Draft:Diversity Experience Index

DIVERSITY EXPERIENCE INDEX

Description

The concept of Diversity Experience Index is an application of mathematical Graph Theory to the domain of human interactions. It provides a precise set of calculations by which it is possible to determine the amount of experience one individual has with other individuals who have particular characteristics. The amount of experience can be measured either as discrete interactions or as a sum of total interaction time. DEI values can be used to yield insights into human task performance, work and task experience, and Sense of Belonging.

Origination

The idea and the general steps for calculating DEI values were first proposed by academician and Applied Graph Theory researcher Paul Allan Beckman in a paper presented in July 2018 at the International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences. The paper was titled “Measuring Workforce Diversity at the Individual Employee Level: Applying Graph Theory to Measure Individual Diversity Experience.” Beckman brought together ideas from Psychology, Mathematics, and Human Resources in a way to precisely quantify the amount of experience an individual brings to a group task through the experiences they have had with other individuals.

Beckman’s original goal was to create a process by which organizations could measure diversity at the individual level as opposed to a macro-level value such as a percentage of a particular group in a workforce such as X% female or Y% handicapped. The DEI analytical methodology provides an individual-level measurement by showing how to calculate the total number (or total time) of interactions an individual has with other individuals.

One goal of an organization, to increase members’ performance on some task, can be supported by calculating individual’s DEI values. This could be accomplished, for example, by promoting or managing the interaction of individual (1) with individual (2) where individual (2) has a skill (A) the organization wishes individual (1) to have. While completing an organizational task that requires the use of skill (A), individual (1) will learn and subsequently improve their performance of skill (A) because while completing the task they will see individual (2) apply skill (A). The organization could also use DEI values to increase each individual’s work and/or task experience by monitoring precisely which work or tasks each individual has completed. By pairing an individual (1) who does not have some specific experience (A) with an individual (2) who does have that experience, individual (1) will be exposed to someone who can teach or tell them about that work or task experience. An organization can also use DEI values to increase each individual’s Sense of Belonging to the organization. This could be reinforced by monitoring and manipulating the specific interactions each individual has with others in a way that increases individual (1) interactions with others who have different characteristics than they do. Applied consistently and over time, each individual in the organization will be exposed intentionally to others in the organization who have different backgrounds and experiences than they have or had.

Calculating DEI Values

The process for calculating an individual’s Diversity Experience Index begins by collecting data about the characteristics of individuals who interact in some network. The organization doing the calculation can choose any characteristic for which they can collect data. These characteristics could be anything associated with an individual, such as their sex, gender, age, country of origin, handicapped status, or military veteran status. In general, the organization generally would choose characteristics which have some impact or bearing on the functioning of the organization. Since psychology research has shown that diverse groups generally perform better and make better decisions, choosing characteristics relevant to the organizations tasks or goals will likely help the organization more than choosing characteristics that are random or unassociated with the organization or its goals.

The second step in calculating DEI values is to collect for every individual in the network those events or times when they interacted with others in the organization. This data may already be stored in Human Resources systems that track meeting times or times when individuals worked together on some organizational task. Original source data of exact meeting times of individuals may not be available so surrogate or proxy data may have to be used, such as email threads that show when two or more individuals made contact for some organizational reason. Very precise location and timing interaction data could be collected using technology tools comprised of radio-wave transmitters and receivers. Such systems could gather and store data about each time two or more individuals spent a minimum amount of time (for example, 5 minutes) within some geographic distance (for example, 5 feet). This type of system could be tuned specifically by the organization with time and distance values so as to store data only when true organizational interactions occurred.

The final step in calculating DEI values for an individual is to sum across time the interaction instances or times that individual had with every other individual in the network. Data about the characteristics of each individual was stored in the first step in this process so it is a basic multiple summation calculation to see how many times an individual has interacted with each person with a particular characteristic.

Displaying DEI Values

Beckman, in a later work on DEI (Beckman, 2023) , suggests a way to precisely and graphically display the results of DEI calculations. In an academic paper published in a Spanish research journal (RELIEVE: Revista ELectrónica de Investigación y EValuación Educativa), Dr. Beckman proposes using radar diagrams to show the Diversity Experience Index values for an individual. A radar diagram is a two-dimensional graphic method of showing multiple values along multiple orthogonal or non-orthogonal axes emanating from a single origin point. When applied to DEI calculations, the number of axes is equal to the number of characteristics along which data were collected. The total number or times of interactions is the distance from the origin on each dimension axis.

Used this way, a radar diagram can show in one graphic image the total number or time of interactions an individual has had with others with a set of characteristics. By stacking DEI values for many individuals on one radar diagram, it is a simple matter to see which individuals have the most number or interaction times for any particular characteristic. Such a set of stacked radar diagrams can also show the organization those characteristics where the group of individuals has the most or least interactions for each dimension.

Examples

In his 2023 research paper, Beckman shows two radar diagrams for simulated individuals with randomly-generated DEI values. That situation refers to a group of children in a cohort who are members of a government-sponsored program. The dimensions of interest of the children in the group are: age, country of origin, and time spent in Spain. The age dimension was broken down into four groups: 8-10 years, 11-13 years, 14-16 years, and 17-18 years. The country of origin was split into three values: Ghana, Morocco, and Nigeria. The time spent in Spain dimension was broken down into two buckets: less than 9 months and greater than 9 months. This example shows that dimensions can be represented individually or they can be broken down into subsets.

Beckman then shows DEI radar diagrams for two children in the network (image below). First, the overall surface area of the enclosed space in each diagram shows how interactive each child has been with the other children. A child with a very small surface area has either just joined the group or has not interacted much with other children in the group. Second, the two radar diagrams show that each child has had a very different set of interactions with other children in the cohort network. Both children have spent more time interacting with other children who have spent less time in Spain than with children who have spent a longer time in Spain. Child 10, however, has spent more time interacting with children in the 14-16 age group than has Child 13, while Child 13 has spent more time interacting with other children from Morocco than has Child 10.

Application of DEI Knowledge

Beckman’s example then describes how to use knowledge of DEI values to place a new child just joining the program cohort. This process is analogous to the situation, called “on-boarding,” where a new employee joins an existing group at an organization. The goal of that research project was to increase the Sense of Belonging of children to the cohort as children can leave the program if they choose to do so. Those running the program wish to give children incentives to stay in the program, and increasing their Sense of Belonging to the program group is one way to do that.

The process by which the research program wishes to increase the Sense of Belonging of a new child joining the group is this: have the new child interact with those children already in the program who have had the most interactions with other children in the group who have characteristics identical or similar to the new child. The premise for taking this action is that children who have interacted the most with other children with particular characteristics already have experience interacting with and understanding children with those characteristics. In the case that Beckman describes, a new child joins the program and they have these characteristics: 15-year-old Ghanaian who has been in Spain for less than 9 months. This child is likely to naturally get a Sense of Belonging to other children in the program who share their characteristics: 14-16 years old, from Ghana, and have been in Spain for less than 9 months. The goal of the program, however, is to have the new child get a Sense of Belonging to the entire group. That can be aided by having the new child interact with other children in the program who have more interaction experience with 15-year-olds, Ghanaians, and are new to Spain. Children already in the program who have more interactions along these particular dimensions already have more experience with children similar to the new child and are therefore more likely to understand and accept them.