Diversity and Inclusion for Bottom-line Performance

Bring diversity to the workforce. Improve performance and attain objectives by using high-involvement practices and diversity management.

Description

The management of diversity and inclusion has evolved from handling day-to-day compliance issues to leveraging diversity for competitive advantage. Organizations that no longer see diversity as a legal or moral requirement, but as a competitive advantage, have an opportunity to improve performance at the financial, employee, customer, and community levels.

Diversity and inclusion practices must be embedded in an organizational culture to make a positive impact on performance. This course summarizes the evolution of diversity and inclusion management; outlines key management practices for improving performance, contextualizes diversity in terms of current challenges, and provides direct linkages between diversity and the bottom line at the organizational and functional levels.

Dr. Roberson's model of strategic approaches to diversity and inclusion provides a comprehensive toolkit for strategic diversity management, implementing next generation high-involvement practices, and ensuring stakeholder alignment with strategic objectives. The linkage between bottom-line performance and diversity is explored through the varying lenses of legal outcomes, customer and employee outcomes, and business metric improvements. In addition to measuring diversity's impact, and being able to create a diversity dashboard, learners discuss the future of diversity and inclusion and the complex relationships between diversity and organizational reputation, business practices, strategic capabilities, and financial performance.

Who Should Take This Course?

This course is designed for manager-, director-, and executive-level HR professionals who are charged with improving HR's ability to contribute to organizational strategy and success. It is also appropriate for HR professionals seeking the strategic skills required for advancement to management and leadership positions.

Course Format

All eCornell courses are delivered online and are self-paced. An eCornell instructor leads the online discussions, grades any course projects, and is available to answer specific questions about the course content.

This course contains the following modules:

• Defining Diversity and Inclusion
• Evolution of Diversity Management
• A Business Case for Diversity
• Diversity and Inclusion Practices I
• A Basis for Diversity
• Diversity Building Blocks
• Devising Diversity Strategy
• Stakeholder Management
• Diversity and Inclusion Practices II
• Diversity in Context
• Diversity in Work Groups
• Diversity and the Bottom Line
• Diversity Framework and Ethics
• Effectively Impacting the Bottom Line

Benefits to the Learner

Participants who complete this course will be able to:

• Summarize the history of diversity and inclusion practices
• Cite examples of successful diversity and inclusion practices
• Explain how diversity can affect an organization's bottom line
• Outline best practices for diversity and inclusion, and recommend how to implement those practices throughout an organization

Authoring Faculty

Quinetta M. Roberson, Ph.D., Associate Professor

Sponsoring School

Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations

Total Learning Time

Approximately five to six hours over a period of two weeks.

Certificate Information

This course can be applied toward the following certificate:

• Strategic Human Resources Management

HRCI Recertification

This course been approved for six (6) recertification credit hours toward PHR, SPHR, and GPHR recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute. Please contact the Human Resource Certificate Institute (HRCI) for further information about certification or recertification.