week 7 Flashcards
business case
predicting range on benefits resulting from greater workforce diversity within
organizations
identity conscious affirmative action programs
encourage organizational decision makers to hire nonwhite and female applicants / however, white male employees might believe that people were not hired
for their qualifications but for their identity
contact hypothesis:
intergroup contact reduces prejudice/stereotype use when four conditions are met: equal status, common goals, cooperation (instead of competition) + interaction supported by higher
authority
formal mentoring
matched by the organizations, short-term (6-12 months)
- informal mentoring
mutual identification and perceived similarity between mentor and protégé, longterm (3-6 years) —> better outcomes
Brewer’s optimal distinctiveness theory (ODT)
explains tensions associated with human needs for
validation and similarity to others (on the one hand) and a countervailing need for uniqueness and
individuation (on the other)
inclusion:
degree to which an employee perceives that they are an esteemed member of the workgroup
through treatment that satisfies their needs for belongingness and uniqueness
- two general themes: belongingness and uniqueness —> inclusion has positive consequences for
individuals and organizations
framework of inclusion:
individuals want to feel a sense of belonging, as well as feeling valued, for their
unique attributes
- members in workgroups can be valued for their unique attributes and they endeavor to fell valued for
their uniqueness as well as wanting to belong to the group
exclusion
> individual is not
treated as an organizational
insider, but others are insiders
differentation
individual is
not treated as insider but unique
characteristics are valued
assimilation
individual is
treated as insider when
conforming to dominant norms
inclusion
individual is treated
as insider and encouraged to
retain uniqueness
integration-and-learning perspective:
acknowledging the differences among people and recognizing
the value of those differences (reflecting uniqueness and belongingness) —> effective by producing highquality work and allowing employees to expand their capabilities
social identity complexity
highlights how people subjectively combine multiple social identities
intersectionality
refers to the manner in which multiple aspects of identity may combine in different
ways to construct social reality
self-verification theory
proposes that individuals join groups in part to verify their personal and social
self-views (positive and negative)
contextual factors
part of the environment that provide stimuli to individuals and are used to interpret
information at work
valuing diversity
changing individual attitudes and behaviors
- goal: increase awareness of racial, ethnic, and cultural differences and help value these differences to make everyone feel appreciated
dissonance theory
behavior change leads to attitude change; most effective when voluntary
(diminished effect of training, because adults have well-established attitudes difficult to modify)
relational demography:
studies the effects of individuals’ similatiry to their workgroup
SOCIAL CATEGORIZATION PERSPECTIVE
differences between work group members may engender the
classification of other as either ingroup/similar or outgroup/dissimilar, categorizations that may disrupt
group process
INFORMATION/DECISION-MAKING PERSPECTIVE
DIVERSITY MAY INTRODUCE DIFFERENCES in knowledge, expertise
and perspectives that may help work groups reach higher quality and more creative and innovative
outcomes
faultlines
when positions on different dimensions of diversity are correlated, the combination of diversity
on these dimensions may suggest a clear distinction between subgroups
self-verification
being seen by others as one sees oneself
