Playing With Privilege: An Experiential Exercise

Abstract: It is a myth that organizations are meritocracies. This session will describe an exercise that highlights the privileges enjoyed by some people in organizations and the disadvantages faced by those in marginalized communities (e.g., those who identify as women, people of color, LGBTQ+, lower socio-economic status, etc.). Participants are put into randomly assigned groups and assigned a number of advantages and disadvantages from which they try to navigate some typical organizational challenges (getting hired, finding a mentor, winning a promotion). The exercise is inspired by an Academy of Management Annals review article: The Organizational Reproduction of Inequality (2020).

Keywords: equity, diversity, inclusion

Topic: DEI   |   Format: Activity or Exercise