Discussion: View Thread

Expand all | Collapse all

summary - climate surveys

  • 1.  summary - climate surveys

    Posted 10-13-2005 12:46

    Dear Colleagues:

    I would like to thank the following people for their very helpful responses to my posting on organizations that do climate surveys: Ed Ng, Tony Butterfield, Ellen Kossek, Lotte Bailyn, Diane Bergeron, Kecia Thomas, Robyn Berkley, Pam Tolbert, Yasamin Miller, Gary Kustis, Diana Wong, T.D. Duchess, Martin Kormanik, Diana Bilimoria, Katherine Giscombe, and Caren Goldberg. GDO comes through as always!  

    Summary of Responses
    Request for Recommendations for Climate Survey Administrators

    Have you tried Catalyst?

    You may want to contact Catalyst about conducting the climate survey
    on gender and diversity. I've always been very impressed with the
    reports I've read and I think they have a research arm as well as a
    consulting arm. I met Katherine Giscombe, who works at Catalyst, at
    the Academy meeting in August in a diversity session. I cc'd her on
    this e-mail as well. Catalyst's website is www.catalystwomen.org

    We know how valuable climate surveys can be and commend you and Clarkson for thinking of taking this step.  Catalyst has done some assessment work with universities.  We draw on our vast research experience and work with a range of workplaces and are able to bring that outsider perspective that can be so helpful in understanding a climate.
     I lead our consulting practice and would be very happy to explore ways that we might be of assistance. [Meryle Mahrer Kaplan]
     
    ---

    The Survery Research Center at the University of Michigan's Institue for Social Research.
    I don't know if they have unique expertise on gender issues, but they are the best at (developing) organizational surveys.

    ---

    We had WFD in Boston do a climate survey for us - they're good but it was a bit complicated because our administration wanted university comparable data, and at that time they didn't have much - they have a stress/burnout index that they've now done with 3-4 universities (I know Ohio State was one) and it turns out that universities are way off the scale of their corporate data base - if you use them we'd like to share stress index numbers as a comparative point

    ---

    Mary...RPI did one (although distribution of the results has been less than timely!!) but the person to talk to on our campus is Ken Durgans our V.Provost for Diversity (durgak@rpi.edu).  HE can give you the name of the firm that did the survey. Mention my name ... [Robyn Berkley]

    ---

    We operate a full-service survey facility here at Cornell and have
    conducted numerous campus climate assessment  surveys.  I would be more than happy to discuss your survey needs at your convenience. [Yasamin Miller]

    ---

    As part of The NSF ADVANCE initiative to address the recruitment, advancement, retention, and leadership of women faculty in the sciences and engineering (www.nsf.gov/advance), a number of universities have undertaken climate surveys pertaining to gender and diversity issues on campus.  A list of these institutions' websites can be found at: http://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/advance/itwebsites.jsp; these websites generally provide information on their PIs, questionnaires, methods, and results.
     
    I recommend in particular the climate surveys undertaken by the University of Michigan (http://www.umich.edu/~advproj/) and the one done by our very own Ronda Callister at Utah State University (http://websites.usu.edu/advance/).  Our own climate survey at Case Western Reserve University can be found at www.case.edu/admin/aces (look under the Research/Resources tab)
     
    Regarding an external source to undertake the survey, we are just beginning to use the COACHE survey process, run by Harvard's Cathy Trower, for annual assessments of climate (http://gseweb.harvard.edu/~newscholars/info/survey.html).  While this survey focuses on junior faculty's experiences regarding promotion and tenure, the nature of their work, policies, practices, and the general climate, culture and level of collegiality on their campuses, the report they provide analyzes the data by gender and race, and they are also willing to provide unidentified raw data to the university as well for further analyses.  

    ---

    I'm not sure if we fit the bill, as we haven't done any
    gender/diversity-related surveys in quite a while, but I thought I'd
    chime in.  I work for a small management consulting firm in Cleveland.
    We're small but we do a lot of survey work for major Fortune 500
    companies, including one that we did a glass ceiling survey for, some
    years ago.  Our survey philosophy has always been to customize surveys
    for the organization, and for that reason, we don't generally have
    anything that is "off the shelf."  Anyway, if you'd like to know more,
    please give me a call or send me an email.  You can learn more about us
    at www.obpa.com.  [Gary Kustis]

    ---

    Regarding your request for an independent diversity consultant, I
    thought I would suggest Dr. Wayne Millette who has expertise with
    diversity, leadership, and organziational change in higher education.
    He conducts both surveys and focus groups to assess organizational
    climates related to a range of diversity issues that encompass gender,
    race, sexual orientation, disability, age, and invisible identities.
    His work experience related to these issues includes the University of
    Michigan, Olivett College, University of Massachusetts, and Greenhills
    School.  Please consider this your introduction to him and our
    consulting practice, Sensei Change Associates.

    ---

    Chris Tori and Dalia Ducker have an instrument they have been validating to measure multiculturalism on campuses and have published on their research.  They are at the SF campus of the Calif. School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University.  You can reach them at CTori@Alliant.edu or DDucker@Alliant.edu.

    ---

    Your request for information came to me through the GDO Listserv.  Here at O.D. Systems, we have been doing assessment work in the diversity arena since the early 90s.  We work primarily with Federal Government agencies, helping them establish diversity programs, coordinate taskforces, survey the organizational climate, and identify best practices in diversity initiatives.  We also help clients identify appropriate innovative approaches to addressing the issues surfaced by the climate survey.  In the process, we have received a number of commendations and awards for our efforts.  

    I can provide you with my CV and our organizational credentials.  In short, there are many ways in which we can help Clarkson with the climate survey.  Please let me know if you have any questions or would like additional information.  [Martin Kormanik]

    ---

    I dont know of consulting firms (you might try Taylor Cox's detroit firm, he left u of m), but the 1993 article I published on diversity climate in Journal of Org. Behavior  won a best paper of the year award and was based original scales as part of a diversity audit at MSU  and it is in some natinal diversity listing of scales and a lot of orgs. have used them. I also have some later scales in an apa publication.  

    Here are cites
    Kossek, E. E., Markel, K., McHugh, P.  2003. Increasing diversity as a HR change strategy. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 16(2): 328-352. (group level)
     
    Kossek, E. E., Zonia, S. 1994. The effects of race and ethnicity on perceptions of human resource policies and climate regarding diversity. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 8: 319- 334.
     
    Kossek, E. E., Zonia, S. 1993.  Assessing diversity climate: A field study of reactions to employer efforts to promote diversity. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 14: 61-81. (Selected by Journal Editorial Board as Best Paper Award of 1993).

    Kossek, E., Zonia, S.C. and Young, W. 1996. The limitations of the power of organizational
    demography: Can diversity climate be enhanced in the absence of teamwork? In (M. Ruderman, M. Hughes-James, & S. Jackson, Eds.). Selected Research on Work Team Diversity.  Greensboro, North Carolina: Center for Creative Leadership and Wash., D.C.: American Psychological Association, pp. 121-152. (Selection of best papers from a 1995 conference on diversity in work teams held at the Center for Creative Leadership.)



    Mary E. Graham, Ph.D.
    Newell Associate Professor
    School of Business
    Clarkson University
    P.O. Box 5790 / 8 Clarkson Avenue
    Potsdam, NY 13699
    315.268.6431 (voicemail)
    315.268.3810 (fax)
    graham@clarkson.edu