Unit 8: Managing the Challenge

of Diversity
Introduction
This unit discusses current thinking on organisational diversity issues. It looks
at how diversity is changing the domestic and global workforce and includes
key points on the traditional versus inclusive models for managing diversity.
Learning Outcomes
Understanding the benefits and challenges associated with managing a
diverse workforce
Understanding personal bias and women's careers
Understanding training needs and multicultural teams

Before you start this unit, attempt the following self-assessment test to assess
your potential bias.
 Give yourself one point for each item you marked as
mostly true. The ideal score is zero, but few
people will reach that. Each question represents an
area of passive bias, which can cause people,
different from you, to feel ignored or disrespected.
If you scored 5 or more, you should reflect on how
you act and think towards people who are different
from yourself. The sooner you learn to actively
include a diverse views and people, the better a new
manager you will be.
 The unit is presented as 4 sessions.

Session 1, 2 and 3 includes a Powerpoint presentation with all the

key concepts that you need to learn plus a word document with
further explanation of some of the points introduced. Session 4 is a
case study.

This Unit is divided into 4 Sessions:

Session 1: Diversity
Session 2: Personal Bias and Women's Careers
Session 3: Diversity Indicatives
Session 4: Case Study: Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams
 Session 1: Diversity

Video:
The following clip reviews current diversity
issues in the workplace and relates to session
1.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtD8A_
_a8WQ
Research: Diversity and the global workforce
Consider the profile of the global workforce. If you search for information on the
demographics profiles of the world population you may find a wide gap in the age
of the workforce or even a growing aging population that would be retiring soon.
What do you think the profile of the workforce in your country is like?

Additional links are given to provide you with different perspectives globally.

Profile of the global workforce: Present and future

Available at
http://futurehrtrends.eiu.com/report-2015/profile-of-the-global-workforce-prese
nt-and-futuConsider /
[page not found]
Global diversity and inclusion (Economic intelligence unit)
Available at http://graphics.eiu.com/upload/eb/DiversityandInclusion.pdf
Now, complete the reading task below to provide
you with an overview of workforce diversity in the
US. It aims to:
Explain how organisations respond to
demographic changes in the global marketplace
Explore definitions of diversity
Explain the benefits and challenges associated
with managing a diverse workforce
 Read
Please read this document titled: Diversity.
 Texas Instruments does a good job recruiting women engineers out
of college 20 to 24 per cent of the electrical engineers it hires are
female. But there are few women in executive management
positions.
To help fill the pipeline to the corner office with women, Texas
Instruments grooms them for positions of higher responsibility
through initiatives like the Womens P&L Initiative, which puts
women in positions where they will get profit-and-loss experience.
Managers identify star women performers and prepare them for
line-management roles with training in leadership traits and skills. In
addition, aspiring managers are assigned to high-ranking mentors to
develop skills needed for promotion.
 Managers are discovering that it makes good business sense to support diversity programmes like
the Womens P&L Initiative.
Not only are diversity programmes the right thing to do ethically and culturally, but these initiatives
can also create new business opportunities.
To capitalize on those opportunities, organizations recognize that workplaces need to reflect the
diversity in the marketplace.
Forward-thinking managers agree and take steps to attract and retain a workforce that reflects the
cultural diversity of the population. They take seriously that there is a link between the diversity of
the workforce and corporate financial success in the marketplace.
Exhibit 12.1 lists a few corporations that are considered leaders in diversity.
They make diversity a top priority and actively pursue a corporate culture that values equality and
reflects todays multicultural consumer base.
If we dont reflect the global nature of our business in our employees, how can we possibly hope
to understand our customers? In the same way, we have to have a good balance of men and
women. If we only have men building our products and services, how are we going to appeal to
half the worlds population? MARK PALMER-EDGECUMBE, GOOGLES HEAD OF DIVERSITY AND
INCLUSION
 13.1 Leaders in Corporate Diversity

13
Copyright 2012 by South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
 TheChangingWorkplace

The differences people bring to the workplace are

valuable
The workforce is changing as organizations build
cohesive teams:
Three-generation workforce
Aging workers
Growth in number of Hispanic and Asian workers
Women outnumbering men
Growth in foreign-born population

Copyright 2012 by South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 14

 DiversityincorporateAmerica

Faced with fewer resources, a spluttering economy, and increased domestic and global competition, US
managers are searching for ways to set their organizations apart from the competition and create breakthrough
innovations.
One highly important tool for succeeding in a competitive environment is a diversified workforce.
Managers who cultivate a diversified workforce have demonstrated improvements of their organizations
chances of success.
Diverse teams that perform efficiently add value by combining individuals strengths, making the whole greater
than the sum of its parts.

In the past, when managers thought of diversity, they focused on the problems associated with diversity, such
as discrimination, bias, affirmative action and tokenism. Now managers recognize that the differences people
bring to the workplace are valuable.
Rather than expecting all employees to adopt similar attitudes and values, managers are learning that these
differences enable their companies to better compete globally and to tap into rich sources of new talent.
Although diversity in North America has been a reality for some time, genuine efforts to accept and manage
diverse people began only in recent years. Exhibit 12.2 lists some interesting milestones in the history of
corporate diversity.
Diversity in corporate America has become an important issue for policymakers partly because of the vast
changes occurring in todays workplace.
 13.2 Milestones in the History
of Corporate Diversity

17
Copyright 2012 by South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
 The following data illustrate how the workplace is changing and challenging frontline managers who are trying to build
cohesive teams:
Unprecedented generational diversity. Todays workforce is in a state of flux as a blend of multiple generations presents
new challenges for management, with people staying healthy and working longer not only in the USA, but in China, Brazil,
Russia and elsewhere.
Although most people from the post 1945 generation have retired, there are still some members in their late 60s, 70s and
even 80s active in the workplace. In 2010, for example, this generation represented about 5 per cent of the labour force in
the USA, and nearly 7 per cent in Canada.
These employees, and the rapidly ageing baby boomers, share a corporate memory that is invaluable to organizations, but
as they stay in the workforce longer, there is less room for Generation X managers wanting to move quickly up the hierarchy.
As Gen-X workers move into middle age, they are struggling with reduced guarantees about their financial futures and
questionable longer term job security.
Meanwhile, Gen-Yers, sometimes called Millennials, are characterized as ambitious, lacking loyalty to one organization, and
eager for quick success. Unlike different generations working together in the past, there are strong value differences among
employees from different eras today.

3-generation workforce; Baby boomers, heading to retirement in increasing numbers, share a corporate memory that is
invaluable to organizations. Gen Y-ers, sometimes called Millennials, are characterized as ambitious, lacking loyalty to one
organization, and eager for quick success. Gen X-ers, the generation in the middle, struggle with reduced guarantees about
their financial futures and job security.
 Ageing workers. Baby boomers continue to affect the workplace as this massive
group of workers progresses through its life stages. A baby boomer turns 60 every 7
seconds, continuously bumping up the average age of the workforce.
While the number of workers between 25 and 45-years-old is expected to decline
from 66.9 per cent to 63.7 per cent by 2020, the number of boomers age 55 years
and older will leap from 19.5 per cent to 25.2 in the same period.
Increased diversity. Todays workplace is becoming more diverse as the number of
foreign-born workers increases. Foreign-born workers make up one in six of the US
workforce and are most likely employed in service industries, such as food
preparation, cleaning and maintenance.
Of the total number of foreign-born workers, nearly 50 per cent are Hispanic and 23
per cent are Asian. Looking ahead, the number of Hispanic employees will grow the
most, expected to increase to 18.6 per cent by 2020.
Exhibit 12.3 shows the projected changes in employment among different racial and
ethnic groups in the USA
 13.3 Projected Changes in U.S.
Labor Force; 2008 to 2018

21
Copyright 2012 by South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
 Growth in women workers. Today, women outnumber men in the workplace, and their
numbers are projected to grow slightly faster, at 7.4 per cent compared to 6.3 per cent for
men.
The good news is that nearly 73 per cent of Fortune 500 companies have at least one
female executive officer, but women comprise just 14 per cent of executive officers,
according to Catalyst, a leading advocacy group for women.
To accelerate their progress, many corporations have initiated coaching and training
programmes that prepare women for senior-level positions.

