Revision Flashcards
Meanings of Diversity
The state of being different; variety or multiformity and points of difference shared by a group of induviduals
Advantages of a diverse workforce are…
Increased workforce talent pool, product innovation, improved sales, satisfied workers and meeting community expectations
Disadvantages of Cultural Diversity in the Workforce are …
Increased conflict, training costs, opportunity for mismanagement (leading to employee dissatisfaction), difficulties accomodating different cultural and religious expectations and reverse discrimination
Definitions of Culture
The collective genetic programming of the mind which distinguishes one group of people from another; collection of prejudices; shared values, attitudes and behaviours of a group of people
Sub-Culture
Smaller categories or groups of a larger dominant group
Multi-culturalism
valuing and accommodating many different cultures
Cosmopolitanism
sharing and cultivating a common world. From kosmopolitês, meaning citizen of the world.
Direct Discrimination is ….
taking action against an individual in a particular and occasional way that causes disadvantage because s/he belongs to a particular group.
Institutional/Systematic Discrimination is …..
structuring a society or organisation to maintain the advantages of certain groups who share the same characteristics.
Common Forms of Discrimination Include…
Racism, sexism, ageism, paternalism, parochialism and xenophobia
Definition(s) of Prejudice
- An unfavourable opinion or a feeling formed beforehand; lacking knowledge or factual evidence
- Unreasonable opinion directed towards a racial, religious or other group identifiably different from our own
- Varying levels of exploitation (i.e., action) that discriminate against individuals because they are members of a particular group
Identity is….
a concept that describes how we define ourselves and how we are defined by others
• Identity is defined in relation to difference or ‘otherness’
Types of Identity
- Actual identity: fixed (genetic) identity that actually objectively or factually exists in a group (e.g., race, gender, age)
- Perceived identity : believed identity that group members perceive to subjectively exist (e.g., religion)
- Negotiated identity : dynamic identity that combines actual and perceived differences (e.g., sexuality, lifestyle)
Cultural Difference Theory (Hofstede)
- Power distance – extent to which a culture accepts difference between the lowest and highest members
- Uncertainty avoidance – extent to which members of a society attempt to cope with anxiety by minimizing uncertainty
- Individualism/collectivism – extent to which a culture is concerned about the individual as opposed to the group
- Masculinity/femininity – refers to the value placed on traditionally male or female values
- Confucian Work Dynamism – extent of long/short term orientation in terms of thrift, perseverance, work ethic
Culture shock is …..
• Culture Shock is defined as the loss of emotional equilibrium that people suffer when moved from a highly familiar to highly unfamiliar environment which is less easily negotiated - abrupt loss of the familiar
Race refers too
dividing people into populations or groups based on visible traits (e.g., anatomical-skin colour, facial features; cultural; ethnic;genetic; geographical; historical; religious or social affiliation), and self-identification
‘Minority Group’ is a ….
a sociological term for a group that often experiences discrimination, social disadvantages and strong self-consciousness as a result of discrimination
Ageism
- Ageism is stereotyping and prejudice directed toward people because of their age
- Discrimination mostly directed toward older people - but also younger people – because of their ‘youthful’ attitudes and behaviours
What Law forbids ageism?
The Age Discrimination Act 2004 makes it unlawful to discriminate against people on the basis of age at the point of offering employment and after people have been employed, in relation to conditions, denying access to training, promotion and in terms of dismissal
Gender segregation is
grouping women and men into particular jobs or levels
Horizontal segregation is
: women and men are placed in different occupations - women employed as waitresses, chambermaids, cleaners, travel agencies sales persons, flight attendants. Men employed as barmen, gardeners, stewards construction workers, drivers, pilots
Vertical segregation is
the typical “gender pyramid” is prevalent in the tourism sector – more lower level occupations with few career development opportunities dominated by women and less higher level managerial positions dominated by men.
