Meeting the Challenge of Diversity Chapter 13

Meeting the Challenge of Diversity Smart managers value diversity & enforce the value in decisions Diversity in the population, the workforce, and the marketplace is a fact of life no manager can afford to ignore Managing diversity today – recruiting, training, valuing, maximizing potential of people Gender Disability Sexual orientation Race Ethnicity Education Age Religion Economic level Manager’s Challenge: Wal-Mart

Meeting the Challenge of Diversity Topics Chapter 13 Topic of Diversity Causes and Consequences Challenges Minorities face Ways Managers Deal with Workplace Diversity Organizational Responses to Value Diversity Other Diversity Issues in Today’s Workplace

Valuing Diversity Top managers value diversity Give organization access to broader range of opinions and viewpoints Reflect an increasingly diverse customer base Obtain the best talent in a competitive environment Demonstrate the company’s commitment to doing the right thing

Valuing Diversity Job seekers value diversity 90% of job seekers think diversity programs make a company a better place to work Survey commissioned by The New York Times

Corporate Diversity in U.S. Many managers are ill-prepared to handle diversity issues Many Americans grew up in racially unmixed neighborhoods Had little exposure to people substantially different from themselves

Workforce Diversity Hiring people with different human qualities or who belong to various cultural groups

Dimensions of Diversity Secondary Dimensions Primary Dimensions Inborn difference - Have an impact throughout one’s life Secondary Dimensions Acquired or changed throughout one’s lifetime Have less impact – still impact self definition Marital Status Education Religious Beliefs Primary Dimensions Age Gender Ethnicity Parental Status Military Experience Person Sexual Orientation Physical Ability Race Geographic Location Work Background Income

Monoculture & Diversity A culture that accepts only one way to do things There is only one set of values and beliefs Experiential Exercise: How Tolerant Are You?

Attitudes Toward Diversity Goal for organizations seeking cultural diversity is pluralism Ethnocentrism = belief that one’s own group or subculture is inherently superior to other groups or cultures Enthnorelativism = belief that groups and subcultures are inherently equal Pluralism = an organization accommodates several subcultures

The Changing Workplace Globalization Competition is intense Changing Composition of Workforce There are more women, people of color, and immigrants seeking opportunities Dramatic Changes in the Customer Base

The Workplace & Bias Lack of choice assignments How It Shows Up Lack of choice assignments Disregard by a subordinate of a minority manager’s direction Ignoring of comments made by women & minorities at meetings A need to become “Bicultural”

Means minorities use to deal with bias in the workplace Biculturalism Means minorities use to deal with bias in the workplace Socio-cultural skills and attitudes used by racial minorities as they move back and forth between the dominant culture and their own ethnic or racial culture

Challenges For Management Organization Culture Valuing differences Prevailing value system Cultural inclusion HR Management Systems (Bias Free?) Recruitment Training and development Performance appraisal Compensation and benefits Promotion Mind-Sets about Diversity Problem or opportunity? Level of majority-culture buy-in (resistance or support) Challenge met or barely addressed? CHALLENGES OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY Promoting knowledge and acceptance Education Programs Educate management on valuing differences Taking advantage of the opportunities that diversify provides Higher Career Involvement of Women Dual-career couples Sexism and sexual harassment Work-family conflict Heterogeneity in Race/Ethnicity/Nationality Effect on cohesiveness, communication, conflict, morale Effects of group identity on interaction (e.g., stereotyping) Prejudice (racism, ethnocentrism) Source: Taylor H. Cox and Stacy Blake,”Managing Cultural Diversity: Implications For Organizational Competitiveness,” Academy of Management Executive 5, no 3 (1991), 45-56

Affirmative Action Current Debate Affirmative action was developed in response to conditions 40 years ago. Today more then half the U.S. workforce consists of women and minorities. It is not the same as diversity Research shows that full integration of women and racial minorities into organizations is still at least a decade away

Glass Ceiling An invisible barrier separates women and minorities from top management positions Fortune 500 Women Corporate Officers 2004 = 15.7% 2000 = 12.5% 1995 = 8.7% Only eight Fortune 500 companies have female CEOs Ethical Dilemma: A Man’s World

Inclusive Practices in the Workplace Current Responses to Diversity Building a corporate culture that values diversity Changing structures, policies, and systems to support diversity Recruitment Career advancement Providing diversity awareness training

Diversity Initiatives Recruitment Examine employee demographics Examine composition of the labor pool in the area Examine composition of the customer base Career Advancement Eliminate the glass ceiling Accomplish mentoring relationships Accommodating Special Needs Child care Non-English speaking training materials and information packets can be provided Maternity or paternity leave Flexible work schedules Home-based employment Long-term-care insurance, special health or life benefits

Stages of Diversity Awareness Highest Level of Awareness Integration Multicultural attitude-enables one to integrate differences and adapt both cognitively and behaviorally Stages of Diversity Awareness Adaptation Able to shift from one cultural perspective to another Able to empathize with those of other cultures Acceptance Accepts behavioral differences and underlying differences in values Recognizes validity of other ways of thinking and perceiving the world Minimizing Differences Hides or trivializes cultural differences Focuses on similarities among all peoples Defense Perceives threat against one’s comfortable worldview Uses negative stereotyping Assumes own culture superior Denial Parochial view of the world Source: Based on M. Bennett, “A developmental Approach to Training for Intercultural Sensitivity,” International journal of Intercultural relations 10 (1986), 176-196. No awareness of cultural differences In extreme cases, may claim other cultures are subhuman Lowest Level of Awareness

Organizational Relationships Two Issues of Concern of Close Relationships in the Workplace Emotional Intimacy Sexual Harassment - various forms defined by one university: Generalized Inappropriate/offensive Solicitation with promise of reward Coercion with threat of punishment Sexual crimes and misdemeanors

Global Diversity Programs Expatriates = employees who live and work in a country other than their own Global Diversity Program Employee selection Employee training Understanding high vs. low-context communication context

Leveraging Diversity Multicultural teams = made up from diverse national, racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds Employee network groups = based on social identity, and organized by employees to focus on concerns of employees from that group

Managing Multicultural Teams Advantages Enhanced creativity, innovation, and value in today’s global marketplace Generate more and better alternatives to problems Produce more creative solutions than homogeneous teams Disadvantage - increased potential for miscommunication and misunderstanding

Diversity in a Turbulent World Diversity in the workplace reflects diversity in the larger environment

Diversity in a Turbulent World Smart managers value diversity & enforce the value in decisions Organizations that value diversity encourage and support network groups to enable minority organization members to reduce their social isolation be more effective in their jobs have a greater impact on the organization achieve greater opportunities for career advancement