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Learning Objectives
Describe the two major forms of workforce diversity.
Recognize stereotypes and understand how they function in
organizational settings.
Identify the key biographical characteristics and describe how they
are relevant to OB.
Define intellectual ability and demonstrate its relevance to
OB.
Contrast intellectual and physical ability.
Describe how organizations manage diversity effectively.
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The learning objectives of Chapter 2 can be defined in six
steps:
First, to describe the two major forms or workplace
diversity.
Second, to recognize stereotypes and understand how they function
in organizational settings.
Third, to identify key biographical characteristics of people and
how they are relevant to OB.
Fourth, to define intellectual ability and demonstrate its
relevance to OB.
Fifth, to contrast the differences between intellectual and
physical ability.
And last, to describe how organizations manage diversity
effectively.
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What is Diversity?
Diversity- is defined as real or perceived differences among people
that affect their interactions and relationships. “We are not all
the same!”
Effective diversity management increases an organization’s access
to the widest pool of skills, abilities, and ideas.
Differences lead to miscommunication, misunderstanding, and
conflict.
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Diversity Management
It is the application of the organization’s understanding of
diversity.
It is the way that organizations recognize and utilize the
differences that will allow them to create a culture that
capitalizes on their workforce diversity to be a leader in the
marketplace.
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Describe How Organizations
Manage Diversity Effectively
Diversity is more successful when it is everyone’s business, not
just for certain groups of employees.
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LO 6
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Describe the Two Major
Forms of Workforce Diversity
Surface-Level Diversity
Deep-Level Diversity
Diversity Management
LO 1
Everyone brings differences to the organizations where they work.
These differences can create energy and excitement in the
workplace, but they can also cause conflict. So it is important
that we have an understanding of how diversity works in
organizations.
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Diversity
Surface Level Diversity - represents the characteristics that are
easily observed such as race, gender, age etc. Demographics mostly
reflect surface-level diversity.
Deep Level Diversity - represents the aspects that are more
difficult to see at first glance such as values, personality, and
work preferences.
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Diversity
Discrimination - is to note a difference between things.
Discrimination is behavior based on the attitude of
prejudice.
Prejudice – is “irrationally based” negative attitudes about
certain groups and their members. Prejudice is an attitude.
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Stereotypes and How They
Function in Organizational Settings
Everyone has attitudinal stereotypes—of national groups, religious
groups or racial groups.
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Ltd.
Stereotypes and How They
Function in Organizational Settings
Stereotyping happens when differences between things are reduced in
importance and similarities are over emphasized.
Stereotyping by preexisting beliefs and ideas associated with the
physical characteristics leads to unfair discrimination and
negative attitudes and feelings among workers.
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A Sample of Stereotyping
An airplane takes off from the airport. The captain is Jewish and
the first officer is Chinese. It's the first time they've flown
together and it's obvious from their silence that they don't get
along.
After thirty minutes, the Jewish captain mutters, "I don't like
Chinese."
The First Officer replies, "Ooooh, no rike Chinese? Why
dat?"
"You bombed Pearl Harbor. That's why I don't like
Chinese."
"Nooooo, noooo... Chinese not bomb Peahl Hahbah. Dat Japanese, not
Chinese.
"Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese...it doesn't matter, they're all
alike."
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Ltd.
A Sample of Stereotyping
Another thirty minutes of silence. Finally the First Officer says,
"No rike Jews."
"Why not? Why don't you like Jews?"
“Jews sink Titanic."
"No, no. The Jews didn't sink the Titanic. It was an
iceberg."
"Iceberg, Goldberg, Rosenberg, no mattah...all same”
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Ltd.
Unfair discrimination assumes stereotypes about groups.
Refusal to recognize individual differences is harmful to
organizations and employees.
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Stereotypes and How They
Function in Organizational Settings
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Stereotypes and How They
Function in Organizational Settings
LO 2
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Stereotypes and How They
Discrimination can be illegal in employment related situations
when:
Different standards are used to judge different individuals,
or,
The same standard is used, but it is not related to the
individuals’ jobs.
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Ltd.
