Mgt 3850 Gender, Race & Leadership

Assignment: The Interview Component

Interview two people (separately). Choose people who you think will have different experiences of opportunities, privileges, and disadvantages. I’m not asking you to select people on any particular criteria, because there are many ways that people are privileged or disadvantaged, and these are not always visible or obvious, or fitting stereotypes of identity.  See note at bottom about finding people to interview.

In asking people if you may interview them, it might be useful to explain that this is for a class in which we are studying ways that people are treated differently on the basis of their identities, and this assignment is for learning about others’ experiences and to think about what needs to change to achieve greater equity in our society.

Questions to be asked:

1. What are some ways that you think of your own identity? What are important characteristics of how you see yourself in Canadian society?

2. Do you feel that any stereotypes get in the way of people seeing you as you see yourself? What are those stereotypes and what kinds of barriers do they create?

3. Do you feel that your work is valued as much as anyone else’s in your (current or past) workplace or school environment? Why or why not?

4. Are there hurdles that you face in society that you connect to your identity, such as getting jobs, getting promotions, finding safe and affordable places to live, having food security, earning a livable wage?

5. What kinds of solutions do you think might address any of these barriers to success, interpersonally, in the workplace or in society?  

I encourage you to take detailed notes during the interview or record it, with your interviewee’s permission.

The Writing Component: Please include:

1. Summary of each interview.  No need to include detailed transcriptions of the interviews, but I would like you to provide a description of each person’s responses, in your own words, and if you choose, with some brief quotes from the interview.  Represent their experience and their answers, a thorough description of what you understood.  (35 points) (approx. 500-1000 words)

2. Compare these two life experiences.  What do their experiences tell you about who faces what kinds of challenges in our society?  This is an opportunity for you to interpret what they told you, in the context of who they are, the categories they identify with, in contrast to each other, and possibly in comparison to your own experience. You may want to discuss what you heard that was surprising, or conversely, how these affirmed your expectations. What did you learn by listening to these people?

The leadership component: What kind of solutions do we need to address the challenges and inequities that people described in your interviews? Include the ideas suggested in response to Q5, as well as your own insights and ideas. You may disagree with your interviewee, of course. Cluster your ideas into Interpersonal, Workplace Equity, and Social Structure proposals.