These trends underscore the complex nature of todays workforce and the potential pitfalls
managers face as they lead diverse teams towards common goals. While many managers
recognize the value of multicultural diversity, some simply havent kept pace with these
demographic trends. In fact, as diversity has increased, so have the number of
discrimination complaints with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC),
which investigates employee claims and sometimes brings lawsuits on behalf of workers.
Claims rose nearly 100 000 in 2010, up 7 per cent from the year before.
 DiversityonaGlobalScale

Social and cultural differences can create

difficulties
Europe has very complex social and cultural
systems
National cultures are intangible, pervasive, and
difficult to comprehend
It is imperative to understand local cultures

Copyright 2012 by South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 23

 Diversityonaglobalscale

Managers across the globe wrestle with many of the same diversity challenges as US managers, especially concerning
the progression of women into upper management positions.
Consider, for example, that in Italy, only 6 per cent of the total number of corporate board members are women,
14 per cent in Britain, and
2 per cent in Germany and India.
As mentioned earlier, 14 per cent of all board members in the USA are women.
To boost the percentage of women on the corporate boards of European countries, the European Commission is
studying whether to introduce quotas across the continent, similar to a recent law in Italy that required Italian listed
and state-owned companies to ensure that one-third of their board members were women by 2015.
We needed a shock to the system, said Alessia Mosca, a member of Parliament for the centre-left Democratic Party,
who coauthored Italys new pink quota law. The hope is that this will set off cultural change.
Japanese companies have an even greater struggle to bridge the gender gap on corporate boards, where women
make up just 1.2 per cent of senior executives.In fact, only 65 per cent of college-educated Japanese women are
employed, many of them in low-paid temp jobs, compared with 80 per cent of women in the USA. The reasons for the
dearth of women in the Japanese workforce are complex. Part of it relates to tepid economic growth. But over two-
thirds of Japanese women leave work after their first child is born, compared to just one-third of US women, often
because of insufficient childcare and societal expectations.
Cultural norms, such as those that restrict the progression of women in Japan, are intangible, pervasive and difficult
to comprehend. However, it is imperative that managers learn to understand local cultures and deal with them
effectively.
 ManagingDiversity

Today diversity is defined broadly:

Race
Gender
Age
Lifestyle
Disability
Inclusive model includes all ways in which
employees are different (i.e. spiritual beliefs)

Copyright 2012 by South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 26

 Managingdiversity

Managers who want to boost performance and

jumpstart innovation express a consensus view that
culturally diverse teams produce the best results.
In one survey of 32 department heads and
executives, 84 per cent stated that they prefer
heterogeneous teams because they lead to
multiple viewpoints and more prolific ideas.
The characteristics of a diverse workforce and the
dividends of cultivating one are described ahead.
 Diversityandinclusion

Diversity can be briefly defined as all the ways in which people differ.
Diversity wasnt always defined this broadly. Decades ago, many companies defined diversity in terms of race,
gender, age, lifestyle and disability. That focus helped create awareness, change mindsets and create new
opportunities for many.
Today, companies are embracing a more inclusive definition of diversity, one that recognizes a spectrum of
differences that influence how employees approach work, interact with each other, derive satisfaction from their
work and define who they are as people in the workplace.
Exhibit 12.4 illustrates the difference between the traditional model and the inclusive model of diversity.
The dimensions of diversity shown in the traditional model include inborn differences that are immediately
observable and include race, gender, age and physical ability.
However, the inclusive model of diversity includes all of the ways in which employees differ, including aspects of
diversity that can be acquired or changed throughout ones lifetime.
These dimensions may have less impact than those included only in the traditional model, but they nevertheless
affect a persons self-definition and worldview and the way the person is viewed by others.
Many organizational leaders embrace this more inclusive definition of diversity. Diversity has to be looked at in
its broadest sense, said Wally Parker, former CEO of KeySpan Energy (now National Grid). To me, its all about
recognizing, respecting and supporting individuals regardless of what makes up that individuality. So, yes, thats
race, gender and sexual orientation. But its also introverted and extroverted, ethnic backgrounds, cultural
upbringing, all those things.
 13.4 Traditional vs. Inclusive Models of
Diversity

30
Copyright 2012 by South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
 One of the challenges of managing a diverse workforce is creating an environment where all employees feel
accepted as members of the team and where their unique talents are appreciated.
When managers create a feeling of inclusiveness, employees display more loyalty, cooperation and trustworthiness.
Inclusion is the degree to which an employee feels like an esteemed member of a group in which his or her
uniqueness is highly appreciated.
Inclusion creates a strong sense of belonging where all can have their voices heard and appreciated.
Consider how a manager of a retail store embraced an employees unique perspective with positive results. Hal, the
manager, supervised an employee, Olivia, who was quiet and seemed to have few innovative ideas. But as Hal
discussed marketing strategies for the store with Olivia, he was surprised to learn that she was a highly creative
thinker, consistently interjecting novel ideas into the discussion. Over time, Hal realized that this seemingly quiet
employee was one of the most creative marketing thinkers he had ever met, and together they created a very
successful line of childrens outerwear. Hal has become a strong supporter of inclusion and a champion for
individuals who operate differently from the norm.

In creating a culture of inclusion, managers may experience times of tension and discord as people with different
backgrounds bring different opinions and ideas.
Conflict, anxiety and misunderstandings may increase. Embracing these differences and using them to improve
company performance can be challenging. Managing diversity, a key management skill in todays global economy,
means creating a climate in which the potential advantages of diversity for organizational or group performance are
maximized, while the potential disadvantages are minimized.
 It could be argued that cross-cultural management has morphed into a form of knowledge management,
being synchronized, by the best firms, to the new economic world.
The task of international managers is, as described by Holden (2002) to facilitate and direct synergistic
interaction and learning at interfaces where knowledge, values and experience are transferred into
multicultural domains of implementation. Cross-cultural management is also the study of the creation,
evolution and management of fusions of diversity, in relation to organizations policies, goals, strategies and
achievements.

