Diversity Insight: It’s in credit unions’ DNA

I have studied diversity and inclusion challenges in organizations across multiple employment domains (e.g., business, not-for-profit, and government) for approximately 25 years. After controlling for industry-based differences, I have found that the workplace experiences and challenges of women and people of color are fairly similar across organizational types. (For more details, see my writings in the Journal of Organizational and Leadership Studies and The Encyclopedia of Diversity and Social Justice)

When I was asked to consider how my work applies to credit unions, I did a deep dive into the history and organizational dynamics of credit unions and how they differ from traditional banks. After doing so, I came to the conclusion that credit unions are uniquely positioned to carry out diversity and inclusion objectives. In effect, doing so is in their DNA.

The analog to DNA is purely heuristic, in that the process of establishing organizations embeds qualities and properties based on key decisions made at the inception, largely shaped by those who are present and those who are believed to be beneficiaries. The analogy to DNA was selected here because, as a society, we understand our own life outcomes and expectancies are linked to the genetic instruction assigned to us at birth. At the danger of being accused of humanizing organizations, for this exercise simply humor me with the thought that organizations are very similar to us in this regard.

 

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