Books by Bernardo M Ferdman
"How can organizations, their leaders, and their people benefit from diversity? The answer, accor... more "How can organizations, their leaders, and their people benefit from diversity? The answer, according to this cutting-edge book, is the practice of inclusion. In Diversity at Work: The Practice of Inclusion, a volume in SIOP's Professional Practice Series, topic experts ranging from internal and external change agents to academics present detailed solutions for the challenge of inclusion—how to fully connect with, engage, and empower people across all types of differences. The editors and chapter authors translate theories and research on diversity into the applied practice of inclusion. Readers will learn about the critical issues involved in framing, designing, and implementing inclusion initiatives in organizations and supporting individuals to develop competencies for inclusion. The authors' diverse voices combine to provide an innovative and expansive model of the practice of inclusion at the individual, group, and organizational levels. Case studies and illustrations show how diversity and inclusion operate in a variety of settings, effectively highlighting the practices needed to benefit from diversity." See http://practiceofinclusion.com for more information, including the table of contents and a link to a free download of Chapter 1.
ED403784 - Literacy across Languages and Cultures. SUNY Series, Literacy, Culture, and Learning.
... LITERACY ACROSS LANGUAGES AND CULTURES Thls One ABXN-GRG-Z9JW Page 4. ... Page 5. LITERACY AC... more ... LITERACY ACROSS LANGUAGES AND CULTURES Thls One ABXN-GRG-Z9JW Page 4. ... Page 5. LITERACY ACROSS LANGUAGES AND CULTURES edited by BERNARDO M. FERDMAN ROSE-MARIE WEBER ARNULFO G. RAMIREZ State University of New York Press ...
Papers by Bernardo M Ferdman
Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 2017
The purpose of this study was to develop and validate 2 gender identity implicit association test... more The purpose of this study was to develop and validate 2 gender identity implicit association tests (GI-IATs) designed to assess attitudes toward transsexual men (Transmen-IAT) and transsexual women (Transwomen-IAT). A sample of 344 Mechanical Turk participants from the United States (173 women, 129 men, 43 transgender) completed the following: GI-IATs, Genderism and Transphobia Scale, Allophilia Toward Transsexual Individuals Scale, Social Desirability Scale-17, feelings thermometers, and ratings of intention to support transgender workplace policies. Results indicate that people who are cisgender (non-transgender), heterosexual, politically conservative, or who reported no personal contact with transgender individuals showed cisgender preferences on both GI-IATs. Additionally, both measures correlated as predicted with the explicit measures (feeling thermometers) of attitude toward transgender individuals. As expected, the explicit attitude measures, but not the GI-IATs, correlated with social desirability. Further, confirmatory factor analyses supported the model comprising 4 distinct latent variables: implicit attitudes toward transmen, explicit attitudes toward transmen, implicit attitudes toward transwomen, and explicit attitudes toward transwomen. Finally, hierarchical multiple regressions showed that both explicit and implicit measures predicted support for transgender workplace policies. Additional analyses showed that both the Transmen-IAT and the Transwomen-IAT accounted for incremental variance above and beyond the relative feelings thermometers in predicting policy support intentions. These findings provide significant psychometric support for both GI-IATs. They also highlight the importance of incorporating implicit measures in studying attitudes toward transgender individuals, and of distinguishing attitudes toward transmen versus transwomen.
