@incollection{SteuerDankertLeichtScholten2022, author = {Steuer-Dankert, Linda and Leicht-Scholten, Carmen}, title = {Perceiving diversity : an explorative approach in a complex research organization.}, series = {Diversity and discrimination in research organizations}, booktitle = {Diversity and discrimination in research organizations}, publisher = {Emerald Publishing Limited}, address = {Bingley}, isbn = {978-1-80117-959-1 (Print)}, doi = {10.1108/978-1-80117-956-020221010}, pages = {365 -- 392}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Diversity management is seen as a decisive factor for ensuring the development of socially responsible innovations (Beacham and Shambaugh, 2011; Sonntag, 2014; L{\´o}pez, 2015; Uebernickel et al., 2015). However, many diversity management approaches fail due to a one-sided consideration of diversity (Thomas and Ely, 2019) and a lacking linkage between the prevailing organizational culture and the perception of diversity in the respective organization. Reflecting the importance of diverse perspectives, research institutions have a special responsibility to actively deal with diversity, as they are publicly funded institutions that drive socially relevant development and educate future generations of developers, leaders and decision-makers. Nevertheless, only a few studies have so far dealt with the influence of the special framework conditions of the science system on diversity management. Focusing on the interdependency of the organizational culture and diversity management especially in a university research environment, this chapter aims in a first step to provide a theoretical perspective on the framework conditions of a complex research organization in Germany in order to understand the system-specific factors influencing diversity management. In a second step, an exploratory cluster analysis is presented, investigating the perception of diversity and possible influencing factors moderating this perception in a scientific organization. Combining both steps, the results show specific mechanisms and structures of the university research environment that have an impact on diversity management and rigidify structural barriers preventing an increase of diversity. The quantitative study also points out that the management level takes on a special role model function in the scientific system and thus has an influence on the perception of diversity. Consequently, when developing diversity management approaches in research organizations, it is necessary to consider the top-down direction of action, the special nature of organizational structures in the university research environment as well as the special role of the professorial level as role model for the scientific staff.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{SteuerDankertLeichtScholten2016, author = {Steuer-Dankert, Linda and Leicht-Scholten, Carmen}, title = {Social responsibility and innovation - Key competencies for engineers}, series = {ICERI 2016: 9th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation: Conference Proceedings : Seville (Spain), 14-16 November}, booktitle = {ICERI 2016: 9th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation: Conference Proceedings : Seville (Spain), 14-16 November}, isbn = {978-84-617-5895-1}, issn = {2340-1095}, doi = {10.21125/iceri.2016.0353}, pages = {5967 -- 5976}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Engineers are of particular importance for the societies of tomorrow. The big social challenges society has to cope with in future, can only be mastered, if engineers link the development and innovation process closely with the requirements of people. As a result, in the frame of the innovation process engineers have to design and develop products for diverse users. Therefore, the consideration of diversity in this process is a core competence engineers should have. Implementing the consideration of diverse requirements into product design is also linked to the development of sustainable products and thus leads to social responsible research and development, the core concept formulated by the EU. For this reason, future engineers should be educated to look at the technical perspectives of a problem embedded in the related questions within societies they are developing their artefacts for. As a result, the aim of teaching engineering should be to prepare engineers for these requirements and to draw attention to the diverse needs in a globalized world. To match the competence profiles of future engineers to the global challenges and the resulting social responsibility, RWTH Aachen University, one of the leading technical universities in Germany, has established the bridging professorship "Gender and Diversity in Engineering" (GDI) which educates engineers with an interdisciplinary approach to expand engineering limits. The interdisciplinary teaching concept of the research group pursues an approach which imparts an application oriented Gender and Diversity expertise to future engineers. In the frame of an established teaching concept, which is a result of experiences and expertise of the research group, students gain theoretical knowledge about Gender and Diversity and learn how to transfer their knowledge into their later field of action. In the frame of the conference the institutional approach will be presented as well as the teaching concept which will be introduced by concrete course examples.