Human Resource Management (MGT501) VU
Lesson 8
WORK PLACE DIVERSITY
After studying this chapter, students should be able to understand the following concepts:
A. Work Force Diversity
B. Sources of work force diversity
C. Managing the diversified work force
LESSON OVERVIEW
One of the greatest challenges facing organizations today is managing workforce diversity in a way that both
respects the employees' unique attitudes and promotes a shared sense of corporate identity. This chapter
explores the issues that are intrinsic to diversity management. In the United States, as abroad, the design and
implementation of HR programs cannot ignore the diverse nature of the work force. Thus, by the end of this
chapter the reader should have a better grasp of diversity issues and how to handle them successfully
A. Work Force Diversity
Any perceived difference among people: age, functional
specialty, profession, sexual orientation, geographic origin, life
style, tenure with the organization, or position. Diversity simply
refers to human characteristics that make people different. The
sources of individual variations are complex, but they can
generally be grouped into two categories: those over which
individuals have little or no control and those over which
individuals have more control. Unless effectively managed,
diversity among employees may have a negative impact on
productive teamwork. Affirmative action is not diversity
management. Affirmative action emerged from government
pressure on business to provide greater opportunities for women
and minorities. Managing diversity is an outgrowth of natural or
environmental trends such as demographic changes and
international competition. Moreover, diversity is considered an
asset in terms of improving organizational functioning and
reflecting the customer market.
B. Sources of work force Diversity
Today diversity refers to far more than skin color and gender. It is a broad term used to refer to all kinds of
differences. These differences include women in business, dual-career families, workers of color, older workers
persons with disabilities, immigrants, young persons with limited education or skills, educational level of
employees.
i. Racial & Ethnical Groups
ii. Older Workers
iii. Gender
iv. Education
v. Dual-career Families
vi. Religions & Culture
vii. Persons with Disabilities
viii. Immigrants
ix. Young persons with limited education or skills
x. Competitive advantage though work force diversity
xi. Marketing
xii. Creativity, innovation, and problem solving
xiii. Flexibility
i. Racial & Ethical Groups: Workers of color often experience stereotypes about their group
(Hispanics, African Americans, Asians, etc.). At times, they encounter misunderstandings and
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expectations based on ethnic or cultural differences.
ii. Older Workers—as the world population is growing older, a trend that is expected to continue through
the year 2000. In addition, the trend toward earlier retirement appears to be reversing itself.
iii. Gender (Women in Business): Women represent almost 11.9 percent of corporate officers at largest
companies. However, the number of women in entry and midlevel managerial positions has risen from
34 percent in 1983 to 46 percent in 1998, meaning many more women are in the pipeline to executive
spots. Today, there are more than 9 million women-owned businesses, up from 400,000 in 1972. The
number of nontraditional, single-parent households in the United States is growing. Because more than
half of all marriages today end in divorce, this trend is expected to continue. Often, one or more
children are involved. Of course, there are always widows and widowers who have children as well, and
there are some men and women who choose to raise children outside of wedlock.
iv. Education: Another form of diversity that is now found in the workplace is that of the educational
level of employees. The United States is becoming a bipolar country with regard to education, with a
growing number of very educated people on one side and an alarming increase in the illiteracy rate on
the other.
v. Dual-Career Families: The increasing number of dual-career families presents both challenges and
opportunities for organizations. As a result of this trend, some firms have revised their policies against
nepotism to allow both partners to work for the same company. Other firms have developed polices to
assist the spouse of an employee who is transferred. When a firm wishes to transfer an employee to
another location, the employee’s spouse may be unwilling to give up a good position or may be unable
to find an equivalent position in the new location. Some companies are offering assistance in finding a
position for the spouse of a transferred employee.
vi. Religion and Culture: Due to globalization religion and culture based diversity is also increasing in
organizations.
vii. Persons with disabilities: A handicap, or disability, limits the amount or kind of work a person can do
or makes achievement unusually difficult. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), passed in 1990,
prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities.
viii. Immigrants: Today the permitted level of legal immigration is increasing. Some are highly skilled and
well educated, and others are only minimally qualified with little education. They have one thing in
common—an eagerness to work. They have brought with them attitudes, values, and mores particular
to their home-country cultures.
ix. Young persons with limited education or skills: Each year thousands of young, unskilled workers
are hired, especially during peak periods, such as holiday buying seasons. In general, they have limited
education—high school or less. More jobs can be de-skilled, making it possible for lower-skilled workers
to do them.
