Diversity in organizational Context

1. CHAPTER 3
DIVERSITY IN ORGANIZATIONS
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Strategy

2. After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
1. Describe the two major forms of workforce diversity.
2. Recognize stereotypes and understand how they
function in organizational settings (discrimination).
3. Identify the key biographical characteristics and
describe how they are relevant to OB.
4. Define intellectual ability and demonstrate its
relevance to OB.
5. Contrast intellectual and physical ability.
6. Describe how organizations manage diversity
effectively.
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3. Overview
 Effective diversity management increases an
organization’s access to the widest possible pool of skills,
abilities, and ideas.
 Managers also need to recognize that differences among
people can lead to miscommunication, misunderstanding,
and conflict.
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4. Levels of Diversity- surface level and deep level
Although much has been said about diversity in age, race,
gender, ethnicity, religion, and disability status, experts
now recognize that these demographic characteristics are
just the tip of the iceberg.
Demographics mostly reflect surface level diversity , not
thoughts and feelings, and can lead employees to perceive
one another through stereotypes and assumptions.
However, evidence has shown that as people get to know
one another, they become less concerned about
demographic differences if they see themselves as sharing
more important characteristics, such as personality and
values, that represent deep-level diversity.
.
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5. Two major forms/levels of Diversity
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6. Diversity Examples
Surface Deep Level
-Demographic characteristics Personality and Values:
Young-Old, language, Gender Way of thinking
- New hire Work collaboratively
- Tenured Similar interests
Introverted vs. extroverted
Risk Taker, Assertiveness
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7. Levels of diversity
 Surface level diversity - differences in
age, race, gender, etc.
 Less significant over time
 Deep level diversity - differences in
personality and values
 More important in the long run
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8. Discrimination
 Although diversity does present many opportunities
for organizations, effective diversity management also
means working to eliminate unfair discrimination. .
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9. Discrimination
 Diversity management allows to work to eliminate
unfair discrimination
 To discriminate:
– To note a difference between things.. Is this really bad?
 To unfairly discriminate:
– Allowing our behavior to be influenced by stereotypes about
groups of people
– Assumes everyone is the same
 Negative consequences
– Reduced productivity, turnover, eliminate qualified job
candidates, unfair promotions
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10. Forms of discrimination
Type Definition
Discriminatory policies or practices Actions that deny equal opportunity to
perform or unequal rewards for
performance
Sexual harassment Unwanted sexual advances and other
verbal, physical conduct of sexual
nature that create a hostile or offensive
work environment
Intimidation Threats or bullying
Mockery and insults Jokes or negative stereotypes
Exclusion Left out of opportunities, events,
discussions, mentoring- check
intention
Incivility Disrespectful treatment: aggressive
behavior, interrupting, or ignoring
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11. Discrimination
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12. Biographical characteristics
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Strategy
Biographical
characteristics
include:
Age
Gender
Race
Disability
Length of service

13. Age
Relationship between
age and performance
is important because
 Performance may
decrease with age
The workforce is
aging
Mandatory retirement
is outlawed in many
countries
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Yohannes W. (Ph. D.), Assistant Profess or of Business, Organization, and
Strategy

14. Gender
 Do women perform as well on
the job as men?
 Few, if any, important
differences
 Perception that women in
male domains are less
likeable, more hostile, and
less desirable as supervisors
 Working mothers prefer
part-time, flexible work
schedules and
telecommuting
 Women more likely to
turnover and be absent (e.g
they have to attend their sick
child etc)
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15. Race and Ethnicity
 Racial and ethnic differences exists almost everywhere
 Race/ethnicity is a controversial issue. In many cases, even
bringing up the topic of race and ethnicity is enough to create an
uncomfortable silence
For example - U.S. Census Bureau
 Recognizes 7 racial groups : American Indian and Alaska Native;
Asian; Black or African American; Native Hawaiian and Other
Pacific Islander; Some Other Race; White; and Two or More
Races.
 In terms of ethnicity in USA there are two ethnic groups: native
English speakers and Hispanics
That is an ethnicity distinction is also made between native
English speakers and Hispanics: Hispanics can be of any race.
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16. Race and Ethnicity
Some research findings (USA) –
 Individuals slightly favor colleagues of their own race in
performance evaluations, promotion decisions, and pay raises
 Substantial racial differences exist in attitudes towards affirmative
action (African Americans and Hispanics approve Affirmative
action programs to a greater degree than whites)
 African Americans tend to fare worse than Whites in employment
decisions (African Americans receive lower ratings in
employment interviews, receive lower job performance ratings,
are paid less, and are promoted less frequently )
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Strategy