Inclusive Leadership: Transforming Diverse Lives, Workplaces, and Societies, 2021
Inclusive leadership creates and fosters conditions that allow everyone in diverse groups, workpl... more Inclusive leadership creates and fosters conditions that allow everyone in diverse groups, workplaces, and communities across and with their differences and without having to subsume or hide valued identities—to be at and to do their best, to see the value in doing so, and to belong and participate in ways that are safe, engaging, appreciated, and fair. Inclusive leaders facilitate participation, voice, and belonging—without requiring assimilation and while fostering equity and fairness across multiple identities. Inclusive leadership is the fulcrum of inclusion because it plays a pivotal role in magnifying inclusion within and transmuting inclusion across levels of analysis: it brings societal and organizational goals, values, and policies related to inclusion to life in everyday behavior and interactions, and detects and highlights relevant micro-level experiences and behavior, giving them meaning and addressing them at the organizational and societal levels. This chapter (1) defines inclusive leadership through the lens of diversity, inclusion, and equity in a multilevel systems perspective; (2) discusses its pivotal role as a fulcrum or force multiplier, fostering and magnifying inclusion at micro and macro levels and connecting micro and macro aspects of inclusion, and (3) outlines key elements of inclusive leadership, including focal inclusive leadership behaviors.
Diversity Resistance in Organizations (2nd ed.), 2020
The authors reflect on how current conditions in organizations have shifted toward even greater f... more The authors reflect on how current conditions in organizations have shifted toward even greater forms of resistance becoming more commonplace since their original chapter ten years ago, which focused on inclusive leadership and effective ways to address diversity resistance. Based on their research and practice, they offer updates about and examples of how the field of organization development now gives greater attention to issues of social inequity and unequal power relations. These shifting foci have made it even more difficult to maintain equilibrium as individual leaders and as robust organizational systems. Unique skillsets are required, including capacities to balance competing commitments and strong forces for maintaining current states. These points of tension have become even more compelling and demand leaders and practitioners to acquire capacities to engage a wider range of differences with communication practices that include complexity, conflict and paradox. The metaphor of dance provides a useful heuristic for considering the dynamism that has become the norm in organizations and how leadership is manifesting in innovative ways.
Background: Transphobia studies have typically relied on self-report measures from heterosexual s... more Background: Transphobia studies have typically relied on self-report measures from heterosexual samples. However, there is evidence suggesting the need to use indirect measures and to explore transphobia among other populations. Aims: This study examined how explicit and implicit attitudes toward transwomen and transmen differ between people of different sexual orientations. Methods: Cisgender participants (N = 265) completed measures of explicit feelings toward transmen and transwomen, as well as Implicit Association Tests (IAT) for each group. Comparisons were made between 54 gay, 79 straight, and 132 non-monosexual (asexual, bisexual, pansexual) individuals. Results: An interaction was found between measurement type (explicit, implicit) and sexual orientation (straight, gay, non-monosexual). With regard to transmen, gay respondents’ explicit and implicit scores diverged such that they explicitly reported lower bias than their straight counterparts, but their Transmen-IAT showed an implicit preference for biological men over transmen. For attitudes toward transwomen, implicit measurement scores were consistently negative and did not differ by group. Gay participants also reported positive explicit attitudes toward transwomen, similar to non-monosexual people. Discussion: Overall, findings show that gay people tend to report positive attitudes toward transgender people explicitly, but tend to have implicit bias against both transmen and transwomen. Future studies need to explore the origins of these biases and how they relate to the complex interplay of sex, gender, and sexual orientation.
The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges and opportunities created for inclusion by... more The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges and opportunities created for inclusion by the election and installation of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the USA. It uses the author’s personal and professional experience and perspectives to raise and address questions about the limits of inclusion, alternative perspectives on inclusion, and approaches for sustaining attention to and continuing to foster inclusion. Although inclusion can be conceptualized in different ways, a nuanced and complex view that incorporates limits to tolerance of behavior that undermines inclusion along with clear rules of engagement, civility, and respect may be most useful and productive. The paper applies a paradoxical perspective to understanding the implications of a Trump administration for the practice of inclusion, including those particularly relevant for organizational diversity and inclusion practitioners.