x. Competitive advantage through Work Force Diversity: For many years’ organizations, the original
impetus to diversify their workforces was social responsibility and legal necessity. Morally ethically it was
right to do so. Today many organizations are approaching diversity efforts from a moral practical,
business oriented perspective,. Increasingly, diversity can be a powerful tool for building completive
advantage. Companies with a reputation for providing opportunities for diverse workforce will have a
completive advantage in a labor market and will be sought out by the most qualified employees, In
addition when employee believe their differences are not merely tolerated but valued , they may become
more loyal, productive and committed.
xi. Marketing: Companies are realizing that consumers, like the workforce, are changing demographically.
Just as women and minorities may prefer to work for an employer that values diversity, they may prefer
to patronize such organizations. A multicultural workforce can provide a company with greater
knowledge of th preferences and consuming habits of thus market place. This knowledge can assist
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Human Resource Management (MGT501) VU
companies in designing products and developing market campaigns to meet those consumer needs. A
diverse workforce can also give company competitive edge in a global economy by facilitating
understanding of other customers, cultures, and market place needs.
xii. Creativity, innovation, and problem Solving: Work team diversity promotes creativity and
innovation, because people from different backgrounds hold different perspective on issues. Diverse
groups have a broader base of experience from which to approach problem; when effectively managed,
they invent more options and create more solutions than homogeneous groups do. In addition, diverse
workgroups are freer to deviate from traditional approaches and practices.
xiii. Flexibility: A diverse workforce can enhance organizational flexibility because successfully managing
diversity requires a corporate culture that tolerates many different styles and approaches. Less restrictive
polices and procedures and less standardized operating methods enable organization to become more
flexible and thus better able to respond quickly to environmental changes.
xiv. Diversity Management and Affirmative Action Programs: We can define the workforce diversity
management as set of activities involved in integrating diverse employees into the work force and using
their diversity to the firm’s competitive advantage
C. How organization Cultivate a Diverse Workforce:
An Organization’s plans for becoming multicultural and making the most of its diverse workforce should
include:
I. Securing top management support and Commitment
II. Organizational Assessment
III. Attracting employees
IV. Developing Employees
V. Retaining employees
I. Securing top management support and commitment: Obtaining top-level commitment and
support is critical for diversity programs to succeed. One way to communicate this
commitment to all employees as well as to the external environment is to incorporate the
organization’s attitudes toward diversity into the corporate mission statement and into strategic
plans and objectives. Managerial compensation can be directly linked to accomplishing diversity
objectives. Adequate funding must be allocated to diversity effort to ensure its success. Also,
top management can set an example for other organization members by participating in
diversity programs and making participation mandatory for all managers. Top management or
diversity directors alone cannot do the work fof mamnagin diversity. Many companies rely on
minority advisory groups or task forces to monitor organizational policies, practices, and
attitudes; access their impact on the diverse groups within the organization; and provide
feedback and suggestions to top management.
II. Organizational Assessment: The next step in managing diversity is to assess the organization’s
workforce, culture, policies, and practices in areas such as recruitment, promotions, benefits,
and compensation. In addition, the demographics of the labor pool and the customer base
should be evaluated. The objective is to identify problem areas and make recommendations
where changes are needed.
III. Attracting Employees: Companies can attract a diverse, qualified workforce through using
effective recruiting process, accommodating employees’ work and family needs, and offering
alternative work arrangements.
IV. Developing Employees: Employees can be developed in a variety of ways. Here we will focus on
skills training and diversity training.
V. Retaining Employees: As replacing qualified and experienced workers become more difficult and
costly, retaining good workers will become much more important. A number of policies and
strategy will increase retention of all employees, especially those who are “different” from the
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norm.
STEPS TOWARD MANAGEMENT OF DIVERSITY
a. Managing Diversity means taking steps to maximize diversity’s potential advantages while minimizing
the potential barriers, such as prejudices and bias that can undermine the functioning of a diverse
workforce.
b. Boosting Workforce Diversity – Employers use various means to boost workforce diversity: start
diversity programs; have departmental diversity meetings; form special networking
and mentoring groups; and/or direct recruiting ads to one or more of the online
minority-oriented job markets
c. Equal Employment Opportunity Versus Affirmative
Action – Equal employment opportunity aims to ensure that
anyone, regardless of race, color, sex, religion, national origin,
or age, has an equal chance for a job based on his/her
qualifications. Affirmative action goes beyond equal
employment opportunity by requiring the employer to make
an extra effort to recruit, hire, promote, and compensate
those in protected groups to eliminate the present
effects of past discrimination.
d. Affirmative Action: Two Basic Strategies – The good
faith effort strategy is aimed at changing the practices
that contributed to minority groups’ or females’ exclusion or
underutilization. The quota strategy mandates bottom-line results through hiring
and promotion restrictions.