17. Disability
 Americans with
Disabilities Act
requires
employers to
make reasonable
accommodations
for people with
physical or
mental
disabilities
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Strategy

18. Other Biographical Characteristics
 Tenure (seniority) - If we define seniority as time on a
particular job, the most recent evidence demonstrates a
positive relationship between seniority and job productivity.
 Religion - Not only do religious and nonreligious people
question each other’s belief systems; often people of
different religious faiths conflict.
E.g. U.S. federal law prohibits employers from discriminating
against employees based on their religion, with very few
exceptions. However, that doesn’t mean religion is a
nonissue in OB.
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Strategy

19. Ability – Intellectual and physical Ability
An individual’s capacity to perform the various tasks in a
job.
 Intellectual and Physical Abilities
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20. Ability
Made up of two sets of factors:
– Intellectual Abilities
• The abilities needed to perform mental activities – thinking,
reasoning, and problem solving
• No correlation between intelligence and job satisfaction.
– Physical Abilities
• The capacity to do tasks demanding stamina, dexterity,
strength, and similar characteristics.
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21. Dimensions of Intellectual Ability
E X H I B I T 2–1
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22. Dimensions of intellectual Ability
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23. Physical Ability
 Though the changing nature of work suggests intellectual
abilities are increasingly important for many jobs,
physical abilities have been and will remain valuable.
 Research on hundreds of jobs has identified nine basic
abilities needed in the performance of physical tasks.
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24. Nine Basic Physical Abilities
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Flexibility Factors
•Extent flexibility
•Dynamic flexibility
Other Factors
•Body coordination
•Balance
•Stamina

25. Nine Basic Physical Ability (this may remind you of
Freshman sport class , so learn by hard) -
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Strategy

26. Role of Disabilities
 It is important to recognize diversity and strive for it in the
hiring process.
 It is discriminatory to make blanket assumptions about
people on the basis of a disability
 An organization needs to be careful to avoid
discriminatory practices by making generalizations about
people with disabilities.
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27. Implementing Diversity Management Strategies
 Diversity management: Makes everyone more aware of
and sensitive to the needs and differences of others
 Attracting and Selecting/developing/retaining employees
(suggested strategies)
– Target recruiting messages to underrepresented groups
– Value fairness and objectivity in selecting employees.
– Have a well-defined protocols for assessing talent.
– Prioritize non-discriminatory policies.
– Develop a positive diversity climate - Workers prefer
organizations that value diversity
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28. Diversity in groups
 Group settings is a normal job requirement
 Does diversity help or hurt group performance?
– It can do both
– Demographic diversity does not appear to help or hurt
– Groups of individuals that are Intelligent + Conscientious +
Interested in group work = effective
– To make a group more effective:
• Emphasize the higher-level similarities among members
• Transformational leadership (higher order goals + values)
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Yohannes W. (Ph. D.), Assistant Profess or of Business, Organization, and
Strategy

29. Diversity in Groups
 Diversity can both
help and hurt team
performance
 Leverage differences
for superior
performance
 Transformational
leaders are more
effective in
managing diverse
teams
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Yohannes W. (Ph. D.), Assistant Profess or of Business, Organization, and
Strategy

30. Effective diversity programs
 Teach managers about the legal
framework for equal employment
opportunity and encourage fair
treatment of all people regardless of
their demographic characteristics
 Teach managers how a diverse
workforce will be better able to serve a
diverse market of customers/clients
 Foster personal development practices
– That bring out the skills and abilities
of all workers
– Differences can improve
performance
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Yohannes W. (Ph. D.), Assistant Profess or of Business, Organization, and
Strategy

31. Summary and Implications for Managers
This chapter looked at diversity from many perspectives. We paid
particular attention to three variables—biographical characteristics,
ability, and diversity programs. The following are important ideas:
Biographical differences have minimal effects on performance
An effective job selection process will improve the fit between
employees and job requirements
Promotion and transfer decisions affecting incumbents should
reflect the individuals’ abilities
Managers can accommodate employees with disabilities by
improving the fit between the job and the individual’s abilities
Diversity management must be an ongoing, organization-wide
commitment
Policies to improve the climate for diversity can be effective, so
long as they are designed to acknowledge all employees’ perspectives.
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