Leading by Example! Strengthening Workplace Inclusion with Role Models
Background and Objectives
Research and practice show that it is above all positive experiences with employees with disabilities that motivate companies and their stakeholders to employ more people with disabilities and to create the necessary inclusive work environment. People with disabilities who take on a leadership role in the company and are open about their disability can encourage and support their coworkers and applicants with disabilities and become role models. If leaders with disabilities become effective role models in the company, this can help to increase the proportion of severely disabled employees, create a more inclusive organizational climate and improve the overall employment situation of people with disabilities in the long term. Role models can boost inclusion not only on the individual level of employees and applicants with disabilities but also on the levels of teams and the organization as a whole.
The project, therefore, aims at developing a concept and tangible tools to identify and strengthen leaders with disabilities as role models for workplace inclusion and to implement strategies tailored to the specific company. In this way, role models for workplace inclusion can be effective at the individual, team, and organizational levels.
Approach
Using multi-perspective data collection from relevant stakeholders (employees and applicants with disabilities, leaders with disabilities, and company stakeholders), a theoretical framework "Role models for workplace inclusion" is developed in the development phase. Based on this framework, practical concepts and digital tools to identify and promote role models and their implementation in the company are designed in a participatory agile process. These are then implemented in a sample of approximately five companies during a test phase and developed further based on a formative evaluation. In the implementation phase, the revised concepts and tools are published, and multipliers (e.g. employers' associations, representatives of severely disabled employees, inclusion officers, associations and organizations of people with disabilities) are trained for implementation. The final phase aims at sustainably connecting and showcasing implementers and users.
Central principles for the project are (a) the participatory development and evaluation of the tools to include both the company perspective and the perspective of leaders, employees, and applicants with disabilities and (b) the use and empowerment of existing internal and external structures during the implementation phase.
Project Specifications
Project Lead
Dr.‘ Jana F. Bauer
Prof.’ Dr.’ Mathilde Niehaus
Project Team
Jana Buckermann
M.A. Rebecca Groß
Lea Helmrich
M.A. Karoline V. Rhein
Duration
12/2023 - 11/2027
Website
Project Partners
Fortbildungsakademie der Wirtschaft (FAW) gGmbH https://www.faw.de/vorbildliche-fuehrung-role-models-staerken-inklusion
Funding
Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs
Lectures and publications
Here you will find an overview of project-related scientific publications and
presentations by the team at the Chair of Work and Vocational Rehabilitation:
How Leaders with Disabilities become Role Models at Work: On Role Modelling and
Followership
Rhein, K., Bauer, J., Groß, R., Heide, M., Niehaus, M. (2025, 24. Mai). 22nd European
Congress of Work and Organizational Psychology „Transforming Working Environments:
Challenges & Opportunities“ 21. bis 24. Mai 2025, Prag
Vortrag
Leaders with Disabilities as Role Models for more Workplace Inclusion
Groß, R., Rhein, K., Heide, M., Bauer, J., Niehaus, M. (2025, 22. Mai). 22nd European
Congress of Work and Organizational Psychology „Transforming Working Environments:
Challenges & Opportunities“ 21. bis 24. Mai 2025, Prag
Poster
Strengthening Workplace Inclusion by Using the Potential of the Role Model-Process
between Disabled Leaders and Followers
Rhein, K., Bauer, J., Groß, R., Heide, M., Niehaus, M. (2025, 20. Mai). 1st International
Conference on Social Identity and Leadership and Followership. 20. Mai 2025, Prag
Poster
Führungskräfte mit Behinderung als Role Models für mehr berufliche Inklusion
Groß, R., Heide, M., Rhein, K., Bauer, J., Niehaus, M. (2025, 20. März). 34.
Rehabilitationswissenschaftliches Kolloquiums. Deutscher Kongress für
Rehabilitationsforschung, Nürnberg
Vortrag
Unternehmenskultur transformieren – Mit Führungskräften mit Behinderung als Role
Models zu mehr Inklusion
Groß, R., Rhein, K., Heide, M., Bauer, J., Niehaus, M. (2025, 18. Februar). 38. Jahrestagung
der Inklusionsforscher*innen, Köln
Vortrag