Human Resource Professionals’ Approaches to Gender Equality Change in a Silicon Valley Technology Company

• In Event: 2356 - Managers' Bias and Employees' Bias-reduction Strategies

Abstract

Using interview and observational data from a year-long case study of a Silicon Valley technology company, I compare how HR professionals and high-level executives in other departments approach gender equality initiatives. I find that, while departmental executives overwhelmingly take an individualistic approach to gender equality—i.e. seeking to change individuals rather than organizational policies—HR professionals take a more blended approach, given their role possessing both more expertise in organizational change and also less power in the corporate hierarchy. I find that HR professionals voice individualistic perspectives on certain dimensions—particularly the assumption of ingrained gender differences—whereas other dimensions, such as identifying the source of inequality and the target of change, follow a more organizational approach. These findings suggest that assumptions of gender difference may be particularly resilient to organizational change. Furthermore, HR professionals anticipate resistance, expect to be blamed for failures, shift potential blame to other employees, and routinely engage in self-protection efforts, which lead them to favor individualistic solutions to gender inequality, despite their sophisticated understanding of the organizational causes of inequality. Thus organizations remain limited in their change efforts, due to assumptions about gender differences and the strains on the HR professionals who are often tasked with key responsibilities.

Author

• Alison Wynn, Stanford University