Holden states that the know-how and thus its benefits should be shared between individuals and
transmitted across internal organizational boundaries, becoming a facet of a firms [unique] core competence.
Cultural knowledge-sharing aligned with continuous collaborative organizational learning contributes to
gaining and maintaining international competitive advantage.
Conceptually, a firm with rich cultural diversity could conceivably pursue two strategic objectives
simultaneously, that seem to be contradictory being the exploitation of existing and the exploration of new
markets. This polemic approach is one of Strategic Ambidexterity described by Alukah and Sarkar cited in
Judge and Blocker (2008) as: A firms ability to combine exploration and exploitation strategies across
product, market and resource domains.
The Managers Shoptalk section describes how managers can leverage gender and ethnic differences to
improve performance and strengthen corporate culture.
 What happens when employees are homogeneous and lack a diversity of
perspective?
A study conducted by Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at the University of
Virginia, suggests that when a group is homogeneous, it can develop a tribal
mentality, embracing only ideas that support its own values and ditching ideas that
distort or threaten the groups norms.
Haidt observed that nearly 80 per cent of 1000 psychologists attending a professional
meeting identified themselves as liberal. Haidt claims this dominate ideology creates
a bias in thinking that leads to a hostile environment for non-liberals in the
profession.
He also observed that the small minority of psychologists who consider themselves
conservative frequently hid their feelings from colleagues to avoid being shunned or
ridiculed.
Haidts study underscores how homogeneous groups may hinder innovative thinking
and reject ideas from outsiders.
 Dividendsofworkplacediversity

Managers who build strong, diverse organizations

reap numerous dividends as described here and
shown in Exhibit 12.5.
 13.5 Dividends of Workplace Diversity

37
Copyright 2012 by South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
The dividends of diversity include the following:
Better use of employee talent. Companies with the best talent are the ones with the best
competitive advantage. Attracting a diverse workforce is not enough; companies must also
provide career opportunities and advancement for minorities and women to retain them. The
organizational talent pool must also have an absorptive capacity.
Increased understanding of the marketplace. A diverse workforce is better able to anticipate
and respond to changing consumer needs. US Ford Motor Company realized it could only reach
its business objectives if it created a workforce that reflected the multicultural face of the host
country. So it assembled a workforce made up of 25 per cent minorities (18.4 per cent are
African-American) to foster a culture of inclusion, winning it a spot on Black Enterprises 40 Best
Companies for Diversity.
Enhanced breadth of understanding in leadership positions. Homogeneous top
management teams tend to be myopic in their perspectives. According to Niall FitzGerald,
Chairman and CEO of Unilever until 2004, It is important for any business operating in an
increasingly complex and rapidly changing environment to deploy a broad range of talents. That
provides a breadth of understanding of the world and environment and a fusion of the very best
values and different perspectives which make up that world.
 Increased quality of team problem solving. Teams with diverse backgrounds bring different
perspectives to a discussion that result in more creative ideas and solutions. Although a large percentage
of Ernst & Youngs senior leadership is male, the company is taking steps to create a more diverse
leadership team, because its better for business. We know you get better solutions when you put a
diverse team at the table. People come from different backgrounds and they have different frames of
reference. When you put these people together, you get the best solution for our clients, says Billie
Williamson, director of flexibility and gender equity strategy at Ernst & Young.
Reduced costs associated with high turn-over, absenteeism and lawsuits. Companies that foster a
diverse workforce reduce turnover, absenteeism and the risk of lawsuits. Because family responsibilities
contribute to turnover and absenteeism, many companies now offer child care and elder-care benefits,
flexible work arrangements, telecommuting and part-time employment to accommodate employee
responsibilities at home. Discrimination lawsuits are also a costly side-effect of a discriminatory work
environment. A racial harassment suit against Lockheed Martin Corporation cost the company $2.5
million, the largest individual racial-discrimination payment obtained by the EEOC.

The most successful organizations appreciate the importance of diversity and recognize that their biggest
asset is their people. Organizations with diverse workforces are better prepared to anticipate strategic
surprises, as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) discovered.
Session 2: Personal Bias and Women's Careers

Video: How to improve inter-cultural

sensitivity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxb-2Vs
513s

Dealing with Ethnocentrism;Be aware of

distinctions; Accept the fact that people are
different.
Workforce diversity has changed dramatically in the past fifty
years; women's presence has increased considerable in
different roles, positions and business sectors. For a better
understanding of this, read the attached documents, which
aims to enable you to:
1) Recognize the complex attitudes, opinions, and issues that
employees bring to the workplace, including prejudice,
discrimination, stereotypes, and ethnocentrism.
2) Recognize the factors that affect women's opportunities,
including the glass ceiling, the opt-out trend, and the
female advantage.
 FactorsShapingPersonalBias

Prejudice different is deficient

Discrimination acting on
prejudicial attitudes
Stereotypes rigid, exaggerated,
and irrational beliefs

Copyright 2012 by South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 43

 To reap the benefits of diversity organizations are seeking managers who will
serve as catalysts in the workplace, to reduce barriers and eliminate obstacles for
women and minorities.
To successfully manage a diverse workgroup and create a positive, productive
environment for all employees, managers need to start with an understanding of
the complex attitudes, opinions and issues that already exist in the workplace or
that employees bring into the workplace.
These include several factors that shape personal bias:
prejudice,
discrimination,
stereotypes and
ethnocentrism.
 Workplaceprejudice,discrimination
andstereotypes

Prejudice is the tendency to view people who are different as being deficient.
If someone acts out their prejudicial attitudes towards people who are the targets of
their prejudice, discrimination has occurred.
Paying a woman less than a man for the same grade of work is gender discrimination.
Mistreating people because they have a different ethnicity is ethnic discrimination.
Although blatant discrimination is not as widespread as in the past, bias in the workplace
often shows up in subtle ways:
a lack of choice assignments,
the disregard by a subordinate of a minority managers directions or
the ignoring of comments made by women and minorities at meetings.

A survey by Korn Ferry International found that 59 per cent of minority managers surveyed
had observed a racially motivated double standard in the delegation of assignments.
 A major component of prejudice is stereotyping: rigid, exaggerated, irrational beliefs
associated with a particular group of people.
To be successful managing diversity, managers need to eliminate harmful stereotypes
from their thinking, shedding any biases that negatively affect the workplace.
For example, old stereotypes often bubble up and block womens rise to higher-level
positions.
These silent but potent beliefs include the perception that women pose a greater risk
in senior positions, or that working mothers are unable to hold positions requiring
extensive travel and stress.
Stereotypes also may block the honest feedback women need for improving their
performance. If a man makes a bad presentation, his male superiors might slap him
on the back and say, Buddy, what happened? You screwed up, man! If a woman
gives a bad presentation, she may never hear candid feedback. Instead, it may be
spoken behind her back: Wow! She really screwed up.
 Managers can learn to value differences meaning that they should
recognize cultural differences and see these differences with an
appreciative attitude.
To facilitate this attitude, managers can learn about cultural patterns
and typical beliefs of groups to help understand why people act the
way they do. It helps to understand the difference between these
two ways of thinking, most notably that stereotyping is a barrier to
diversity, but valuing cultural differences facilitates diversity.
These two different ways of thinking are listed in Exhibit 12.6 and
described below.
 12.6 Stereotyping versus Valuing Cultural
Differences