Challenges in Managing Employee Diversity
Diversity offers opportunities as well as challenges. The challenges include appropriately valuing diversity,
balancing individual needs and group fairness, dealing with resistance to change, ensuring group cohesiveness
and open communication, avoiding employee resentment, keeping the focus on performance, retaining valued
performers, and maximizing opportunity for all employees.
a. Resistance to Change: Although employee diversity is a fact of life, the dominant groups in
organizations are still composed of white men.
b. Segmented Communication Networks: One study found that most communication within
organizations occurs between members of the same sex and race. Therefore diversified workforce
organization may face the challenge of segmented communication networks.
c. Resentment: Equal employment opportunity that can be defined as fairness of employment that is free
from all sort of discrimination in majority of organizations was a forced change rather than a voluntary
one.
d. Backlash: While women and minorities may view a firm's “cultural diversity policy” as a commitment
to improving their chances for advancement, white men may see it as a threat.
How to avoid Backlash: Many organizations that have instituted diversity programs have
experienced adverse reactions from employee groups, particularly white men. Here are some guidelines
for HR professionals and company managers who are attempting to manage diversity without adversity.
i. Adopt an inclusive definition of diversity that addresses all kinds of differences among
employees, including (but not limited to) race and gender.
ii. Make sure that top management is not only committed to establishing a diversity program but
also communicates that commitment directly to all employees
iii. Involve everyone, including white men, in designing the diversity program.
iv. Avoid stereotyping groups of employees, such as white men, when explaining cultural or ethnic
differences
v. Recognize and reward white men who are part of the solution rather than blaming men who are
part of the problem.
vi. Avoid one-time training efforts that stir up emotions without channeling them in productive
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directions. Use ongoing training that encompasses diversity as only one facet of needed change
in the corporate culture.
e. Retention: The job satisfaction levels of women and minorities are often lower than those of white
men.
f. Competition for Opportunities: As minority populations grow in the U.S., competition for jobs and
opportunities is likely to become much stronger.
g. Lower Cohesiveness: Diversity can create a lack of cohesiveness. Cohesiveness’ refers to how tightly
knit the group is and the degree to which group members perceive, interpret and act on their
environment in similar or mutually agreed upon ways. Because of their lack of similarities language,
culture, and/ or experience, diverse workforce typically are less cohesive than homogeneous groups.
Often mistrust, miscommunication, stress and attitudinal differences cohesiveness, which inurn can
diminish productivity.
h. Communication problem: Perhaps the most common negative effect of diversity is communication
problems. These difficulties include misunderstanding, inaccuracies, and slowness. speed is lost when not
all group members are fluent in the same language or when additional time is required to explain things.
i. Diversity also increases errors and misunderstandings. Group members may assume they interpret
things similarly when in fact they do not ,or they may disagree because of their different frames of
references .
j. Mistrust and tension: People prefer to associate with others who are like themselves. This tendency
often leads to mistrust and misunderstanding of those who are different because of lack of contact and
low familiarity. it also causes stress and tension ,and reaching agreement on problems can be difficult.
k. Stereotyping: We learn to see the world in a certain way based on our backgrounds and experiences.
Our interests, values and cultures act as filters and distort, block and select what we see and hear. We see
and hear what we expect to see and hear. Group members often inappropriately stereotype their
“different” colleagues rather than accurately perceiving and evaluating those individual’s contributions,
capabilities aspirations and motivations. Such stereotypes inurn affect how people employee stereotyped
as unmotivated or emotional will be given less -stress – provoking jobs than their coworkers. Those job
assignments will create frustrated employees, perhaps resulting in low commitment, higher turnover, and
underused skills.
Key Terms
Affirmative Action: Steps that are taken for eliminating the present effects of past discrimination
Cohesiveness: Refers to how tightly knit the group is and the degree to which group members
perceive, interpret and act on their environment in similar or mutually agreed upon
ways
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