Diversity, equity, and inclusion programs' emphasis on symbolism: Causes and consequences
解释为何多样性、公平与包容（DEI）项目在组织中广泛流行，指出组织因社会压力而强调象征性举措（如使命声明），导致“表面文章”指责、目标设定循环及忽视深层多样性等负面后果，提醒实施DEI需谨慎务实。
Summary In this article, we attempt to explain why diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs have become so widespread and central to organizations today. We propose that organizations have responded to powerful societal forces that emphasize the importance of diversity. Because achieving diversity is often difficult, organizations often emphasize the symbolic aspects of diversity, including mission statements on diversity and the creation of units to promote the organization's DEI reputation. This emphasis on diversity symbolism has led to some unintended and negative consequences. A major consequence is that organizations become vulnerable to the charge that they are engaging in “window dressing.” This charge can lead organizations to respond by setting even more difficult‐to‐achieve goals. We cite illustrative examples in which stakeholders have called on organizations to actually achieve diversity, prompting a new round of diversity‐related goal‐setting sometimes accompanied by legally questionable human resource procedures (e.g., preferential hiring). Another negative consequence of diversity symbolism is that it incentivizes a focus on surface rather than deep dimensions of diversity. This displacement of deep by surface level diversity may cause organization to forgo the advantages potentially afforded by the former relative to the latter. We suggest that the tradeoffs inherent in DEI warrant caution and realism in program implementation.