L4: Hiring Discrimination & Structural Diversity Initiatives

Question 1

What are the underlying mechanisms of hiring discrimination?

Answer 1

• manifestation of (subtle and blatant) prejudice and stereotypes -> negative sentiment about a group & preferring one group over another
• compliance -> matching of applicants to an organization’s profile “we should be similar (we look alike) to work well”
• interaction of manifestation & compliance -> justification suppression model

Question 2

what are the origins of prejudice?

Answer 2

social, cultural, & psych processes (like direct cultural learning (mass media), family, social categorization, intergrou conflict etc) create negative affect towards groups

Question 3

how does prejudice lead to hiring discrimination?

Answer 3

prejudice -> prejudiced beliefs (like belief that women will perform worse) -> prejudiced decisions/attitudes

Question 4

define discrimination?

Answer 4

unfair behavioural biases against members of a group based on group identity, social category, stigma, or ascribed characteristics relative to other groups w comparable potential, performance, or proven success

Question 5

why might the hiring phase be especially vulnerable to unfair bias?

Answer 5

due to limited & unreliable info such as CVs, letters, and a few rounds of interview

Question 6

how has hiring discrimination changed over time?

Answer 6

its become more subtle so harder to recognize & persecute
- blatant and overt forms of prejudice and discrimination are more regulated & less accepted than before
- but meta analysis shows its kinda the same for black applications since 1989, so its still a thing

Question 7

why would we expect hiring discrimination to decrease over time in US?

Answer 7

• white ppl endorse equal treatment more
• high school graduation rates across groups are converging
• companies are endorsing diversity more
• election of barack obama

Question 8

why would we NOT expect hiring discrimination to decrease over time in US?

Answer 8

• racial gaps in unemployment have shown little change since 1980
• black/white gap in labor participation widened since 1980
• BLM movement
• election of donald trump in 2016 (w parallels in europe)
• even tho explicit prejudice changes, implicit prejudice may stay the same

Question 9

define organizational diversity management

Answer 9

planned & systematic programs and procedures designed to
a) improve ineraction among diverse ppl
b) make diversity a source of innovation and increased effectiveness rather than miscommunication, conflict, or obstacles to employees’ performance, satisfaction, and advancement

Question 10

How may organizations address discrimination?

Answer 10

• through strucutural diversity intiatives (like affirmative action)
• design less prescriptive programs (align w merit based justice norms)
• communicate program details clearly
• use justifications thoughtfully (do not justify merely by pointing out underrepresentation but stress redressing past discrimination)
• anticipate group differences in reactions to AAPs

Question 11

What is the goal of structural diversity initiatives?

Answer 11

increasing diversity, diversifying composition of employees (and inherently reducing hiring discrimination)

Question 12

define affirmative action

Answer 12

employment policies that attempt to reduce historical forms of discrimination based on demographic distinctions among employees

Question 13

what are examples of affirmative action

Answer 13

from weak to strong
- opportunity enhancement
- equal opportunity
- tie break
- preferential treatment

Question 14

what are opportunity enchanmenet AAPs?

Answer 14

they provide training or focused recruitment to increase the pool of qualified candidates but do not use demographic characteristics in the final seleciton process

Question 15

what are equal opportunity AAPs?

Answer 15

these programs prohibit discrimination and ensure that demographic characteristics are not used negatively in decision-making

Question 16

what are tiebreak AAPs (weak preferential treatment)?

Answer 16

in cases where candidates are equally qualified, demographic charactersitics are used as a tiebreaker to favor underrepresented groups

Question 17

what are strong preferential treatment (quotas) AAPs?

+ a con

Answer 17

these programs give significant weight to demographic traits even when candidates qualifications differ
these types of AAPs are the most controversial, as they are perceived as giving unfair advantage to certain groups

Question 18

when are AAPs viewed as more negative?

Answer 18

the more prescrpitive the AAP, meaning the more weight it gives to demographic characteristics (such as in strong preferential treatment), the more negative the attitudes are towards the programs

Question 19

what are the pros of (strong forms of) affirmative action?

Answer 19

• increases diversity in the short term
• contributes to correcting historic disadvantages
• appreciated by those discriminated

Question 20

what are the cons of (strong forms of) affirmative action?

Answer 20

• colleagues doubt competence of recipients
• colleagues like recipients less
• non target groups show resistance
• meta stereotypes

Question 21

how are structural diversity initiatves evaluated by perceivers?

Answer 21

rate recipients of diversity initiatives
- lower competence
- lower warmth
- lower performance evaluations

dominant groups usually dont like it! w increasing dislike if higher racism, sexism etc
also dont like it even when its win-win

Question 22

how are structural diversity initiatives evaluated by targets of the initiatives?

Answer 22

leads to
- lower self competence & affect rating
- lower performance ratings

Question 23

what are ppl discriminated based on?

Answer 23

• race
• age
• gender
• weight
• etc

Question 24

what are framing effects?

Answer 24

the mere framing of policies as “diversity” initiatives causes majority members to view them negatively