Organizational Behavior

The Four Layers of

Diversity
Organ izationa
Functional Level/ l
Dimens
Classification
ions
External
Geographic Location
Dimensions*
Marital Work
Mgmt.
Status Status IntAge
ernal Income Content/
Dimensions* Field

Parental Personal
Status Race Habits
Personality
Recreational Division/
Appearance Habits Source: L
Sexual Dept./
Union Ethnicity Orientation Gardenswartz and A
Unit/ Rowe, Diverse Teams
Affiliation Group at Work: Capitalizing
Physical on the Power of
Work Ability Diversity (New
Religion York: McGraw-Hill,
Experience
1994), p. 33
Educational
Background
Work
Location Seniority

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 Managing Diversity
• Enables all
people to
perform up to
their maximum
potential.
• How can
managing
diversity be a
competitive
advantage? 3
 Pros and Cons of Diversity
• Social categorization theory
– Similarity leads to liking and
attraction
• Information/Decision-Making
Theory
– Diversity leads to better task-
relevant processes and decision-
making
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A Process Model of
Diversity

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 Thomas’s Generic Action
Options
Responses to handling diversity
issues:
• Option 1: Include/Exclude
Which ones are
• Option 2: Deny
most effective
• Option 3: Assimilate for managing
• Option 4: Suppress diversity?
• Option 5: Isolate
• Option 6: Tolerate
• Option 7: Build Relationships
• Option 8: Foster Mutual Adaptation 6
Evolution of 21st-Century
Managers

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Corporate Social Responsibility
Pyramid

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 General Moral Principles
• Dignity of human
life
• Autonomy
• Honesty
• Loyalty
• Fairness
• Humaneness
• The common good

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Improving On-the-Job Ethics
• Behave ethically
yourself
• Screen potential
employees
• Develop a
Meaningful Code of
Ethics
– What constitutes a
meaningful code of
ethics? 10
Improving On-the-Job Ethics
• Provide ethics
training
• Reinforce ethical
behavior
• Create positions,
units, and other
structural
mechanisms to deal
with ethics
• Eliminate need for
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Roadmap for This Course

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