Prof. Dr. Leanne Song Hing (University of Guelph, Canada) will teach several seminars on "Power, justice & inequality" and "Diversity issues" at the University of Valencia

Valencia Power, Justice, & Inequality in Workplace
Dr. Leanne Son Hing
University of Guelph
sonhing@uoguelph.ca
Class One
Date: Monday June 10 (10:00 am to 2:00pm)

Readings to complete before class:
Magee & Galinsky (2008). Social hierarchy: the self-reinforcing nature of power and status. The Academy of Management Annals, 2:1, 351-398.
Spreitzer (1996). Social structural characteristics of psychological empowerment. Academy of Management Journal, 39, 483-504.  

Format: Lectures and Class Discussion of the Readings
Topics to be discussed:

• Inequality as individual differences
  • Power, status, & control
  • Psychological empowerment
• Inequality as climates
  • Participative decision making climate
  • Hierarchy of authority

Class Two
Date: Wednesday June 12 (10:00 am to 2:00pm)

Readings to complete before class:
Christie and Barling (2010). Beyond status: Relating status inequality to performance and health in teams. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95, 920-934.
Kabanoff (1991). Equity, equality, power, and conflict. Academy of Management Review, 16, 416-441. 

Format: Lectures and Class Discussion of the Readings (10:00 to 11:30)
Topics to be discussed:

• Inequality as dispersion
  • Income inequality, pay dispersion
  • Power, status sharing
• Mechanisms of inequality
  • Injustice, relative deprivation
  • Status pressure, competition, conflict, identity, social capital

Lunch break 11:30-12:00
Research Presentation 12:00-2:00pm:

Inequality in the Workplace

Modern organizations are structured hierarchically. As a result, there is a general acceptance that inequality can be functional in organizations today. However, what happens when inequality becomes excessive? It has long been theorized that equality is an important distribution rule when people value relationships and the social nature of work. Yet, for decades, organizational researchers have only investigated the distributive justice principle of equity: the notion that outcome allocations should be based on merit or inputs. In contrast, my newest line of research focuses on inequality. Within some collectives (e.g., teams, departments), demands and resources might be distributed quite equally across individuals (e.g., all people experience moderate levels of demands and resources). However, in other collectives, demands and resources can be distributed very unequally with some experiencing high demands and others not, or with some benefiting from multiple resources and others not.
Recently, I have investigated how people who experience greater workplace inequality in the distribution of resources experience worse: health, well-being, social relations, and work attitudes. In brief, through survey and longitudinal studies, my collaborators and I find that too much inequality in the workplace can negatively affect feelings of empowerment and well-being, increase stress and conflict, harm health; and lead to less social capital, cohesion, and group viability. Implications of this research for workplaces and for theories of distributive justice will be discussed, as will future research directions. 

Diversity in Workplace
Dr. Leanne Son Hing
University of Guelph
sonhing@uoguelph.ca  

Class One
Date: Tuesday June 18 (10:00 am to 2:00pm)

Readings to complete before class:
Chugh (2004). Societal and managerial implications of implicit social cognition: Why milliseconds matter. Social Justice Research, 17, 203-222.
Gelfand, Nishii, Raver, Schneider (2007). Discrimination in organizations: An organizational-level systems perspective. Working paper.

Format: Lectures and Class Discussion of the Readings
Topics to be discussed:

• Prejudice (implicit and explicit), Stereotyping, & Discrimination
• Sexual Harassment
• Stereotype Threat
• Responses to Discrimination
• Gender and Leadership

Class Two
Date: Wednesday June 19 (10:00 am to 2:00pm)

Readings to complete before class:
van Knippenberg & Schippers (2007). Work group diversity. Annual Review of Psychology, 516-541.
Jayne & Dipboye (2004). Leveraging diversity to improve business performance: Research findigns and recommendations for organizations. Human Resource Management, 43, 409-424.

Format: Research Presentation 10:00-12:00pm:

Reactions to Diversity Programs
Diversity in the workplace creates a multitude of issues and problems. When organizational members differ from one another, prejudices, stereotypes, and discrimination can all come into play. These processes, as well as broader social forces, can lead to the under-representation of marginalized groups in the workplace. The policies that are implemented in the workplace to correct for biases and increase the representation of these groups, namely affirmative action, employment equity, and diversity initiatives, are themselves highly contentious. Are these programs fair because they are needed to correct for biases, or are they unfair because they violate the merit principle, giving some undeserved advantages? When people oppose these programs do they do so because they are prejudiced or because they are truly concerned with justice principles?
In my research, I have looked at how people’s concerns with the merit principle are independent from, and yet intersect with, their prejudices and their beliefs about social stratification. To best understand people’s opposition to programs aimed at increasing diversity in the workplace, one must know their principles and their biases. Implications of these findings for understanding the construct of meritocracy and for the management of diversity programs will be discussed.

Lunch 12:00-12:15

Lectures and Class Discussion of the Readings (12:15-2:00)
Topics to be discussed:

• Diversity and Groups/Teams
• Divesity and Performance

• Diversity Policies
  • Effectiveness
  • Opposition
  • Unintended Negative Consequences
  • How to Best Manage Diversity and Implement Programs

Place M400. Faculty of psychology, University of Valencia

Prof. Dr. Leanne Song Hing (University of Guelph, Canada)