{"id":72,"date":"2018-06-24T22:43:55","date_gmt":"2018-06-24T22:43:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/lewaahmed\/?p=72"},"modified":"2018-06-24T22:43:55","modified_gmt":"2018-06-24T22:43:55","slug":"ldrs-500-unit-8-learning-activity-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/lewaahmed\/2018\/06\/24\/ldrs-500-unit-8-learning-activity-2\/","title":{"rendered":"LDRS 500, Unit 8, Learning Activity 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fostering recognition and a sense of belonging for women in my workplace<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In this blog post, I write about how I can foster recognition and a sense of belonging for women in my workplace. My descriptions are based on the results of the Gender-Leader Implicit Association Test available from Northouse\u2019s (2016, pp. 415-418) study, and also insights gleaned from the Nugent, Pollack, & Travis (2016) catalyst report about the daily experiences of workplace inclusion and exclusion.<\/p>\n

Nugent et al. (2016), described inclusion as the sum total of experiences and feelings that ensue from employees when they are: (a) recognized and valued for their specific contributions, and (b) welcomed and valued when among their colleagues. Hence, fostering recognition and a sense of belonging for women, could also be described as helping women experience a sense of inclusion. Nugent et al. (2016, p. 2) assert that when employees, including women, experience a sense of personal inclusion, they contribute a lot more to the organization and are empowered for innovation. Improved contributions and innovation are undoubted, essential ingredients for transforming any organization.<\/p>\n

As rewarding as the prospects of creating an inclusive work environment sounds, in practice, it is an elusive undertaken because as evidence suggests, inclusion is difficult to actualize (Nugent et al., 2016). Notably, this difficulty does not imply impossibility, and as such, I believe that despite its elusive nature (Nugent et al., 2016), inclusion, especially as it affects women, is attainable.<\/p>\n

To better appreciate inclusion and how it could be actualized, I briefly describe the concept of exclusion. According to Nugent\u2019s et al. (2016), experiences or feelings of exclusion ensue when employees are:<\/p>\n

(a) ignored despite their contributions and (b), estranged because of peculiar differences like gender, religion, job role, or others. Where exclusion abounds, employees tend to show dissatisfaction with their work, reduce their work effort, keep to themselves and look forward to leaving the organization (Nugent et al., 2016, p. 2). Upon close examination, one could deduce that exclusion is clearly, the antithesis of inclusion.<\/p>\n

Nugent et al. (2016) assert that both inclusion and exclusion co-exist in organizations; at best, organizations can only aspire towards promoting inclusion and mitigating exclusion as best as possible.<\/p>\n

How can I foster recognition and a sense of belonging for women in my workplace? In the light of Nugent\u2019s et al. (2016) study, to achieve this, I would work towards actualizing a work environment that is supportive and also inclusive of women as much as it is practicable. Furthermore, I would also work towards reducing that sense of exclusion which women often experience, to the barest minimum (Nugent et al., 2016). In the following section, I describe how this could be realized in more practicable terms.<\/p>\n

The first step is to ensure that the leadership of my organization appreciate the benefits of an inclusive work environment for women, possess the skills necessary for creating such environment and, remain committed to making inclusion evident in their actions and policies (Nugent et al., 2016). This is clear because demonstrating leadership by example here is critical for actualizing other steps. Next, I would work with the leadership to identify the current state of the organization as regards the extent to which women are experiencing inclusion and may also feel a sense of exclusion. Sequel to this, new policies would be better articulated, policies averse to the inclusion of women would be discontinued and, those in need of adjustments would be promptly adjusted. Specific examples of new or revised policies include; policies that protect the work and career interests of women when they are unavoidably absent from work because of pregnancy (Northouse, 2016, pp. 414-415), becoming institutionalized. A different example is that no woman earns lesser pay or enjoy fewer employment benefits than any man at the same level of productivity or position as herself.<\/p>\n

Nugent et al. (2016, p. 13) suggest that actualizing inclusion goes beyond having policies; there must be a human side which affects people\u2019s values, mindsets, and behaviours. Consequently, I would work towards promoting an organizational culture in which the leadership, management and all staff regardless of their gender, race\/ethnicity, religion and more, treat one another in a respectful manner and also foster strong interpersonal relationships in an atmosphere of trust, collaboration and positive interpersonal communication (Nugent et al., 2016, p. 6).<\/p>\n

Lastly, to foster recognition and a sense of belonging for women in my workplace, I would visibly reward inclusive behaviours (Nugent, et al., 2016, p. 7) and reduce exclusion to the barest minimum by: (a) promoting authentic action and dialogue, (b) ensure that words always match action, especially for leaders and in particular for everyone, (c) actively and deliberately engage individuals who may usually not contribute, and (d) give credit and visibility to those who give suggestions.<\/p>\n

I conclude by stating that while fostering the inclusion of women in my workplace, I would also apply caution and sensitivity towards addressing specific needs which men could also have. The possibility of a paternity leave of absence from work readily comes as an example of such needs peculiar to men. By addressing such needs, I would avoid a situation in which addressing one problem creates a different one which eventually, could adversely affect women adversely.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n

Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice<\/em>. (7th ed.). SAGE Publications.<\/p>\n

Nugent, J.S., Pollak, A., & Travis, D.J. (2016). The day-to-day experiences of workplace inclusion and exclusion. <\/em>Retrieved from: http:\/\/www.catalyst.org\/system\/files\/the day to day experiences of workplace inclusion and exclusion.pdf<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fostering recognition and a sense of belonging for women in my workplace In this blog post, I write about how I can foster recognition and a sense of belonging for women in my workplace. My descriptions are based on the… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,32,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ldrs500","category-learning-activity-2-unit-8","category-unit-8"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/lewaahmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/lewaahmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/lewaahmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/lewaahmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/lewaahmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/lewaahmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/lewaahmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions\/73"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/lewaahmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/lewaahmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/lewaahmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}