48
Copyright 2012 by South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
 Stereotypes are often based on folklore, media portrayals and other
unreliable sources of information. In contrast, legitimate cultural
differences are backed up by systematic research of real differences.
Stereotypes contain negative connotations. On the other hand,
managers who value diversity view differences as potentially positive
or neutral. For example, the observation that Asian males are typically
less aggressive does not imply they are inferior or superior to white
males it simply means that there is a difference.
Stereotypes assume that all members of a group have the same
characteristics. Managers who value diversity recognize that
individuals within a group of people may or may not share the same
characteristics.
 Not only should managers eliminate stereotypical thinking, they should also recognize the stereotype threat
that may jeopardize the performance of at-risk employees.
Stereotype threat describes the psychological experience of a person who, when engaged in a task, is aware
of a stereotype about his or her identity group that suggests he or she will not perform well on that task.
Suppose that you are a member of a minority group presenting complicated market research results to your
management team and are anxious about making a good impression. Assume that some members of your
audience have a negative stereotype about your identity group. As you ponder this, your anxiety skyrockets
and self-confidence is shaken. Understandably, your presentation suffers because you are distracted by
worries and self-doubt as you invest energy in overcoming the stereotype. The feelings you are experiencing
are called stereotype threat.
People most affected by stereotype threat are those we consider as disadvantaged in the workplace due to
negative stereotypes racial and ethnic minorities, members of lower socioeconomic classes, women, older
people, gay and lesbian individuals and people with disabilities.
Although anxiety about performing a task may be normal, people with stereotype threat feel an extra
scrutiny and worry that their failure will reflect not only on themselves as individuals but on the larger
group to which they belong.
As Beyonc Knowles said, Its like you have something to prove, and you dont want to mess it up and be a
negative reflection on black women.
 Ethnocentrism

Your group or subculture is inherently superior to

other groups and cultures
Ethnocentrism makes diversity challenging
Business world and assumptions still somewhat
homogeneous
Organizations are shifting from a monoculture
view to pluralism and ethnorelativism

Copyright 2012 by South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 51

 Ethnocentrism is one roadblock for managers trying to recognize, welcome and encourage differences among people so they
can develop their unique talents and be effective organizational members.
Ethnocentrism is the belief that ones own group and culture are inherently superior to other groups and cultures.
Ethnocentrism makes it difficult to value diversity. Viewing ones own culture as the best culture is a natural tendency among
most people. Moreover, the business world still tends to reflect the values, behaviours and assumptions based on the
experiences of a rather homogeneous, white, middle-class, male workforce.
Indeed, most theories of management presume that workers share similar values, beliefs, motivations and attitudes about
work and life in general. These theories presume that one set of behaviours best helps an organization to be productive and
effective and therefore should be adopted by all employees.
Ethnocentric viewpoints and a standard set of cultural practices produce a monoculture, a culture that accepts only one way of
doing things and one set of values and beliefs, which can cause problems for minority employees. People of color, women, gay
people, the disabled, the elderly and other diverse employees may feel undue pressure to conform, may be victims of
stereotyping attitudes, and may be presumed deficient because they are different. White, heterosexual men, many of whom
do not fit the notion of the ideal employee, may also feel uncomfortable with the monoculture and resent stereotypes that
label white males as racists and sexists.
Valuing diversity means ensuring that all people are given equal opportunities in the workplace. The goal for organizations
seeking cultural diversity is pluralism rather than a monoculture, and ethnorelativism rather than ethnocentrism.
Ethnorelativism is the belief that groups and subcultures are inherently equal. Pluralism means that an organization
accommodates several subcultures. Movement towards pluralism seeks to integrate fully into the organization the employees
who otherwise would feel isolated and ignored. To promote pluralism in its Mountain View corporate headquarters, chefs at
Googles corporate cafeteria ensure that its menu accommodates the different tastes of its ethnically diverse workforce.
 FactorsAffecting
WomensCareers

Glass Ceiling an
invisible barrier that
separates women from
top management
positions Opt-Out Trend
women are
voluntarily leaving the
workforce for various
reasons

Copyright 2012 by South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 54

 Factorsaffectingwomenscareers

Progressive organizations realize the business advantage of hiring,

retaining and promoting women in the workplace. Some research
indicates that companies with several senior-level women outperform
those without senior-level women both financially and organizationally.
Exhibit 13.7 compares the performance ratings (based on the input of
more than 58,000 employees) of over 100 global companies with three
or more women in top management to those without women in top
management.
One major survey of 58 000 employees in over 100 global companies
revealed that companies with three or more women in top management
are perceived to be more capable, have stronger leadership and inspire
higher employee motivation, among other important organizational
characteristics.
13.7 Performance Comparison of
Companies w/ Women in Top Management

Copyright 2012 by South-Western, a

division of Cengage Learning. All rights
56
reserved.
 However, there is historical evidence from 2011 that women
are stalling at the middle-management level. Women hold 53
per cent of entry-level professional positions, but they hold
only 37 per cent of middle-management positions, 28 per cent
of vice president and senior managerial roles and 14 per cent
of executive positions.
In addition, men as a group still have the benefit of higher
wages and faster promotions. In the USA in 2009, for example,
women employed full-time earned 80 cents for every dollar
that men earned, compared to 79 cents in 2000.
 Walmart, the worlds largest retailer, struggled to rebound after seven women filed
a class-action suit on behalf of all women working for the company in 2001. They
complained of a general pattern of discrimination in pay and promotions.
Six years before the lawsuit, a law firm found widespread gender disparities in pay
and promotion at Walmart and Sams Club stores and urged the company to make
improvements. In response to the report and the lawsuit, Walmart took steps to
reduce the disparity occurring in the promotion and pay of women and men.
Walmart has told its 50 000 managers to promote more women and minorities,
with 15 per cent of managers bonuses tied to achieving diversity goals. Women
now hold 46 per cent of assistant store manager positions, up from 40 per cent 5
years ago.
Both the glass ceiling and the decision to opt out of a high-pressure career have an
impact on womens advancement opportunities and pay. Yet women are sometimes
favoured in leadership roles for demonstrating behaviours and attitudes that help
them succeed in the workplace, a factor called the female advantage.
 Theglassceiling

In 2010 for the first time in US history, women held a majority of the nations jobs. As
they move up the career ladder, the numbers of men and women are comparable, with
women holding 51 per cent of all lower- and mid-level managerial and professional jobs.
But very few women break through the glass ceiling to reach senior management
positions. Only 3.6 per cent of Fortune 500 companies have a woman CEO.
The glass ceiling is an invisible barrier that exists for women and minorities that limits
their upward mobility in organizations. They can look up through the ceiling and see top
management, but prevailing attitudes and stereotypes are invisible obstacles to their
own advancement.
This barrier also impedes the career progress of minorities. In particular, Asian managers
bump up against the bamboo ceiling, a combination of cultural and organizational
barriers that impede Asians career progress. Today, while Asians are the most educated
and make up a good share of the entry-level workforce in certain industries, they make
up only 1.5 per cent of corporate board members in the USA.
 In addition, women and minorities are often excluded from informal manager networks and often dont get
access to the type of general and line management experience that is required for moving to the top.
Research suggests the existence of glass walls that serve as invisible barriers to important lateral movement
within the organization. Glass walls, like exclusion from manager networks, bar experience in areas such as line
supervision that would enable women and minorities to advance vertically. Evidence that the glass ceiling
persists is the distribution of women and minorities, who are clustered at the bottom levels of the corporate
hierarchy.
And both male and female African Americans and Hispanics continue to hold only a small percentage of all
management positions in the United States. Women and minorities also make less money. As shown in Exhibit
13.8, African-American men earn about 22 percent less, white women 24 percent less, and Hispanic men 37
percent less than white males. Minority women fare even worse, with African-American women earning 35
percent less and Hispanic women 46 percent less than white males.
Another sensitive issue related to the glass ceiling is homosexuals in the workplace. Many gay men and lesbians
believe they will not be accepted as they are and risk losing their jobs or their chances for advancement. Gay
employees of color are particularly hesitant to disclose their sexual orientation at work because by doing so they
risk a double dose of discrimination. Although some examples of openly gay corporate leaders can be found,
such as David Geffen, co-founder of DreamWorks SKG, and Ford Vice Chairman Allan D. Gilmour, most managers
still believe staying in the closet is the only way they can succeed at work. Thus, gays and lesbians often fabricate
heterosexual identities to keep their jobs or avoid running into the glass ceiling they see other employees
encounter.
13.8 The Wage Gap

