Be A Maverick. The University of Texas at Arlington
Differences Enrich Organizations, Expert Says
Dr. Myrtle P. Bell is an associate professor of human resource management and the chair-elect of the Gender and Diversity in Organizations Division of the Academy of Management. Her research focus is diversity at work and her book, “Diversity in Organizations,” will be published next spring.
Bell’s expertise in diversity is, well, quite diverse.
Her particular research interests are under-studied aspects of diversity, including acceptance of persons with disabilities and relationships between age, obesity, appearance, and organizational outcomes. She has investigated the effects of battering and violence on women’s employment, merging diversity and human resource research.
Bell has also considered ways in which women executives act as change agents to reduce discrimination, harassment, and the glass ceiling in organizations and to increase other positive diversity outcomes, such as employment of women and minorities and work/family programs.
The world, Bell says, is rich in individual and cultural differences. As the world becomes more globally connected, discrimination, harassment, and exclusion based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, age, family status, physical or mental ability, weight, appearance and other irrelevant factors will be increasingly expensive for organizations. Allowing everyone the opportunities and privileges formerly afforded to small subsets of the population is one way to benefit individuals, organizations, and society.
Read more at http://management.uta.edu/Dr.Bell/main.htm