Dr. Natalya Alonso joins Haskayne

On January 1, 2021, the Haskayne School of Business officially welcomed Dr. Natalya Alonso as an Assistant Professor in Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources. Dr. Alonso joins the school after completing her PhD at the University of British Columbia. Her research has primarily focused on workplace social (dis)advantage, and how employees attempt to shape the way their social groups and identities are perceived at work. Prior to pursuing her PhD, Dr. Alonso worked as a management consultant for Accenture.

The Canadian Centre for Advanced Leadership (CCAL) interviewed Dr. Alonso to gain insight into her research and what makes it applicable for current or future leaders. How can leaders design their workplace culture to be more inclusive and accommodating? Dr. Alonso had the following to say:  

“While there are many benefits to employing a diverse array of individuals with differing social identities, these benefits will not be realized if these employees do not feel valued, respected, and supported. To encourage this, leaders need to both remove barriers to inclusion and support experiences that foster inclusion. Building diversity, equity, and inclusion organizational systems that 1) increase accountability, 2) force structured (vs. unstructured) decision-making, 3) heighten transparency, and 4) collect and analyze data to identify and track issues, will help mitigate the biases and prejudices that flourish in ambiguity and impede inclusion.

In terms of supporting employee experiences that foster inclusion, research by Nishii and others suggests that policies and procedures supporting employee perceptions that organizational processes are fair, that employees are safe to act authentically and build interpersonal connections, and that diverse perspectives are solicited and integrated into decision-making, can be effective.”

Dr. Alonso has published in the Harvard Business Review, and other top tier peer-reviewed journals. 
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Alonso to Haskayne!