D&I

ダイバーシティ＆インクルージョン経営―荒金　雅子　著

The social problems facing the world are not only diverse but also changeable. How to solve or alleviate social problems has become an important thing for people from all walks of life. When solving problems, people must first understand the causes, background and evolution process of the problem, and then further come up with effective countermeasures for it. Thus, understanding the meaning of “Diversity and Inclusion” Management （ダイバーシティ＆インクルージョン経営, D&I), is the first and most important step.  

The book “D&I” Management written by Mrs Arakane Masako simply and clearly explains what is “D&I”, analyzes the causes, background and problem points of social problems (promotion of women’s advancement, LGBT, disabled people, foreigners, elderly people, lifestyle, career orientation, working style, etc.), and explains through practical cases how society can effectively alleviate or deal with the problems through diversified and inclusive management. More importantly, Mrs Arakane Masako also mentioned the positions and practices of the international community and Japan in the face of the social problems mentioned above, so that readers can master the basic knowledge of international learning and understand current affairs at the same time. 

Summary of the book: 

What is diversity? What is inclusiveness? What is “D&I”? First of all, diversification is a revolutionary measure. When we face problems such as labor shortage, globalization, bankruptcy of Japanese style employment and intergenerational gap, etc., it will significantly change the due way, working mode and thinking mode of organization and society, and bring obvious changes and influence. Therefore, carrying out diversified management is also the first and important thing. There are three ways to promote diversity:  

  1. Check your organization’s current location1;  
  1. Combine and utilize different diversity2;  
  1. Understanding diversity is only a process 

However, why do these three seemingly simple methods still make diversification management encounter bottlenecks? It is because the public did not notice the importance of “inclusiveness”. Inclusiveness is an important element of a society that can accept, embrace and coexist with all. The only way to solve the various social problems faced by the public at present is to combine diversification and inclusiveness, because the purpose of “D&I” management is to understand the differences and commonalities of diversity, accept diversity and use it to grow. There are three inclusive measures to achieve “D&I” management: first, build an inclusive foundation3, second, work equally in safe and reliable places4, and lastly, contribute as part of diversity5. 

This society lacks an environment in which women can fully display their personality and abilities and play a positive role. The goal set by the G20 to reduce the gender labor force participation gap by 25% by 2025 or to achieve the 30% Club6 goal is a move taken by the international community to promote women’s progress. Although the promotion of diversity in Japan is centered on women’s activities, however, there is still a serious gender gap in Japan. The problem of gender gap needs to be solved by “equal pay for equal work7”. Moreover, the promotion of women’s activities requires the joint efforts of enterprises, the government and society to: (i) implement fair training8，(ii) strengthen the attention to nursing work9, and (iii) take the formation of career as the stage10 to promote women’s progress, these three ways to promote women’s progress. In short, this society lacks acceptance and tolerance. Until recently, most people still hold the traditional concept of “Man are breadwinners; women are homemakers”, which will seriously hinder the promotion of women’s development and differences, and the problem cannot be fundamentally solved. 

 LGBT and inclusion – the international community has both the acceptance and exclusion of LGBT groups. Countries that accept LGBT groups see LGBT as a human rights issue. In order to protect LGBT groups, many legal and institutional reforms have been made to protect their human rights. People called “Ally11” have also appeared in the community to protect LGBT groups. On the contrary, countries that exclude LGBT groups have laws and systems such as the prohibition of homosexuality act, imprisonment and execution to sanction LGBT groups. Japan has an ambiguous attitude towards LGBT and is also the only country in the G7 without LGBT support system. Fortunately, Japan’s local governments have made various efforts to protect LGBT groups before the national government, such as the development of the same-sex partner certification system. 

Disability and inclusion – according to the white paper on persons with disabilities, in 2019, there were 4.36 million people with physical disabilities, together with intellectual and mental disorders, there are about 10 million people with disabilities. In order to eliminate disability discrimination, society must change from “medical model12” to “social model”. “Social model”- refers to that the society has created “disability （obstacle）”, it is the responsibility of the society to eliminate the disability. Regarding disability as a personality and a human rights issue, social adaptation is also a social aspect that should be improved. The “social model” includes systems such as “prohibiting unfair discriminatory treatment” and “providing reasonable convenience” to protect the rights of persons with disabilities. 

Foreigners and inclusion – Japan’s Ministry of health, labor and welfare said that there were about 1.65 million foreign workers in 2019, of which Chinese accounted for the highest proportion – 25.2%, followed by Vietnamese – 24.2%, then Filipinos. Japan has implemented and formulated many systems and reforms to solve the problem of labor shortage. In 2019, Japan has revised its immigration law and refugee recognition law and set new stay qualifications – “Specified Skilled Worked （i） 13and Specified Skilled Worked （ii）14”. On the other hand, Japan’s Ministry of health, labor and welfare also mentioned that the problems faced in recruiting foreigners include the Japanese proficiency problem, anxiety in communicating with Japanese, low retention rate and insufficient internal acceptance system. Additionally, Japanese enterprises will also face various challenges and difficulties in training foreign employees, such as training difficulties, communication difficulties, incorrect oral communication, low retention rate （trained human resources can only be used for a period of time）, etc. Equally important, in the ranking of countries where foreigners want to go to work, Japan ranks 32nd out of 33 countries. To illustrate, when working in Japan, foreign employees will encounter unfair treatment, such as low wages compared with Japanese, the culture of one’s own country is neglected, and differences in social security. In order to protect the rights of foreigners, the Japanese government formulated “The guidelines for an environment in which foreigners can play an active role” in 2007, formulated “The comprehensive measures for accepting and coexisting with foreign talents” in 2018, and implemented the Japanese education promotion act in 2019 and other measures and systems. In a nutshell, the realization of global diversity requires efforts to build a “multicultural society” and formulate a “basic law of multicultural society”. 

