Dr. Shaista Khilji, Professor of Human and Organizational Learning, was featured in a GW Today article, "GW All Access - Shaista Khilji of GSEHD." She shared her hopes to keep the spotlight on organizational diversity management and to train the next generation of leaders to adopt a humanistic approach.
Per the article:
Dr. Khilji begins each semester with one question to her students: Is diversity management within organizations a legal issue, a moral issue, an ethical issue, a business issue, or a humanistic issue?
“Initially, their answers are always varied,” she said.
However, when it comes to moving the needle forward in organizational diversity, equity and inclusion, one of the critical concepts Dr. Khilji discusses in her classes is humanizing leadership.
Having launched an initiative that calls for humanistic principles such as dignity, compassion, and sustainability as the underpinning for organizations and leadership, Dr. Khilji will use this approach as the foundation for her two fall graduate-level courses—Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Organizations and International and Multicultural Issues in Organizations.
“I teach diversity, equity, and inclusion as a humanistic issue,” she said. “We need to create inclusive environments and cultures because that is the right thing to do. We need to move beyond thinking in terms of profits and think about human well-being and dignity.”
In taking a legal view, organizations work to stay in compliance with regulations more than building cultures of inclusion. In adopting the business view, revenues or profits prevail. Dr. Khilji said, “On the other hand, a humanistic approach is a key to addressing the socio-economic inequities within organizations, and even societies.”
Dr. Khilji’s decade-long research is focused on the impact of globalization on societies and organizations, leadership, change, diversity, and inclusion.