Diversity

Chapter 8

Cultural Diversity in the Workplace

Diversity = human characteristics that make people different from one another

– Characteristics have no or little control over

– Characteristics can adopt, drop, or modify

Cultural Diversity in the Workplace (Cont.)

Affirmative Action vs. Managing Diversity:• Affirmative Action = providing opportunities for women

and minorities• Managing Diversity = set of activities involved in

integrating nontraditional employees (women and minorities) into the workforce and using diversity to the organization’s competitive advantage

• Research (Rosabeth Kanter) has shown that diversity in the workforce can bring about:– Greater Creativity– Better Problem solving– Greater system flexibility– Better Information

• Marketing Concerns

• Changing Demographics

Why is Diversity Important?

Why is Diversity Important?

“By 2050, the U.S. population is expected to increase by 50% and minority groups will make up nearly half of the population…. The population of older Americans is expected to more than double. One-quarter of all Americans will be of Hispanic origin…. More women and people with disabilities will be on the job.”

U.S. Department of Labor, Futurework: Trends and Challenges for Work in the 21st Century. Washington, D.D. (Labor Day 1999).

Key Challenges to Managing Diversity

• Individual vs. Group Fairness– Universal Concept of Management vs. Cultural Relativity Concept of

Management

• Resistance to Change• Group Cohesiveness & Interpersonal Conflict• Segmented Communications Networks• Resentment• Backlash• Retention

– Glass Ceiling: intangible barrier in an organization that prevents female and minority employees from rising to positions above a certain level

• Competition for Opportunities

Key Challenges to Managing Diversity

Groups identified to be most likely left out of corporate mainstream:

– African-Americans– Asian-Americans– People with Disabilities– Foreign Born– Homosexuals– Latinos (Hispanic-Americans)– Older Workers– Religious Minorities– Women

Managing Diversity

• To manage diversity effectively, an organization must be sensitive to the needs of new workers and seek to identify and eliminate barriers, if any.

• Diversity training makes employees aware of their biases regarding minority groups and teaches them ways to overcome those biases.

Managing Diversity

• Breaking the “glass ceiling”

• Meeting the needs of older employees

• Implementing work and family programs– Telecommuting– Flextime– Job sharing.

If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look like this. There would be:

• 61 Asians• 12 Europeans• 14 from the Western Hemisphere,

both north and south• 13 Africans• 50 would be female• 50 would be male• 74 would be nonwhite• 26 would be white• 67 would be non-Christian• 33 would be Christian• 89 would be heterosexual

• 11 would be homosexual • 6 people would possess 59% of

the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the United States

• 80 would live in substandard housing

• 14 would be unable to read• 33 would die of famine• 1 would be near death;• 1 would be near birth• 7 would have a college

education• 8 would own a computer