DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT

Human Resource Management – EMP (2020)

Dr. Nidhi S. Bisht

Asst. Prof, MDI Gurgaon
A Unique time for a unique position!

The role of Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) has never been more important.

Almost 60% of the Fortune 500 have CDOs or equivalent.

Source: https://www.kornferry.com/chief-diversity-officer-executive-search-practice, accessed

December 1, 2017; Mello(2014) p. 45.
What is Diversity ?
Four Layers of Diversity

Source: L, Gardenswartz and A, Rowe, Diverse Teams

at Work: Capitalizing on the Power of Diversity (New
York: McGraw-Hill, 1994), p. 33
How are Equal Opportunity,
Affirmative Action and Diversity Management different?

Equal Employment Affirmative Action Diversity Management

Opportunity A means to counter Leveraging differences
Enforcing statutes historical discrimination in the workforce to
to prevent by focusing on education achieve optimum
employment & employment to ensure performance; it
discrimination inclusion of these groups empowers differences
e.g. women/minority rather than suppressing
groups. them.
Diversity- critically linked to the organization’s
strategic direction
Major Reasons for Increasing Diversity

Changing Workforce
Demographics (age,
gender, ethnicity, and
The Recognition and education)
Desire for Diverse Legislation and
Viewpoints Lawsuits

Increasing Diversity
in Today’s
Organizations

Rapidly Growing
Competitive Increase in
Pressures International Business
Companies paying high Cost of Discrimination

$10.5M(age) & $192.5M(race)

$8M(gender)
$176M(race)
$508M
$47M(gender)
$132.5M(race) $250M(age)
Three paradigms of
Diversity

Discrimination and fairness perspective

Access and legitimacy perspective

Learning and integration perspective

Source: Thomas and Ely, HBR September-October, 1996

What is Diversity
Management?

Narrow Approach Broader Approach

Diversity management is Valuing
differing perspectives of people in
organizations
The process of developing an
environment that values &
maximizes the potential of all
individuals & groups in an
organization (Releasing Every
Employee’s Potential)
Diversity: Myths vs Realities

Diversity is about exclusivity: Diversity is a problem:

No it is about inclusivity. It helps to
deal with competition. HR benefit
Diversity is just another fad:
No, its a positive force of change
Diversity is just a compliance:
No, it is commitment to excellence
It is about women & minority:
No, its about internal/external
customers
No, It is an opportunity
Diversity is HR’s responsibility:
No, it is everyone’s
responsibility
It is just about race & gender:
No, it is much broader
 “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to
climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid”.
Is it ethical to give
preferential treatment
to minorities and
women, who have been widely
discriminated against in the past?
Do I bring my “full self” to work? Is EO Provided to
me in terms of these features of mine?

My Ideas My Confidence My Personality

My Opinions My Identity My Uniqueness

In most cases, it is NO. Why?

Taxonomy of existing definitions of
Inclusion

Employee inclusion in Organizational

the organization inclusiveness

Do I perceive that I am included in Do I perceive the organization to be

Perceptions the organization? inclusive?

Practices Am I included in organizational Is the organization inclusive in its

practices? practices?

Source: Adapted from Shore et al., 2011

Constitutional provisions
against discrimination and

Insider
Outsider
Few workplace realities for
LGBT Employees

Fear keeps LGBT employees closeted at work

Jokes communicate what is acceptable or unacceptable behavior in the
workplace.
Talented employees leave workplaces where they don't feel welcome
Transgender people face more employment challenges than lgb
colleagues
LGBT-inclusive policies and benefits are necessary for cultivating an
inclusive environment.
Drafting policies is easier than creating a mindset or culture change
Legal perspective - India

Section 377 of IPC – which came into force in 1862 – defines unnatural
offences.
Section 377 of Indian Penal Code did not criminalize LGBT identity
and hence initiatives that promote inclusion of LGBT employees – such as
constituting Employee Resource Groups - did not pose any legal risk for
the companies, however risk-averse organizations took a safer route by
not taking any steps in this regard.
On the other hand, some multinationals- especially those based in the
US and Europe are brought LGBT-friendly policies into their Indian offices
as well.
High Court ruling on Section 377 in
2009?

