Appunti del direttore

2023-03-30 Zenia Simonella

Political Orientation and Regional Differences: Expanding the Viewpoint, Dialoging with the Context

Two recent episodes remind us that the causes of discrimination are not limited to the categories we concentrate the most on in today’s debate. The approach to diversity management, therefore, must be communicative and “elastic.” Some reflections on this theme. In this contribution I would like to report on two episodes recently reported to me and their implications for an approach to diversity management in a continuously evolving social context. Episode 1. In a well-known multinational corporation, during a meeting, it is pointed out to an employee that her Southern Italian accent ...

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2023-03-23 Stefano Basaglia

LGBTQI+ Diversity: When the Going Gets Tough, What Do Businesses Do?

After the initial months of the actions of the new right-wing government and parliamentary majority, the road seems clear: the organizational environment taking hold will be increasingly hostile to issues of diversity and inclusion. Once again, it is striking that businesses are absent in the debate. And we must ask where the social responsibility trumpeted during LGBTQI+ pride month or other occasions for visibility has gone. The political and legal context represents two important dimensions of the organizational environment, i.e. the framework in which organizations act. Italy saw an important ...

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2023-03-08 Simona Cuomo

Women and power: what the recent “illustrious resignations” teach us

Headlines were recently captured by the decision by the First Minister of Scotland and the Prime Minister of New Zealand, as well as the CEO of YouTube, to submit their resignations without there being any reasons of a political or economic nature – at least in their public statements. Their stories help us to adopt a new perspective in interpreting the grammar of power that has prevalently shaped leadership until recent times, reminding us that it is not limited to the role, but extends above all to the person who plays it. In these first months of 2023, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda ...

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2023-02-23 Simona Cuomo

The Stigma of the Menstrual Cycle between Culture and Work /2

The social construction of gender stereotypes is perhaps the main tool of “naturalization” of many of the discriminatory practices that have affected women, and still affect them today, in civil society and the world of work, contributing to constructing and perpetuating a social order characterized by deep asymmetries of power. One of the most historicized stereotypes and taboos is that regarding women’s menstrual cycle. For centuries, superstitions and legends, and even scientific studies, have described menstruation as an invalidating phenomenon for a woman’s life, since it makes her ...

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2023-02-08 Stefano Basaglia

Coexisting with Diversity, between Conflict and Balance

There is a common stereotype that views diversity management as associated with the ideal of an “urban” business, in which there are many types of diversity, but represented in a way that tends to be monolithic by different people. Yet it is good to recall that everyone embodies multiple diversities at the same time, and their management must not be limited to the mere compilation of a checklist. Public and media discourse relating to diversity and its management tends to favor an urban context populated by large-scale enterprises that operate in “fashionable” sectors such as technological ...

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2023-01-25 Simona Cuomo

The Stigma of the Menstrual Cycle between Culture and Work/1

The social construction of gender stereotypes is perhaps the main tool of “naturalization” of many of the discriminatory practices that have affected women, and still affect them today, in civil society and the world of work, contributing to constructing and perpetuating a social order characterized by deep asymmetries of power. One of the most historicized stereotypes and taboos is that regarding women’s menstrual cycle. For centuries, superstitions and legends, and even scientific studies, have described menstruation as an invalidating phenomenon for a woman’s life, since it makes her ...

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2023-01-09 Stefano Basaglia

Reduced to Silence: LGBTQI+ Issues in Qatar

The latest, controversial edition of the Football World Cup has once again raised questions linked to the issue of rights, inclusion, and the fight against discrimination. By complying with the requests (and impositions) of Qatar, FIFA failed to use the championship as an opportunity to defend and promote those rights that some countries do not intend to recognize, although they are careful not to lose a business opportunity such as the World Cup. On Sunday, December 18, 2022, the twenty-second edition of the FIFA World Cup, held in Qatar, came to a close. It was a very controversial edition, ...

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2022-12-13 Simona Cuomo

Diversity & Inclusion: Beyond the Glass Ceiling

HR practices and policies that aim for inclusion of minorities in businesses are as necessary as ever, but risk favoring some types of discrimination at the expense of others. The current economic situation, that sees very strong inflation eroding the purchasing power of workers, can stimulate a new vision of the theme of inclusion in the labor market. When speaking of Diversity & Inclusion, still today the discussion implicitly and prevalently addresses the development of workers who represent minorities in businesses. Implicitly means that all of those who are interested in and lend their voices ...

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2022-12-05 Simona Cuomo

When a Woman is in Power

The debate that has followed the election of Giorgia Meloni as prime minister – the first woman to hold this position in the history of the Italian Republic – has shown that women’s access to power and public spaces is still marked by negative comments that do not regard a person’s actions but her identity. This dynamic is widespread in other countries as well: some studies have in fact stressed that women candidates in politics, more than men, are involved in discussions that regard their character and personality rather than their political programs, and are attacked more frequently ...

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2022-11-28 Zenia Simonella

Persons with Disabilities and Work: Beyond Barriers

The process of placing persons with disabilities into three very different organizations – e-work, Google Italia, and Banca Intesa Sanpaolo – was at the center of a broader study sponsored by Accenture and conducted by the Diversity, Inclusion & Smart Working Observatory of SDA Bocconi. The cases analyzed show that the organizational effort made by the three companies was very variable, and depended on various organizational factors, including the capital of experience accumulated on the subject of “diversity and inclusion,” the type of person with disability included, and the role played ...

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