Published on: July 8, 2025 at 9:36 pm
Many organizations are guilty of meeting regulatory diversity requirements with a check-the-box approach. However, although it may appear to be progress, it lacks lasting impact.
Academy of Management Scholar Carol Kulik of the University of South Australia said that organizations will do well to set themselves apart from others by holding themselves accountable when planning and executing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
“One of the strategies that enable organizations to break free from the herd and do more than their competitors do in benefiting from DEI initiatives is that they hold themselves accountable to some kind of external body,” Kulik said.
Kulik cites Deloitte, one of the Big Four accounting and audit firms, as an example of this.
“In the 1980s, Deloitte said that they were going to be the employer of choice for women; looking back on it decades later, Deloitte now says that one of the smartest things they ever did was to make that announcement public,” Kulik said.
By announcing this to the public, conducting interviews in the media, and appointing an external advisory board, Deloitte was held accountable to their commitment to make their culture more supportive of women. That also improved public perception of the firm.
Kulik said that the reason why many organizations set diversity targets and fail is that internal accountability, goals, and transparency are ineffective.
“Holding yourself accountable externally, and being very public about your commitments, is the way to go,” Kulik said.
“With internal targets, there’s really no consequences, because the organization set the target and the organization gave themselves permission to miss them,” she said. “Once you have some accountability externally, you’re more likely to stick with it.”
