Write a minimum of 200 words response to each post below. Reference minimum of 2 articles per post.
You will see the original post, which the two posts below responded to, and you will respond to the response posts 1 and 2.
POST 1
Higher education institutions play an important role in a global society. Colleges and universities have led the world in terms of research and education for decades. U.S. colleges and universities, in particular, draw students from around the world to do research. As of 2003, American citations in research journals comprised around forty-two percent of all citations (Clotfelter, 2010). Higher education institutions across the United States have become more racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse than ever (Kruse et al., 2018). Looking at the population of college-seeking Americans, 47% of these were non-White in 2016, in comparison to 29% non-White in 2006 (Fry & Cilluffo, 2019). In addition, American colleges and universities provide abundant opportunities for students from around the world to learn information and engage in research. Students come from various countries to make U.S. universities more globally relevant. In 2012-13, a record number of international students – nearly 820,000 – were enrolled in American colleges (Blumenstyk, 2014).
The historical role of post-secondary institutions is evolving because of cultural demands, demographic shifts, and institutional attempts to serve many stakeholders (Pulliam & Sasso, 2016). Higher education is an important experimental area for exploring diversity-related issues; colleges and universities are increasingly putting more time, effort, and resources into diversity issues (Jones, Hall & Bragg, 2019). There is not enough space in this assignment to go into detail, but there is evidence to suggest that usage of holistic admissions practices can increase racial representation – including international numbers – on college campuses (Johnson, 2020). Having larger populations of diverse students is beneficial for college campuses as a more diverse student body leads to better global understanding (Sternberg, 2016). This idea of global and international understanding is conducive to students learning about cultures, leadership, and positive change. The development of global understanding of other people and culture is directly connected to individual and collective growth (Mendenhall et al., 2012).
References
Clotfelter, C. T. (Ed.). (2010). American universities in a global market. University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226110455.001.0001
Fry, R., & Cilluffo, A. (2019). A rising share of undergraduates are from poor families, especially at less selective colleges. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2019/05/22/a-rising-share-of-undergraduates-are-from-poor-families-especially-at-less-selective-colleges/
Johnson, M. (2020). Undermining Racial Justice: How One University Embraced Inclusion and Inequality. Cornell University Press. https://doi.org/10.7591/cornell/9781501748585.001.0001.
Jones, S., Hall, D., & Bragg, J. (2019). “If they’ve had a middle class upbringing that’s not their fault”: The professional practices and personal identities of admissions staff at selective universities in England. Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education Research, 77(5), 931–947. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-018-0311-9
Kruse, S. D., Rakha, S., & Calderone, S. (2018). Developing cultural competency in higher education: An agenda for practice. Teaching in Higher Education, 23(6), 733–750. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2017.1414790.
Mendenhall, M. E., Reiche, B. S., Bird, A., & Osland, J. S. (2012). Defining the “global” in global leadership. Journal of World Business, 47(4), 493–503. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2012.01.003.
Pulliam, N., & Sasso, P. (2016). Building institutional capacity for college access and success: Implications for enrollment management. Higher Education Politics & Economics, 2(1), 57–80. https://doi.org/10.32674/hepe.v2i1.19
POST 2
Unconscious bias is a current issue in global workplaces that can significantly hinder the conducting of business and interpersonal relationships. According to McCormick (2015), though bias can be found in other areas of the brain associated with stereotyping and forming first impressions, bias is rooted in the same part of the brain as fear and threat. When people perceive something to be threatening or frightening, they tend to label things negatively and disassociate from them.
The nature of unconscious bias is in the name, in that these are biases we possess but aren’t aware of. Presently, unconscious bias finds its’ way into global workplaces more often than we may think. For example, a study at Duke University discovered that “mature faced” people had a particular career advantage of “baby faced” people, and another investigation conducted by The National Bureau of Economic Research unearthed that for every 1 percent increase in a woman’s body mass, there was a .6 percent decrease in family income (Wilkie, 2015). Unconscious racial bias is another example in our current realities which tends to rear its’ head. A poll conducted by The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and The Undefeated unveiled that 71% of African Americans believe unconscious bias of white people against black people was a major obstacle versus 45% of white people (Hamel et al., 2020).
In summary, the future of global leadership development should focus on retraining the brain through creating structures which enhance skills such as decision making to allow leaders to practice identifying and weeding out their tendencies for bias. Ross (2008) suggests organizations begin with diversity audits and employee surveys to uncover hidden and unconscious biases which need to be addressed. Mendenhall et al. (2018, Chapter 11) also explains that assessing the current state of readiness for change can aid the organization in understanding the cultural competencies necessary to address the change management process. Inevitably, we all possess some sort of bias towards groups of people, things, etc., however, through intentional education and engagement efforts we can all minimize the negative impacts of bias on organizational culture and business affairs.
References
Hamel, L., Lopez, L., Muñana, C., Artiga, S., & Brodie, M. (2020, October 14). KFF/The Undefeated Survey on Race and Health. KFF. https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/report/kff-the-undefeated-survey-on-race-and-health/
McCormick, H. (2015). The real effects of unconscious bias in the workplace. UNC Executive Development, Kenan-Flagler Business School. DIRECCIÓN.
Mendenhall, M. E., Osland, J. S., Bird, A., Oddou, G. R., Stevens, M. J., Maznevski, M. L., & Stahl, G. K. (2018). Global Leadership: Research, Practice and Development (3rd ed.). London: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
Ross, H. (2008). Exploring unconscious bias. Diversity Best Practices. Retrieved from http://www.cookross.com/docs/UnconsciousBias.pdf.
Wilkie, D. (01 December 2014). Rooting out hidden bias. SHRM. Retrieved from http://www.shrm.org/publications/hrmagazine/editorialcontent/2014/1214/pages/1214-
hidden-bias.aspx.