The purpose of this study was to develop and validate 2 gender identity implicit association test... more The purpose of this study was to develop and validate 2 gender identity implicit association tests (GI-IATs) designed to assess attitudes toward transsexual men (Transmen-IAT) and transsexual women (Transwomen-IAT). A sample of 344 Mechanical Turk participants from the United States (173 women, 129 men, 43 transgender) completed the following: GI-IATs, Genderism and Transphobia Scale, Allophilia Toward Transsexual Individuals Scale, Social Desirability Scale-17, feelings thermometers, and ratings of intention to support transgender workplace policies. Results indicate that people who are cisgender (non-transgender), heterosexual, politically conservative, or who reported no personal contact with transgender individuals showed cisgender preferences on both GI-IATs. Additionally, both measures correlated as predicted with the explicit measures (feeling thermometers) of attitude toward transgender individuals. As expected, the explicit attitude measures, but not the GI-IATs, correlated with social desirability. Further, confirmatory factor analyses supported the model comprising 4 distinct latent variables: implicit attitudes toward transmen, explicit attitudes toward transmen, implicit attitudes toward transwomen, and explicit attitudes toward transwomen. Finally, hierarchical multiple regressions showed that both explicit and implicit measures predicted support for transgender workplace policies. Additional analyses showed that both the Transmen-IAT and the Transwomen-IAT accounted for incremental variance above and beyond the relative feelings thermometers in predicting policy support intentions. These findings provide significant psychometric support for both GI-IATs. They also highlight the importance of incorporating implicit measures in studying attitudes toward transgender individuals, and of distinguishing attitudes toward transmen versus transwomen.
Inclusion is a process and practice that involves working with diversity as a resource. In inclus... more Inclusion is a process and practice that involves working with diversity as a resource. In inclusive organizations and societies, people of all identities and many styles can be fully themselves while also contributing to the larger collective, as valued and full members. Working toward inclusion in diverse organizations and societies can often be experienced as polarizing and presents many challenges and tensions. These tensions can productively be understood and addressed from a paradox perspective. This article discusses three core paradoxes of inclusion: those involving self-expression and identity, boundaries and norms, and safety and comfort. The manifestations of and approaches to managing each paradox are discussed.
Diversity at Work: The Practice of Inclusion, 2013
Inclusion requires safety and comfort across differences—enabling all voices to be expressed, hea... more Inclusion requires safety and comfort across differences—enabling all voices to be expressed, heard, and valued—but also ways to address the discomforts that inevitably arise when dealing with differences. Inclusion is not only about the comfort associated with being an “insider;” paradoxically, it also involves more of us—especially those relatively comfortable with the previously less inclusive system—becoming somewhat uncomfortable. To create inclusion, we must all become “outsiders” to some degree, expecting that others will not read our minds or agree with our perspectives and becoming more comfortable with the relative discomfort of regularly confronting and engaging with differences.
Diversity in organizations matters both symbolically and substantively. How organizations address... more Diversity in organizations matters both symbolically and substantively. How organizations address and manage diversity has implications for various organizational processes, including organizational change and performance, and for their ability to address the challenges of diversity and to take advantage of its potential benefits. Inclusion is a primary approach used to maximize the benefits of diversity.
OD Practitioner, Oct 2014
This article discusses the connections of the Diversity and Inclusion field with Organization Dev... more This article discusses the connections of the Diversity and Inclusion field with Organization Development (OD), and makes the case that OD must attend to diversity and inclusion more deliberately, consistently, and systematically.
PsycCritiques, May 4, 2015
Review of the book, The Oxford handbook of multicultural identity, by V. Benet-Martínez & Y. Hong... more Review of the book, The Oxford handbook of multicultural identity, by V. Benet-Martínez & Y. Hong (Eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Multicultural Identity is an important and necessary collection providing both wide-ranging and deep access to key issues, perspectives, theory, and research on multicultural identities and experiences in their societal and social psychological contexts. At the same time, it leaves for the future the development of a comprehensive framework that cuts across and integrates the contributions to this area.
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Books by Bernardo M Ferdman
Papers by Bernardo M Ferdman