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{SteuerDankertLeichtScholten2017, author = {Steuer-Dankert, Linda and Leicht-Scholten, Carmen}, title = {Innovation and Diversity : Integrating new perspectives into research associations}, series = {12th European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ECIE 2017) : Paris, France, 21-22 September 2017}, booktitle = {12th European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ECIE 2017) : Paris, France, 21-22 September 2017}, isbn = {978-1-911218-54-8}, pages = {767 -- 776}, year = {2017}, abstract = {The link between diversity and innovation is broadly discussed in the context of research and innovation processes. Many institutions and enterprises, specifically in commerce, have already tried to establish sustainable diversity management concepts, in order to increase the diversity of their workforce in addition to establishing a corporate culture of openness. Alongside the creation of a working place where different experiences and skills are valued equally, the entrepreneurial intention is to transfer diversity into economically relevant advantages. Taking into account the potential of diversity in research and innovation processes, the project "Diversity- and Innovation Management" was incorporated within a large interdisciplinary research Cluster. The project's purpose was to study the context between diversity and innovation in research associations and to later develop a customised management concept into an interdisciplinary research Cluster on integrative production technology with full integration. The challenge of such research associations lays in an organisational structure which is often described as being decentralised. Researchers coming from different academic disciplines, while having diverse habits, conduct research on large scientific issues and challenges. In addition, these researchers are socialised in different institutions and university chairs. Theses differences in leadership styles, business cultures and organisational strategies, follow into their research team work. Taking a closer look into the management of human resources suggests that decentral organised recruitment processes, as well as allocation of human resources, lead to a lacking overview in regard to missing competencies, perspectives and backgrounds in research networks. These circumstances are comparable to big corporate groups. While developing a management concept for research associations, these characteristics must be considered. To ensure this, the project follows a human-centred approach, which considers top-down, as well as bottom-up perspectives. This paper presents the applied mixed-method approach in the scientific issue described above. In the frame of the Cluster of Excellence "Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries" research results based on quantitative, as well as qualitative studies, were presented as an application example. This paper provides a new perspective on the innovation and diversity context. Against the background of complex research organisations, the development approach of a management concept is particularly interesting.}, language = {en} } @article{SteuerDankertSharmaBlecketal.2017, author = {Steuer-Dankert, Linda and Sharma, Mamta Rameshwarlal and Bleck, Wolfgang and Leicht-Scholten, Carmen}, title = {Diversity and innovation management in large research groups}, series = {International Journal of Innovation Management}, volume = {5}, journal = {International Journal of Innovation Management}, number = {2}, issn = {1757-5877}, pages = {49 -- 72}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Contemporary research appreciates a diverse workforce as a potential source of innovation. Researchers explore the fine details of why diversity management is central for generating innovations in heterogeneous research groups and how it could be effectively implemented into organizations. Complex research associations that discuss topics with a high impact on society increasingly address the necessity of establishing a diverse workforce to confront the challenges of tomorrow. Characterized by complex management structures as well as hierarchies, research associations have not been a subject of investigation until now. For this reason, the presented research project aims to develop a diversity and innovation management strategy with the ultimate goal of inducing change in the corporate culture. The proposed approach consisted of six phases; the first two phases investigated the status quo of diversity in the existing organizational structures of member institutes and the variety of particular working cultures within the research association. The third and the fourth phases utilized qualitative and quantitative studies. The third phase focused on the connection of management level to diversity and innovation, and the need for diversity and innovation management, and tailor-made methods of implementing them. The first three phases have been accomplished successfully; preliminary results are already available. The fourth phase will mainly focus on exploring the mind-set of the employees. The fifth phase will consolidate the findings in the first four phases into an implementable strategy. The final phase will address the implementation of this strategy into the organization. Phases 4 to 6 have not yet been undertaken}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{SteuerDankertSharmaBlecketal.2017, author = {Steuer-Dankert, Linda and Sharma, Mamta Rameshwarlal and Bleck, Wolfgang and Leicht-Scholten, Carmen}, title = {Innovation through Diversity - Development of a Diversity and Innovation management concept}, series = {International Conference on Innovation and Management : IAM23017S : Date: July 4-7, 2017, Osaka, Japan}, booktitle = {International Conference on Innovation and Management : IAM23017S : Date: July 4-7, 2017, Osaka, Japan}, editor = {Farn, C. K.