HR Management Homework guidelines
FIRST, read Chapter 3. THEN… Think about this: About 5 years ago, the “Google Diversity Manifesto” was a hot topic in the business and technology news. It was written in July 2017 by now-former Google engineer, James Damore. I want you to read it, even if you read it before.
I know, it might make you angry! Or you might agree with some of it.
GO HERE: “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber”Links to an external site. (This is the original document posted by Mr. Damore, originally on an internal discussion platform at Google and later on the public Internet.)
HR Management Homework. You can find additional background info on what has actually happened at Google since the memo in these articles:
- Wired Magazine “The Dirty War Over Diversity Inside Google”Links to an external site.
- CNBC: “As America argues over civility, the same debate is playing out on a smaller scale inside Google”Links to an external site.
- https://www.digitaltrends.com/news/google-diversity-inclusion-champions-announcement-ces-2020/Links to an external site.
- https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/2/22560628/google-diversity-report-departures-black-womenLinks to an external site.
- And, in January and February 2021, 2 key members of the ethical AI team at Google were terminated, Timnit Gebru and Margaret Mitchell, so Google says they are changing their diversity policy yet again: https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/19/22291631/google-diversity-research-policy-changes-timnet-gebru-firingLinks to an external site.
Also you may want to check out Google’s official Diversity Annual Report for 2021:
https://diversity.google/annual-report/Links to an external site.
HR Management Homework. THEN, write a 1- to 1.5-page response, using the knowledge you have gained from Chapter 3. Answer the following 3 questions (of course knowing that Mr. Damore has been terminated from his employment at Google. He later filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), then withdrew it after the NLRB lawyers recommended dismissal of the complaint, and on January 8 2018 filed a class action lawsuit, asserting discrimination by Google against conservative white males; later the case moved into arbitration, and an internal NLRB memo was later released (more on that here: https://www.popehat.com/2018/02/20/lawsplainer-the-nlrb-damore-memo/Links to an external site. )):
- If you were the chief HR officer at Google, would you have recommended termination for Mr. Damore based on this document alone? Why or why not?
- If you were an outside attorney, would this document give you support for a claim that Google was practicing disparate treatment of applicants for software engineering positions? (Assume for the purposes of this activity, that Mr. Damore had the power to interview / hire / fire candidates for software engineering jobs.)
- Mr. Damore was reportedly terminated because this document violated the Google Code of Conduct. Do you agree? GO HERE: Google Code of ConductLinks to an external site.
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