Moving Towards Fairness and Diversity? An Analysis of Perceptions from Employees Working in the United States Department of the Interior

This dissertation examines how different United States Department of the Interior
(USDOI) employees’ perceive fairness and support for diversity. The USDOI is an
agency with numerous STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) employees
who have the opportunity to influence future generations through their STEM internship.
Specifically, this dissertation examines the relationship between: (1) the perceived
fairness of performance appraisals and the empowerment index, demographic
characteristics, satisfaction, accountability and recognition; and (2) the perceived support
(or lack thereof) of departmental programs and supervisors to foster diversity in the
workforce and the empowerment index and demographic characteristics.
This dissertation accomplishes several things. First, it provides a review of
literature relating to gender diversity. Second, it provides a brief history of organizations
that were created and acts/executive orders that were passed in order to support women in their fight against gender discrimination. Fourth, it provides a review of the USDOI’s
recruitment, promotion, and employment policies. Finally, it presents an analysis of how
USDOI employees’ perceptions of diversity differ by gender.
This inquiry utilizes a theoretical framework based on Thomas and Ely’s (1996)
and Selden and Selden’s (2001) four diversity paradigms; “discrimination and fairness,”
“access and legitimacy,” “learning and effectiveness,” and “valuing and integrating.”
These paradigms suggest that the true benefits of diversity can only be realized in the
valuing and integrating paradigm where employees’ individual differences are used for
the betterment of the organization.
It is found that women tend not to perceive that their organization supports
diversity. It is also found that the empowerment index, federal tenure, pay category,
satisfaction, accountability and recognition are important in explaining employees’
perceptions of fairness and that the empowerment index, federal tenure, supervisory
status, gender, and minority status are important in explaining employees’ perceptions of
support for diversity.