Chapter 1: Intro to Theories and Legislation Flashcards
The “value in diversity” perspective may lead to
Cedric Herring studied 506 for-profit organizations that provided information about the sex and race of their workers, sales revenue, customers, market share, and profitability.
Racial diversity was associated with increased sales revenue, more customers, greater market share, and greater relative profits, and gender diversity was associated with increased sales revenue, more customers, and greater relative profits.
The term “ethnicity” refers to?
Ethnicity refers to a shared national origin or a shared cultural heritage. Thus, “Hispanic” is an ethnic description, although it is often treated as a racial one. “Asian” is another ambiguous term. Is it an ethnicity, since ethnicity refers to a shared national origin, or is it a race, as the term is often used and understood? As with differences among Hispanics, there are considerable differences among Asians who are from Korea and those from India or Vietnam, and among Black Americans, South African Blacks, and those from the West Indies.
Be able to discuss: Johnston and Packer’s 1987 research on the changing demographics of workers.
While there was considerable progress in the 20 years after key laws were passed in the 1960s, Johnston and Packer’s 1987 research on changing demographics of workers in the twenty-first century further stimulated action. This work sent shockwaves through organizations and sparked concern about how to “manage” the increasing diversity and how to capitalize on it from an economic perspective
The populations of the United States and many other nations are increasing in demographic diversity, and for many countries, increases in diversity will continue in the future. Thus, much of the impetus for organizational attention to diversity was changing demographics, resulting in different employees (and customers) and potential impacts to profits. Ten years after their groundbreaking research in Workforce 2000, Workforce 2020 again predicted changes in the nature of work and in workforce demographics
- non-Hispanic Whites are the majority of the population, followed by Hispanics (any race), African Americans, and Asians.
- The Asian population increased at the fastest rate, and about 13.6% of the population is foreign born, an increase of 2.5 percentage points in two decades.
- In addition, more people reported speaking a language other than English at home.
- Youth are now more diverse in the United States.
- In 2000, 62%, 15%, 16%, 3%, and 2% of school-aged children (5 to 17 years) were White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and multi-racial, respectively. By 2017, White and Black children had decreased to 51% and 14%, while Hispanic, Asian, and multi-racial children had increased to 25%, 5%, and 4%, respectively (not shown).
- In 2019, the most common age for non-Hispanic Whites was 58, due to the aging Baby Boomers.
- For Asians and Blacks, the most common age was 29 and 27 years, and the most common Hispanic age, 11, was significantly higher than the 3 years old for multi-racial children.
- As younger people age, racial and ethnic diversity among potential employees and customers will continue to increase.
Know at least 1 negative outcome that can come from increased diversity awareness
Internal:
Dysfunctional communication processes
Discrimination
Harassment
Perceptions that nontraditional workers are unqualified
Lowered attachment, commitment, and satisfaction
External:
Boycotts
Negative publicity
What are some areas that level of education can indicate for any given group?
Each group’s level of education affects (but does not completely control nor equalize) whether and where its members are employed, their incomes, and their opportunities for and actual advancement.
Thus, we provide details for each group on the numbers of people of working age with and without high school, college, and advanced degrees.
Comparisons of educational achievements within (between men and women in the same racial group) and across groups (e.g., Black people and White people) provide insights into other factors (e.g., the glass ceiling and walls) that may be influencing the employment, income, and organizational advancement of different groups.
Know some benefits of employing a diverse group of employees.
Cooperative behaviors
Interactions effects with organizational strategy
Financial performance and behaviors
Moral and social reasons for valuing diversity
Know why companies should want to attract people from different backgrounds
Cox and Blake’s reasons to value organizational diversity
- Cost
Employee turnover costs, litigation costs, and lost business due to unfair treatment of applicants, employees and customers - Resource acquisition
Improves the ability to complete for employees - Marketing
Reputation for valuing all types of workers affects the ability to market to different types of consumers and avoid expensive marketing gaffes - Creativity and problem solving
Groups composed of diverse members produce more solutions to problems and ideas of higher-quality and better decisions - System flexibility
Diverse life experience help develop cognitive flexibility, openness to experience, and perspective-taking abilities
Can group membership change over a person’s lifetime or does it remain the same?
Race, ethnicity, sex, age, physical ability, sexual orientation, and religion are not mutually exclusive
Some of the categories are immutable, but others are not and may change over one’s lifetime
A person may be a member of a majority group in one area and a non-dominant group in another area
Know what Cedric Herring’s research found.
The “Value in Diversity” perspective
Cedric Herring studied 506 for-profit organizations that provided information about the sex and race of their workers, sales revenue, customers, market share, and profitability.
Racial diversity was associated with increased sales revenue, more customers, greater market share, and greater relative profits, and gender diversity was associated with increased sales revenue, more customers, and greater relative profits.
