‘ Opportunities influence research findings, ‘ company professor says
A new study queries McKinsey &, Company study that claims workplace diversity improves a company’s bottom line.
The report examines assertions that company leadership has a greater degree of cultural diversity and benefits from that diversity. The authors claimed there was” no statistically significant” connection between the two and that McKinsey had used a “flawed” interpretation of the data to influence the conclusions.
According to the researchers, the findings of the consulting firm do not” support the claim that big US public companies can expect on average to offer better financial performance if they increase their managers ‘ racial/ethnic diversity,” according to Econ Journal Watch.
The two documents have garnered more than 1, 800 quotes.
” In terms of apparent effect, on]G ] oogle]S] cholar,’ Diversity Matters ‘ has been cited 1, 214 times and ‘ Giving through diversity’ has been cited 594 times”, Jeremiah Green, an finance teacher at Texas A&, M University, said in an email to , The College Fix.
Green told The Fix , that McKinsey “presumably” handles the study to possibly get justification for its “diversity techniques”.
” Given that McKinsey is one of the most recognized consulting businesses, and that they touted these studies, it must have worked for them”, Green said.
The Fix contacted McKinsey’s media staff to request a response to the writers ‘ inquiries, but they were unsuccessful. Since the publication of the papers, McKinsey has never made any public comments on the research.
Major McKinsey professional Dame Vivian Hunt, who co- authored the four research, argued against a “meritocratic” method of hiring in a 2020 meeting. She currently works for Optum, a provider of care.
A white common “is n’t great enough” because it “allows the discrimination that is in our systems, become they at job or in tradition or in society… to perpetuate”, she said. ” You have to proactively stand for an antiracism environment, an anti- bias environment, to positively include people who have been historically excluded”.
Incentives may “may influence research findings” or be.
When businesses examine their own diversity initiatives, Green was asked if there might be a conflict of interest.
According to Green,” I believe there is a lot of evidence that incentives influence research findings.”
Our main point is still that McKinsey could and should do better, and that McKinsey’s readers can draw conclusions from their own research if they understand how they conducted their research, Green said.
” In peer reviewed research, I’m pretty sure most peers would have criticized how the conclusions and the research design do n’t align,” Green told The Fix. They frequently state in journals I review that “are the conclusions accurate and justified by the findings?”
” In terms of a possible conflict of interest here, that seems obvious”, Green said.
Green and his co- author, accounting Professor John Hand of the University of North Carolina Chapel- Hill, have followed McKinsey’s work for years. Their most recent article expands on a three studies from 2021 that concluded that” caution is warranted in relying on their findings.”
The entire discredited study has been reported in popular media outlets and prestigious publications like Harvard Business Review. The studies have been used by corporate leaders and federal agencies as a basis for decision-making.
In a 2017 report, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence argued for diversifying intelligence agencies while referencing McKinsey’s” Why Diversity Matters” study.
The document states that” committing to diversity and inclusion is n’t just the right thing to do; it’s also related to measurable improvements in business performance.”
The Biden administration also used McKinsey studies to push for “diversity, equity, and inclusion” efforts in the United States military, The Daily Wire reported.
MORE: Disputed race research totals more than 3, 000 citations
IMAGE: McKinsey &, Company, Bezruk,  , College Fix edits
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