Bias blockers and resilience builders
Petrina CoventrySantos Ltd.
The APPEA Journal 55(2) 426-426 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ14061
Published: 2015
Abstract
This extended abstract shares research factors that affect gender equity in the workplace, along with subsequent workplace interventions that have been trialed at Santos to address the research findings.
A collaborative initiative between several leading universities and companies across a range of industries was established to identify challenges associated with gender representation in the workforce. A number of key research areas were focused on, including bias and its effects on gender equity, resilience in the workplace, and factors that affect retention and attrition of women in the workplace.
Findings
Unconscious and conscious bias needs to be tackled directly and through open intervention. Bias in manifested in judgements and decision-making that affect women’s working conditions. Removing biased decision-making through awareness programs, education and direct challenge has a positive impact on diversity and productivity.
Resilience builders can differ by gender. Interventions in the workplace to build resilience for women need to include confidence building. Successful women can suffer confidence crises as often as less successful women. Women are more likely to establish the confidence needed to be resilient in organisations when there is a culture of psychological flexibility.
This extended abstract will share the application of the research findings to the Santos workplace. For example, how decision making and bias training at Santos has assisted a broad range of disciplines, and what effect resilience-building strategies have had on productivity and culture.
Petrina Coventry is an executive director with Santos Ltd, a global oil and gas producer listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX Ltd). She has a bachelor’s degree in education, a master’s in philosophy (ethics), a master’s in business administration and an executive master’s in business administration. Based in Singapore since 2007, Petrina has spent more than 20 years working in Asia, the United States and Europe performing global leadership roles with The General Electric Company, The Coca Cola Company and Proctor and Gamble. Her domain expertise covers multiple industry sectors including energy, oil and gas, education, fast-moving consumer goods and financial services. Her work in transformation and change, performance drivers, organisation design and human capital planning has led to increased involvement with governments, industry associations and consulting groups across Asia and other regions. Petrina is an ethicist and is completing her PhD with Melbourne University. She is chair of Adelaide University Business School and a member of the University College London (Australia) academic council. She has also developed curriculum and lectured for University of South Australia and the Centre for Ethics and Leadership attached to Melbourne University. Petrina was appointed as a Vincent Fairfax Fellow (VFF) in 2011, a Fellow of the Australian Human Resource Institute (AHRI) in 2012, and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) in 2014. She is also a non-executive director of AHRI, a non-executive director of the Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP) and has been a member of the World Economic Forum Partnering against Corruption Initiative (PACI) since 2010. |
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