Recognizing the Centrality of Emotion in Diversity Courses: Commentary on “Gender in the Management Education Classroom”

Abstract

This commentary adds to the analysis and recommendations presented in “Gender in the Management Education Classroom” concerning a very challenging incident focused on powerful gender/diversity dynamics. It discusses the centrality of emotion in students’ experiences of diversity discussions and calls for teachers to explicitly help students develop the capacity to interact in emotional situations about challenging intercultural issues with people from other identity groups. Developing such a capacity includes both intrapersonal and interpersonal components. A key intrapersonal piece is students’ looking at themselves, particularly their cultural identities, and how those identities can be threatened during diversity discussions. Interpersonal skills for dealing with such moments include adopting a learning stance, advocacy and inquiry, and investigating deeply how the other person constructs reality. Teachers’ own emotions are also an important element of the diversity classroom, because of both their potential impact on teaching behavior and the opportunity to model intercultural effectiveness for students.