Chapter 2 Diversity in Organizations Diversity The aging of the workforce is a big concern or HR managers More issues loosing baby boomer s skills as they retire increasing medical costs due to an aging workforce and employee s needs to care for elderly relatives developing multi lingual training materials and providing work life benefits for dual career couples Surface level diversity differences in easily perceived characteristics such as gender race ethnicity age or disability that do not necessarily reflect eh ways people think or feel but they may activate certain stereotypes Deep level diversity differences in values personality and work preferences that become progressively more important for determining similarity as people get to know one another better Discrimination noting of a difference between things often we refer to unfair discrimination which means making judgments about individuals based on stereotypes regarding their demographic group o Discriminatory policies practices actions taken by representatives of the organization that deny equal opportunity to perform or unequal rewards for performance o Sexual harassment unwanted sexual advances and other verbal physical conduct of a sexual nature that create a hostile or offensive work environment o Intimidation overt threats or bullying directed at members of specific groups of employees o Mockery insults jokes or negative stereotypes o Exclusion exclusion of certain people from job opportunities social events discussions or informal mentoring can happen unintentionally o Incivility disrespectful treatment behaving in an aggressive manner interrupting the person ignoring his opinions Biographical Characteristics Biographical characteristics personal characteristics age gender race length of tenure that are objective and easily obtained from personnel records representative of surface level diversity Age age o Belief is widespread that job performance declines with increasing o Workforce is aging older people represent a huge pool of applicants o US legislation outlaws mandatory retire o Positive qualities of old workers experience judgment strong work ethic commitment to quality o Negatives lack flexibility resistant to new technology o The older you are the less likely you are to quit your job o Older employees have lower rates of avoidable absence than do younger employees o Age and job task performance may be unrelated o Age and job satisfaction evidence is mixed o Companies favoring age discrimination were associated with lower levels of commitment to the company and therefore lower organizational performance Sex o No significant difference in job productivity between men and women o Women are more likely to turn over than men and have higher rates of absenteeism o Combating sex discrimination may be associated with better performance for the organization as a whole o Race biological heritage people use to identify themselves o Ethnicity additional set of cultural characteristics that often overlaps Race and ethnicity with race o Individuals tend to favor coworkers of their own race o AAs fare worse than Whites in employment decisions o AAs and Hispanics have higher turnover rates than Whites o Having a positive climate for diversity overall can lead to increased sales Disability Tenure o People will disabilities tend to have higher performance evaluations but lower expectations and are less likely to be hired o Seniority time on a particular job positive relationship with job productivity o Tenure work experience o Longer tenure smaller turnover Religion Sexual orientation and gender identity o Federal law does not prohibit against discrimination for sexual orientation many states do though Ability Ability an individual s capacity to perform the various tasks in a job made up of intellectual and physical abilities Intellectual abilities the capacity to do mental activities thinking reasoning problem solving o Number aptitude ability to do speedy and accurate math o Verbal comprehension o Perceptual speed anility to identify visual similarities and differences quickly and accurately o Inductive reasoning o Deductive reasoning o Spatial visualization o Memory o General mental ability GMA an overall factor of intelligence as suggested by the positive correlations among specific intellectual ability dimensions o Correlation between intelligence and job satisfaction is about 0 Physical abilities the capacity to do tasks that demand stamina dexterity strength and similar characteristics o Dynamic strength trunk strength static strength explosive strength extent flexibility dynamic flexibility body coordination balance stamina Implementing Diversity Management Strategies Diversity management the process and programs by which managers make everyone more aware of and sensitive to the needs and differences of others Attract diverse employees by targeting recruiting messages to specific demographic groups underrepresented in the workforce Selection process managers who hire need to value fairness and objectivity In collectivist cultures similarity to supervisors is more important for predicting advancement whereas in individualistic cultures similarity to peers is more important Positive diversity climate related to higher organizational commitment and Diversity in groups can help or harm it Effective comprehensive workforce programs that encourage diversity have lower turnover 3 components o They teach managers about the legal framework for equal employment opportunity and encourage fair treatment of all people regardless of their demographic characteristic o They teach managers how a diverse workforce will be better able to serve a diverse market of customers and clients o 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 Diversity experiences are more likely to leade to positive adaptation for all parties if the diversity experience undermines stereotypical attitudes if the perceiver is motivated and able to consider a new perspective on others if the perceiver engages in stereotype suppression and generative thought in response to the diversity experience and if the positive experience of stereotype undermining is repeated frequently
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