Talk:Employee resource group/Archives/2012

Instructor's Feedback

You have a good idea for a topic and some good initial directions on where to take this article. I have some specific comments above. In addition, creating better structure in your proposal, such as sections, as well as using formatting, would help you practice using the Wiki markup language for writing the article. Finally, making sure you reach out and find specific Wikipedia editors who can vouch for your article would better enable you to keep it and not be deleted. Try to find out editors of other related articles and contact them directly.

I am looking forward to see your article evolve. Good luck!LeshedInstructor (talk) 02:17, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

Topic

Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) is listed as a requested article in Wikipedia. As an emerging facet of human resources and employee engagement in the business world, the existence of employee resource groups is important for reference and understanding in the world of business. Exploring the topic of employee resource groups can provide insightful information for business employees and young professionals seeking to understand a new business.

Good justification! LeshedInstructor (talk) 02:13, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

Article Sections

Definition, History, Common Practices, Companies with ERGs, Advantages of ERGs, ERG Awards

I don't know much about ERGs, but I want to ensure you cover this from a neutral point of view: Are there also disadvantages? How is this related to labor unions? How is this situated in an international perspective?

In addition, adding more information about what is going to be included in each section would be beneficial. LeshedInstructor (talk) 02:13, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

Because employee resource groups are a relatively new phenomenon, doing a comprehensive search will be possible given our time constraints. There is an abundance of scholarly material surrounding the definition, benefits, and practice of employee resource groups in companies, so finding sources will not be difficult. By splitting up the sections and evenly dividing work, our group will be able to utilize the material at hand as well as the resources in the Wikipedia community to complete an "Employee Resource Group" page.

Division of Labor

Group Members: Tyler Regan Sarah Elliott Michelle Nanni

Division: Because this is a very broad topic, the best way to approach the article’s division of labor is to break it up by section. Tyler will do definition and history, Michelle will be in charge of common practices and companies with ERGs, and lastly Sarah will be researching the advantages of ERGs as well as ERG awards. All of the editing and the processing of the final product on Wikipedia will be done in a few final meetings together as a group. The smaller additions to the article (i.e. pictures) will be done individually as each person will be responsible for finding material that relates to his or her assigned sections.

Very good. LeshedInstructor (talk) 02:13, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

Other Wikipedia Connections

WikiProject Sociology, The Outies (LGBT Employee Resource Awards), employee engagement, work engagement, organizational commitment, human resources, diversity (business), affinity group, other: corporations with employee resource groups and pages

Very good identification of a list of other Wikipedia articles and projects. Are these articles you will link to or from your article? It would also be beneficial to locate specific individuals to vouch for your article. LeshedInstructor (talk) 02:13, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

Most of these are links, but I have been looking at the Business and Economics Wikiproject (which is currently somewhat inactive for the relevant sections) for people to contact. I have also contacted User:Piotrus for more advice on which Wikipedians could be of help! Thank you for the feedback. Cu mn354 (talk) 23:33, 27 September 2012 (UTC)

References

1. Diversity Best Practices (Publication) - Top Five Employee Resource Groups for U.S. Workers: http://www.diversitybestpractices.com/events/top-five-employee-resource-groups-us-workers

2. Forbes - 3 Ways to Enable Your Employee Resource Groups into a Powerful Advancement Platform: http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2012/06/18/7-ways-to-enable-your-employee-resource-groups-into-a-powerful-advancement-platform/

3. Best Practices for Employee Resource Groups (Peter L Bye) Diversity Factor Online 2003 4. Study finds "resurgence,' shifts in employee resource groups (HR Focus) 2011 5. Building Vibrant Employee Networks (Rob Cross and Sally Colella) HR Magazine 2004 6. Social Networks Enhance Employee Learning (Phaedra Brotherton) 2011 7. Corporate Equality Index - Awards for Diversity and Best Places to Work: www.hrc.org/resources/entry/corporate-equality-index-faq

Good initial list of references. Make sure your reference format follows the wikipedia guidelines and avoid Bare URLs. LeshedInstructor (talk) 02:13, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

Perhaps this article on LGBT resource groups and how they fit into the capitalistic nature of the company, as well as considerations of the "dangers and promises" of LGBT ERGs would be of use. Capitalism, Identity Politics, and Queerness Converge: LGBT Employee Resource Groups by Rod P Githens published in New Horizons in Adult Education & Human Resource Development, v23 n3 p18-31 Sum 2009 available (if on campus) here: http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ905794.pdf Amm257 (talk) 06:44, 26 September 2012 (UTC)

This will be a very helpful resource. Thank you for the reference! Commse (talk) 18:53, 2 October 2012 (UTC)

Other Article Elements

We will feature a side box with an image and a caption in this article. This image will likely be a picture of a successful ERG with a caption describing the type of group and the company through which that specific ERG operates. There are multiple images of this nature on the WikiMedia Commons. There will be additional images from the WikiMedia commons used throughout the article. We will also include a list of major companies with ERGs, and list the most popular types of groups in the U.S. within the article.

Fair enough about the images. It is not quite clear what the purpose of the sidebox would be. LeshedInstructor (talk) 02:13, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

It might be useful to create some sort of diagram as to where ERGs fit in a company, though I guess not all companies have the same types of divisions (for instance, perhaps it's almost always part of HR? maybe even a specific part of HR?) Amm257 (talk) 06:19, 26 September 2012 (UTC)

Great idea about the diagram. Thank you! Commse (talk) 18:51, 2 October 2012 (UTC)

Sarah, for advantages and disadvantages, check out this downloadable file from [1]. It talks about the cost of ERGs, so this could be a potential disadvantage if the ERGs aren't fully contributing to business results. This article, [2] discusses legal implications of ERGs with relation to labor laws. May be worth while! Cu mn354 (talk) 18:22, 3 October 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! I will do that. Commse (talk) 06:34, 4 October 2012 (UTC)

We are planning on adding a sidebar that includes a photo and some initial facts about the start of ERGs and their current prevalence. Commse (talk) 06:34, 4 October 2012 (UTC)

Educational project

This article has been initially written for a class called Online Communities at Cornell University. We would appreciate any and all advice about how this article can be improved. Thank you! Commse (talk) 06:29, 4 October 2012 (UTC)

Observer Feedback

Please leave your feedback comments here please :) Cu mn354 (talk) 00:08, 28 September 2012 (UTC)

As another editor noted on my talk page, it may be a good idea to explain how your topic meets the WP:GNG (general notability guideline). --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 18:55, 28 September 2012 (UTC)

Thank you. We will definitely address this! Cu mn354 (talk) 18:15, 3 October 2012 (UTC)

Looks good. Two thoughts: 1) you need to add categories, and 2) you should nominate your work for front page at WP:DYK. This should be done within five days of the move (so, five days from now). Let me know if you need any help with that. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 17:20, 4 October 2012 (UTC)

PS. I missed one important element, where this article fails badly: images. Setting aside the fact that you forgot captions, you cannot take (steal) images from the web. They need to be freely licensed. This is all explained during the image upload process, which I guess you failed to read. Go and read Wikipedia:Image use policy, please, before you upload any more images. File:Employee-Resource-Groups.png, File:Woman's ERG.jpeg and File:Affinity Group.png have already been flagged and tagged for deletion, please remove them from the article - there is no way you can justify their use under fair use, anyway. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 21:13, 4 October 2012 (UTC)