Copyright 2012 by South-Western, a

division of Cengage Learning. All rights
61
reserved.
 To break through the glass ceiling into senior management roles, top executives suggest female and
minority managers follow this advice:
Gain profit-and-loss experience. Women and minorities are often sidetracked into staff functions, such
as human resources and administrative services, rather than line positions where they can gain profit- and-
loss experience. For managers who want to be considered for top-level jobs, it is important to have
experience in a line position with profit-and-loss responsibilities.
Be assertive and ask for what you want. Many Asian managers have found themselves stereotyped as
not top manager material because they are too quiet and unassertive. Women, in general, are also
uncomfortable asking for what they want, for fear of being perceived as too aggressive or too selfish. Sheryl
Sandberg, Facebooks chief operating officer, argues that women need to sit at the table. She said that 57
per cent of men entering the workforce negotiate their salaries, but only 7 per cent of women do likewise.
In addition, women and minorities need to build their case around things that matter most to their
employer principally, the impact on the bottom line.
Be willing to take risks. Jump in as a problem solver when an organization is in crisis, an opportunity
known as the glass cliff. Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric (GE), underscored this advice when he
told a group of women executives, To get ahead, raise your hand for line jobs and tough, risky assignments.
When asked about her experience with the glass cliff, KeyCorps CEO Beth Mooney said, I have stepped up
to many ugly assignments that others didnt want.

 Highlight your achievements. Women tend to downplay their accomplishments to avoid
being judged as unfeminine. In addition, modest women and minorities from group-oriented
cultures often will not ask for rewards for themselves, but they may ask for rewards for others.
White males, on the other hand, typically self-promote their successes. To achieve recognition
and credit for their successes, female and minority managers should highlight their
achievements and promote their own accomplishments.
Display confidence and credibility in your body language. Women are champions in
communicating warmth and empathy but often fall short in communicating authority and
power. Consultant Carol Kinsey Goman suggests that women who strive for leadership positions
need to be aware of non-verbal messages that reduce their authority. Her advice includes
avoiding the following actions: (1) head tilts when listening; (2) girlish behaviours such as biting
a finger or twirling hair; (3) excessive smiling; (4) nodding too much; (5) delicate handshakes
and (6) flirting.
The most important factor in determining whether you will succeed isnt your gender, its you.
Be open to opportunity and take risks. In fact, take the worst, the messiest, the most
challenging assignment you can find, and then take control. ANGELA BRALY, WELLPOINT CEO
 Optouttrend

Some women never hit the glass ceiling because they choose to get off the fast track long before it
comes into view. In recent years, an ongoing discussion concerns something referred to as the opt-out
trend.
In a major survey of nearly 2500 women and 653 men, 37 per cent of highly qualified women reported
that they voluntarily left the workforce at some point in their careers, compared to only 24 per cent of
similarly qualified men.
Quite a debate rages over the reasons for the larger number of women who drop out of mainstream
careers.
Opt-out proponents say women are deciding that corporate success isnt worth the price in terms of
reduced family and personal time, greater stress and negative health effects. Anne-Marie Slaughter, a
Princeton professor and then a top aide to Hillary Clinton, left her prestigious position to spend more
time at home with a rebellious teenager. Unable to balance work and family with success, Slaughter
challenged the concept that women can have it all in a controversial 2012 article in The Atlantic. In
the article, Slaughter said todays workplace needs to adapt, and women who opt out have no need to
apologize. Women of my generation have clung to the feminist credo we were raised with . . . because
we are determined not to drop the flag for the next generation, Ms. Slaughter wrote. But when many
members of the younger generation have stopped listening, on the grounds that glibly repeating you
can have it all is simply airbrushing reality, it is time to talk.
 One school of thought says that women dont want corporate power and status in the same
way that men do, and clawing ones way up the corporate ladder has become less appealing.
Yet critics argue that this view is just another way to blame women themselves for the dearth
of female managers at higher levels. Vanessa Castagna, for example, says she left JCPenney
after decades with the company, not because she wanted more family or personal time, but
because she kept getting passed over for top jobs.
Although some women are voluntarily leaving the fast track, many more genuinely want to
move up the corporate ladder but find their paths blocked.
In a survey by Catalyst of executive women, 55 per cent said they aspire to senior leadership
levels. In addition, a survey of 103 women voluntarily leaving executive jobs in Fortune 1000
companies found that corporate culture was cited as the number one reason for leaving. The
greatest disadvantages of women leaders stem largely from prejudicial attitudes and a
heavily male-oriented corporate culture. Some years ago, when Procter & Gamble (P&G)
asked the female executives whom it considered regretted losses (that is, high performers
that the company wanted to retain) why they left their jobs, the most common answer was
that they didnt feel valued by the company.
 TheFemaleAdvantage

There is organization advantage to hiring,

retaining, and promoting women
Men still have higher wages and faster
promotions than women, but
Women have the female advantage
because they are more collaborative, less
hierarchical, and relationship-oriented

Copyright 2012 by South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 66

 Some people hold the opinion that women might actually be better managers, partly
because of a more collaborative, less hierarchical, relationship-oriented approach that is in
tune with todays global and multicultural environment.
As attitudes and values change with changing generations, the qualities that women seem
to possess naturally may lead to a gradual role reversal in organizations. For example, a
stunning gender reversal is taking place in US education, with girls taking over almost every
leadership role from kindergarten to graduate school.
In addition, women of all races and ethnic groups are outpacing men in earning bachelors
and masters degrees. In most higher-education institutions, women make up 58 per cent
of enrolled students.
Among 25- to 29-year-olds, 32 per cent of women have college degrees, compared to 27
per cent of men. Women are rapidly closing the MD and PhD gap, and they make up about
half of all US law students, half of all undergraduate business majors and about 30 per cent
of MBA candidates.
Overall, womens participation in both the labour force and civic affairs has steadily
increased since the mid-1950s, while mens participation has slowly but steadily declined.
 According to James Gabarino, an author and professor of human development at
Cornell University, women are better able to deliver in terms of what modern
society requires of people paying attention, abiding by rules, being verbally
competent and dealing with interpersonal relationships in offices.
His observation is supported by data that female managers are typically rated
higher by subordinates on interpersonal skills, as well as on factors such as task
behaviour, communication, ability to motivate others and goal accomplishment.
Recent research found a correlation between balanced gender composition in
companies (that is, roughly equal male and female representation) and higher
organizational performance.
Moreover, a study by Catalyst indicates that organizations with the highest
percentage of women in top management financially outperform, by about 35
per cent, those with the lowest percentage of women in higher-level jobs.
 CulturalCompetence

Managers struggle to create culture that values

and nurtures diverse employees
Organizations must reduce obstacles for
disadvantaged employees
Managers must have the ability to interact
effectively with people of different cultures

