Mary Gowan, professor of management in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, was an invited faculty member for the recent North Carolina Society of Radiologic Technologists Annual Conference Continuing Education Program.
The conference took place at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel in Durham, N.C., on April 19. Gowan spoke to about 75 radiologic technologists, graduate students and educators about the intersection of diversity programs and succession planning in her session entitled “Moving from ‘Mini-Me’ to Diversity and Inclusion in Succession Planning.”
Gowan stressed the importance for managers to understand that the natural tendency for all of us is to hire and promote people “like us.” To break out of this mindset, we have to value diversity that is both surface level, such as age, race, and gender, as well as deep-level diversity that includes personality differences, leadership styles, etc. Successful organizations, including healthcare systems, have recognized the importance of being intentional in developing career ladders and managing leadership development. In so doing, they have designed selection and promotion processes that prevent this “mini-me” effect and that have resulted in more diversity in the higher ranks of the organizations and a greater ability to be responsive to the needs of a diverse patient population.
Gowan teaches human resource management courses and conducts research on employment-related topics. She is the co-author of Human Resource Management: Managing Employees for Competitive Advantage, and is a director on the Society for Human Resource Management Foundation Board and on the board of the Institute for Sustainable Development. In addition to her doctorate in business administration, Gowan holds the Senior Professional in Human Resource Management (SPHR) certification. She has consulted extensively with large and small, private and public companies.