Question

A manager wants to learn how employees feel about the company's diversity, equity, and inclusion (dei) initiatives, so the manager sends all employees a survey. However, each employee must enter their name on the survey before it can be submitted. Which of the five core principles of social justice does this scenario violate?

1) Equity
2) Inclusion
3) Diversity
4) Participation
5) Empowerment

Answer 1

Requiring names on a DEI survey violates the social justice principle of participation by potentially deterring honest feedback, thus undermining both participation and empowerment in the organizational decision-making process.

Step-by-step explanation:

The scenario where a manager sends out a survey on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives but requires employees to enter their names violates the principle of participation. The requirement for names potentially inhibits honest and open participation, as employees may fear repercussions for their responses. In the context of social justice, this could result in marginalizing those who might have critiques or negative feedback about the company’s DEI initiatives, thereby violating the principle that seeks to ensure that individuals have the right and opportunity to participate fully in decision-making processes that affect them.

According to Professor Vivien Taylor and Martha Nussbaum, social justice is rooted in communal values that emphasize social solidarity and the imperative to care collegially for all humans' dignity and well-being. Requiring named responses in a DEI survey undermines empowerment as well, as it may compromise an employee’s ability to express genuine concerns without fear of reprisal. Compulsory identification disrupts the confidential nature that such sensitive evaluations require and hence, stands at odds with creating a truly equitable, inclusive, and participatory organizational environment.