UNIT 2

Diversity in Organizations

Dr. Burcu Tosun

 Diversity

• WE AREN’T ALL THE SAME!

• But managers sometimes forget that they need to
recognize and use these differences to get the most from
their employees.
• 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.
 Levels of Diversity
• Diversity in demographic characteristics such as age, race,
gender, ethnicity, religion, and disability status, are just the tip of
the iceberg.

• Demographics mostly reflect surface level diversity , not thoughts

and feelings.

• Demographics can lead employees to perceive one another

through stereotypes and assumptions.

• However, 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 .
Workforce Diversity

Diversity Management

Surface-Level Diversity

Deep-Level Diversity
 Surface-Level Diversity

• Differences in easily perceived characteristics,

such as gender, race, ethnicity, age, or
disability, that do not necessarily reflect the
ways people think or feel but that may activate
certain stereotypes.
 Deep-Level Diversity

• Differences in values, personality, and work

preferences that become progressively more
important for determining similarity as people
get to know one another better.
Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination

􄡦 Stereotype (cliche)
• Belief that certain attributes are characteristic of members of
particular groups.
• Cognition (mental process of acquiring knowledge)
􄡦 Prejudice
• A negative (or positive) attitude toward a certain group that is
applied to its individual members
• Emotion
􄡦 Discrimination
• Unfair treatment of members of a particular group based on
their membership in that group
• Behavior
Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination

If someone is “racist” towards a certain racial group...

• Stereotype: People in Racial Group are all

bad/stupid/lazy/smart/athletic/rich.

• Prejudice: I don’t like people in Racial Group, so I don’t

like Bob because he is a member of this group.

• Discrimination: Bob applied for a job in my company,

but I won’t hire him, because he’s in Racial Group.
 Discrimination

• Noting of a difference between things.

• Often we refer to unfair discrimination, which

means making judgments about individuals
based on stereotypes regarding their
demographic group.
 Discrimination

• Although diversity does present many opportunities for organizations,

effective diversity management also means working to eliminate unfair
discrimination .

• To discriminate is to note a difference between things, which in itself isn’t

necessarily bad. Noticing one employee is more qualified is necessary for
making hiring decisions; noticing another is taking on leadership
responsibilities exceptionally well is necessary for making promotion
decisions.

• Usually when we talk about discrimination, though, we mean allowing our

behavior to be influenced by stereotypes about groups of people. Rather
than looking at individual characteristics, unfair discrimination assumes
everyone in a group is the same. This discrimination is often very harmful to
organizations and employees.
 Discrimination

• Whether intentional or not, discrimination can lead to serious negative

consequences for employers, including reduced productivity and citizenship
behavior, negative conflicts, and increased turnover.

• Unfair discrimination also leaves qualified job candidates out of initial hiring
and promotions. Even if an employment discrimination lawsuit is never filed,
a strong business case can be made for aggressively working to eliminate
unfair discrimination.
Forms of Workforce Diversity

Insert Exhibit 2.1

 Workplace Diversity

• Workplace diversity can refer to any characteristic that

makes people different from one another.

• Surface-level characteristics that differentiate members of

the workforce.
A) Biographical characteristics
B) Ability
 Biographical Characteristics

• Personal characteristics—such as age, gender, race, and

length of tenure—that are objective and easily obtained
from personnel records.

• These characteristics are representative of surface-level

diversity.
 Biographical Characteristics
▪ Age (available in a personnel file)

– Belief is widespread that job performance

declines with increasing age.
– The workforce is aging.
– Many employers recognize that older workers
represent a huge potential pool of high-quality
applicants.
 Biographical Characteristics

▪ Gender (available in a personnel file)

• Few issues initiate more debates, misconceptions, and
unsupported opinions than whether women perform as
well on jobs as men do.

• Few important differences between men and women

affect job performance.

• Psychological studies have found women are more

agreeable and willing to conform to authority, whereas
men are more aggressive and more likely to have
expectations of success, but those differences are minor.
 Biographical Characteristics

▪ Race and Ethnicity (available in a personnel file)

– Employees tend to favor colleagues for their own
race in performance evaluations, promotion
decisions, pay raises.
– Different attitudes on affirmative action or quota
filling can affect the performance of minority
groups in the organization.
 Biographical Characteristics

▪ Disability (available in a personnel file)

• A disabled person is who has any physical or
mental impairment that substantially limits one
or more major life activities.
• The “reasonable accommodation” is
problematic for employers.
• Strong biases exist against those with mental
impairment.
 Biographical Characteristics

▪ Tenure (available in a personnel file)

• The issue of the impact of job seniority on job
performance has been subject to misconceptions
and speculations.

▪ Religion ( not available in a personnel file)

• Although employees are protected by federal law
regarding their religion in some countries, it is still an
issue in the workplace.
 Biographical Characteristics

▪ Sexual orientation ( not available in a personnel file)

• Law does not protect employees against
discrimination based on sexual orientation.

▪ Gender identity (not available in a personnel file)

• Often referred to as transgender employees,
this topic encompasses those individuals who
change genders.
 Ability
• We’ve so far covered surface characteristics unlikely, on
their own, to directly relate to job performance. Now we
turn to deep-level abilities that are closely related to job
performance.

• Ability is an individual’s current capacity to perform the

various tasks in a job.

• Two types
▪ Intellectual abilities
▪ Physical abilities
 Ability

• People are not all created equal in their abilities.

• Everyone has strengths and weaknesses that make him

or her relatively superior or inferior to others in performing
certain tasks or activities.

