CDT Diversity & Inclusive Practices 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which concept describes the cumulative disadvantage experienced by individuals who belong to multiple marginalized groups simultaneously?
- Compounded bias
- Intersectionality (Correct answer)
- Stereotype threat
- Social stratification
Correct answer: Intersectionality
Intersectionality, coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, describes how overlapping social identities create compounded forms of discrimination.
Question 2: A company's ERG (Employee Resource Group) for LGBTQ+ employees wants to include allies. What is the BEST practice for structuring ally membership?
- Prohibit allies to maintain a safe space
- Allow allies as full voting members with equal leadership roles
- Welcome allies as non-voting members who support without dominating (Correct answer)
- Require allies to complete a certification before joining
Correct answer: Welcome allies as non-voting members who support without dominating
Best practice allows allies to participate and support while ensuring the group remains primarily led by and centered on the community it serves.
Question 3: When facilitating a diversity training session, a participant makes a microaggression toward another attendee. What should a skilled trainer do FIRST?
- Immediately remove the offending participant from the session
- Pause the session and address the impact of the comment in the room (Correct answer)
- Ignore it to avoid disrupting the learning environment
- Wait until the session ends to speak privately with the offender
Correct answer: Pause the session and address the impact of the comment in the room
Addressing microaggressions in the moment validates the impacted person and turns the incident into a learning opportunity for the group.
Question 4: Which hiring practice is MOST effective at reducing affinity bias in candidate selection?
- Requiring candidates to submit a photo with their application
- Using structured interviews with standardized questions for all candidates (Correct answer)
- Relying on employee referrals to build culture fit
- Allowing each interviewer to develop their own questions
Correct answer: Using structured interviews with standardized questions for all candidates
Structured interviews reduce affinity bias by ensuring all candidates are evaluated against the same criteria rather than subjective impressions.
Question 5: What does 'psychological safety' mean in the context of inclusive team environments?
- Freedom from physical harm in the workplace
- The belief that one will not be punished for speaking up with ideas, questions, or mistakes (Correct answer)
- A legally protected right to mental health accommodations
- The absence of conflict within a work team
Correct answer: The belief that one will not be punished for speaking up with ideas, questions, or mistakes
Psychological safety, studied by Amy Edmondson, is the shared belief that interpersonal risk-taking like voicing concerns is safe in a group.
Question 6: An organization wants to measure the effectiveness of its DEI training programs. Which metric provides the MOST meaningful outcome data?
- Number of employees who attended training sessions
- Post-training survey satisfaction scores
- Changes in promotion rates for underrepresented groups over 12 months (Correct answer)
- Number of DEI policies added to the employee handbook
Correct answer: Changes in promotion rates for underrepresented groups over 12 months
Behavioral and outcome metrics like promotion rates reveal actual organizational change, unlike participation counts or satisfaction scores.
Question 7: Which principle describes designing products, services, and environments so they work for the widest range of people without requiring special adaptation?
- Reasonable accommodation
- Universal design (Correct answer)
- Accessible retrofitting
- Targeted inclusion
Correct answer: Universal design
Universal design proactively creates solutions usable by people of all abilities, ages, and backgrounds from the outset.
CDT Diversity & Inclusive Practices 2
Which concept describes the cumulative disadvantage experienced by individuals who belong to multiple marginalized groups simultaneously?