Copyright 2012 by South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 69

 Achievingculturalcompetence

A corporate culture is defined by the values, beliefs, understandings and norms shared
by members of the organization. Although some corporate cultures foster diversity,
many managers struggle to create a culture that values and nurtures the organizations
diverse employees.
Managers who have made strategic decisions to foster diversity need a plan that
moves the corporate culture towards one that reduces obstacles for disadvantaged
types of employees.
A successful diversity plan leads to a workforce that demonstrates cultural
competence in the long run. Cultural competence is the ability to interact effectively
with people of different cultures.
Exhibit 12.7 illustrates the five-step process for implementing a diversity plan.
These steps create cultural competence among employees by helping them better
understand, communicate with, and successfully interact with diverse co-workers
 12.7 Five Steps to Cultural Competence

71
Copyright 2016 by South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
Step 1: Uncover diversity problems in the organization. Most doctors cant make a medical diagnosis
without first examining the patient. Similarly, organizations cannot assess their progress towards
cultural competence without first investigating where the culture is right now. A cultural audit is a
tool that identifies problems or areas needing improvement in a corporations culture. The cultural
audit is completed by employees who answer the following types of questions:
How do promotion rates compare?
Is there pay disparity between managers in the same pay grade?
Does a glass ceiling limit the advancement of women and minorities?
Answers to these questions help managers assess the cultural competence of the organization and
focus their diversity efforts on specific problems.
Step 2: Strengthen top management commitment. The most important component of a successful
diversity strategy is management commitment, leadership and support. Some of the ways that top
managers demonstrate their support of diversity efforts are by allocating time and money to diversity
activities, supporting the recommendations of problem-solving task forces and communicating the
commitment to diversity through speeches and vision and mission statements. Committed top
managers also make diversity a priority by setting an example for others to follow.
Step 3: Choose solutions to fit a balanced strategy. The best solutions to diversity problems
are those that address the organizations most pressing problems uncovered during Step
1. To be most effective, solutions should be presented in a balanced strategy and address
three factors: education, enforcement and exposure.
Education may include new training programmes that improve awareness and diversity
skills.
Enforcement means providing incentives for employees who demonstrate new behaviours
and disciplinary action for those who violate diversity standards. A good example is
Dennys restaurants. After facing discrimination lawsuits in the early 1990s, Dennys
rebounded with a multifaceted diversity programme that included 25 per cent
discretionary bonuses to all senior managers who significantly improved their record of
hiring and promoting minority workers.
Exposure involves exposing traditional managers to non-traditional peers to help break
down stereotypical beliefs. For example, a company might team up a white male manager
with a female African-American manager.
Step 4: Demand results and revisit the goals. The truism What doesnt get
measured doesnt get done equally applies to diversity efforts. Diversity
performance should be measured by numerical goals to ensure solutions are
being implemented successfully. Numerical goals demonstrate that diversity is
tied to business objectives. Examples of numerical goals might include tracking
the salaries, rates of promotion and managerial positions for women and
minorities. But these personnel statistics dont completely measure an
organizations progress towards cultural competence. Other measures might
include productivity and profitability tied to diversity efforts, employee opinions
about their co-workers and an assessment of the corporations ability to provide a
satisfying work environment for all employees.
Step 5: Maintain momentum to change the culture. Success with any of the
previous four steps is a powerful motivator for continuing diversity efforts.
Corporations should use these successes as an impetus to move forward and to
provide leverage for more progress.
 Read
Please view this Powerpoint document titled:
personal-bias-and-womens-careers ppt
Please read this document titled:
Personal Bias and Women's Careers.
 Session 3: Diversity Initiatives

Diversity Initiatives
In this final unit and your penultimate session, we will look
at how diversity initiatives and training help to create a
conducive work environment that encourages and values
diversity.
Use the reading tasks below to:
Describe how diversity initiatives and training programmes
help create a climate that values diversity.
Understand how multicultural teams and employee network
groups help organizations respond to the rapidly changing
and complex workplace.
 Read
Please view this Powerpoint document titled:
diversity-initiatives ppt
Please read this document titled:
Diversity Initiatives, then answer the question
below.
Remember to complete the weekly task
below.
 DiversityInitiatives
andPrograms

Changing Structures and Policies

Expanding Recruitment Efforts
Establishing Mentor Relationships
Accommodating Special Needs
Providing Diversity Skills Training
Increasing Awareness of Sexual Harassment

Copyright 2012 by South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 78

Diversity initiatives and programmes
In responding to a survey by the US Society for Human Resource
Management, 91 per cent of companies said they believe that
diversity initiatives and programmes help maintain a competitive
advantage.
Some specific benefits they cited include improving employee
morale, decreasing interpersonal conflict, facilitating progress in
new markets and increasing the organizations creativity.
As described in Step 3 of Exhibit 12.7, organizations can develop
initiatives and programmes that address their unique diversity
problems.
 Enhancing structures and policies
Many policies within organizations originally were designed to fit the stereotypical male
employee. Now leading companies are changing structures and policies to facilitate and support
diversity.
Most large organizations have formal policies against racial and gender discrimination, as well as
structured grievance procedures and complaint review processes.
Companies are also developing policies to support the recruitment and career advancement of
diverse employees. Many have added a new senior management position called chief diversity
officer, whose role is to create working environments where women and minorities can flourish.
About 60 per cent of Fortune 500 companies have chief diversity officers. Among them, 65 per
cent are women and 37 per cent are African-American. Increasingly, organizations such as P&G,
Ernst & Young and Allstate Insurance are tying elements of managers bonuses and promotions
to how well they DO diversify the workforce.
Exhibit 12.8 illustrates some of the most common diversity initiatives.
 12.8 The Most Common
Diversity Initiatives: percentage of Fortune 1000 respondents

