course material

1. What can leaders do to manage diversity in organizations?
2/20/2019 VitalSource: Leadership in
OrganizationsPRINTED BY: poliscience2012@gmail.com. Printing is for personal, private
use only. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted without publisher’s prior
permission. Violators will be prosecuted.Sex‐based discrimination in the selection and
promotion of leaders continues to be a serious problem in large organizations. There are
several different reasons for such discrimination, but more research is needed to
understand the causes and find ways to deal with them. Many studies have examined
genderbased differences in leadership behavior and effectiveness, but the findings are weak
and inconsistent. Future studies need to control for effects of likely contaminating variables,
report the magnitude of any significant differences that are found, and measure processes
that provide insight into the reasons for the differences.An important responsibility for
leaders in this new century is the management of diversity, which can take many forms.
Leaders play an essential role in helping to bring about equal opportunity and elimination
of unfair discrimination in selection and promotion decisions. Leaders can do many things
to encourage tolerance and appreciation of diversity in organizations. All leaders in the
organization should share the responsibility for improving diversity and ensuring equal
opportunity. Leadership at the national level is also important in the continuing efforts to
eliminate unfair discrimination for all minorities and ethnic groups.Review and Discussion
Questions 1. What are the major research questions in studies of cross‐cultural leadership?
2. Why is cross‐cultural research on leadership important and worthwhile? 3. What are
some difficulties in conducting cross‐cultural research on leadership? 4. What cultural
value dimensions have been identified, and how are they related to leadership? 5. What
leadership attributes are universally viewed as effective and desirable? 6. What leadership
attributes have the greatest cross‐cultural variability? 7. Why is a “glass ceiling” for women,
and what can be done about the problem? 8. What can leaders do to manage diversity in
organizations?Key Termscross‐cultural differences cultural value dimensions
discrimination in personnel decisionsdiversity training gender egalitarianismglass
ceilingGLOBEhumane orientation in‐group collectivism performance orientation power
distance sex‐role stereotypes uncertainty avoidanceCase Madison, Jones, and ConklinAfter
graduating from a prestigious business school, Laura Kravitz accepted a job at Madison,
Jones, and Conklin, a medium‐sized firm that did accounting and consulting projects for
corporate clients. After a series of successful assignments working as a member of a project
team, Laura was promoted to a team manager position with broader responsibilities. Laura

2. felt confident about her qualifications. The other team managers seemed to respect her, and
clients were happy with the projects she managed. With this record of success, Laura hoped
tohttps://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780133468090/cfi/6/44!/4/2/8/8/2/2/2@0:
68.2 1/2 2/20/2019 VitalSource: Leadership in OrganizationsPRINTED BY:
poliscience2012@gmail.com. Printing is for personal, private use only. No part of this book
may be reproduced or transmitted without publisher’s prior permission. Violators will be
prosecuted.eventually become a partner in the company. However, as the only woman
manager in a male‐dominated company, she knew that there would be some obstacles to
overcome.Laura felt that some of the senior managers were very conservative and did not
accept her as an equal. In the quarterly planning meetings, these managers were often
inattentive when she spoke and seemed unreceptive to her suggestions for improvements.
Several times she proposed an idea that was ignored, and the same idea was later suggested
by someone else who received the credit for it.Laura did not have a mentor in the company
to tell people about her skills and help to advance her career. Moreover, she did not feel
accepted into the informal network of relationships that provided opportunities to interact
with senior managers. She did not like to play golf and was not a member of the exclusive
golf club to which many of the male managers belonged. She was not invited to most of the
social activities hosted by senior managers for friends and select members of the
company.Laura also felt that the assignment of projects was biased. The high‐profile
projects were always given to the male managers. When Laura asked her boss for more
challenging projects, she was told that the older clients usually preferred to deal with men.
Because she was not given the more profitable accounts, her performance numbers did not
look as good as the numbers for some of the male managers. Two male managers who had
joined the company around the same time she was hired were promoted ahead of
her.Frustrated by the apparent “glass ceiling” at the company, Laura asked to meet with the
president to talk about her career. The president was surprised to hear that Laura was
unhappy about her advancement in the company. He assured her that she was a valuable
employee and should be patient about a promotion. However, after another year with little
improvement in how she was treated, Laura resigned from the company. With two friends
from graduate school who also felt unappreciated, she formed a new company and served
as the chief executive officer. In a relatively short time, this company became highly
successful. Copyright © 1999 by Gary YuklQuestions 1. What forms of gender
discrimination did Laura experience? 2. What could Laura have done to overcome the
obstacles she encountered? 3. What could the president have done to create equal
opportunity in this
company?
2/2Click here to request for this assignment
help#leaders #manage #diversity #organizations