Name of Institution

Meeting the Challenge of

Diversity

Name of Institution

Meeting the Challenge of

Smart managers value diversityDiversity
& 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
Managers Challenge: Wal-Mart

Name of Institution

Meeting the
Challenge of Diversity
Causes and Consequences

Challenges Minorities face

Ways Managers Deal with Workplace
Diversity
Organizational Responses to Value
Diversity

Other Diversity Issues in Todays

Workplace
3

Valuing Diversity

Name of Institution

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 companys commitment to
doing the right thing
4

Valuing Diversity

Name of Institution

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

Name of Institution

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

Name of Institution

Hiring people with different human

qualities or who belong to various
cultural groups

Dimensions of Diversity

Name of Institution

Primary
Dimensions
Inborn difference
- Have an impact
throughout ones
life

Secondary
Dimensions
Education

Marital
Status

Parental
Status

Primary
Dimensions

Gender

Age

Religious
Beliefs

Ethnicity

Person Sexual
Physical
Orientation
Ability

Military
Experience

Secondary
Dimensions
Acquired or
changed
throughout
ones lifetime
Have less
impact still
impact self
definition

Race
Geographic
Location

Work
Background
Income

Monoculture & Diversity

Name of Institution

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

Name of Institution

= belief
that
ones
Goal for Ethnocentrism
organizations seeking cultural
diversity
is pluralism

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
10

The Changing Workplace

Name of Institution

Globalization
Competition
is intense

Changing
Composition of
Workforce

Dramatic
Changes in
the
Customer
Base

There are more

women, people
of color, and
immigrants
seeking
opportunities
11

Name of Institution

The Workplace & Bias

How It Shows Up

Lack of choice assignments

Disregard by a subordinate of a
minority managers direction
Ignoring of comments made by women
& minorities at meetings
A need to become Bicultural
12

Biculturalism

Name of Institution

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

13

Mind-Sets about Diversity

Problem or opportunity?
Challenge met or barely addressed?
Level of majority-culture buy-in
(resistance or support)

Education Programs
Educate management on
valuing differences
Promoting knowledge and
acceptance
Taking advantage of the
opportunities that diversify
provides

Source: Taylor H. Cox and Stacy Blake,Managing

Cultural Diversity: Implications For Organizational
Competitiveness, Academy of Management Executive
5, no 3 (1991), 45-56

Organization Culture
Valuing differences
Prevailing value system
Cultural inclusion

Challenges For
Name of Institution
Management

CHALLENGES
OF
CULTURAL
DIVERSITY

Heterogeneity in
Race/Ethnicity/Nationality
Effect on cohesiveness,
communication, conflict, morale
Effects of group identity on
interaction (e.g., stereotyping)
Prejudice (racism, ethnocentrism)

HR Management Systems
(Bias Free?)
Recruitment
Training and development
Performance appraisal
Compensation and benefits
Promotion

Higher Career Involvement

of Women
Dual-career couples
Sexism and sexual harassment
Work-family conflict

14

Name of Institution

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
15

Glass Ceiling

Name of Institution

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 Mans World
16

Name of Institution

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

17

Diversity Initiatives

Name of Institution

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
18

Highest Level of Awareness

Stages of
Diversity
Awareness

Integration
Multicultural attitude-enables
one toName
integrate
ofdifferences
Institution
and adapt both cognitively
and behaviorally

Adaptation
Able to shift from one cultural
perspective to another
Able to empathize with those
Acceptance of other cultures
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
ones comfortable worldview
Uses negative stereotyping
Assumes own culture superior

Denial
Parochial view of the world
No awareness of cultural differences
In extreme cases, may claim other
cultures are subhuman

Source: Based on M. Bennett, A developmental Approach to Training for Intercultural

Sensitivity, International journal of Intercultural relations 10 (1986), 176-196.

Lowest Level of Awareness

19

Name of Institution

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

20

Global Diversity Programs

Name of Institution

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

21

Leveraging Diversity

Name of Institution

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

22

Managing Multicultural Teams

Name of Institution

Advantages

Enhanced creativity, innovation, and value in

todays global marketplace
Generate more and better alternatives to
problems
Produce more creative solutions than
homogeneous teams
Disadvantage - increased potential for
miscommunication and misunderstanding

23

Diversity in a Turbulent World

Name of Institution

Diversity in the workplace reflects

diversity in the larger
environment

24

Diversity in a Turbulent World

Name of Institution

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

25