Copyright 2016 by South-Western, a

division of Cengage Learning. All rights
81
reserved.
 IBM has a long history of notable and innovative policies for
developing a richly diverse workforce. IBM currently has one
of the most diverse workforces in corporate America, and
managers strongly encourage and support an inclusive
culture.
IBM sees their ability to compete in todays marketplace, to
approach new markets and to make money as being tied to
diversity, said Caroline Simard, vice president of research at
the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. It really
is a business imperative and not just a responsibility of HR.
Expanding recruitment efforts
For many organizations, a new approach to recruitment means
making better use of formal recruiting strategies,
offering internship programmes to give people opportunities, and
developing creative ways to draw on previously unused labour markets.
US-based Nationwides Scholars Program brings in Hispanic and African-American
college students for a 3-year programme that includes summer internships and
year long mentoring.
Marathon Petroleum created a six-point recruiting strategy to increase diversity,
including (1) recruiting corporate-wide and cross-functionally; (2) building
relationships with first and second-tiered schools to recruit minority students; (3)
offering internships for racial and ethnic minorities; (4) offering minority
scholarships; (5) establishing informal mentoring programmes and (6) forming
affiliations with minority organizations.
Establishing mentor relationships
The successful advancement of diverse employees means that organizations must find ways to eliminate the
glass ceiling. One of the most successful structures to accomplish this goal is the mentoring relationship. A
mentor is a higher-ranking organizational member who is committed to providing upward mobility and support
to a protgs professional career.
Mentoring provides minorities and women with direct training and inside information on the norms and
expectations of the organization. A mentor also acts as a friend or counsellor, enabling the employee to feel
more confident and capable.
One researcher who studied the career progress of high-potential minorities found that those who advance the
most all share one characteristic a strong mentor or network of mentors who nurtured their professional
development. However, some published research also indicates that minorities, as well as women, are much less
likely than white men to develop mentoring relationships.
Women and minorities might not seek mentors because they feel that job competency should be enough to
succeed, or they might feel uncomfortable seeking out a mentor when most of their senior executives are white
males. Women might fear that initiating a mentoring relationship could be misunderstood as a romantic
overture, whereas male mentors may think of women as mothers, wives, or sisters rather than as potential
executives.
Cross-race mentoring relationships sometimes leave both parties uncomfortable, but the mentoring of minority
employees must often be across race, because of the low number of minorities in upper-level positions.
 The few minorities and women who have reached the upper ranks often
are overwhelmed with mentoring requests from people like themselves,
and they may feel uncomfortable in highly visible minorityminority or
femalefemale mentoring relationships, which isolate them from the
white male status quo.
The solution for many organizations is to overcome some of the barriers
to mentor relationships between white males and minorities.
When organizations can institutionalize the value of white males actively
seeking women and minority protgs, the benefits will mean that
women and minorities will be steered into pivotal jobs and positions
critical to advancement. Mentoring programmes also are consistent with
the US Civil Rights Act of 1991, which requires the diversification of
middle and upper management.
 Accommodating Special Needs
Many people have special needs of which top managers may be unaware. For example, if numerous people entering the
organization at the lower level are single parents, the company can reassess job scheduling and opportunities for child
care. If a substantial labor pool is non-Englishspeaking, training materials and information packets can be provided in
another language, or the organization can provide English language classes. In many families today, both parents work,
which means that the company can provide structures to deal with child care, maternity or paternity leave, flexible work
schedules, telecommuting or home-based employment, and perhaps part-time employment or seasonal hours that
reflect the school year.
The key to attracting and keeping elderly or disabled workers may include long-term-care insurance and special health or
life insurance benefits. Alternative work scheduling also may be important for these groups of workers. Organizations
struggling with generational diversity must find ways to meet the needs of workers at different ages and places in the life
cycle.
Pitney Bowes created the Life Balance Resources program to help employees in different generations cope with life cycle
issues, such as helping Generation Y workers find their first apartments or cars, assisting Generation X employees in
locating child care or getting home loans, helping baby boomers plan for retirement, and aiding older workers in
researching insurance and long-term care options.
Another issue for U.S. companies is that racial/ethnic minorities and immigrants often had fewer educational
opportunities than other groups. Some companies work with high schools to provide fundamental skills in literacy and
math, or they provide these programs within the company to upgrade employees to appropriate educational levels. The
movement toward providing educational services for employees can be expected to increase for immigrants and the
economically disadvantaged in the years to come.
 Providing Diversity Skills Training
Most of todays organizations provide special training, called diversity training, to help people identify their own cultural
boundaries, prejudices, and stereotypes and develop the skills for managing and working in a diverse workplace.
By some estimates, about $80 billion has been invested in corporate diversity programs over the past ten years, much of
it spent on training. Working or living within a multicultural context requires a person to use interaction skills that
transcend the skills typically effective when dealing with others from ones own in-group.
The first step is typically diversity awareness training to make employees aware of the assumptions they make and to
increase peoples sensitivity and openness to those who are different from them. A basic aim of awareness training is to
help people recognize that hidden and overt biases direct their thinking about specific individuals and groups. If people
can come away from a training session recognizing that they prejudge people and that this tendency needs to be
consciously addressed in communications with and treatment of others, an important goal of diversity awareness
training has been reached.
The next step is diversity skills training to help people learn how to communicate and work effectively in a diverse
environment. Rather than just attempting to increase employees understanding and sensitivity, this training gives
people concrete skills they can use in everyday situations, such as how to handle conflict in a constructive manner or
how to modify nonverbal communication such as body language and facial expression.
Verizon Communications uses an online training tool where managers can tap into various diversity scenarios that might
occur in the workplace and see how they can manage them in an appropriate way. In addition to online training,
companies may also use classroom sessions, experiential exercises, videotapes or DVDs, and outside consulting firms
that help organizations with diversity management issues.
 Increasing awareness of sexual harassment
Although psychological closeness between men and women in the workplace may be a positive experience, sexual
harassment is not as it is illegal.
As a form of sexual discrimination, sexual harassment in the workplace is a violation of Title VII of the US 1964 Civil
Rights Act.
Sexual harassment in the classroom is a violation of Title VIII of the US Education Amendment of 1972.
Many companies offer sexual harassment awareness programmes that create awareness of what defines sexual
harassment and the legal ramifications of violations.
The following list categorizes various forms of sexual harassment as defined by one university:
Generalized. This form involves sexual remarks and actions that are not intended to lead to sexual activity but that
are directed towards a co-worker based solely on gender and reflect on the entire group.
Inappropriate/offensive. Though not sexually threatening, the behaviour causes discomfort in a coworker, whose
reaction in avoiding the harasser may limit his or her freedom and ability to function in the workplace.
Solicitation with promise of reward. This action treads a fine line as an attempt to purchase sex, with the
potential for criminal prosecution.
Coercion with threat of punishment. The harasser coerces a co-worker into sexual activity by using the threat of
power (through recommendations, grades, promotions and so on) to jeopardize the victims career.
Sexual crimes and misdemeanors. The highest level of sexual harassment, these acts would, if reported to the
police, be considered felonies or misdemeanours.
 NewDiversityInitiatives

Companies believe that diversity initiatives help

maintain competitive advantage, and
Improving morale
Decreasing interpersonal conflict
Facilitating progress in new markets
Increasing creativity
Multicultural teams and employee network
groups are two new approaches to diversity

