Inclusive Leadership for Social Justice: DEIB Leadership Programs and Organizations

Abstract

Organizational initiatives to address diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) have multiplied with many different courses and training programs in the last three decades. Despite these efforts, some recent studies have pointed out that disadvantages among minoritized social groups continue to persist, and thus far, organizations have failed to address them. University graduate leadership programs are, at least theoretically, able to respond in a way that better prepares future formal and informal organizational leaders with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to be inclusive individuals in the 21st century committed to social change and social justice. This study aimed to understand how some graduate programs were currently teaching DEIB issues; more specifically, to understand if universities implementing DEIB programs were using a critical lens in their program design and to assess if these programs were indeed intended to be transformative. The review of 40 graduate programs in the United States indicated that the majority of them view diversity training and the work of DEIB leadership as “managing diversity” to keep the status quo and for economic profit contributing to the commoditization and tokenism of people; there was no mention of power in terms of asymmetries but rather a legitimizing of the accumulation of power with the leader at the top; and, finally, except for five programs, there was little attention given to DEIB as a transformative project committed to social justice.

Citation

Jimenez-Luque, A. and Hubbard, L. (2023), "Inclusive Leadership for Social Justice: DEIB Leadership Programs and Organizations", Barnes, J., Stevens, M.J., Ekelund, B.Z. and Perham-Lippman, K. (Ed.) Inclusive Leadership: Equity and Belonging in Our Communities (Building Leadership Bridges, Vol. 9), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 87-96. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2058-880120230000009008