– Ethnicity

– • Ethnicity, like race, is a social construct. It is so subjective.

• Part of ethnicity is the religious belief of people.
• Religious discrimination often occurs because the religion
Learning Objectives necessitates modifying the employee’s schedule or
After completing the lesson, the students shall be able to: affects his productivity.

• Define workplace diversity Gender

• Identify the different primary, secondary and other • In spite of the existence of strong law, women and men
dimensions of workplace diversity often face different treatment at work.
• Enumerate the benefits of workplace diversity • Women experiences the earnings gap and glass ceiling
• Identify the roadblock toward workplace diversity as well.
• Discuss how to effectively create and manage workplace
diversity Physical Qualities
• Employees with a wide range of physical and mental
disabilities are part of the workforce.
Workplace Diversity • Create a better work environment such as:
Diversity is simply differences. • Provide reasonable accommodations
• Offer flexible work hours
Workplace diversity is a characteristic of a group of people • Supportive relationship with others
inside the organization where differences exist on one or more
relevant dimensions like gender, age, religion, race, social Sexual / Affectional Orientation
class, sexual orientation, personality, functional experience or • LGBT employees in the workplace face a number of
geographical background. challenges and barriers to employment.
It can offer remarkable benefits in terms of • Research shows that one of the most important issues
relating to sexual orientation is the disclosure of sexual
• Enhanced morale identity in the workplace.
• Outside-the-box thinking • Creating an environment where all employees feel
• Better teamwork welcome and respected regardless of their sexual
• Ambiance of common understanding and respect orientation is the key to maintaining a positive work
environment.

Primary Dimensions of Diversity

These are those human differences that are inborn and/or that Secondary Dimensions of Diversity
exert an important force on the early socialization and These are those individual differences that are acquired,
continue to have a powerful, sustained impact on the discarded and/or modified throughout the life of a person.
individual’s experiences, values, assumptions and
expectations throughout every stage of life. These dimensions add breadth to an individual’s core identity
and they specifically influence one’s self-esteem and life
These six differences are: Age, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, experiences.
Physical Abilities, Sexual / Affectional Orientation.
The eight dimensions are:
They shape the basic self-image of a person.
• Work background
Age • Income
• It is correlated with a number of positive workplace • Marital status
behaviors. • Military experience
• Age diversity within a team can direct to higher team • Geographic locale
performance. • Family background
• Age diversity means that the workforce will consist of • Education
employees coming from different generations.
Race Third Dimensions of Diversity
• It is another demographic characteristic that still exists in There are the dimensions of diversity that people don’t always
organizations. think about, but that can have a great force on how
• Regrettably, discrimination against ethnic minorities still interactions in the workplace can take place.
takes place. They experience both an earnings gap and
a glass ceiling. • Language and communications
• Earnings gap is a statistical indicator often used to • Appearance and dress
compare the earnings of other races and ethnicities. • Food and eating habits
• Glass ceiling is a political expression used to express the • Time and time-consciousness
invisible, yet indestructible fence that keeps minorities • Sense of space
and women from rising to the upper steps of the corporate • Smokers and non-smokers
ladder, despite of their qualifications or achievements.
Benefits of Workplace Diversity • Company-wide strategies are executed effectively,
resulting in higher productivity, profit, and return on
• Higher creativity in decision making investment.
• Better understanding and service of customers
• More satisfied workforce
• Higher stock prices Roadblock to Workplace Diversity
• Lower litigation expenses
• Increased adaptability Successful diversity management can be effective through
• Broader service range inclusion.
• Higher company performance Inclusion can help create high-performing organizations.
Inclusion is how diversity can be leveraged.
Higher Creativity in Decision Making However, there are diversity roadblocks that need to be
• A diverse workforce that feels comfortable addressed to avoid the entire diversity and inclusion agenda
communicating varying perspectives provides a larger being hindered.
pool of ideas and experiences. They are…
• It is more possible for individuals to reflect on more
alternatives and think outside the box when making • Prejudice and Discrimination
decisions in these teams. • Stereotyping
• Differences in Social identity
Better Understanding and Service of Customers • Power Differentials
• A company with a diverse workforce may comprehend the • Poor Structural Integration
needs of particular groups of customers better. • Communication Problems
• They can create products or services that appeal to a
broader customer base.
Prejudice and Discrimination
More Satisfied Workforce
• Prejudice is the irrational, inflexible opinion based on
• When employees feel that they are fairly treated, they are limited and insufficient information and unfair negative
likely to be more satisfied. attitudes individuals hold about other people who belong
• Organizations where employees are satisfied frequently to social or cultural groups different from their own.
have lower turnover. • Discrimination is a behavior that results to unequal
Higher Stock Prices treatment of individuals based on group membership.