Digital society and inclusion – Since 2016, Japan has begun to overcome various social issues through the use of technology. Although the development of science and technology can help overcome many social problems, but it is also accompanied by potential danger of widening the gap between the rich and the poor and depriving mankind of opportunities and rights. In order to reduce the incidence of risks, the following seven principles should be observed when using artificial intelligence （AI）: (I) people-oriented principle，(ii) education / literacy principle，(iii) privacy principle，(iv) security principle，(v) fair competition guarantee principle，(vi) fairness, accountability and transparency, gender principle and (vii) innovation principle. To put it crudely, when using AI, it is importance to focus on one’s information literacy ability. Also, one can build the correct knowledge and understanding of the use of AI by accumulating learning and experience in the use of AI. 

Sports and inclusion – Sports play an important role in alleviating all kinds of differential treatment and discrimination. Women have been qualified to participate in the Olympic Games since 1990. In 2014, with the amendment of the Olympic Charter, the qualification of LGBT groups to participate in the Olympic Games was guaranteed. The emergence of the Paralympic Games gave disabled athletes who have not been qualified to participate in the international sports competitions for the disabled. In the face of racial and nationality discrimination, the society also implemented the “action plan for the elimination of discrimination—Zero Tolerance” to eliminate discrimination. To be even more specific, although the world has taken various measures and mechanisms to promote women’s success in sports, and it is true that the problem of discrimination and differential treatment has been improved in the field of sports, yet, it is undeniable that there is still a long way to go to achieve fairness and equality. To demonstrate, there are only a few opportunities for women to become leaders, there are differences in the training environment between men and women, women’s unique life events are ignored, sexual harassment, women are not regarded as an athlete, etc. are still the differences and unfair treatment that many girls often face in the field of sports. In the field of women and sports, Japan set the target of increasing the proportion of female executives in sports organizations to 30% by 2020 in 2017. Unfortunately, the data as of March 2019 show that there is still a long distance from the target of 30%. In addition, cases of violence, harassment and power harassment often occur in the field of sports in Japan. If Japan wants to eliminate differential treatment and discrimination through the field of sports, Japan should begin to eliminate harassment, appoint female leaders and participate in decision-making bodies. 

To conclude, prejudice usually indirectly leads to contradictions between people, differential treatment and discrimination against others, especially unconscious prejudice. There are three reasons for the occurrence of unconscious bias: 

  1. Ego15; 
  1. Habits and customs16 ; 
  1. Emotional transformation17 

Three effective ways to effectively deal with unconscious bias: 

  1. Metacognition18; 
  1. Work as an individual19; 
  1. Training20 

In brief, unconscious prejudice is a stumbling block to the realization of “D&I” Management. Making unconscious prejudice conscious is the key to the success of “D&I” promotion. 

1 Check your organization’s current location: Identify the situation of the organization and clarify what the organization wants to be. 

2 Combine and utilize different diversity: It refers to the organization's integration of multi-dimensional diversity, overcoming fault lines, and creating and visualizing guidelines.

3 Build an inclusive foundation: Create a workplace free of harassment. 

4 Work equally in safe and reliable places: (i) Improve psychological safety in the workplace ("psychological safety" = not afraid of risks, can tell the truth, be a man and be confident); (ii) Consider ways of working that make full use of diversity (work style reform/consider how to transfer); (iii) Organizational design aware of diversity (behavioral design; change "behavior" through conscious organizational design to cause change) 

5 Contribute as part of diversity: CSV Management (Creating Shared Value) realizes "social value and economic value" at the same time. CSV management is a management strategy to create value for the company and society. 

6 30% Club: A campaign from the UK aims to raise the proportion of women in corporate executives to 30%. 

7 Equal pay for equal work: Visualize everyone's abilities, skills and experience and pay according to their role expectations and achievements. 

8 Implement fair training: Allow people to get the same opportunities, taking into account differences and the differences of provenance. 

9 Strengthen the attention to nursing work: Society should not only create a system, but also focus on the cultivation and growth of everyone, and create an organization that can flexibly choose the working place, time and method according to the situation. 

10 Take the formation of career as the stage: Divided the career into employee period (1-5 years), mid-career period (~ 10 years) and Leadership (10 years ~) three stages. 

11 Ally: People who understand and support the LGBT community. 

12 Medical model: Society views disability as a "personal" problem directly caused by disease, trauma or other health conditions. Disability is regarded as an abnormal and social security problem (welfare / insurance), and the means of social adaptation is rehabilitation. 

13 Specified Skilled Worked (i): Master a certain degree of knowledge and skills of relevant companies as the prerequisite for acquisition (the maximum period of stay is 5 years). 

14 Specified Skilled Worked (ii): Must have professional and skilled skills and pass the specified examination (the duration of stay can be renewed). 

15 Ego: Unconsciously taking a convenient explanation or behavior for oneself; self-protection. 

16 Habits and Customs: A way of thinking that is taken for granted and common sense.

17 emotional transformation: Inferiority complex, commitment to complexity, obsession.  

18 Metacognition: Be able to look at yourself objectively; self-consciousness. There are 5 steps to review self-thinking. Step 1, pause thinking; Step 2, raise an antenna (metacognition); Step 3, verify; Step 4, add choices; Step 5, dialogue to get results.

19 Work as an individual: Maintain a calm and normal attitude to carry out deepen self-understanding, raise awareness, deepen mutual understanding among workplace members, consciously take positive actions and give feedback. 

20 Training: Think about a procedure from the three steps of "knowing, paying attention and acting"