Diversity Institute

Researchers seek widespread change through diverse leadership study

By Dana Yates

While studying diversity in the workforce, Ryerson researcher Wendy Cukier has heard a lot of talk about improving diversity at the top of the ladder. Unfortunately, she hasn't seen many results. 

"There's goodwill out there, but not much progress. The strategies and policies aimed at increasing diversity are just too fragmented and there hasn't been enough evaluation," says Cukier, a professor of information technology management who will become the university's next vice-president, research and innovation on Sept. 1.

Cukier is founder of Ryerson's Diversity Institute in Management and Technology, which studies diversity in the workplace and develops applications to improve diversity practices in organizations. More recently, she has spearheaded the $2.7-million initiative Diversity Leads, which is funded through the Community-University Research Alliances program of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Diversity Leads will fill knowledge gaps in the study of diverse leadership, says Cukier. In fact, the project draws upon the wide-ranging expertise of university academics (from Ryerson - Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Communication & Design, and the Ted Rogers School of Management - as well as McGill University, the University of Toronto and York University), and several partner organizations, including the City of Toronto, the Regions of Peel and York, the Toronto Board of Trade, the Assembly of First Nations, TD Bank Financial Group, the Globe and Mail, and OMNI Television.

Working together during the five-year project, the team will investigate numerous issues related to the effective management of diversity, a critical factor in organizations' performance and Canada's competitiveness, as a whole. Indeed, research has shown that workplace diversity leads to, among many things, better connected domestic and global markets, increased creativity and innovation, and enhanced social inclusion. In addition, diverse leaders serve as role models for future generations.

Specifically, Diversity Leads will address the under-representation of five designated groups (women, visible minorities, Aboriginal people, individuals with disabilities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people) in leadership roles across seven sectors in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

The project's focus will be on four themes. The first, assessing inclusive leadership, will go beyond statistics about diversity and ask big-picture questions. Such as, how do we define diversity in leadership? And are influential professions and groups, such as lawyers or labour unions, being overlooked in traditional notions of leadership? As proof, Cukier points to a recent Diversity Institute report that found, within the GTA, visible minorities make up just 6.8 per cent of leaders in the legal sector - a group that holds tremendous decision-making power.

On that note, Diversity Leads' second theme will explore individual and organizational practices to advance leadership. In particular, the project will pull together previous studies across different sectors to analyze barriers to achieving diversity in the highest levels of organizations. Solutions to overcome those hurdles will also be studied.

The third theme of the project will look at media representations of leaders. "The media is hugely influential in forming, and reinforcing or countering stereotypes," Cukier says. "We'll be looking at issues of representation and what the media can do to level the playing field."

One simple fix, she says, involves stock photos - the generic images that newspapers, for example, include in business stories. "It's doesn't always have to be a white man holding the BlackBerry."

Ultimately, Diversity Leads seeks to effect widespread change, the fourth theme of the project. By using a pragmatic, integrated and evidence-based approach to advancing diversity, Cukier hopes the initiative will, at the end of the day, increase diversity among the upper ranks of organizations and sectors.

"Education and awareness are often touted as the cure," she says. "And while they can be part of the solution, the fastest way to shift corporate behaviour is enlightened self-interest - as we see, for example, more focus on diversity as a criterion in procurement decisions, we will see big changes."

Source: Ryerson University

Diversity in leadership in the Greater Toronto Area including the legal sector.

“It’s not simply about equitable administration of justice, but perception of fairness and an opportunity for visible minorities to have access to power and influence,” says Dr. Wendy Cukier, author of the DiverseCity Counts 3 report released on June 7, 2011.

The leadership of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is more diverse than it was three years ago, reveals the third DiverseCity Counts report. It finds that 14.5% of leaders in the GTA are visible minorities (relative to 49.5%of the population studied) which is an overall increase of eight percent from 13.4 per cent in 2009. The study also shows that year after year government agencies, boards and commissions (22%) and the education sector (20%) have consistently out-performed other sectors. Elected officials are the third most diverse group of leaders at 19% and the corporate sector has remained the least diverse at 4.2%.

This year’s report also took a unique look at the legal sector. Lawyers and judges are important decision makers who shape the laws that act as a foundation for a democratic society. In addition, lawyers often become leaders in other areas, such as in elected office – in fact, 73 per cent of Canadian Prime Ministers were practising lawyers.

The study finds that just 6.8 per cent of leaders (judges, governing bodies and law school leaders and law partners and crown attorneys) in the GTA legal sector are visible minorities compared to 14.4 per cent of a talent pool of practising visible minority lawyers in the GTA. While 6.6 per cent of partners at the biggest law firms are visible minorities, 8.3 per cent of judges are visible minorities.