Diversity management (history/intro; ideologies; business case vs CSR; backlash/resistance) Flashcards
What is the model minority phenomenon?
The Model Minority Phenomenon suggests that being Asian counts for little when considering the diversity of an organization because Asian Americans are too successful to be characterized as disadvantaged (Hebl and Avery, 2012)
What are pos and neg outcomes of diversity?
Neg outcomes: Poor communication, more neg attitudes, greater conflict and withdrawal (Demographic diffs may coincide with deeper level differences (i.e., attitudes, values, beliefs) that lead people to disagree fundamentally, there by promoting conflict; plus, uncertainty that comes with differences make it difficult to communicate with others)
Pos outcomes: heightened creativity and decision making;
Even moreso when the differences coincide with bringing different perspectives, bc leads to more new ideas.
Indirect Business outcomes:
Decline in stock prices when orgs have been caught engaging in discrimination; those receiving diversity commendation increase
Hebl and Avery, 2012
Explain social identity theory.
Social identity theory
- Individuals classify themselves and those they encounter on the basis of readily identifiable characteristics (racio, sex, age) in order to determine whether they belong to one’s in-group (similar) or out-group (dissimilar).
- Inherent inclination to see in-group in favorable light; we are motivated to feel positively about ourselves and in-groups are an extension of the self.
- One’s level of identification with their various identities influences reactions to competing priorities.
What is the Categorization elaboration model
Van Knippenberg et al 2004
(IDs the mediating mechanism between group-level diversity and performance.)
One reason diversity potentially enhances group functioning is that differences in identity often correspond to differences in perspectives. This can help enhance creativity. Contextual factors facilitate or impedes the mediation.
Empirical examples:
Presence of greater transformational
leadership appears to enhance the favorability of the diversity–performance relationship by increasing the amount of elaboration within the group
Diverse workgroups are better equipped to perform well when their members see diversity, as a potential benefit, are receptive to new things, and are highly motivated to understand things they encounter
Stigma theory
Goffman, 1963
Stigma: socially constructed marks that discredit, taint, and discount individuals.
Three categories of stigmas: aberrations of the body (e.g., physical disability, birthmarks), character flaws (e.g., drug addiction, mental illness), and tribal stigmas (e.g., race, nationalities, religion)
Describe the stereotype content model (SCM)
Cuddy et al., 2009
Holds that humans have a need to belong (Baumeister and Leary, 1995), but also compete for resources. People have a strong need to respond to others on two basic dimensions: warmth and competence. Both are socially desireable.
Warmth: perceivers assess them as friends vs enemies
Competence: perceivers judge whether the other can achieve things
Those perceived as high status groups = associated with more competence
Those perceived as competition = associated with less warmth and low levels of liking
They are orthogonal (perpendicular), creating 4 categories. High/high, low/low, high/low, low/high that each incite emotional reactions:
Low in both: homeless, the poor – incites contempt
High comp/low warmth: Asians, men – incites envy
Low competence/High warmth: disabled, elderly – incites pity
High warmth, high competence: middle class, Whites – incites admiration
Helps explain:
why “model minorities” are judged more favorably than low-status groups.
Why women are viewed as either warm (stay at home moms) or competent (working)
Explain social role theory
Eagly, 1987
- Explains origin of sex stereotypes; evolutionary divisions of labor led to differential distributions into society/work positions (male leaders, women nurturers)
- People came to associate different sets of personality traits/abilities with men being more agentic and women more communal.
- Self-fulfilling prophesies occur; they become more different in their abilities; their gendered roles also require these different skills
- Role incongruity of women in leadership positions leads to prejudice and decreased abilities for women to perform and succeed in leadership positions as easily and as well as do men (see Eagly & Karau, 2002).
Describe the attraction-selection-attrition model
Schneider, 1987
-People are attracted to organizations perceived to possess values similar to their own. Likewise, companies look to select employees they perceive as sharing their core values.
-When misfits occur, one (or both parties) recognize the lack of fit and act to correct it through quitting or leaving unvoluntarily
-The result of this process is a homogenous organization (similar values and
personality types).
-Initially developed to describe organizational patterns concerning deep-level
diversity (values/beliefs), but could prove relevant to demographic
diversity as well., e.g., why many traditionally homogeneous organizations report such difficulty attracting and retaining employees belonging to underrepresented demographic groups
What are reasons it is difficult to get minority groups involved with diversity efforts?
Because there are costs associated, i.e., they may feel they got handouts from affirmative action practices, leading to self-doubt and anticipated discrimination.
Hebl and Avery, 2012
What are reasons it is difficult to get MAJORITY groups involved with diversity efforts and how can an org increase buy-in?
Because white employees may not feel included or that they would benefit themselves. Human need to belong = will feel that a multicultural approach is exclusionary.
No conclusive tactic yet, but research shows that can increase buy-in via framing messages around diversity efforts as being beneficial for everyone, not just to compensate minority groups that have been discriminated against.
Hebl and Avery, 2012
Which should come first, focusing on composition (diversity) or climate?
This is a chicken-or-egg debate.
Proponents of composition say that by hiring a more diverse workforce it would force the company to change management practices to be more inclusive (contact hypothesis; Allport, 1954), but research has not supported that argument. Instead research indicates that a positive (welcoming) diversity climate can aid in attracting, promoting, and retaining minorities and women.
Diversity climate is also more consistently linked to org effectiveness than composition.
It is also more logical to focus on climate first: 1) it’s more controllable than outside factors i.e., community 2) efforts on composition won’t pay off if climate isn’t there to sustain it (people will leave).
Hebl and Avery, 2012
What effect does leadership have on diversity outcomes?
Groups experiencing more transformational and inclusive leadership tend to experience more favorable outcomes of diversity
Hebl and Avery, 2012
What are four diversity ideologies and the problem with each?
Plaut et al., 2014:
- Meritocracy - myth that everyone can achieve American dream if they work hard enough. Ignores systemic racism and discrim
2) Melting pot: also a myth. would mean everyone who immigrated here would have contributed equally to a new culture, but really the expectation is assimilation.
3) Colorblindness: Stipulates people should not notice color because it would lead to more prej and discrimin. It’s not actually possible to not notice color, and research shows that this leads to more discrimin.
4) Multi-culturalism seeks to identify and learn from each other’s differences. Although it reduces discrimination, it can also backfire to the degree that majority groups (White people; men) do not feel included.
What are two important theories about approaches to diversity?
Cox, 1991 - categories of diversity identification (monolithic, plural, multicultural) - the degree to which companies are heterogeneous and embracing and learning from differences.
Thomas and Ely, 1996 - diversity paradigms. They map onto Cox’s categories:
Discrimination and fairness - focuses on reducing differences, and minorities blending in.
Access and legitimacy - celebrates diversity but limits access and pigeon holes people
Learning and effectiveness: reaps benefits of diversity (e.g., innovation) because allowing employees to integrate cultural values and norms.
Which is the learning and effectiveness paradigm and how effective is it in achieving diversity and other outcomes?
Ely and Thomas, 2011
Maps onto a multi-cultural approach to diversity, in which the company recognizes and fully embraces diversity and there is equal opp at all levels, and discrim not tolerated. Allos them to tap into true benefits of div. They incorporate div perspectives. Allow employees to integrate cultural values and norms. New and unique approaches. Higher competitive advantage.
