Reducing Discrimination in the Workplace

What is it about?

Over the past 20 years, many studies have tried to find effective ways to combat bias, but the results have been mixed, and they often do not focus on work-related behaviors. This makes it difficult to know which approaches actually help reduce discrimination in the workplace. This research explores ways to reduce employment discrimination and why some methods work better than others. The study introduces a new way of looking at anti-discrimination efforts based on psychological theories about attitudes and behavior. It organizes different types of interventions based on what aspect of attitudes they target (thoughts, feelings, or actions) and compares how well they work. This research analyzed 70 scientific articles that tested a number of different experiments to understand which methods were most effective. This study found that commonly employed approaches in the workplace, like educational sessions and reminders about bias, are less effective in changing workplace behavior compared to methods that directly target behavior, such as making people accountable for their decisions or changing social norms. In addition, interventions tend to work best when they match the type of outcome being measured. For example, if you want to change behavior, using a behaviorally-focused intervention tends to produce stronger results.

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Photo by Benjamin Child on Unsplash

Photo by Benjamin Child on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This research is important because it helps explain why some anti-discrimination efforts fail while others succeed. It suggests that to really reduce workplace discrimination, we need to focus on changing behaviors directly rather than only trying to educate people or change their beliefs. The findings could help companies and organizations design more effective diversity and inclusion programs. Researchers studying discrimination can also use this framework to design and test different interventions in the future. Overall, this study provides a practical roadmap for creating more effective anti-discrimination strategies in the workplace. By focusing on interventions that directly target behavior and aligning them with desired outcomes, organizations may have a better chance of creating more diverse, equitable, and inclusive environments.