Northouse, Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Lecture Notes
Chapter 9: Embracing Diversity and Inclusion
Chapter Summary
I. Introduction
II. Diversity and Inclusion Explained
A. Definitions
B. Brief Historical Perspective
C. Inclusion Framework
III. Diversity and Inclusion in Practice
A. Model of inclusive practices
B. Leader practices that advance diversity and inclusion
C. Barriers to embracing diversity and inclusion
IV. Leadership Snapshot: Ursula Burns, CEO, Xerox Corp.
V. Case Study: What’s In a Name?
Chapter Objectives
1. Discuss the importance of diversity and inclusion to organizations.
2. Examine historical approaches to diversity.
4. Understand barriers to embracing diversity and inclusion.
Lecture Notes
• What diversity efforts are you aware of in your workplace or school?
• Why is it important for leaders to embrace diversity and inclusion?
I. Introduction
Northouse, Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
B. People have different reactions to the term “diversity”.
II. Diversity and Inclusion Explained
A. Definitions
1. Multiple definitions of diversity
a. General definition: The mixture of races, genders or religions that
make up a group of people.
b. Harrison and Sin (2006): The collective amount of differences
among members within a social unit.
c. Ferdman (2014): The representation of multiple groups of
2. Inclusion
a. Definition: the process of incorporating differing individuals into a
group or organization.
b. Effects: i. Majority gives voice to people who are seldom
heard
ii. All people are valued and respected
B. Brief Historical Perspective
1. Diversity has been a challenge for leaders to address in every generation.
3. Three periods of diversity in the workplace.
a. The early years of diversity (1960s and 1970s)
i. Equal Pay Act (1963)
ii. Civil Rights Act (1964)
iii. Executive Orders (1961-1965)
iv. Age of Discrimination Act (1974)
v. Focus on “righting the wrongs” of people who’d
b. The era of valuing diversity (1980s and 1990s)
i. Emphasis on acceptance and celebration of
differences
Northouse, Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
ii. Included more dimensions than race and gender
iii. Recognized that diversity has positive outcomes
for organizations.
iv. Metaphor: Salad
c. Diversity management and inclusion in the 21st century
(2000 to present)
i. Inequities between different individuals and groups
remain unresolved.
ii. Emphasis on creating inclusive organizations.
C. Inclusion Framework
1. People need to be included but also differentiate themselves from the
group (Brewer, 1991)
2. Inclusion Framework has four quadrants of combinations of inclusion
and differentiation.
a. Exclusion: Low belongingness and low value in uniqueness
i. Organizations fail to see and value the unique
qualities of diverse employees and fail to accept
them as organizational insiders.
b. Differentiation: Low belongingness and high value in uniqueness
III. Diversity and Inclusion in Practice
A. Model of Inclusive Practices
2. Societal inclusive practices: How a society thinks about and addresses
inclusion
3. Organizational inclusive practices: Policies and practices
Northouse, Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
5. Group inclusive practices: Establish enabling norms
7. Individual inclusion experience: “The degree to which individuals feel
safe, trusted, accepted…”
8. The influence of inclusion travels up and down the framework, across all
levels.
B. Leader Practices that Advance Diversity and Inclusion
2. Feeling involved and engaged: Leaders find ways to help followers
become engaged
4. Feeling influential: Leaders listen to followers’ ideas
6. Diversity is recognized, attended to, and honored: Leaders acknowledge
differences and fully embrace them even if it produces conflict.
C. Barriers to Embracing Diversity and Inclusion
1. Ethnocentrism
a. Tendency for individuals to place their own group at the center of
their observations of others and the world.
2. Prejudice
a. A largely fixed attitude, belief, or emotion held by an individual
about another individual or group that is based on faulty or
unsubstantiated data.
3. Stereotypes
a. Fixed belief held by an individual that classifies a group of people
with a similar characteristic as alike.
4. Privilege
Northouse, Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
a. An advantage held by a person or group that is based on age, race,
ethnicity, gender, class or other cultural dimension, which gives
IV. Leadership Snapshot: Ursula Burns, CEO, Xerox Corp.
A. First successive female CEO of a Fortune 500 company.
B. Xerox became involved in diversity and inclusion efforts in 1964.
C. Xerox established a company-wide commitment to recruiting and retaining a
diverse workforce.
D. Black caucuses met outside of work to support one another and address the
V. Case Study