Handout 2 Flashcards
Levels of Diversity
Surface-level diversity
Deep-level diversity
seeks to provide a conceptual framework that recognizes the complex diversity of a complex society while, at the same time, suggesting bridges of shared concern that bind culturally different persons to one another
multicultural perspective
refers to the 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.
Surface-level diversity
pertains to the differences in values, personality, and work preferences that become progressively more important for determining similarity as people get to know one another better.
Deep-level diversity
to note a difference between things, which in itself isn’t necessarily bad.
discriminate
Noticing one employee as more qualified is necessary for making good hiring decisions; noticing another is taking on leadership responsibilities exceptionally well is necessary for making strong promotion decisions.
discrimination
judging someone based on his/her perception of the group to which s/he belongs.
Stereotyping
the degree to which one internally agrees with the generally negative stereotyped perceptions of one’s group
Stereotype threat
fear of being judged when identified with the negative connotations of that group
Stereotype threat
serious implications of stereotype threat for the workplace
lower performance
lower satisfaction
negative job attitudes
decreased engagement
decreased motivation
higher absenteeism
more health issues
higher turnover intentions
organizational changes to reduce stereotype threat
increasing awareness of how stereotypes may be perpetuated;
reducing differential and preferential treatment through objective assessments;
banning stereotyped practices and messages;
confronting even small, seemingly inoffensive remarks or attacks against minority groups; and
adopting transparent practices that signal the value of all employees.
Types of Workplace Discrimination
• Discriminatory policies or practices
• Sexual harassment
• Intimidation
• Mockery and insults
• Exclusion
• Incivility
These are actions taken by representatives of the organization that
deny equal opportunity to perform or unequal rewards for performance
Discriminatory policies or practices
unwanted sexual advances and other verbal or physical conduct of a
sexual nature that create a hostile or offensive work environment
Sexual harassment
overt threat or bullying directed at members of specific groups of employees
Intimidation
jokes or negative stereotypes; sometimes, the result of jokes are
taken too far
Mockery and insults
exclusion of certain people from job opportunities, social events,
discussion, or informal mentoring, which may occur unintentionally.
Exclusion
disrespectful treatment, including behaving aggressively, interrupting the other
person, or ignoring varying opinions
Incivility
older workers may be a target for
layoffs because they are highly paid and have lucrative benefits.
Discriminatory policies or practices
salespeople at one company went on
company-paid visits to strip clubs, brought strippers into the office to celebrate promotions, and fostered pervasive sexual rumors.
Sexual harassment
an African-American employee at some companies has found nooses (ropes with loop at the end) hanging over their workstations.
Intimidation
Arab Americans have been asked at work whether they were carrying bombs or were members of terrorist organizations.
Mockery and insults
many women in finance claim they
are assigned to marginal job roles or are given light workloads that don’t lead to promotion
Exclusion
female lawyers note that male
attorneys frequently cut them off or do not adequately address their comments during a trial.
Incivility
personal characteristics such as age, gender, race, and length of tenure that are objective and easily obtained from personnel records.
Biographical characteristics
surface-level characteristics
• Age
• Sex
• Race and ethnicity
• Disabilities
Deep-level characteristics
• Religion
• Sexual orientation and gender identity
• Cultural identity
This is likely to be an issue of increasing importance during the next decade for many reasons.
Stereotypes of older workers
as being behind the times, grumpy, and inflexible are changing.
Age
Few issues initiate more debates, misconceptions, and unsupported opinions than whether
women perform as well on jobs as men do. In reality, few—if any—differences between men and
women affect job performance.
Sex
Individuals may slightly favor
colleagues of their own race in performance evaluations, promotion decisions, and pay raises,
although such differences are not found consistently, especially when highly structured methods of
decision making are employed.
Race and ethnicity
Workplace policies, both official and circumstantial, regarding individuals with physical
or mental disabilities, vary from country to country
disabilities
Not only do religious and nonreligious people question each other’s belief systems, often people of different religious faiths conflict with one another. There are few—if any— countries in which religion is a non-issue in the workplace.
Religion
describes a person’s inherent enduring
physical, romantic, and/or emotional attraction to another person
Sexual orientation
refers to one’s internal and personal sense of being a man or a woman, which can be the same or different
from their sex assigned at birth.
gender identity
People looked for work near familial
homes, and organizations established holidays, observances, practices, and customs that suited the
majority
cultural identity
an individual’s current capacity to perform the various tasks of a job
ability
two (2) sets of factors of overall abilities
• Intellectual abilities
• Physical abilities
abilities needed to perform mental activities such as thinking,
reasoning, and problem-solving.
Intellectual abilities
the capacity to do tasks that demand stamina, dexterity, strength, and similar characteristics.
Physical abilities
an individual of minority status is much less likely to leave the organization if there is a feeling of inclusivity
positive diversity climate
It can lead to increased sales,
suggesting there are organizational
performance gains associated with reducing racial and ethnic discrimination
positive diversity climate
involves the active process and programs by which organization managers make everyone more
aware of and sensitive to the needs and differences of others.
Diversity management
three (3) distinct components of effective, comprehensive workforce programs encouraging diversity
- They teach managers about the
legal framework for an equal employment opportunity and encourage fair treatment of all people regardless of their demographic characteristics.
2.
They teach managers how a diverse workforce will be better able to serve a diverse market of customers and clients. - They foster personal development practices that bring out the skills and abilities of all workers, acknowledging how differences in perspective can be a valuable way to improve performance for everyone.
Effective approaches to managing cultural diversity at the workplace
- Define organizational values and
policies. - Adopt employee relationship
management system. - Develop a diversity management
training program. - Optimize cultural diversity training.
- Use language bank.
