University of Southern California

Center for Effective Organizations

Annual Employee Resource Group (ERG) Leadership Summit

Attendees: ERG leaders along with diversity and inclusion professionals from the following firms attended the two-day summit: Corning, Mattel, Inc., Sony Pictures, Gap, Inc., Raytheon, Amway, Southern California Edison, Amway Corporation, and Samsung Telecommunications.

The ERG Summit kicked off its first program in 2012 with over 50 participants at the Mattel corporate headquarters in El Segundo, CA. The event was deemed by participants to be a success, and as a result, we are planning on a second event in 2013. The goal of this summit is developing leaders of the employee resource groups and doing so by using a unique data-driven model. In 2012 we tested out the feasibility of getting ERG leaders in the room from multiple organizations to learn together. We also tested out interest in a data-driven learning program.

The research conducted was incredibly useful in learning more about ERGs. In fact, there is very little research done to date on these groups. We are in the process of supplementing the data collected with interviews and additional performance data. We then will be presenting and writing up the results as we develop the work.

ERGs driving innovation: Our emphasis going forward is on ERGs as sources of innovation in organization. This builds on the data we gathered and focuses the work in way that we hope will add value to research and practice.

  • Research Partners: Corning and Mattel are the founding partners. Special thanks to the team at Mattel for helping with the location and hosting the event. We also want to thank Corning and Mattel for being the two firms involved in the data collection work. For the 2013, we are seeking two additional sponsor companies.
  • Research Team: Theresa M. Welbourne, Lacey Leone McLaughlin, Ian Ziskin, and Dr. Gwendolyn Coombs (University of Nebraska-Lincoln).

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