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Chapter 2: Diversity in
Organizations

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Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
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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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
organizations 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 organizations
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
LO 6
Organizations
Manage Diversity
Effectively
Diversity is more
successful when it is
everyones business, not just for
certain groups of employees.

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Describe the Two Major

LO 1

Forms of Workforce
Diversity
Diversity
Management

Surface-Level Diversity
Deep-Level Diversity
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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
Prejudice versus Discrimination
Are they the same?
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
Stereotype- a fixed impression of a group
of people.
Everyone has attitudinal stereotypesof
national groups, religious groups or racial
groups.

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Stereotypes and How They

Function in Organizational
Stereotyping happens when
differences
Settings
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."
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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

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Stereotypes and How They

LO 2

Function in Organizational
Settings
Unfair discrimination
assumes
stereotypes about groups.
Refusal to recognize individual
differences is harmful to organizations
and employees.

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LO 2

Stereotypes and How They

Function in Organizational
Settings

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Stereotypes and How They

Function.
Discrimination can be illegal in
employment related situations when:
1. Different standards are used to judge
different individuals, or,
2. The same standard is used, but it is not
related to the individuals jobs.

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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
Affects womens treatment in organizations
Neutralizes (constrains) the effectiveness of
antidiscrimination and equal pay legislation
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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.
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Discrimination on Women
Glass escalator
Men receive faster promotions in many femaledominated occupations
Maternal wall bias
Working mothers who face discrimination for
their family care-giving roles

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Breaking the Glass Ceiling

Institutional Obstacles
The old-boys network
Perceptions that womens leadership styles are
inconsistent with management.
Lip service, but no accountability for advancing
women
Selection, appraisal, and compensation
systems that disadvantage women
Cultural discouragement

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Biographical Characteristics
and How They Are Relevant to
OB

LO 3

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

Biographical Characteristics
and How They Are Relevant to OB

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.
It is a perception people act upon and will affect the
workplace.
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Biographical Characteristics
and How They Are Relevant to
OB
Sex

LO 3

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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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
and How They Are Relevant to
OB

LO 3

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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Biographical
LO 3
Characteristics
and How They Are Relevant
Disability
to OB Opportunity
The U.S. Equal Employment

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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Biographical
LO 3
Characteristics
and How They Are Relevant
Other Biological Characteristics
to OB
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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Biographical
LO 3
Characteristics
and How They Are Relevant
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
to
OB

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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Biographical Characteristics
and How They Are Relevant
Cultural Identity
OB
A link with theto
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

LO 4
and
Demonstrate Its Relevance
Ability is an individuals current capacity to
perform various tasksto
in aOB
job.
Directly influences employees level of
performance.
Two types:
Intellectual abilities
Physical abilities

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Define Intellectual Ability

LO 4
and
Demonstrate Its Relevance to
Intellectual abilities OB
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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Dimensions of Intellectual Ability

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Define Intellectual Ability

LO 4
and
Demonstrate Its Relevance to
OB

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LO 5

Contrasting Intellectual
and Physical Ability

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

Contrasting Intellectual
and Physical Ability

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LO 5

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 6

Describe How Organizations

Manage Diversity Effectively
Attracting, Selecting,
Developing, and
Retaining Diverse
Employees

Diversity in Groups

Effective Diversity
Programs
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Describe How
LO 6
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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Describe How
LO 6
Organizations
Manage Diversity
Diversity in groups
Effectively

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.

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Describe How
LO 6
Organizations
Manage Diversity
Effective diversity
programs
Effectively
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 individuals
capabilities before making management decisions.
Fully evaluate what accommodations a person
with disabilities will need and then fine-tune a job
to that persons 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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