Copyright 2012 by South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 90

In addition to the ideas already discussed, two new
approaches to diversity management
multicultural teams and
employee networks
have arisen in response to the rapid change
and complexity of the twenty-firstcentury
organization.
 Using multicultural teams
Companies have long known that putting together teams made up of members from different
functional areas results in better problem solving and decision-making. Now, they are recognizing that
multicultural teams teams made up of members from diverse national, racial, ethnic and cultural
backgrounds provide even greater potential for enhanced creativity, innovation and value in todays
global marketplace.
Research indicates that diverse teams generate more and better alternatives to problems and produce
more creative solutions than homogeneous teams.
A team made up of people with different perspectives, backgrounds and cultural values creates a
healthy mix of ideas and leads to greater creativity and better decisions.
Despite their many advantages, multicultural teams are more difficult to manage because of the
increased potential for miscommunication and misunderstanding. Multicultural teams typically have
more difficulty learning to communicate and work together smoothly, but with effective cross-cultural
training and good management, teams can learn to work well together.
One management team videotaped its meetings so members could see how their body language
reflects cultural differences. An American manager remarked, I couldnt believe how even my physical
movements dominated the table, while Ron [a Filipino American] . . . actually worked his way off-
camera within the first 5 minutes.
 Encouraging employee affinity/network groups
Employee affinity groups are based on social identity, such as gender or race, and are organized by employees to focus on concerns of
employees from that group.
Affinity groups pursue a variety of activities, such as meetings to educate top managers, mentoring programmes, networking events,
training sessions and skills seminars, minority intern programmes and community volunteer activities.
These activities give people a chance to meet, interact with and develop social and professional ties to others throughout the
organization, which may include key decision-makers.
Affinity groups are a powerful way to reduce social isolation for women and minorities, help these employees be more effective and
enable members to achieve greater career advancement.
A recent study confirms that affinity groups can be important tools for helping organizations retain managerial-level minority employees.
For example, when she was a senior vice president at Best Buy, Julie Gilbert launched a womens leadership forum, known as WOLF, to
get more women involved in solving core business problems and to pull frontline employees into the top ranks. As a result of these
WOLF packs, recruitment of female regional sales managers increased 100 per cent over the previous year, and turnover among women
managers dropped almost 10 percentage points.
An important characteristic of affinity groups is that they are created informally by employees, not the organization, and membership is
voluntary. Affinity groups for minorities who have faced barriers to advancement in organizations, including African-Americans,
Hispanics, American Indians, Asian-Americans, women, gays and lesbians and disabled employees, show tremendous growth. Even
managers who once thought of these as gripe groups are now seeing them as essential to organizational success because they help to
retain minority employees, enhance diversity efforts and spark new ideas that can benefit the organization.
At Kraft Foods, affinity groups are considered critical to the success of multicultural teams because they build awareness and acceptance
of cultural differences and help people feel more comfortable working together. In general, female and minority employees who
participate in an affinity group feel more pride about their work and are more optimistic about their careers than those who do not have
the support of a group.
Question
How might employee network groups
contribute to the advancement of women and
minorities to higher-level positions in an
organization?
Answer
Employee network groups will help women and minorities grow and develop into higher-level positions through
educational awareness programs. These network groups will permit women and minorities to interact and learn about
other organizations that have shared experiences and promote growth within their organizations. These employee
network programs are designed to encourage commitment, motivation, and acceleration of women and minorities in
today's work environment. The idea behind network groups is that minority employees can join together across traditional
organizational boundaries for mutual support and to extend member influence in the organization. Network groups pursue
a variety of activities, such as meetings to educate top managers, mentoring programs, networking events, training
sessions and skills seminars, minority intern programs, and community volunteer activities. Network groups give people a
chance to meet, interact with, and develop social and professional ties to others throughout the organization, which may
include key decision makers. Network groups are a powerful way to reduce social isolation for women and minorities, help
these employees be more effective, and enable members to achieve greater career advancement.
Employees, not the organization, form network groups, and membership is voluntary. However, successful organizations
support and encourage network groups by making clear that such groups are welcome, helping members who want to
form groups contact other organizations for assistance, and perhaps providing financial assistance for other programs.
Although at first glance the proliferation of employee network groups seems to be in direct opposition to the trend toward
multicultural teams, the two mechanisms actually work quite well together. There has been a rapid growth of employee
network groups for minorities who have faced barriers to advancement in organizations, including African-Americans,
Hispanics, American Indians, Asian Americans, women, gays and lesbians, and disabled employees. Network groups offer
significant potential for supporting a workplace that values diversity. In general, female and minority employees who
participate in a network group feel more pride about their work and are more optimistic about their careers than those
who do not have the support of a network.
 Session 4: Case Study: Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams

This final session allows you to recap what you

learn in this unit using the case study below.
You may prefer to read and complete the task
online or alternatively download the
documents
 CASE STUDY: Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams: Managing Diversity

When Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams started their furniture company in 1989, the rules governing the upholstery industry were so out-dated that the two
businessmen had to write their own. Trends taking hold in the larger business community were far from the minds of most furniture executives, and service throughout
the industry was inconsistent. But Gold and Williams had a vision for how they wanted to run things: they would guarantee comfort, minimize costs, enact rigorous
controls, and produce the styles they liked for their own homes. Most importantly, they would never skimp on quality.
But the entrepreneurs had one other important goal: to foster a diverse workplace where employees could labour unburdened by stress, worry, or discrimination. To
achieve their ideal company, the partners began devising creative benefits and worker-friendly facilities. More than 20 years later, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams
(MG+BW) has some of the most generous benefits in the industry, and the companys efforts have earned high marks on the Corporate Equality Indexa business
diversity measure sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign.
To better understand the inclusive management practices at MG+BW, it helps to know something about the Corporate Equality Index rankings. For starters, MG+BW
receives points for having non-discrimination policies and diversity training. Next, all employees at the furniture company receive the same benefits, regardless of race,
gender, or religionanother ratings booster. Maria Thompson, a manager of the flagship MB+BW store in SoHo, says glass ceilings arent a worry for employees.
As a woman working for this company, I dont feel that my gender has any correlation to my performance, my evaluations, or my relationships with other coworkers -
and thats something very different, she remarks.
Simply put, Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams believe employees will be happier and more productive if they are treated positively and have access to a comprehensive
wellness program. The benefits at MG+BW are so useful that many employees satisfy personal needs through perks like gym facilities, on-site day care, and the caf. To
help working parents, MG+BW built a child enrichment centre next to its headquarters in Taylorsville, North Carolina. With the help of the affordable day care, parents
spend less time driving aroundand that means more time with kids. Parents can even have healthy lunches with their little ones at the caf. Once the kids are grown,
MG+BW offers a college scholarship program to give them a head start on their careers.

Such benefits are not merely a means of attracting good talent. Like other companies, MG+BW must manage employee stress if it wants to avoid poor employee
performance, absenteeism, burnout, turnover, aggression, and lawsuits. If employees are experiencing stress-related problems, the company cant expect high-
performance results. To combat stress related to harsh work environments, MG+BW has an air-conditioned factory with good lighting. For stress related to health
worries, the company offers an annual health fair that delivers preventive care for common health issues. To alleviate stress arising from diversity challenges, Gold and
Williams maintain an effective diversity policy.

As employees have come to recognize, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams is a diversity trendsetter. The companys founders envisioned a workplace where individuals felt
safe and respected, and now, some 20 years later, the business is reaping rewards of diversity. With more than $100 million in annual sales, its clear that peoplefocused
business strategies are paying off.
Questions
1. What are advantages and disadvantages of
diversity at Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams?
2. Which belief is championed at MG+BW:
ethnocentrism or ethno relativism?
3. How might a commitment to diversity at
MG+BW help managers with globalization?
1. What are advantages and disadvantages of diversity at Mitchell Gold and
Bob Williams?
A commitment to employee diversity can help MG+BW maximize performance,
creativity, problem solving, innovation, and recruitment. In the video, Mitchell
Gold sees diversity as a way to improve marketing: Our customers are diverse.
So if we dont understand the diversity of our customers, and understand their
needs and how they live, it makes it very hard to be successful.
In addition, diversity is a legal necessity in some countries. In the United States,
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination
based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Despite diversitys
potential for positive outcomes, it requires skilful management. Diversity can
cause misunderstanding and conflict in the workplace, which in turn can lead
to absenteeism, poor quality, loss of competitiveness, and low workgroup
cohesiveness.
2. Which belief is championed at MG+BW:
ethnocentrism or ethno relativism?
Corporate culture at MG+BW is based on a
belief in ethno relativism, or the view that
groups and subcultures are inherently equal.
At Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, all groups
and subcultures are equally valued and
treated with respect.
3. How might a commitment to diversity at MG+BW help
managers with globalization?
As companies go global, managers must deal with people from
diverse countries and backgrounds. Going global means
interacting with a world of new stakeholders, suppliers,
financial institutions and government agencies. To manage
overseas business dealings, MG+BW needs to be familiar with
other customs, languages, and cultures. The easiest way to
gain this familiarity is by hiring employees with diverse
national and cultural backgrounds. As it strives to promote
diversity, MG+BW can expect to encounter barriers to diversity
including stereotypes, prejudice, and ethnocentrism.