even as segregation between jobs in those workplaces has fallen. I have also published research on the difficulties of inferring diversity-program performance from the results in voluntarily complying firms.
Elena Obukhova
Associate Professor, Strategy & Organization
I use a network lens to explore how connections, gender, and class shape people's experiences of looking for a job. My current project shows that while searching for a job, women network more than men do, especially with other women, in part because they try to find employers where they will have the best chance of professional success. I have also published numerous papers showing how job seekers benefit from connections.
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Desautels research related to EDI
New report finds supplier diversity a novel subject in Canada
Published: 2 Dec 2021Narrative in the Economic Sphere: The International Monetary Fund and the Scripting of a Global Economy
Published: 18 Aug 2021Professors Vaast and Pinsonneault awarded 2021 SSHRC Insight Grant
Published: 22 Jul 2021Robert Nason, Associate Professor of Strategy & Organization, awarded William Dawson Scholar
Published: 16 Jun 2021From ideal workers to ideal work for all: A 50-year review integrating careers and work-family research with a future research agenda
Published: 31 Mar 2021
Thought leadership related to EDI
Delve podcast: Closing the Inventor Gender Gap with John-Paul Ferguson, Lucy Gilbert, and Negin Ashouri
Published: 19 Nov 2021Delve podcast: Navigating Digital Ecosystems & Transforming Strategy with Yolande Chan
Published: 4 Nov 2021Delve - "New Normal" podcast: Working from Home, Living at Work with Lisa Cohen
Published: 21 May 2021Delve: Overcoming Bias in AI Technologies
Published: 16 Feb 2021Delve: It’s Difficult to Breathe Behind a Facade, but Psychological Safety is the Antidote
Published: 25 Nov 2020