Media Room

Dr. Amy Kahn, vice provost for University of the Rockies, presented “Building Consensus Among Diversity Experts on Defining Success of Diversity Work in Organizations” to an international audience on Tuesday, June 18. Her presentation was part of the third annual “Making Diversity Interventions Count” international conference at University of Bradford, U.K.

Dr. Kahn’s presentation was based on her research, in cooperation with Dr. Ken Sherman and Dr. Keri L. Heitner, wherein a Delphi method was used to build consensus on what definition constitutes success in terms of diversity initiatives. A panel of experts in organizational diversity, who were selected from internal and external stakeholder groups, completed three rounds of web-based data collection. Four key concepts emerged for measuring success: employee perception; organizational climate/culture; employee lifecycle data related to attracting, developing, and retaining employees; and internal measurements, as opposed to measurements that are external to the organization.

Based on these findings, metrics to measure success of diversity work were developed, combining overlapping aspects from the four key concepts into a triangulation of three essential components that target employee life cycle data, perception of leaders, and organizational culture. Triangulation of these three components provides an organizational snapshot or balance sheet that can be used to measure the success of an organization’s diversity efforts.

“In this presentation, we explored the meaning of diversity work in the United States. The research of Dr. Heitner and Dr. Sherman showed consensus from diversity experts that measuring requires a focus on the organization more than on the individual,” said Dr. Kahn. “Specifically, it showed that successful diversity measures can be found through employee perceptions of leadership and of the organization mixed with the reality of employee life cycle data.”

Dr. Kahn has nearly 20 years of diversity management experience with clients from healthcare and government to Fortune 100 companies. Since joining University of the Rockies as its director of diversity, the organization has received the 2010 Excellence in Diversity award from the Profiles in Diversity Journal and the 2010 “Raising the Bar Award” from the Colorado Springs Diversity Forum. Dr. Kahn was promoted to vice provost in November 2012.

About University of the Rockies

University of the Rockies is an advanced graduate institution for tomorrow’s thought leaders. The University provides an intimate and dynamic learning environment, offering highly specialized master’s and doctoral degree programs in the social and behavioral sciences, access to industry experts, campus clinical programs for practical experience, and research and publishing opportunities. University of the Rockies is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association (www.ncahlc.org). Small by design, University of the Rockies classes are presented in a progressive online format and at its Colorado Springs, Colorado campus and its Denver Instructional Site. For more information, please visit www.rockies.edu or call Shari Winet Rodriguez, vice president of Public Relations, at 866.621.0124 x2513.