2023 Network Awards – Established, Applied Research
Judges’ comments
The initiative
The work with the Diversity Council Australia (DCA), Counting Culture: Towards a Standardised Approach to Measuring and Reporting on Workforce Cultural Diversity in Australia, provides a rigorous, valid, meaningful, respectful and informed tool kit for measuring, monitoring and reporting on cultural diversity at the workplace level.
The pioneering research brings Australian business and society a step closer to addressing the long-held gap in understanding the breadth and depth of Australia’s cultural diversity.
Australia’s cultural diversity has been measured by gathering data on country of birth and languages spoken: a blunt and partial approach. This approach has resulted in the policy instruments implemented to benefit multicultural Australia falling short.
Indeed, the questions asked and the measures for evaluating our workforce population have failed miserably to create a map which meaningfully captures the complexity of its diversity.
The lack of visibility surrounding our workforce’s cultural diversity and population is significant.
Diversity and inclusion policies implemented to benefit the cultural diversity of the workforce are simply tinkering at the edges; settlement services have only a surface-level impact on belonging and inclusion of newly settled migrants and refugees.
With an estimated annual $75 billion in customer value, taking steps to make the multicultural dollar contribution visible has significant business and societal implications.
How it works
The project was the culmination of two years of research. These included literature and document analysis; fortnightly expert panel meetings involving the most significant thought leaders, academics and policymakers in this field; broad and wide industry, government, and non-government stakeholder consultations; and consultations with staff across DCA member organisations.
Researchers surveyed over a thousand workers and conducted 20 focus groups nationally to listen to and understand what terminology captures cultural diversity measures at the workplace level.
Counting Culture presents a watershed moment for understanding our multicultural society and our multicultural labour market.
Following broad consultation, discussion, and research, the measures were piloted with workers and refined.
The six-step guidelines articulate a simple approach to capturing the complexities surrounding cultural diversity that includes physical appearance, accent, dress, languages spoken, name and ethno-religious affiliation or, a combination of these factors, which become markers of one’s cultural identity.
The significance of this creative breakthrough is found in the philosophy that underpins the guidelines: the belief that Counting Culture is the beginning of a conversation about meaningful measures involving a mounting campaign over time, and the establishment of a platform for consistent and meaningful measuring, monitoring, and reporting on cultural diversity.
This baseline will contribute to excellence and best practice in business, ensuring that the policies implemented to benefit culturally diverse workers create material outcomes for workers and business.
Notably, a useful measure of the Australian landscape, they will allow organisations to craft and implement diversity and inclusion policies to benefit workers more effectively.
Impact on policy
The report:
- Was named as one of the top ten policy documents for 2021 (Australian Policy Observatory).
- Spearheaded discussions by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency to implement an intersectional approach to data collection. The report is being used as pre-reading for the national round table discussions by the Agency.
- Resulted in discussions at the Federal Government level to revise the Census questions to more meaningfully capture cultural diversity. Minister Andrew Leigh commended the outcomes of the research highlighting that the research report has gone beyond the workplace domain, shaping societal discussions around measures and reporting mechanisms.
- Has been employed by Women on Boards as a way to undertake an intersectional measure of culturally diverse women on boards.
Media coverage
The Counting Culture project was viewed by 1.5 million. The media presence was across all platforms.
Examples include:
- A law on workplace gender equality is under review. Here’s what needs to change, The Conversation, 24 Nov 2021
The Conversation published an article co-authored by Dimitria Groutsis about the government’s review of the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012.
- Aust workplaces don’t comprehend diversity, AAP Newswire, 19 May 2021
AAP Newswire interviewed Dimitria Groutsis about a report with the Diversity Council Australia that found many Australian organisations fail to recognise cultural diversity.
- Australia’s workplaces failing to accurately measure cultural diversity of staff, report finds, SBS Online, 19 May 2021
SBS Online reported on research led by Dimitria Groutsis that found Australian organisations are ‘failing to capitalise on the cultural diversity of the workforce by not measuring it properly’.
- Aust workplaces don’t comprehend diversity, Canberra Times, 18 May 2021
The Canberra Times reported on new research led by Dimitria Groutsis that found language used in workplaces to describe culture was ‘too sanitised’, and that businesses were failing to ‘properly measure the breadth of their talent’s cultural background’.
- Organisations are ‘stabbing in the dark’ when targeting cultural diversity, Sky News, 18 May 2021
Sky News reported on research led by Dimitria Groutsis that found Australian organisations are ‘failing to capitalise on the cultural diversity of the workforce by not measuring it properly’.
Reports
Groutsis, D., Martin, L., Lattouf, A., Soutphommasane, T., Lumby, C., Young, N., Crawford, J., Robertson, A. Who Gets to Tell Australian Stories 2.0, Usyd, MDA, UTS, Google.
DCA/USYD (D’Almada Remedios, R., Groutsis, D., Kaabel, A., and O’Leary, J. (2021) Counting Culture: Towards a Standardised Approach to Measuring and Reporting on Workforce Cultural Diversity in Australia, Sydney, Diversity Council Australia, 2021
Lumby, C., Soutphomasane,T., Groutsis, D., Rodrigues, U., in association with Media Diversity Australia. (2020). Who Gets to Tell Australian Stories, Australia.
Collins, J., Reid, C., Groutsis, D., Watson, K., Kaabel, A., Hughes, S. 2020, Settlement experiences of recently arrived refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan in New South Wales in 2018: Executive Summary, Centre for Business and Social innovation, UTS Business School: Sydney. [also, Arabic and Dari].
Collins, J., Reid, C., Groutsis, D., Watson, K., Kaabel, A., Hughes, S. 2020, Settlement experiences of recently arrived refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan in New South Wales in 2018: Full Report, Centre for Business and Social innovation, UTS Business School: Sydney.