Discrimination on Women
Gender Role Socialization
The process by which social institutions, including families,
friends, organizations, and the media, form and shape expectations
of acceptable behaviors for men and women.
Effects of Socialization
Neutralizes (constrains) the effectiveness of antidiscrimination
and equal pay legislation
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Ltd.
Discrimination on Women
Glass Ceiling
An invisible barrier that prevents women, people of color, and
people with disabilities from progressing beyond a certain level in
organizations.
Often erroneously perceived or referred to as beginning near top
management, including executive positions
Sticky Floors
The commonplace situation of relatively few women or minorities
advancing past first or second level management.
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Ltd.
Discrimination on Women
Maternal wall bias
Working mothers who face discrimination for their family
care-giving roles
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Perceptions that women’s leadership styles are inconsistent with
management.
Lip service, but no accountability for advancing women
Selection, appraisal, and compensation systems that disadvantage
women
Cultural discouragement
Biographical Characteristics
Biological characteristics are personal characteristics that are
objective and easily obtained from personnel records and represent
many of the surface-level aspects of diversity.
Variations in these can be the basis for discrimination
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LO 3
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Biographical Characteristics
Age
Does job performance decline with increasing age?
Studies show that turnover and absenteeism rates are lower among
older workers, and age is not associated with lower
productivity.
It is a perception people act upon and will affect the
workplace.
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LO 3
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Biographical Characteristics
Sex
There are no consistent male-female differences in problem solving
ability, analytical skills, competitive drive, motivation,
sociability, or learning drive.
But women earn less than men for the same positions and have fewer
professional opportunities.
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LO 3
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Biographical Characteristics
and How They Are Relevant to OB
Psychological studies have found women are more agreeable and
willing to conform to authority, whereas men are more aggressive
and more likely to have expectations of success, but those
differences are minor.
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Biographical Characteristics
Race and Ethnicity
Employees tend to favor colleagues of their own race in performance
evaluations, promotion decisions, and pay raises.
African Americans and Hispanics perceive higher levels of
discrimination in the workplace.
African Americans generally fare worse than Whites in employment
decisions.
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LO 3
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Biographical Characteristics
Disability
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission classifies a
person as disabled who has any physical or mental impairment that
substantially limits one or more major life activities.
Workers with disabilities receive higher performance evaluations,
but may have lower performance expectations.
Biases against those with mental impairment may be especially
strong.
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires employers to
make “reasonable accommodation” for disabilities.
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LO 3
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Biographical Characteristics
Other Biological Characteristics
Tenure and job satisfaction are positively related.
Religion
U.S. law prohibits discrimination based on religion, but it is
still an issue, especially for Muslims.
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LO 3
Tenure refers to the length of time people have been on the job.
Tenure is often seen as a positive, as it signifies that people are
happy with their employment because they have remained in their job
for a long period of time. Therefore, employees with long tenure
tend to be more productive, call in sick less frequently, and don’t
leave the organization as readily.
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Biographical Characteristics
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Federal law does not protect employees against discrimination based
on sexual orientation (but state or local laws may)., but this may
soon change.
Most Fortune 500 companies have policies covering sexual
orientation and about half now have policies on gender
identity.
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LO 3
Sexual orientation and gender identity are not protected by federal
law and as a result they are handled differently by most employers.
These characteristics are often dealt with as if they are
federally-protected characteristics even though they are not, in
order to discourage discriminatory behavior. For example, about 90
percent of Fortune 500 companies have policies on sexual
orientation and roughly half have policies on gender identity. This
is a big change from just a few years ago, and there are
indications that legislation may soon be in place to protect gay,
lesbian, bisexual, and transgender employees.
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Biographical Characteristics
Cultural Identity
A link with the culture of family ancestry or youth that lasts a
lifetime, no matter where the individual may live in the
world.
Need to accommodate and respect individual cultural
identities.
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Define Intellectual Ability and
Demonstrate Its Relevance to OB
Ability is an individual’s current capacity to perform various
tasks in a job.
Directly influences employees level of performance.
Two types:
Intellectual abilities
Physical abilities
LO 4
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Define Intellectual Ability and
Intellectual abilities are abilities needed to perform mental
activities – thinking, reasoning, and problem solving.