}, publisher = {Kuang Hui Chiu}, address = {Osaka}, issn = {2218-6387}, pages = {Panel C}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Acknowledging that a diverse workforce could be a potential source of innovation, the current research deals with the fine details of why diversity management is central to achieving innovation in heterogeneous research groups and how this could be effectively realized in an organization. The types of heterogeneities addressed mainly include gender, qualification, academic discipline and intercultural perspectives. The type of organization being dealt with in this work is a complex association of research institutes at a technical university in Germany (RWTH Aachen University), namely a 'Cluster of Excellence', whereby several institutes of the university work collaboratively in different sub-projects. The 'Cluster of Excellence' is a part of the 'Excellence Initiative' of the German federal and state governments German Research Foundation (DFG) and German Council of Science and Humanities, with the ultimate aim of promoting cutting-edge research. To support interdisciplinary collaboration and thus the performance of the cluster, the development of a diversity and innovation management concept is presently in the conceptual phase and will be described in the frame of this paper. The 3-S-Diversity Model, composed of the three elements: skills, structure and strategy, serves as a basis for the development of the concept. The proposed concept consists of six phases; the first two phases lay the ground work by developing an understanding of the status quo on the forms of diversity in the Cluster of Excellence, the type of organizational structure of the member institutes and the varieties of specialist work cultures of the same. The third and the fourth phases build up on this foundation by means of qualitative and quantitative studies. While the third phase deals with the sensitization of the management level to the close connection between diversity and innovation; the need to manage them thereafter and find tailor-made methods of doing so, the fourth phase shall mainly focus on the mindset of the employees in this regard. The fifth phase shall consolidate the learnings and the ideas developed in the course of the first four phases into an implementable strategy. The ultimate phase shall be the implementation of this concept in the Cluster. The first three phases have been accomplished successfully and the preliminary results are already available.}, language = {en} } @incollection{StriebingMuellerSchraudneretal.2022, author = {Striebing, Clemens and M{\"u}ller, J{\"o}rg and Schraudner, Martina and Gewinner, Irina Valerie and Guerrero Morales, Patricia and Hochfeld, Katharina and Hoffman, Shekinah and Kmec, Julie A. and Nguyen, Huu Minh and Schneider, Jannick and Sheridan, Jennifer and Steuer-Dankert, Linda and Trimble O'Connor, Lindsey and Vandevelde-Rougale, Agn{\`e}s}, title = {Promoting diversity and combatting discrimination in research organizations: a practitioner's guide}, series = {Diversity and discrimination in research organizations}, booktitle = {Diversity and discrimination in research organizations}, publisher = {Emerald Publishing Limited}, address = {Bingley}, isbn = {978-1-80117-959-1 (Print)}, doi = {10.1108/978-1-80117-956-020221012}, pages = {421 -- 442}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The essay is addressed to practitioners in research management and from academic leadership. It describes which measures can contribute to creating an inclusive climate for research teams and preventing and effectively dealing with discrimination. The practical recommendations consider the policy and organizational levels, as well as the individual perspective of research managers. Following a series of basic recommendations, six lessons learned are formulated, derived from the contributions to the edited collection on "Diversity and Discrimination in Research Organizations."}, language = {en} } @incollection{vondenDrieschSteuerDankertBergetal.2020, author = {von den Driesch, Elena and Steuer-Dankert, Linda and Berg, Tobias and Leicht-Scholten, Carmen}, title = {Implementation of gender and diversity perspectives in transport development plans in germany}, series = {Engendering cities: designing sustainable urban spaces for all}, booktitle = {Engendering cities: designing sustainable urban spaces for all}, publisher = {Routledge}, address = {London}, isbn = {978-1-351-20090-5}, pages = {90 -- 109}, year = {2020}, abstract = {As mobility should ensure the accessibility to and participation in society, transport planning has to deal with a variety of gender and diversity categories affecting users' mobility needs and patterns. Exemplified by an analysis of an instrument of transport development processes - German Transport Development Plans (TDPs) - we investigated to what extent diverse target groups and their mobility requirements are implemented in transport strategy papers. Research results illustrate a still-prevalent neglect of several relevant gender and diversity categories while prioritizing and focusing on eco-friendly topics. But how sustainable can transport be without facing the diversification of life circumstances?}, language = {en} }