Exploring the paper Kaiser, C.R., Major, B., Jurcevic, I., Dover, T.L., Brady, L.M. and Shapiro, J.R., 2013. Presumed fair: ironic effects of organizational diversity structures. Journal of personality and social psychology, 104(3), p.504.
Blog two of five, in a series by Dr Chrissi McCarthy.
I was once at a party, more a gathering of friends, where we ended up discussing whether people should show ID to the police. One friend loudly declared he didn’t understand why anyone wouldn’t. I replied that I didn’t understand why anyone would, unless the law specifically compelled it.
He smirked: “You must have something to hide.”
I answered: “Maybe. But that’s not the point. I’m from a council estate. The police weren’t always on our side.”
He pressed on: “But the law ensures fair treatment, even if the police behave badly.”
I would have raised an eyebrow if I possessed such an ability.
The law has not always been on the side of my family. On at least one occasion, it put an uncle in hospital.
What struck me most wasn’t his naivety, a white, middle-class man seeing only fairness in the law is hardly surprising. It was his resistance to recognise my family’s experience. Instead, he assigned blame back to us.
I see the same pattern in organisations.
- “Discrimination doesn’t exist here, we have a policy against it.”
- Boards that proudly point to a 600-word statement as proof of equality.
- The idea that a policy reflects where an organisation is, rather than where it’s trying to go.
It always struck me that a policy was both powerful and powerless. It doesn’t magically change an organisation, but its very presence convinces people it already has.
That’s why Kaiser et al.’s Presumed Fair paper is so important. It helped me make sense of these moments, why policies can become shields, deflecting recognition of harm instead of driving change.
To be clear: I’m not saying policies are useless. Think of them like the head of a hammer, powerful when connected to a handle (strategy, culture, practice), but dangerous if left loose.
Policies are a starting point, not proof of fairness.
Have you seen policies used as evidence of equality in your workplace? What happened when people believed the policy was enough?
Tomorrow we will look at the methodology Kaiser et used to understand peoples responses to policy.
