Diversity Training at Delta

Delta CrewIn response to two recent incidents, Delta crew members will attend diversity training that company executives already attended.

In one situation, CEO Ed Bastian banned a passenger after seeing a video of him yelling about Trump. In a statement, the company said the passenger should not have been allowed to fly. In another situation, covered by BizCom, an African-American doctor was questioned about her credentials and discouraged from helping a sick passenger.

The planned program includes unconscious bias and microaggressions-two current topics in diversity and inclusion circles. That's good because traditional diversity training programs haven't been found to be effective. A 2012 HBR article, "Diversity Training Doesn't Work," faults programs for causing more problems than they solve, and a 2016 BizCom story reiterated the point covered in a 2016 article.

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Discussion:

  • What's your view of diversity training programs? Are you skeptical like me?
  • How could covering topics of unconscious bias and microaggressions be different?
  • What difference do you think the training will make at Delta?