By Arman Sabbaghi, Luis Javier Segura Sangucho, and Marco Grasso
At the start of 2022, the Council Members of the Quality, Statistics, and Reliability (QSR) Section of INFORMS sought to pursue initiatives with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee (DEIC) of INFORMS to advance DEI in our Section. After a meeting involving Anahita Khojandi (Chair of the DEIC), Chrysafis Vogiatzis (Vice-Chair of the DEIC), Adel Alaeddini (Chair of the QSR Section), Jian Liu (Chair-Elect of the QSR Section), and Arman Sabbaghi (Chair of the QSR Industry Relation Subcommittee), the QSR Section decided to host a special discussion session for its members to discuss unconscious bias. This decision was motivated by the DEIC’s release of a video about unconscious bias (available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8pTEIq_lWo) and by the belief that the first step to minimizing the impact of unconscious bias is to be conscious of it.
The discussion session was the first event hosted during the QSR Section’s regular “Happy Hour” series. The event was held via Zoom on May 25th and was promoted to all QSR members across the globe. To better include INFORMS’ internal community and maximize the reach of this crucial discussion, we ask sections and communities that would like to host a similar event to keep day and time in mind while planning their event. Marco Grasso (Chair of the QSR Public Communication Subcommittee) was the leader in organizing and hosting the event. He commenced the session with a welcome message, and Chrysafis Vogiatzis next introduced the INFORMS DEIC’s initiatives, activities, and future plans to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion within INFORMS. The aforementioned video was then shared with the participants of the Zoom call, and a list of the discussion items were then presented. The participants were then divided into breakout rooms of 3 – 4 people to have a discussion among themselves about their experiences, opinions, and thoughts regarding the session. The hosts of the session helped to facilitate the conversations in the breakout rooms, based on the discussion items designed by the DEIC to encourage participation and stimulate the discussions after the video. These discussion items can easily be modified to deliver a specific experience for other groups of attendees or for a targeted audience. These items were:
- Why is learning about unconscious bias important for the work we do?
- How might bias be present in your own work? In your organization? For this item, it is important to have the respondents think critically about various unconscious biases, but not to “corner” them. We wanted them to focus on “work” rather than the person.
- Has this video made you aware of a dimension of diversity in your workplace that you had not previously noticed?
- How could your organization or INFORMS be improved through a greater focus on unconscious bias? Through a greater commitment to diversity?
- What are ways we can unlearn our own unconscious bias? How can we help our organizations reduce unconscious bias?
- What is one thing you might do differently after watching this video or having this discussion?
The audience’s reactions and impressions after the video demonstrated that the DEIC was successful in designing the video specifically for our INFORMS community, and in helping our members recognize biases and an understanding on how to reduce their negative impact on individuals and groups within our community. In particular, the participants related to all the examples of unconscious bias that were presented in the video, and have consistently been exposed to them during their academic careers. Upon hearing the immediate feedback of some of the QSR members, Chrysafis noted that the training provided by the video would be useful for all INFORMS members, as it could help them effectively think and address issues relating to bias that can unconsciously arise in their own activities (e.g., selecting plenary speakers, serving on awards committees, or performing other services for their university or professional societies).
The list of prepared discussion questions also helped our members gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the messages in the video. Overall, they agreed that we should increase our awareness and recognition of unconscious biases and how they can be corrected. The specific comments, experiences, and ideas relating to diversity and unconscious bias that were made during the discussion session can be usefully summarized into the following list of four points.
- The QSR members related to the examples of unconscious bias presented in the video and believed that it was good to become conscious of them by watching the video. They also recognized that we encounter people from a wide variety of backgrounds in our day-to-day work and lives, and that we should better understand how our unconscious biases may affect them. For example, one attendee was once a new mom herself and had the experience in which people assumed (due to what they thought were their good intentions) that she would be too busy with her baby to take on other tasks. She did not realize that she could do the same thing to another person, even though she had good intentions herself. Another attendee noted that the generalizations that people make of certain academic programs constitute unconscious bias and that we as a community rarely recognize it as such. In terms of service, one person noted that, as Associate Editors for academic journals, we are biased in looking for referees through our own extended networks, and that a similar bias arises when we organize sessions at conferences and workshops (including those organized for INFORMS).
- Our attendees better recognized how unconscious bias could be present in one’s work or organization. One common example noted by an attendee consists of how people order Tier-1 versus Tier-2 and Tier-3 schools. This bias is prevalent in university selection committees. In addition, one of our attendees noted the unconscious biases that could result when a professor interacts with international students who speak with accents.
- Our attendees described the dimensions of diversity that they had not previously noticed, but now recognized after watching the video. For example, they noted how generalizations are made based on a person’s accent and suggested that a double-blind approach should be implemented in their work to counteract such biases. They also recognized that we should be more open-minded toward the work of different research disciplines and divisions to better understand their motivations and contributions.
- During the course of wrapping up the discussion sessions, the attendees described several things that could be done differently. One is to just think more carefully before expressing opinions to others or acting. One attendee noted that although every university has training curricula and modules for faculty, they should emphasize unconscious bias more in these programs, so that people can better understand how these biases are usually masked by good intentions. In addition, another idea was to have access to a wide database of researchers that are classified in terms of their research interests, which could help Associate Editors and session organizers to go beyond their own networks and biases, create new connections, and foster the involvement of new researchers who would usually face difficulties in engaging activities and initiatives otherwise. This idea is particularly meaningful for the QSR Section, as we are working to create a new web portal that includes a map of our community in terms of our members’ research interests and work. Creating this web portal for other sections of INFORMS could directly help in raising awareness amongst all INFORMS members about the diversity, complementarity, and variety of the larger community beyond that which may be discerned by individual members’ restricted networks.
As a result of hosting this discussion session, we believe that this type of event would be of immense use for other sections, communities, and fora in INFORMS who may be interested in advancing DEI efforts for their members. This event can advance the INFORMS Board of Directors’ strategic plan that was approved in 2021, specifically, in terms of the goal to “advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in all that we do”. We encourage everyone to share this video with their colleagues and coworkers, even those who are not in INFORMS. Ultimately, understanding and managing unconscious bias can help us all build a stronger, more diverse, and inclusive society. Let us commit ourselves to surface and counteract unconscious bias and thereby level the playing field for all.
The framework for action that resulted after our discussion session led to our development of the following set of suggested, specific next steps that an INFORMS section could take to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in their community.
- Create invited sessions and panels at INFORMS to promote the growth and development of junior members that come from diverse backgrounds. Seeing that everyone, regardless of their background, has a chance to thrive in the INFORMS community can send a powerful message to our members.
- Create Diversity Scorecards for INFORMS sections that will enable the leaders of the sections to assess how well they have fostered diversity, equity, and inclusion in the past, and identify what needs to be done to improve their section in these respects. It is only after we are aware of how we are doing that we can define better strategies for advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion.
- Create new types of mentoring program that connect current graduate students from historically underrepresented groups with senior members of INFORMS, who themselves come from a diverse range of backgrounds, so that they can receive advice and guidance on advancing their careers. In our experiences, it may not be beneficial to the mentees if all their mentors have the same characteristics.