Report
How Effective Are Blinding Concepts and Practices to Promote Equity in the Department of the Air Force?
Dec 30, 2021
Format | File Size | Notes |
---|---|---|
PDF file | 3.5 MB | Use Adobe Acrobat Reader version 10 or higher for the best experience. |
Format | List Price | Price | |
---|---|---|---|
Add to Cart | Paperback86 pages | $32.00 | $25.60 20% Web Discount |
The Department of the Air Force (DAF) for many years has assessed ways it could improve diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) in its workforce and, in particular, increase diversity in its leadership ranks. Although DAF has made progress on these fronts, it needs a more comprehensive understanding of the scope and effectiveness of its DE&I efforts and potential paths forward.
This Perspective summarizes organizational, managerial, and procedural insights that RAND Project AIR FORCE (PAF) has provided to DAF leaders in recent years on critical diversity and personnel challenges facing the department. Using various methodologies, a PAF team of researchers found that there are no quick wins or shortcuts for DAF to improve representation of racial/ethnic minorities and women among the senior leaders or to create a more equitable and inclusive organization. The road to ideal DE&I is fraught with challenges, including competition from public and private sectors. Still, DAF could benefit from other services' and organizations' experiences.
The PAF team also found that DAF's recruiting, testing, and training pipelines for pilots — the traditional wellspring of its general officers — present structural barriers for minority and women candidates. Overcoming these barriers would require DAF to hold regular and serious conversations about race throughout the force; ensure that diversity and implicit bias training conveys organizational values and encourages active interactions; develop tests and measurement schemes that more adroitly identify individuals who possess critical leadership knowledge, skills, and abilities; and increase the flow of minority and female students into pilot training.
Chapter One
Introduction
Chapter Two
DE&I Across the Public and Private Sectors: How Do DAF Initiatives Compare?
Chapter Three
Impact of Eligibility Requirements and Propensity to Serve on Demographic Representation in the U.S. Air Force
Chapter Four
Conducting Community Outreach and Marketing at Earlier Points in the Minority Candidate Pipeline
Chapter Five
Maximizing the Return on Investment on DAF ROTC Initiatives at HBCUs and HSIs
Chapter Six
Talking About Race and Diversity
Chapter Seven
What Is Diversity Training?
Chapter Eight
Implicit Bias in the Workplace: Assessment and Training
Chapter Nine
Reevaluating Officer Selection to Improve Diversity
Chapter Ten
Minority Pilot Production in the U.S. Air Force's Major Commissioning Sources
Chapter Eleven
How Demographic Differences in Pilot Training Attrition Relate to Pilot Candidate Selection Method Components
Chapter Twelve
Why Might Black General Officer Representation Continue to Decline in the Near Future?
Chapter Thirteen
Leveraging Past Lessons for Future Impact
This work was prepared for the Department of the Air Force (DAF) and conducted by the Workforce, Development, and Health Program within RAND Project AIR FORCE.
This publication is part of the RAND Corporation Perspective series. RAND Perspectives present expert insights on timely policy issues. All RAND Perspectives undergo peer review to ensure high standards for quality and objectivity.
This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.