Can Bias Training Brew Harmony? Starbucks, Other Firms Hope So

Many customer-service-based companies are reconsidering how to approach an increasingly diverse customer base. And many, like Starbucks and American Airlines, are turning to sensitivity training and diversity initiatives for their employees.

Recent outcry over the events at a Philadelphia Starbucks has led to a reconsideration of employee and customer dynamics, and caused some companies to examine the best way to train workers who interact with a diverse clientele. Many companies have opted for training on implicit bias—an organizational training method designed to address one’s personal biases based on the principles of industrial and workplace psychology.

In the wake of similarly ...