Creating Inclusive and Equitable Cultural Practices by Linking Leadership to Systemic Change
Talk with clear contingencies and perspective-taking to build fairer workplaces.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Esquierdo-Leal et al. (2021) wrote a how-to paper, not an experiment.
They asked: can behavior-analytic ways of talking make a workplace fairer?
The authors mapped leadership words to systemic change steps.
What they found
They say clear rules, feedback loops, and perspective-taking build inclusive cultures.
No numbers were given; the piece is a roadmap, not a scoreboard.
How this fits with other research
Olson et al. (2023) extend the idea. Their hospital case shows a talking tool, the Balanced Scorecard, cut turnover from 24 % to 3 %.
Guo et al. (2024) give the same story with harder data.
Together the trio says: talk like a behavior analyst and staff stay.
Krispin (2026) adds the big picture. His systems view explains why small verbal shifts can snowball into cultural evolution.
Why it matters
You already shape staff behavior. Now shape the system too.
State the equity rule, track it publicly, and ask each voice what support they need.
Try it in your next team huddle; one clear contingency can start the inclusion loop.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
From a global pandemic to the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, and others in the Black community, the year 2020 has cast light on long-standing social injustices. With this has come a critical social movement and a call for change—specifically, a call for transformative solutions that address not only new challenges but also centuries of systemic issues, such as systemic oppression and systemic racism. Leadership across the globe has scrambled to answer the call, some issuing statements committed to change, others engaging in necessary action. What is critical, however, is that leadership understands the cultural factors that have given rise to centuries of oppressive practices, and that leaders are held accountable for the commitments they have expressed. Leadership must promote, create, and maintain prosocial, inclusive, and healthy work environments. This requires new cultural practices and a focused organizational model. Equally important is the need to resolve ambiguity and communicate effectively, with strategic consideration of constituent perspectives and needs. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to discuss the contribution of behavior analysis to addressing systemic oppression, as well as the pivotal role leadership communication plays in occasioning social change. It is our hope that this conceptual work will inspire behavior scientists to advance the field of behavior analysis and social movements in the direction of equitable, prosocial change that dismantles systemic oppression.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2021 · doi:10.1007/s40617-020-00519-7