Poster Presentations (Group I)

The Baldrige Criteria for Healthcare Performance indicates that effective diversity management is a vital component of overall excellence. Leaders must articulate a clear vision; link diversity to strategic goals; align the organization with market characteristics; and integrate diversity management and cultural competence throughout the system. We conducted an exploratory study of the nation's leading hospitals to understand how they conceptualize diversity, how that vision is operationalized and institutionalized in management practices, and how both are communicated via corporate web-sites.
Web sites are a gateway through which multiple constituencies enter a healthcare organization (e.g., patients, employees, providers, suppliers, insurers and community).  Consequently, this culturally rich medium has become an important and accepted unit of analysis in the field of healthcare, the study of organizational diversity, and the communication of organizational values (Singh, Xhao & Hu, 2003; Point & Singh, 2003; Campbell, Sherry & Sternberg, 2002; Williams, Smythe, Hadjistavropoulos et al, 2005). However, few studies have rigorously examined how hospitals use their websites to construct the meaning about diversity or delineate institutionalized practices (e.g., affinity groups, diversity councils). Further, little is known about how diversity practices relate to performance, beyond the small subset of Baldrige Quality Award winning hospitals.
For this research project, we conducted qualitative analyses of web sites among the nation's leading hospitals. The sample was selected from U.S. News & World Report's (2005) top ranked hospitals. A subset of 101 hospitals were chosen from four clinical areas: heart disease and surgery, cancer, respiratory disease were chosen because they are linked to leading causes of death (National Center for Health Statistics, 2000). In addition, women's health was selected because of the ambassadorial role that they play for other family members.
Results from this innovative study are presented using customized charting software that delineates fine-grained dimensions of meaning, types of institutionalized practices and facilitates comparisons within the sample. First, we show considerable variation in the meaning of diversity and the perceived strategic importance of diversity for organizational effectiveness (Thomas & Ely, 2000). Next, we highlight common and divergent institutionalized practices.  Then we analyze the extent to which there is a knowing-doing gap between espoused meanings of diversity and actual management practices to create a composite score of cyber-diversity (Pfeffer & Sutton, 2000).  We conclude by presenting correlations between a hospital's numerical quality ranking with their cyber-diversity composite score. These results can serve as a benchmark of cyber-diversity practices among leading organizations and a cursory map by which to measure their organization's orientation toward diversity.
Our session will provide practitioners with a framework and tool for developing a strategy to map, create, implement and leverage diversity management practices in their organization. Definitions of diversity that emerge from this study can help administrators refine and broaden their definition of diversity, and to infuse it into strategic planning. The array of institutionalized practices that emerge can help administrator identify strengths, opportunities and gaps within their organization. Both components are incremental steps toward leveraging diversity to improve overall performance and reduce health disparities.