Most societies place a high value on intelligence.
General mental ability is an overall factor of intelligence as
suggested by the positive correlations among specific intellectual
ability dimensions.
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LO 4
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Dimensions of Intellectual Ability
Intellectual ability is made up of many dimensions. They include
number aptitude, verbal comprehension, perceptual speed, inductive
reasoning, deductive reasoning, spatial visualization, and
memory.
Number aptitude is the ability to do speedy and accurate arithmetic
and will be effective in jobs requiring mathematical ability, such
as an accountant.
Verbal comprehension is the ability to understand what is read or
heard and the relationship of words to each other. This ability
will be helpful in jobs where the manager needs to understand
policies in order to carry out their job tasks.
Perceptual speed is the ability to identify visual similarities and
differences quickly and accurately. This particular ability is
helpful when an employee needs to take in a lot of information and
make decisions about the patterns, such as a detective or
inspector.
Inductive reasoning is present when an individual can identify a
logical sequence in a problem in order to help find a solution. An
employee who needs to make decisions about the future based on
historical information will need the ability of inductive
reasoning.
Deductive reasoning is the ability to use logic and assess the
implications of the argument. When making choices between two
different possible solutions to a problem, a manager would need to
call upon their deductive reasoning skills.
Spatial Visualization is when someone can imagine how an object
would look if its position in space was changed. An employee who
needs to make decisions about office setup or interior design would
need to have a high level of spatial visualization ability.
Memory is the ability to retain and recall past experiences.
Individuals who need to act quickly in a situation, such as a
paramedic or nurse, would need a significant degree of memory
ability.
(c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, All rights reserved.
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Define Intellectual Ability and
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The seven most frequently cited dimensions making up intellectual
abilities are number aptitude, verbal comprehension, perceptual
speed, inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning, spatial
visualization, and memory.
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Contrasting Intellectual
Physical Abilities
The capacity to do tasks demanding stamina, dexterity, strength,
and similar characteristics.
Nine basic abilities related to strength, flexibility, and other
factors are needed to perform physical tasks.
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LO 5
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Contrasting Intellectual
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Contrasting Intellectual
and Physical Ability
The importance of ability at work complicates the formulation of
workplace policies that recognize disabilities.
Recognizing that individuals have different abilities that can be
taken into account when making hiring decisions is not
problematic.
It is possible to make accommodations for disabilities.
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LO 5
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Diversity in Groups
Effective Diversity Programs
Describe How Organizations
Manage Diversity Effectively
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Attracting, selecting, developing, and retaining diverse
employees
Target recruiting messages to specific demographic groups.
Ensure that hiring is bias free.
Create a positive diversity climate.
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Describe How Organizations
Manage Diversity Effectively
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Diversity in groups
Most people in groups need a common way of looking at and
accomplishing major tasks, and they need to communicate well with
each other.
Emphasize higher-level similarities among people.
Use transformational leadership.
Describe How Organizations
Manage Diversity Effectively
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Effective diversity programs
Teach managers about the legal framework for equal employment
opportunity and encourage fair treatment of all people.
Teach managers how a diverse workforce will be more effective at
serving a diverse customer base.
Foster personal development practices that bring out the skills and
abilities of everyone.
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Describe How Organizations
Manage Diversity Effectively
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Implications for Managers
Understand your organization's anti-discrimination policies
thoroughly and share them with your employees.
Assess and challenge your own stereotype beliefs to increase your
objectivity.
Look beyond readily observable biographical characteristics and
consider the individual’s capabilities before making management
decisions.
Fully evaluate what accommodations a person with disabilities will
need and then fine-tune a job to that person’s abilities.
Seek to understand and respect the unique biographical
characteristics of your employees; a fair but individualistic
approach yields the best performance.
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Assess and challenge your stereotype beliefs to increase your
objectivity.
Look beyond readily observable biographical characteristics and
consider the individual’s capabilities before making management
decisions.
Fully evaluate what accommodations a person with disabilities will
need and then fine-tune a job to that person’s abilities.
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