Principles of Management Lecture 8 - Diversity

A metaphor alluding to the invisible barriers that prevent minorities and women from being promoted to top corporate positions.

• Age
• Gender
• Race
• Ethnicity
• Religion
• Sexual orientation
• Socioeconomic background
• Capabilities/disabilities
• Education
• Experience
• Physical appearance
• Other characteristics

The U.S. workforce is 44.3% female.

Women’s median weekly earnings are $726 compared to $895 for men.

Women hold only 14.6% of executive officer positions.

Aging population
Median age in the United States is 37.8 years, by 2030, 20 percent of the population will be over 65

Federal age discrimination laws
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1964

The racial and ethnic diversity of the population is increasing.

Race (genetic): American, Malay, Ethiopian, Mongolian and Caucasian (Encyclopedia Britannica).

Ethnicity: Grouping based on shared characteristics such as national origin, language and/or culture.

Direct impact on workforce.

Also on suppliers, customers etc.

• Respecting important holy days when scheduling meetings
• Providing flexible time off for religious occasions
• Posting holy days for different religions on the company calendar

• Providing reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities
• Promoting a nondiscriminatory workplace environment
• Educating the organization about disabilities and AIDS

Refers to a combination of social class and income-related factors.

Socioeconomic diversity requires that managers be sensitive and responsive to the needs and concerns of individuals who might not be as well off as others.

Employment and workplace discrimination.

40% of gay and lesbian employees have been unfairly treated, denied promotion or pushed to quit their jobs (study by Harris Interactive Inc. and Witeck Communications Inc.).

Managers need to create safe and welcoming workplace.

Training sessions and seminars needed to overturn stereotypes and prejudice.

• take many more steps to become sensitive to the ongoing effects of diversity in their organizations

• take advantage of all the contributions diverse employees can make

• prevent diverse employees from being unfairly treated

Distributive justice
A moral principle calling for fair distribution of pay, promotions, and other organizational resources based on meaningful contributions that individuals have made and not personal characteristics over which they have no control

Procedural justice
A moral principle calling for the use of fair procedures to determine how to distribute outcomes to organizational members

• Carefully appraise a subordinate’s performance
• Take into account any environmental obstacles to high performance • Ignore irrelevant personal characteristics

• Different points of view and approaches to problems
• Improved managerial decision making
• Wider range of creative ideas
• Understand needs of diverse customers
• Retain valued employees
• Expected by stakeholders

The process through which people select, organize, and interpret what they see, hear, touch, smell, and taste to give meaning and order to the world around them.

Stereotype
Simplistic and often inaccurate beliefs about the typical characteristics of particular groups of people

Bias
The systematic tendency to use information about others in ways that result in inaccurate perceptions

Similar-to-me effect
Perceive others who are similar to ourselves more positively than we perceive people who are different

Social status effect
Perceive individuals with high social status more positively than those with low social status

Salience effect
Focus attention on individuals who are conspicuously different

Diversity awareness programs

• Provide employees with accurate information about diversity.

• Uncover personal biases and stereotypes.

• Assess personal beliefs, attitudes, and values and learning about other points of view.

• Develop an atmosphere in which people feel free to share their differing perspectives.

• Improve understanding of others who are different.

Hostile work environment

• Telling gender-related jokes, displaying pornography, making sexually oriented remarks about someone’s personal appearance, and other sex-related actions that make the work environment unpleasant

• Interferes with co-workers’ ability to perform their jobs effectively

Quid pro quo

• Asking for or forcing an employee to perform sexual favors in exchange for receiving some reward or avoiding negative consequences

• Develop and clearly communicate a sexual harassment policy endorsed by top management.

• Use a fair complaint procedure to investigate charges of sexual harassment.

• When it has been determined that sexual harassment has taken place, take corrective action as soon as possible.

• Provide sexual harassment education and training to all organizational members, including managers.

• Every sexual harassment charge should be taken seriously.

• Employees sometimes wait before they file complaints.

• Managers should give employees alternative ways to report incidents of sexual harassment.

• A firm’s sexual harassment policy should be communicated to each (new) employee.

• Suppliers and customers need to be familiar with a firm’s policy.

• Employees who report sexual harassment must have their rights protected.

• Allegations of sexual harassment should be kept confidential.