Counteracting the threats to DEI: The answer is accountability

The focal article authors (Follmer et al., 2024) highlight legislative initiatives that threaten diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) by eliminating programs that educate about minority populations, by reducing access to education and employment opportunities for minority groups, and by removing protections for minority groups.These efforts seem to be at odds with the needs of organizations that are increasingly employing and marketing to diverse populations, making implementing such programs all the more imperative (Opie & Washington, 2023).Although the authors note that the effects of legislative initiatives on DEI efforts are profound, these legislative efforts are largely focused on initiatives such as prioritizing diversity in hiring, developing employee resource groups, and creating diversity education programs, initiatives that researchers have categorized as nondiscrimination practices and resource practices (Leslie, 2019).One potential solution might be to rely on the third category of DEI initiatives researchers have identified: accountability practices.We believe that increasing accountability within DEI practices would help organizations counteract many of these threats to DEI practices in the current climate while also abiding by the law.The authors noted organizations have engaged in a wide variety of practices to promote diversity.In exploring the myriad practices organizations engage in to promote diversity, Leslie (2019) proposed a typology of DEI practices that divided DEI efforts into three broad categories: nondiscrimination practices, which are intended to remove bias from organizational processes (e.g., implicit bias training to improve selection); resources practices that allocate resources to underrepresented groups (e.g., establishing employee resource groups); and accountability practices which are practices that increase the monitoring of DEI initiatives and ensure organizations are responsible for their outcomes.Accountability practices involve efforts such as incorporating diversity goals into management systems, creating organizational goals for diversity, establishing a diversity manager or team to monitor diversity efforts, and creating grievance systems for employees who experience discrimination (Burnett & Aguinis, 2024).One essential component of accountability practices is gathering data to demonstrate that diversity programs are achieving their desired goals.As Leslie (2019) noted: "Whereas nondiscrimination and resource practices focus on the means used to achieve diversity goal progress, accountability practices focus on the end of diversity goal progress itself" (p.541).Researchers have noted the importance of accountability and accountability structures in the success of DEI initiatives (Burnett & Aguinis, 2024).Lerner and Tetlock (1999) define accountability as "the implicit or explicit expectation that one's actions may be called on to justify one's beliefs, feelings, and actions to others."Accountability theory argues that individuals are most inclined to restrict their own biases when their behavior is being observed (Dobbin et al., 2015).Accountability structures help ensure the success of DEI initiatives by drawing attention to individual behaviors and organizational actions that increase diversity and reduce discrimination