How Cultural Humility Shapes Employee Experiences

Abstract

Using an at-home ethnographic approach (Alvesson, 2009), this study considered the impact of purposefully incorporating culturally-relevant practices into higher education employee experiences. The site of this research study consistently and ubiquitously emphasized the importance of culturally humble principles and values. Throughout interviews, artifacts, and observations, the learning center staff demonstrated commitment to the attributes and ways of being intrinsic to cultural humility (Foronda, 2020; Zhu et al., 2021). With the emphasis on lifelong learning, dignity, openness, and feedback, the employees appeared to undergo transformative learning. This study advances the idea that transformative development experiences provide entry points for staff members to engage in liberatory practices articulated in the Cycle of Liberation (Harro, 2000). This was consistently demonstrated as staff showed increased confidence, comfortability with challenging topics and conversations, as well as requested feedback which was acted upon. There was no one element that led to these outcomes, but rather a combination of operationalized behaviors, adherence to principles and agreed upon values, and incorporation of theory that contributed to the outcomes.