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BIAS-SENSIBILIZATION – Quality assurance for staff selection

Summary

Workshop for senior staff and other members of the University of Graz with (future) tasks in committees

Target groups

Committees / managerial staff / Professors /

Implementing organization

Graz University - Coordination Centre for Gender Studies and Equal Opportunities /

Contact

Dr. Barbara Hey, barbara.hey@uni-graz.at

Implemented/introduced

Implemented at the University of Graz since 2010, at the Danube University Krems since 2014; once a year.

Relation to gender equality targets

University of Graz (Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz): Implementation of the legal requirements of the Universities Act (UG) with regard to a balanced distribution of women and men in all university committees; position paper of the Working Group for Equal Opportunities (AKGL) of the University of Graz on preventing under-representation of women in university bodies and committees Working Group for Equal Opportunities-Decision (11 November 2013, in German only)

Danube University Krems: Development Plan under 0.3.6 Staff Development “Targeted gender equality work will result in an increase of the proportion of female university professors and women in management positions. … Programs support employees of the Danube University Krems in the areas of responsibility that are decisive for their professional integration and career development. In addition, management staff’s competencies relating to gender and anti-bias will be strengthened.” The same paragraph is also included in the Performance Agreement under A4. Human resource development/structure, A4.1

The objective(s) of the tool

Practical training in the sciences is generally highly funded. However, when selecting personnel, the members of committees have to rely solely on experience or on trial and error. Optimal selection procedures, which guarantee that the most suitable candidate will be identified in each case, are not only a prerequisite for excellent content results, diversity and innovation. They also form an essential basis for the high level of commitment that distinguishes research workers and for confidence in the meaningfulness of such efforts.

In order to achieve this, the University of Graz relies on a new approach: competence building for members of committees, in particular with personnel selection tasks, should promote professionalization of the personnel selection process and thus improve the results as well as fairness, gender justice, transparency and legitimacy of the processes.

Description of the tool

Using appointment committees’ duties as an example, the workshop provides an opportunity to better identify mechanisms that may cloud (professional) judgment. Processing expectations and possible prejudices, which might result in external influences playing a role in the search for the best suitable candidates is alleviated. The workshop will focus on psychological processes, subjective perception tendencies, interactive factors that may have a distorting impact on judgments, as well as on recognition structures in academia that can only partially reflect performance and academic potential.

The concept took into account the tight time budget of those working in academia – the offer comprises two five-hour sessions. The completion of both half days is certified.

  1. Half day: Diversity and prejudice awareness, impact of expectations and upstream inequalities on assessment and decision making. Methods: Input, guided reflection and discussion. Leadership: Roland Engel (Austrian Society for Diversity)
  2. Half day: Development of scientific reputation, practical experience in evaluating academic CVs. Method: Case study work with expert input. Leadership: Ute Riedler (Ute Riedler – academic counseling), Katharina Scherke, Ulrike Schustaczek, Barbara Hey (University of Graz)

How the tool works, practical experience

Every workshop is evaluated – very positive feedback. On average 11 to 12 participants per workshop, the genders are represented almost equally. Impact analyses have not yet been conducted. In terms of causality, direct or long-term effects of further education measures with regard to strategic goals or overarching gender equality targets are difficult to determine.

Special Thanks

Special thanks go to the Working Group for Equal Opportunities at the University of Graz, which was involved in the development of the workshop, and to the trainers/experts.