Synopses & Reviews
Our global world still faces many issues of discrimination. The marginalization faced by people across many different realms of difference is causing significant strife in organizations, governments, and our education systems. Yet the literature and conversations on diversity, intercultural management and related topics on equality have not significantly changed in over twenty years.
Beyond Diversity and Intercultural Management develops a change model designed to challenge prevailing paradigms. Robinson-Easley argues that while equal employment opportunity, diversity, and intercultural management are generally treated separately in the literature, these topics and related issues reside on one continuum and require the same core competencies and skills. This follow up work to Robinson-Easley's Preparing for Today's Global Job Market demonstrates that it is time to move away from a 'managing' mindset and towards a "valuing humanity" mindset, while concomitantly privileging the personal lenses, cultures, and micro-cultures of people who make up today's diverse global world.
Review
"With deep interior spirit, Robinson-Easley invites us to escape from inefficient, biased and mind-numbing ways of questioning inequality, oppression, and discrimination; a mental conditioning that mainly aims at reducing complex problems to simple solutions, broadcasting set models, standard operating procedures and fragmented analysis. Through productive cognitive dissonance, one can address issues of differences, diversity and intercultural management from a critical and interrelated systems perspective, a connected heart-driven way to truly see the individual in its humanity." - Fabienne Alvarez, Assistant Professor of Management, University of the French West Indies and Guiana
"Robinson-Easley has a clear and readable style which will allow many to be exposed to her wonderful, fresh approach to diversity that truly is global in nature. This is a must-read for any thoughtful person who actively participates in our global world. As Editor of the Organization Development Journal, I am proud that we were the first to publish her model!" - Joanne C. Preston, RODC, Owner, Joanne C. Preston and Associates; Editor, Organization Development Journal
"There are few books in life that speak from a place of truth and justice, especially relating to diversity and cultural competence. In this well-written book, Robinson-Easley speaks from the heart and from a sense of her lived experiences, creating an authentic tone in the book's narrative. The author was wise to use this undervalued approach for this critical topic. As society is no place near parity, the book becomes even more important as it is accessible and relatable on multiple levels. As an expert in social equity studies, I highly recommend this book for all faculty and students at all levels of higher education." - Richard Greggory Johnson III, Associate Professor, School of Management, University of San Francisco, USA
Synopsis
Beyond Diversity and Intercultural Management develops a change model designed to challenge prevailing paradigms in the literature and conversations about equal employment opportunity, diversity, and intercultural management.
About the Author
Christopher Anne Robinson-Easley is CEO of Enlightening Management Consultants, Inc.; Associate Professor of Management at Governors State University, USA; and a former seminarian at Chicago Theological Seminary, USA. She received her PhD in organization development from Benedictine University, USA. Over the course of her twenty-one year consulting career, Dr. Robinson-Easley has extensively worked with entrepreneurial firms, government agencies, nonprofits, social service and religious organizations, and the corporate business sector.
Table of Contents
Introduction
PART I: MY JOURNEY AND UNDERSTANDING OF DIVERSITY AND INTERCULTURAL MANAGEMENT FROM THE LENS OF TRADITIONAL PARADIGMS
1. Understanding diversity from the Mindset of a Structural Approach to Change
2. The Beginning: Moving Diversity Strategies Beyond Structural Interventions
3. My Early Work: Appreciative Inquiry as a Diversity Intervention Strategy
4. The Importance of the Individual When Working to Evoke a Diverse Organizational Environment
5. Contemporary Yet Unconventional Research and Perspectives on Issues of Diversity and Intercultural Management
6. Contemporary Diversity Perspectives: More Lessons from the 'Field'
7. The Movement Towards New Diversity Questions and Paradigms: Synthesizing my Learning
PART II: NON-TRADITIONAL VENUES FOR EVOKING THE DIVERSITY CONVERSATION
8.Moving the Conversation Beyond the Ethics Literature: Connecting Diversity and Social Responsibility
9.Transformational Leadership and the Transcendence of Humanity: Leaders are the Drivers of Change
10. Synthesizing the Learning: A New Diversity/Intercultural Competence Model for Change
11. Concluding Comments