Collins, J., Reid, C., Groutsis, D. (2020). Settlement Experiences of Recently Arrived Refugees from Syrian, Iraq and Afghanistan in NSW, UTS Business School, Sydney.
Groutsis, D., & van den Broek, D. (2019) Disrupting Leadership Homogeneity by Mapping the Career Progression of Culturally Diverse Talent: Intervention strategies to Capitalise on Cultural Diversity, Deloitte International.
Groutsis, D. and O’Leary J. (2019). Counting Culture: Six Principles for Measuring the Cultural Diversity of your Workplace, DCA, Australia.
Publications
Books
Groutsis, D., Georgiadou, A., Ng, E. (forthcoming) Global Inclusion and Diversity. Routledge UK.
Van den Broek, D., & Groutsis, D. (2020). Women, Work and Migration: Nursing Journeys. Routledge UK.
Ozbilgin, M., Groutsis, D., & Harvey, W.S. (Eds). (2014). International Human Resources Management. Cambridge University Press, Australia.
Book chapters
Groutsis, D., (2023). From Temporary Migrant to Labour Citizen in, A. Triandafyllidou (Ed) Routledge Handbook of Immigration and Refugee Studies. Abingdon: Routledge.
Groutsis, D., Vassilopoulou, J., and Kanji, S. (2023) How precarity is threaded into migration rules: The case of the UK, Germany and Australia. In E. Meliou, M. Ozbilgin, J, Vassilopoulou. Diversity and precarious work during socio-economic upheaval: exploring the missing link, Cambridge University Press, UK.
Kyriakidou, O., Vassilopoulou, J., Groutsis, D. (2023). Contemporary Approaches in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Flexible working arrangements, ostracism and inequality: The role of LMX and servant leadership, Emerald Publishing, UK.
Groutsis, D. & Martin, L. (2021). Indicators of Citizenship Rights for Immigrants, Diversity and Inclusion Index Compendium, Routledge, USA.
Groutsis, D., & van den Broek D, (2019). Migration, Skill and Career: Organisationally Bounded and Individually Bonded’, Contemporary Issues in Work and Organisations, Routledge, Australia.
Taksa, L., & Groutsis, D. (2017). Swings and Roundabouts: reconsidering Equal Employment Opportunity, Affirmative Action and Diversity Management in Australia from an historical perspective. In M. Ozbilgin & J-F. Chanlat (Eds), Handbook of Diversity Management. United Kingdom: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Academic impact
Research endeavours and output have been significantly influenced by evidence-based work with the DCA as well as:
- eight A* publications;
- two A publications;
- four A* currently under review.
A large ARC Linkage grant (almost $1 million) in addition to significant category two funding (c. $1 million in the last decade).
Refereed journal articles
Groutsis, D. (2023). The State of Play of Ethno-racial Representation on Boards: a comparative analysis, European Management Journal.
Groutsis, D., Vassilopoulou, J., Ozbilgin, M., Fujimoto, Y., Mor Barak, M. (eds). (2023). Special issue, Migration ‘Management’: Tensions, Challenges, and Opportunities for Inclusion, Academy of Management Discoveries.
Meliou, E., Lopes,A., Vincent, S., Ozbilgin, M., Groutsis, D., Mahalingam, R., Rouleau, L. (eds) (2023, forthcoming). Social diversity and precarious organizations, Organisation Studies.
Kyriakidou, O., Groutsis, D., Vassilopoulou, J., Ozbilgin, M. (2023, forthcoming). The impact of algorithmic decision-making on inequality and diversity, International Journal of Human Resource Management.
Garbuio, M., Shields, J., Bogais, J., Alday. S., Peter, S., Reimer, K., Groutsis, D., Voola, R., Sutton-Brady, C. (2022) Conquering ‘the tyranny of distance’: Australian-European economic and geopolitical relationships in the 2020s and beyond, European Journal Management
Groutsis, D., Kaabel, A., Wright, C.F. (2022) We’re all in this Together? Temporary migrants as dehumanised ‘other’ in the time of COVID-19, Work Employment and Society.
Wright, CF., Groutsis, D., Kaabel, A. (2022) Regulating Migrant Worker Temporariness in Australia: The Role of Employment and Post-Arrival Support Policies, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.
Groutsis, D., Vassilopoulou, J., Kyriakidou, O., Ozbilgin, M. (2022) Scientism as illusio in HR algorithms: towards a framework for algorithmic hygiene for bias proofing, Human Resource Management Journal.
Georgiadou, A., Metcalfe, B. Dickerson von Lockette, N., Groutsis, D (eds). (2021). Special issue, Gender, Bodies and Identities in Organization: Postcolonial Critiques, Gender, Work and Organization
Groutsis, D., Vassilopoulou, J., Kyriakidou, O., Ozbilgin, M. (2019). The ‘New’ Migration Phenomenon: Politico- economic rot as fuel for high-skilled ’emancipation’ through migration from Greece to Germany, Work Employment and Society.
Underhill, E., Groutsis, D., van den Broek, D., Rimmer, M. (2019). Organising Across Borders: Mobilising temporary migrant labour in Australian Food Production, Journal of Industrial Relations.
Ng, E., Groutsis, D., & Rajani, N. (2018). From India to Canada: An Autoethnographic Account of an International Student’s Decision to Settle as a Self-Initiated Expatriate Canadian Ethnic Studies.
Harvey, W., Groutsis, D. and van den Broek, D. (2017). The interaction and impact of intermediaries, host country reputation and images of skilled migration flows. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. SI Migration Industries.
Wright. C., Groutsis, D. and van den Broek, D. (2017). The Rise of Employer-Sponsored Work Visa Schemes: Enhancing Efficiency, but Compromising Fairness? Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2016.1251834