Students from the IOHRM program attended the Fall 2015 semi-annual meeting of the North Carolina Industrial-Organizational Psychologists(NCIOP) in Raleigh, NC at Red Hat Corporate headquarters on Friday, October 23, 2015. The meeting centered around Red Hat's unique and innovative culture. After a welcome and introduction from John Bennett, Chair of NCIOP, students had the opportunity to hear about “Red Hat’s Approach to Culture and the Open Source Way” from Heather Marks and Gina Likins of Red Hat.
Students truly appreciated this opportunity to hear HR professionals from Red Hat talk about how they translate the Open Source network into their office culture. The speakers discussed the need for transparency within the company's decision-making process, and how promoting collaboration amongst all employees helps foster and drive innovation.
Following lunch and networking, students participated in a case study, “A Diversity and Inclusion Challenge” from Jamie Williams of Red Hat. Kathryn Smith (class of 2017) spoke about the valuable opportunity presented by the case study participation, "We were presented with a Case Study for a tech/engineering company that was having trouble attracting and retaining diverse talent within their engineering departments and for their leadership roles. We were asked to propose three initiatives and three HR policies to address and correct the lack of representation of women and minorities within the organization. That was really the highlight of what was a great day!"
The meeting was a valuable opportunity for members of the IOHRM program to learn more about our industry and gain valuable insight from industry leaders.