Michalle Mor Barak 
Dean's Professor of Social Work and Business | USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
Los Angeles, CA, UNITED STATES
Social work and management expert, focusing on global workforce diversity
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Biography
MICHALLE E. MOR BARAK is in the vanguard of a new breed of social work and management experts focusing on global workforce diversity. In her award-winning book, Managing Diversity: Toward a Globally Inclusive Workplace (SAGE, 4th edition, 2017), she proposed an original model for creating an "inclusive workplace"– one that helps businesses, as well as public nonprofit organizations integrate with society via expanding circles of inclusion at the organizational, community, state/national and international levels. The book has won the CHOICE award from the Association of College and University Libraries and the Academy of Management's Terry Book Award for "the most significant contribution to management knowledge."
Her scholarly publications were among the first to introduce the construct of inclusion to the discourse about global diversity management through groundbreaking research. Two measurement scales that Mor Barak and her research team established and validated — the Mor Barak Inclusion-Exclusion Scale and the Diversity Climate Scale — have been widely used in for-profit and nonprofit research and in corporate employee surveys.
Her current research projects focus on diversity, work-family balance, social support and corporate social responsibility. They examine the impact of organizational culture on job satisfaction, organizational commitment and retention. Her studies test theoretically based models in both nonprofit and for-profit organizations nationally and internationally.
Mor Barak's research demonstrates that diversity management and inclusion, when adopted as key business strategies, represent more than just doing the right and moral thing. They also constitute good business. Diversity management is essential if corporations are to adapt to an increasingly diverse workforce, and it gives them a competitive advantage in recruitment, retention, customer relations, marketing and developing a positive corporate image.
An internationally renowned scholar, Mor Barak has led conferences on diversity at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Study and Conference Center in Italy, as well as at the Borchard Foundation's Chateau de la Bretesche in France.
To reference the work of Michalle Mor Barak online, we ask that you directly quote their work where possible and attribute it to "Michalle Mor Barak, a faculty at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work” (LINK: https://dworakpeck.usc.edu)
Education (3)
University of California, Berkeley: PhD
University of Haifa, Israel: MSW
University of Haifa, Israel: BA
Areas of Expertise (8)
Global Inclusive Workplace
Diversity & Inclusion in the Workplace
Social Work and Business
Inclusion and exclusion of women and minorities in workplace
Support systems in crisis situations
Organizational Management
Work-family balance
Corporate Social Responsibility & Employee Engagement
Industry Expertise (8)
Social Services
Human Resources
Public Policy
Education/Learning
Research
Political Organization
Program Development
Employment Services
Accomplishments (1)
Scholarly Contributions to Educational Practice Advancing Women in Leadership Award (professional)
2016 Awarded by the Academy of Management Gender and Diversity in Organizations
Links (1)
Media Appearances (4)
Why companies need to hire social workers
Fast Company online
2018-06-20
As more companies realize the demand for work-life balance and inclusion, social workers are positioned to help companies stay competitive.
A sign of strong leadership on and off the softball field: Make everyone feel wanted
USC News
2017-06-02
Drawn to USC by the work of her future mentor, Michalle Mor Barak, who serves as the Dean’s Professor of Social Work and Business and specializes in diversity and inclusion in the workplace, Brimhall applied for and earned a spot in the doctoral program...
Women rarely reach top in tech, despite signs that diversity pays
San Francisco Chronicle
2015-12-31
“Companies that do not utilize women in top management positions are really giving up 50 percent of the talent,” said Michalle Mor Barak, author of “Managing Diversity: Toward a Globally Inclusive Workplace.” Those firms “are not only not doing the right thing, but also harming themselves in the long run,” she said...
The promise of diversity management for climate of inclusion: A state-of-the-art review and meta-analysis
Deloitte online
2018-02-26
Some studies link a diverse workforce to positive individual, team and organisational outcomes, others fail to paint such a rosy picture. What distinguishes between the two? Put simply – is diversity, without inclusion, enough? In seeking to answer this question, recent research conducted by Professor Michàlle E. Mor Barak and associates from the University of Southern California focused on exploring the connections between organisational diversity efforts (diversity management and an inclusive culture) and individual work-related outcomes for employees (such as job satisfaction, commitment to the organisation and retention) for human service organisations specifically. Ultimately it was found that, although diversity alone is associated with both beneficial and detrimental outcomes, diversity management efforts that promote a climate of inclusion are consistently associated with positive outcomes. Increasing diversity within the workforce is essential, but insufficient for creating inclusive organisations.
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Research Articles & Publications (4)
The Practice and Science of Social Good: Emerging Paths to Positive Social Impact
SAGE PublicationsMichalle E. Mor Barak
2018-03-01
To explore the practice and science of social good and identify avenues for producing research and evidence-based practice in this area. The main proposition of this paper is that social good has the potential to promote ideals that directly align with social work values, offer new alliances and innovative technologies for achieving them, and spark interest in macro practice.
Increasing workplace inclusion: The promise of leader-member exchange
Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance2016 With increased workforce diversity, human service organizations are recognizing the need to create inclusive workplaces; yet little is known about how leaders can enhance workplace inclusion. We collected data at three time points in 6-month intervals from a public child welfare organization (n = 363). Using latent change score models, we analyzed whether leader-member exchange influenced how inclusion changed over time. Results indicate that favorable perceptions of leader-member exchange are associated with increased feelings of inclusion 6 and 12 months later. Findings highlight the importance of improving leadership interactions with their employees to increase workplace inclusion.
The promise of diversity management for climate of inclusion: a state-of-the-art review and meta-analysis
Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance2016 Applying a theory-based conceptual model of organizational diversity, climate of inclusion, and beneficial/detrimental outcomes, this study analyzes 30 qualified studies (N = 496,740 workers) published during the past 2 decades. Results indicate that although diversity is associated with both beneficial and detrimental outcomes, diversity management efforts that promote a climate of inclusion are consistently associated with positive outcomes (? = .42, 95% CI = .29, .54) (N = 290,854). Findings suggest that human service organizations should move beyond a sole focus on increasing diversity representation to developing policies and practices that engender a climate of inclusion.
Job stress and mental health among nonregular workers in Korea: What dimensions of job stress are associated with mental health?
Archives of environmental & occupational health2013 Although nonregular workers experience higher job stress, poorer mental health, and different job stress dimensions relative to regular workers, little is known about which job stress dimensions are associated with poor mental health among nonregular workers. This study investigated the association between job stress dimensions and mental health among Korean nonregular workers. Data were collected from 333 nonregular workers in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, and logistic regression analysis was conducted. Results of the study indicated that high job insecurity and lack of rewards had stronger associations with poor mental health than other dimensions of job stress when controlling for sociodemographic and psychosocial variables. It is important for the government and organizations to improve job security and reward systems to reduce job stress among nonregular workers and ultimately alleviate their mental health issues.
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