DIVERSITY IN POLICING
In 2002 Diversity Thunder Bay hired Randy Haluza Delay to do a study about racism. Through the study, A Community Of Acceptance (ACOA), respondents reported that police were one of the top social locations where racism occured in Thunder Bay. In response to the findings from ACOA and other reports on police relationships with racialized peoples, Diversity Thunder Bay and two member organizations (Thunder Bay Multicultural Association, Thunder Bay Indian Friendship Centre) and the Thunder Bay Police Services developed a proposal to address systemic racism in local policing.
Heritage Canada accepted the proposal and funded the Diversity in Policing project from January 2004 until March 2008.
This site has two parts. The first contains descriptions for each of the elements of the model. The second contains project artifacts, based on the model. To view the project descriptors for any element, hold the mouse over and the descriptor pops up. To view the project artifacts for any element related to the model, click on the corresponding heading on the left-hand menu bar.
Elements of the Diversity Organizational Change Model
- Diversity Institutional Change
- Pruegger (2000) designed the Diversity Institutional Change model for organizations. The surrounding elements constitute a holistic model for organizational change model for anti-racism
- Awareness/Information Sessions
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These are provided at the beginning of the project. The goal is to provide reasons for engaging in diversity organizational change, and answer questions.
Awareness sessions can be on-going, internal and external, and are part of a good communications strategy. - Needs Assessment
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Needs assessment, both internally and externally, are best conducted by diversity organizational change team members with research skills.
The needs assessment provides valuable information on perceptions of people inside and outside of the organization (e.g. racialized peoples, police membership, Association, Police Services Boards, City Council, etc.) - Leadership Commitment
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Leadership commitment is vital to the success of a diversity organizational change process.
It is also important to note trends and drivers of an increasingly diverse work force, and the consequences of not responding to change, e.g. social, ethical, economic, legal, and political. - Establish Accountability
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Power analysis can be conducted by internal and external team members. Internal team members will know where the allies and challengers are in the organization, and the external team members will have the skills to identity power imbalances and systemic discrimination in policies, practices, and procedures.
Trainers should also address power issues by ensuring that all training is developed from an anti-racism model which explicitly deconstructs power relations. To do this work effectively, a diversity organizational change team needs to include a member or members with a sound anti-racism perspective and analysis. - Resources
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The budget for diversity organizational change should earmark resources specifically for a training component and be contributed by all business units in the organization. This highlights commitment to and shared responsibility for change.
- Policy Review
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Policy review and redevelopment are best done by policy planners with the help of affected community members.
Generally, people experienced in reviewing policy for bias are hired; however, trainers can assist in developing internal skills by providing workshops for policy reviewers on how to recognize systemic discrimination in policy statements. - Develop New Policies
- Once the policies review is completed with recommendations for changes, internal specialists write the recommendations into revised organizational policies.
- Communications Strategy
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A communications strategy on organizational diversity plans and initiatives should include both the internal and the external.
Change team members might also participate in communicating organizational change externally to the community through townhalls, focus groups, newsletters, etc. - Accountability
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Accountability needs to be built in at every stage of the process, and through all levels of the organization.
One critical area is that change team members, through the Human Resources representative, should find ways of ensuring that cultural competencies are identified, defined and incorporated into the selection and performance appraisal models. - Develop Training
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The challenge for trainers and Human Resources personnel is to convince the leadership that for systemic change to occur, training is only one component which supports organizational change.
The training component must be integrated across the organization in the form of competencies.
Training must be designed to fit the work unit. - Evaluation
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All training programs should be piloted, evaluated, and regularly updated and re-evaluated to maintain their effectiveness. Evaluation of training provides one indicator of the success of the diversity organizational change process.
Other indicators may include annual internal audit processes, meeting diversity objectives from Business Plans, general community feedback through annual surveys, community advisory committee annual reviews, etc. Evaluation mechanisms should provide regular feedback through diverse channels. - Integration
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Diversity organizational changes processes are not solely an HR issue, nor a training issue.
When only one department or function of the organization is responsible for the change, integration is very difficult and the process is often unsustainable. A committee approach, if given the resources and responsibility from management, capitalizes on different strengths and perspectives across the organization and externally, allowing a holistic, integrated process to be developed.
The PMT used the Organizational Change model to guide its activities towards bias-free policing. To view the project timeline, please click on the following link: Project Timeline