This project requires you to experience organizational diversity first-hand. There are several goals for this project. I want each of you to:
1. Experience what it feels like to be a minority/outsider/Other,
2. Critically reflect on how particular demographic or social identity factors affect organizations,
3. Critically reflect on how diversity (or lack of diversity) affects organizations,
4. Apply course concepts to a real-world situation.

Site Selection:
The first thing you need to do is to select an organization to analyze. To make this selection, brainstorm a list of local, easily-accessible organizations in which you would be a minority. You may need to make a few phone calls to possible organizations before you settle on your target organization. Do not let the selection process take more than a week! NOTE: You may not use a previous experience for this assignment, nor can you use an experience from another class.

Possible choices: nursing homes (age), group homes for special needs adults (physicality), religious organizations (race/ethnicity/ideology), a women’s studies/African-American studies/Judaic studies classes on campus (sex/race/ethnicity), fraternity/sorority events (sex), campus affiliation groups (various), an OLLI class (age), etc.

The Experience:
Set aside several hours to experience the organization in person. How you do this will depend on the organization you choose. You may attend a class or religious service, volunteer for a half day, or join a group event.

Before you go, do as much research on the organization as possible. While you are there, your sole responsibility is to experience the organization. However, it may help to ask yourself the following questions during or just after the experience:

1. How do I feel being a minority?
2. In what ways do I fit/not fit here?
3. What things seem strange (i.e., different) to me about this organization?
4. What is the most noticeable demographic/social identity variable in this organization?
5. How do demographics/social identity variables affect this organization?
6. How might this organization operate differently if another demographic/social identity variable were primary?
7. Is this organization more homogeneous or heterogeneous?
8. How might this organization change if it were more diverse?
9. What do I notice about the communication in this organization?

As soon as you are finished, do a ‘brain-dump’ about the experience. That is, write out as much about the experience as possible, in as much detail as possible. Pay special attention to what it felt like to be a minority, to how the primary demographic/social identity variable was expressed in the organization, how diversity (or lack of diversity) affected the organization, and any communication practices you noticed.

Paper:
Based on your field notes and Williams’ The 10 Lenses, write a five-page paper critically reflecting on the experience. First, provide a detailed description of the organization and your experience of it (two pages). Second, give a thorough and detailed analysis of how diversity plays out (or doesn’t) in your organization (three pages). Feel free to use the questions above to guide your analysis. However, your analysis must be based on the Williams book. Be sure to cite the book in your paper. That is, use specific terms, concepts, and quotations from Williams’ book, and be sure to cite page numbers for each. You must refer specifically to three of Williams’ lenses in your analysis.