• From management’s standpoint, the issue is using the

knowledge that people differ to increase the likelihood an
employee will perform his or her job well.
 Ability

• Overall abilities are essentially made up of

two sets of factors:

Intellectual Physical
Abilities Abilities
 Intellectual Abilities

• Intellectual abilities are abilities needed to perform mental

activities— thinking, reasoning, and problem solving.

• Most societies place a high value on intelligence. Smart

people generally earn more money and attain higher
levels of education.

• They are also more likely to emerge as leaders of groups.

 Number
Aptitude
Verbal Comprehension
Memory

Intellectual
Spatial Ability Perceptual
Visualization Speed

Deductive Inductive
Reasoning Reasoning
 Dimensions of Intellectual Abilities
Dimension Description Job Example
Number Aptitude Ability to do speedy and accurate Accountant: Computing the sales
arithmetic tax on a set of items.

Verbal Comprehension Ability to understand what is read or Plant Manager: Following Corporate
heard and the relationship of words Policies while hiring
to each other

Perceptual Speed Ability to identify visual similarities Fire Investigator: Identifying clues to
and differences quickly & accurately support a charge of arson

Inductive Reasoning Ability to identify a logical sequence Market Researcher: Forecasting

in a problem and then solve the demand for a product in the next
problem time period

Deductive Reasoning Ability to use logic and assess the Supervisor: Choosing between the
implications of an argument two different suggestions offered by
employees

Spatial Visualization Ability to imagine how an object Interior Decorator: Redecorating an

would look if its position in space office
were changed

Memory Ability to retain and recall past Salesperson: Remembering the

experiences names of customers
 Intellectual Abilities
• Researchers recognize a general factor of intelligence , General Mental
Ability (GMA) and evidence supports the idea that the structures and
measures of intellectual abilities generalize across cultures.

• Jobs differ in the demands they place on intellectual abilities. The more
complex a job in terms of information processing demands, the more general
intelligence and verbal abilities will be necessary to perform successfully.

• Interestingly, while intelligence is a big help in performing a job well,, it doesn’t

make people happier or more satisfied with their jobs. The correlation between
intelligence and job satisfaction is about zero.

• Research suggests that while intelligent people get their job done faster, their
expectations from their workplace, peers and subordinates are also
substantially high.
 Physical Abilities

• Physical Abilities
▪ The capacity to do tasks demanding stamina,
dexterity, strength, and similar characteristics.

▪ The three main categories of physical ability

are…
• Strength
• Flexibility
• And Other characteristics
Physical Abilities

Insert Exhibit
2.3
 The Role of Disabilities

• The importance of ability at work obviously creates

problems when we attempt to formulate workplace
policies that recognize diversity in terms of disability
status. As we have noted, recognizing that individuals
have different abilities that can be taken into account
when making hiring decisions is not problematic.

• However, it is discriminatory to make blanket

assumptions about people on the basis of a disability. It is
also possible to make accommodations for disabilities.
 Social Identity Map
• We all have multiple identities. Its human nature to want to “fit in” as
well as to be unique. Some identities are visible and some less
apparent. Some are accepted and some are taboo.
• You continually gain or lose or change some aspects of your identity
and some remain etched.
• Context affects which identities are most important, helpful or harmful
for leadership influence.
• Three internal processes relevant for social identity are Categorization,
Identification & Comparison
• Mapping these helps us to articulate, discuss and reflect upon these
processes.
• Our Social identity and that of others has the power to bind us or
blind us.
 Social Identity Map

CHOSEN CORE
GIVEN Attributes Attributes chosen
traits, behaviors, Social
given at birth (gender, attitudes contributing to
(education, occupation,
race, age, culture etc) political leanings,
our uniqueness (artist, Identity Map
humble, hardly working
religious outlook etc)
☺)
 Diversity Management Strategies
• Having discussed a variety of ways in which people differ,
we now look at how a manager can and should manage
these differences.

• Diversity management makes everyone more aware of

and sensitive to the needs and differences of others.

• Diversity programs include and are meant for everyone.

• Diversity is much more likely to be successful when we

see it as everyone’s business than if we believe it helps
only certain groups of employees.
Diversity Management Strategies

Attracting, Selecting,
Developing, and
Retaining Diverse
Employees

Effective Diversity
Diversity in Groups
Programs
 Effective Diversity Programs

Effective Diversity
Programs
Teach Legal
Framework

Teach the Market

Foster the Skills Advantages
and Abilities of All
Workers
 Effective Diversity Programs
• Effective, comprehensive workforce programs encouraging diversity have 3 distinct
components.

• Legal Framework – Managers are taught the legal framework for equal employment
opportunities and encourage fair treatment of all people regardless of their demographic
characteristics

• Diverse Workforce – Managers are taught how a diverse workforce will be better able to
serve a diverse market of customers & clients.

• Personal Development Practices - Foster personal development practices that bring

out skills and abilities of all workers, acknowledging how differences in perspective can be
a valuable way to improve performance for everyone.

• Diversity has to do much about fair treatment and stop undue discrimination on the basis
of race, gender, ethnicity and so on and forth..

• Organizations acknowledge this cannot be achieved through one time programs and
needs constant sessions or workshops to change perceptions.
 Effective Diversity Programs
• Researchers suggest that diversity experiences are more likely to
lead to positive adaptation for all parties if :

the diversity experience undermines

stereotypical attitudes.

if the perceiver is motivated and able to

consider a new perspective on others

if the perceiver engages in stereotype

suppression and generative thought in
response to the diversity experience

if the positive experience of stereotype

undermining is repeated frequently