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2
Diversity
in
Organizations
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
Learning Objectives
Describe the two major forms of workplace
diversity.
Demonstrate how workplace discrimination
undermines organizational effectiveness.
Describe how the key biographical
characteristics are relevant to OB.
Explain how other differentiating characteristics
factor into OB.
Demonstrate the relevance of intellectual and
physical abilities to OB.
Describe how organizations manage diversity
effectively. .
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LO 1
Workplace Diversity
Diversity Management
Surface-Level Diversity
Deep-Level Diversity
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LO 2 Workplace Discrimination and
Organizational Effectiveness
Discrimination is to note a difference between
things.
Unfair discrimination assumes stereotypes
about groups.
Refusal to recognize individual differences is
harmful to organizations and employees.
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LO 2 Workplace Discrimination and
Organizational Effectiveness
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LO 3 Biographical Characteristics
and Organizational Behavior
Biological characteristics are personal
characteristics that are objective and easily
obtained from personnel records.
Variations in these can be the basis for
discrimination
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LO 3 Biographical Characteristics
and Organizational Behavior
Age
The U.S. workforce is aging.
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.
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LO 3 Biographical Characteristics
and Organizational Behavior
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 Biographical Characteristics
and Organizational Behavior
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 Biographical Characteristics
and Organizational Behavior
Disabilities
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.
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LO 3 Biographical Characteristics
and Organizational Behavior
Hidden Disabilities
Sensory disabilities, chronic illness or pain,
cognitive or learning impairments, sleep
disorders, and psychological challenges.
U.S. organizations must accommodate
employees with a very broad range of
impairments.
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LO 4 Other Characteristics and
Organizational Behavior
Tenure
Tenure is a good predictor of employee
productivity.
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 4 Other Characteristics and
Organizational Behavior
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Federal law does not protect employees
against discrimination based on sexual
orientation, but this may soon change.
Most Fortune 500 companies have policies
covering sexual orientation and about half
now have policies on gender identity.
Cultural Identity
Need to accommodate and respect
individual cultural identities.
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LO 5
Intellectual and Physical
Abilities and OB
Ability is an individual’s current capacity to
perform various tasks in a job.
Two types
Intellectual abilities
Physical abilities
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LO 5
Intellectual and Physical
Abilities and OB
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 5
Intellectual and Physical
Abilities and OB
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LO 5 Intellectual and Physical
Abilities and OB
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 Intellectual and Physical
Abilities and OB
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LO 6 Describe How Organizations
Manage Diversity Effectively
Diversity management is the process and
programs by which managers make everyone
more aware of and sensitive to the needs and
differences of others.
Diversity is more successful when it is
everyone’s business, not just for certain
groups of employees.
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LO 6
Describe How Organizations
Manage Diversity Effectively
Attracting, Selecting,
Developing, and Retaining
Diverse Employees
Diversity in Groups Effective Diversity
Programs
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LO 6
Describe How Organizations
Manage Diversity Effectively
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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LO 6
Describe How Organizations
Manage Diversity Effectively
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.
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LO 6
Describe How Organizations
Manage Diversity Effectively
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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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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