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Too nervous to discuss cultural and racial differences with others? If so, you may be interested in ongoing research by MIT professor Evan Apfelbaum who has found that many managers are hesitant to broach the subject with their employees. Apfelbaum tackles this topic in his social psychology class, and, to break the ice on a sensitive issue, he uses an unlikely source: Michael Scott (Steve Carrell), the insensitive former boss on NBC’s The Office.

Michael Scott’s antics in his sensitivity training class are obviously over the top, but his tactics certainly confront the race issue. An assistant professor of organization studies, Apfelbaum uses those scenes to relax his students and get them to consider if race or gender are factors in hiring or training. According to Apfelbaum, race issues in the workplace are sometimes avoided at all costs, for fear of suggesting prejudice.

Past research, which was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, had 104 white undergraduate students play a photo identification game similar to the board game, “Guess Who?” To discover the unknown character, participants asked questions related to physical appearances, but only 10 percent of players were willing to ask questions related to race.

Apfelbaum told the Boston Herald:

“Being more transparent about race can make people more relaxed in the workplace. It’s not that you should be going into the office and pointing out a co-worker’s background. But when it clearly is relevant, it makes things more awkward not to talk about it.”

“Shutting our eyes to the challenging aspects of race does not make them disappear. Acting color-blind often creates more problems than it solves.”

Apfelbaum’s overall research studies how people of different ethnicities confront the issue of race, particularly when people claim to be racially color-blind and ignore racial and ethnic differences.

He says the same issues may factor into gender differences.

From the Financial Times:

“The notion that everyone is the same – that race and gender do not matter – is very convenient for those who are in [power]. If an organisation says ‘We are equal opportunity, gender does not matter and we care about merit and individual abilities,’ to me that is a red flag.”

Does acting color-blind create more problems than it solves? Leave your take in the comments section below, or leave us a note on Facebook.

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MIT 2030 will help develop Kendall Square and position the area as a destination for entrepreneurs.

Sniffing out ways to grow New York’s high-tech industry, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is touting plans to develop an applied-sciences campus. The plan mimics what the New York Daily News calls the MIT Effect, which has helped physically transform Kendall Square and turn Cambridge into one of the world’s foremost high-tech destinations.

The New York Daily News writes:

Call it the MIT Effect. This is the model Mayor Bloomberg wants to replicate with his plan to entice a premier university to set up a high-tech grad school in the city.

It would mirror the ambitious project involving MIT in Massachusetts, which made the Cambridge-Boston area an innovation capital of the world – home to some 95 biotech firms and 47 energy companies.

No doubt envisioning an infusion of brains and cash, Bloomberg is so passionate about creating a “genius school” that he’s offered the winners a selection of prime real estate and up to $100 million in financial assistance. Top contenders among the 18 proposals from 27 universities include NYU, Cornell, and a joint proposal from Stanford and New York’s City College that would renovate the City College campus and build a Stanford campus on Manhattan’s Roosevelt Island.

While a new tech hub could lead some innovators to the Big Apple, Cambridge has no plans to be left behind. A long-term evolution of the surrounding area is already in place in the form of MIT 2030. Launched in 2008, MIT 2030 is a wide-ranging effort designed to help MIT continuously develop and renovate Kendall Square and position the Institute and its surrounding area as a prime spot for rising entrepreneurs.

Call it the MIT Effect, but can the same high-tech success be replicated 200 miles south? Or will MIT 2030 help keep Cambridge the East Coast Silicon Valley? Tell us what you think in the comments section below, or leave us a note on Facebook.

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