Strategies to resist gender discrimination
- Adopt affirmative action statements and practices in recruitment (e.g., recruit more women to higher management roles or non-traditional roles)
- Adopt equal opportunity employment practices (e.g. pay women for maternity leave)
- Consider the ‘glass ceiling’ syndrome and what factors stop women progressing to senior management
- Design media communications (e.g., brochures) to be inclusive of gender and other diversities
Strategies for working with GLBT people
- Start by checking one’s own knowledge and feelings about GLBT people
- Understand that GLBT people vary in how they deal with and display their sexual identity
- Maintain and respect privacy of peoples’ sexuality
- Be aware of discriminatory practices (eg in-appropriate jokes and humour)
- Use gender neutral appropriate language (eg partner)
A disability is
any restriction or lack of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being.
Organisations have responded to increasing diversity by becoming
- Differentiated: they develop niche markets or occupational roles to deal with difference
- Complex: they use hard skills
- Dispersed: they hand decision making down to lower levels to deal with problems
- Fragmented: they split the organisation into units to simplify tasks
- Replication: they adopt uniform operating standards to appear united
Accepting Multiplicity means
- Understanding there are different or several equally good ways of thinking about how best to operate a business (eg difference between traditional and alternative business management models)
- Differences (i.e., problems) often require soft skills (e.g., cultural negotiation) not hard skills
- Difference can be complementary
Devolving responsibility means
• Not expecting people to ‘toe the corporate line’ and follow a ‘pre-ordained’ and ‘hegemonic’ workplace culture
Being pluralistic means
- Abandon the replicating approach to business expansion – redesign around ‘global localisation’
- Employing people with different cultural characteristics
- Supporting people through cultural diversity training, assertiveness training, communication skills to accentuate difference
Being able to negotiate means
- Abandoning the idea of ‘team’ as in ‘Team Qantas’ or ‘One World’ as it implies uniformity; replace with ‘collaborative working groups’
- Complement ‘induction skill training’ with ‘workplace culture training’
- Expand what it means to be a ‘good’ technical leader to include soft skills (i.e., knowledge of diversity)
- Reconsider the nature of industrial relations based on adversity to consulted outcomes
Micro-Organisational responses to cultural diversity include…
- Hiring staff with international experience, multi-lingual and cultural intelligence skills
- Cross-cultural awareness training
- Expecting existing and future workers to be more mobile
- Using professional/trade associations to lobby government to increase foreign workers and reduce visa conditions
Kanter’s Homosocial Reproduction Theory is…
the way male managers need to reproduce themselves so they recruit and promote other men.
• Kanter calls this consensual validation
• Implication: Glass ceiling on women?
Strategies to deal with cultural differences in interviews
Email candidates questions ahead of time to plan their responses
Be clear and up-front about selection criteria
Try to suspend negative judgements, don’t be put off by the unexpected in interviews
Ask “how do you do this in your country?”
Include and train culturally diverse people on recruitment panels
Hire strong candidates, pay on low end of scale, put in developmental position with a strong ‘mentoring’ manager
Offer short term contracts
Hierarchy
psychological (power) distance between managers and employees and the degree to which more and less powerful members of an organisation accept that power is unequally distributed between them• Hierarchical organisations/countries emphasise and accept greater or more distance between managers and employees
• Egalitarian organisations/countries emphasise and value greater distribution or less distance between managers and employees
Induvidualism
the importance a person assigns to his or her interests as an individual, as compared to those of the group to which he or she belongs.• Individualistic countries emphasise the rights of the individual and personal identity as being more important than the group interests or identities
• In group or collective countries, group interests are most important; the individual takes their identity from the group
Risk Tolerance
The degree of discomfort experienced by members of a society when faced with unknown or uncertain situations
• Risk Tolerant cultures cope well with risky situations where the outcome is known or hard to predict. Individuals are encouraged to use own initiative and take risks
• Risk Averse cultures respond better when bound by rules and regulations. Tolerate less deviation and have higher support for people
