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Call for Papers

<st1:place><st1:placetype>Academy</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename>Management</st1:placename></st1:place> Learning & Education

2008 Special Issue

DIVERSITY EDUCATION AND TRAINING: WHAT WE KNOW AND WHAT WE NEED TO LEARN

Guest Editors:

Myrtle P. Bell, <st1:place><st1:placetype>University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename>Texas</st1:placename></st1:place>, <st1:city><st1:place>Arlington</st1:place></st1:city>

David A. Kravitz, <st1:place><st1:placename>George</st1:placename> <st1:placename>Mason</st1:placename> <st1:placename>University</st1:placename></st1:place>

In the past two decades, organizational researchers and practitioners have become increasingly interested in individual and organizational outcomes of diversity. "Managing diversity," "valuing diversity," and "diversity as a competitive advantage" are common phrases among researchers and practitioners. With the increased awareness of the need to understand and manage the effects of diversity has come a proliferation of university courses and corporate training programs on diversity. This special issue will explore what we have learned and what we must learn about these educational and training efforts.

            Although more than 100 articles with "diversity" in the title were published in <st1:place><st1:placetype>Academy</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename>Management</st1:placename></st1:place> journals between 1987 and 2005, research on the content, goals, and effectiveness of university courses or of diversity training in organizations is scarce. This dearth exists, at least in part, because the goals are often affective or behavioral, rather than cognitive, which makes assessing effectiveness difficult. Further, in contrast to many other business topics, diversity issues are value-laden, and trainees often enter programs with long-held, deeply-rooted attitudes. Thus, diversity courses and training programs are subject to unique challenges. Given the proliferation of diversity research, diversity training programs, and diversity courses in colleges and universities, it is time to measure the effectiveness of such programs and courses, to explore the factors that may influence their effectiveness, to ask how work on diversity training and on diversity education can inform one another, and to investigate the utility of diversity research for educators and training professionals.

            The purpose of this special issue is to bring clarity and focus to the areas of diversity education and training, with a special emphasis on what we have learned in the past two decades and what we still need to learn. Consistent with the format of the Academy of Management Learning & Education journal, we seek empirical and conceptual articles for the Research & Reviews section, and appropriate material for the Essays, Dialogues, and Interviews section.

Some possible topics for this special issue include, but are not restricted to, the following:

• What are, or should be, the differences between diversity courses in colleges and universities and diversity training in organizations?
• What are the goals, content, and activities of diversity classes and training programs?
• How is learning assessed in diversity classes? Is assessment tied to course goals? What institutional, class, instructor, and student factors affect learning?
• To what extent, and how, is the effectiveness of diversity training in organizations assessed? What organizational characteristics are associated with the assessment of training effectiveness? For whatever measure is used, how effective is diversity training? What characteristics of trainers, trainees, organizations, and programs facilitate or reduce training effectiveness?
• What theories are helpful in designing and implementing diversity training and educational courses? What pedagogies (e.g., case studies, role plays, lectures, films, etc.) are most appropriate for such courses and in what situations?
• How can findings from the wider area of diversity research be applied to diversity courses and training programs?
• Are there differences in the characteristics (e.g., demographics, diversity-related attitudes and behaviors, racial identity awareness) of those who enroll in mandatory versus elective courses or organizational training programs?
• How does commonly accepted but erroneous information (e.g., affirmative action means quotas, women with children are disengaged from the workforce, people with disabilities have lower performance), affect diversity learning in universities and organizations? What stereotypes and misperceptions are present among trainees at the beginning and end of training programs? What measures are effective in changing misperceptions? Do demonstrated changes last over time?
• How is diversity content taught in other courses, such as principles of management, human resources, employment law, organizational behavior, leadership, and ethics? How can diversity information best be infused into such courses? What textbooks effectively include diversity components or themes?

Submissions should be received by <st1:date year="2007" day="1" month="9">September 1, 2007</st1:date> and should be accompanied by an assurance of originality and exclusivity. Submissions should adhere to the "Style and Format" guide for authors that can be found at www.aom.pace.edu/amle, and should be submitted via e-mail in MS Word format. Submissions designated for Essays, Dialogues & Interviews should be sent to Myrtle P. Bell (mpbell@uta.edu) and those designated for Research & Reviews should be sent to David A. Kravitz (dkravitz@gmu.edu).  Authors are encouraged to discuss ideas for submission with the guest editors in advance. 

All submissions will be subject to a rigorous double-blind peer review process, with one or both of the guest editors acting as action editor, and final approval coming from the journal editor. Invitations to revise and resubmit will follow initial submissions in approximately 3 months, with revision deadlines set accordingly. Final acceptances will be made by May, 2008.