• Companies that do a better job of managing a diverse Stereotyping

workforce are often rewarded in the stock market, • Stereotyping is a generalized set of beliefs about the
signaling that investors employ this information to characteristics of a group of individuals.
evaluate how well a company is being managed. • Stereotypes are unrealistic, non-factual and most of the
Lower Litigation Expenses times are negative.
• Stereotyping is difficult to stop due to:
• Companies doing a particularly bad job in diversity • It is not easy to dismiss
management face costly litigations.
• Stereotypes guide what information people look for,
• The resulting poor public relations also have a cost to the process, and remember
company.
• Stereotypes seem to be an enduring human quality
• Thus, effective management of diversity can direct to big
cost savings by lessening the probability of facing Differences in Social Identity
expensive and discomfiting lawsuits.
• Social identity is a person’s knowledge that he fits in to a
Increased Adaptability certain social groups, where fitting in to those groups has
emotional importance.
• Organizations making use of a diverse workforce can
• It is hard to handle when person’s social identity is
convey a greater range of solutions to problems in
different from that of the majority because of the following
service, sourcing, and allocation of resources.
reasons:
• Employees from diverse backgrounds carry individual
• A person’s social identity becomes noticeable when he is
talents and experiences in suggesting ideas that are
in the minority on a significant dimension.
flexible in adapting to changeable markets and customer
• Belonging to a social identity different from the majority
demands.
makes a person feel he has to behave in ways that are
Broader Service Range unnatural for him in certain situations.
• People in the minority often feel that they might lose their
• A diverse collection of skills and experiences permits a
social identities.
company to offer service to customers on a global basis.
• People tend to check on others based on their social
Higher Company Performance group membership.

• As a result of all these potential benefits, companies that Power Differentials

administer diversity more effectively tend to do better than
• In the organization, power is not always equally
others.
distributed among individuals and groups.
• Sources of power could be legitimate, coercive, expert,
reward, connection or referent.
• In the society, people can have ascribed power – the Diversity Training Programs
status and power that is given by cultural norms and
• Many companies provide employees and managers with
based on group membership.
training programs relating to diversity.
• Power differentials can prevent an organization from
• However, not all diversity programs are equally
developing an inclusive workplace.
successful.
• High-status people speak more and use stronger
• You may expect that more successful programs are those
influence tactics than low-status people.
that occur in companies where a culture of diversity
• People belonging to groups having different degree of
exists.
power and level of status may avoid interaction and may
form factions with members of their own group. Review Recruitment Practices
Poor Structural Integration • Companies may want to increase diversity by targeting a
pool that is more diverse.
• Poor integration of women and minorities can give
• By building relations with these occupational groups,
several roadblocks to creating a diverse workplace. Here
organizations may attract a more diverse group of
are the reasons:
candidates to choose from.
• Creates power and status differentials which can then link
• Companies may also benefit from reviewing their
to gender or race
employment advertising to ensure that diversity is
• Fosters negative stereotypes
important at all levels of the company.
• Make use of “exception rule”
• May bring the feeling of being impossible to rise to the top Affirmative Action Programs

Communication Problems • Policies designed to recruit, promote, train, and retain

employees belonging to a protected class are referred to
• A potential problem occurs when everyone speaks a as affirmative action.
particular language fluently and people who are less
• Affirmative action programs are among the most
fluent may no longer contribute to the conversation.
controversial methods in diversity management because
• Many misunderstandings happen due to language some people believe that they lead to an unfair advantage
differences. for minority members.
• Common disagreements among different cultures: • It is plausible that people who are against affirmative
• Willingness to openly disagree action programs may have unverified assumptions about
• The importance of maintaining dignity the type of affirmative action programs the company is
• The way agreement is defined using.
• The amount of time for building relationships • Informing employees about the specifics of how
• Willingness to speak aggressively affirmative action is being used may be a good way of
• Mode of communication whether verbal or written dealing with any negative attitudes.
• Personal space and non-verbal communication • In addition to employee reactions to affirmative action,
there is some research indicating that affirmative action
programs may lead to stigmatization of the perceived
Effectively Creating and Managing Workplace beneficiaries.
Diversity a) Simple Elimination of Discrimination. These
programs are the least controversial and are
• Build a culture of respecting diversity received favorably by employees.
• Make managers accountable for diversity b) Targeted Recruitment. These affirmative action plans
• Diversity training programs involve ensuring that the candidate pool is diverse.
• Review recruitment practices These programs are also viewed as fair by most
• Affirmative action programs employees.
c) Tie-breaker. In these programs, if all other
Building a Culture of Respecting Diversity
characteristics are equal, then preference may be
• In the most successful companies, diversity management given to a minority candidate. In fact, these programs
is not the responsibility of the human resource are not widely used and their use needs to be
department. justified by organizations. In other words,
• Starting from top management and including the lowest organizations need to have very specific reasons for
levels in the hierarchy, each person understands the why they are using this type of affirmative action,
importance of respecting others. such as past illegal discrimination. Otherwise, their
• If this respect is not part of an organization’s culture, no use may be illegal and lead to reverse discrimination.
amount of diversity training or other programs are likely These programs are viewed as less fair by
to be effective. employees.
• In fact, in the most successful companies, diversity is d) Preferential Treatment. These programs involve
viewed as everyone’s responsibility. hiring a less qualified minority candidate. Strong
preferential treatment programs are illegal in most
Make Managers Accountable for Diversity cases.
• People are more likely to pay attention to aspects of
performance that are measured. In successful
companies, diversity metrics are carefully tracked.
• When managers are evaluated and rewarded based on
how effective they are in diversity management, they are
more likely to show commitment to diversity that in turn
affects the diversity climate in the rest of the organization.