Following a PIL by Delhi-based Naz Foundation, an NGO fighting for gay

rights, the Delhi HC on July 3, 2009, struck down Section 377 of the IPC,
holding that it violated the fundamental rights of life and liberty and the right
to equality as guaranteed in the Constitution.

“Section 377 of the IPC, in so far as it criminalizes consensual sexual acts

of adults in private, is violative of Articles 21 (Right to Protection of Life and
Personal Liberty), Article 14 (Right to equality before law) and Article 15
(Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place
of birth] of the Constitution,” a division bench of Justice A P Shah and
Justice S Muralidhar said in a 105-page order.
Cont…

The HC held that the Section 377 denied dignity to an individual

and criminalized their core identity on the basis of their sexuality adding
that it also violated Article 14 by targeting homosexuals as a class.
Supreme Court in 2013 reversed
the High Court verdict?

The Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of Section 377 of

IPC, while giving the power to the legislature to formulate a law on
homosexuality.
The judgment said, “We hold that Section 377 does not suffer from the
vice of unconstitutionality and the declaration made by the division bench of
the High Court is legally unsustainable.” “The High Court overlooked that
a minuscule fraction of the country’s population constitute lesbians,
gays, bisexuals or transgenders and in last more than 150 years, less
than 200 persons have been prosecuted for committing offence under
Section 377.”
National Legal Services Authority
vs Union of India
NALSA judgment 2014

▪ The judgment – National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India,

colloquially called the NALSA judgment – gave broad directives to the
Central and state governments on affirmative action, public health,
social welfare and other services to be made available for transgender
people.
▪ The apex court directed the government to declare transgenders a ‘third
gender’ along with male and female.
▪ By most accounts, the Supreme Court recognized right to identify as the
gender in line with self-identification as male, female or third-gender, and
made it illegal for authorities to refuse her identification based on whether
she had had surgery or not.
Cont…

▪ It also asked the Centre to include them in the OBC quota.

▪ Underlining the need to bring them into the mainstream, the

verdict said transgenders should have all rights under the law,
including marriage, adoption, divorce, succession, and inheritance.
NALSA Judgement
Gender identity definition

“Gender identity refers to each person’s deeply felt internal and

individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond
with the sex assigned at birth, including the personal sense of the
body which may involve a freely chosen, modification of bodily
appearance or functions by medical, surgical or other means and
other expressions of gender, including dress, speech and
mannerisms. Gender identity, therefore, refers to an individual’s self-
identification as a man, woman, transgender or other identified
category.”
Right to Privacy Judgment of August
2017 made Section 377 very Hard to
Defend
THE TRANSGENDER PERSONS
(PROTECTION OF RIGHTS) ACT,
2019

 The Act received the assent of the President on the 5th

December, 2019
 “Transgender person" means a person whose gender does not
match with the gender assigned to that person at birth and
includes trans-man or trans-woman (whether or not such person
has undergone Sex Reassignment Surgery or hormone therapy or
laser therapy or such other therapy), person with intersex
variations, genderqueer and person having such socio-cultural
identities as kinner, hijra, aravani and jogta.
Obligation of Establishments

 No establishment shall discriminate against any transgender

person in any matter relating to employment including, but not
limited to, recruitment, promotion and other related issues.
 Every establishment shall ensure compliance with the
provisions of this Act and provide such facilities to transgender
persons as may be prescribed.
 Every establishment shall designate a person to be a
complaint officer to deal with the complaints relating to violation
of the provisions of this Act.
Offences and penalties

Whoever harms or injures or endangers the life, safety, health or

well-being, whether mental or physical, of a transgender person
or tends to do acts including causing physical abuse, sexual
abuse, verbal and emotional abuse and economic abuse, shall
be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be
less than six months but which may extend to two years and with
fine.
Reading down of Section 377

September 6, 2018 marked a historic day in Indian history – the

Supreme Court in a landmark judgment read down section 377, which
criminalised consensual same sex relations.

The archaic law, which has long been used to harass and prosecute
members of the LGBTQI+ community, was declared unconstitutional by a
five-judge bench, except in cases of bestiality.
Gender diversity and Sexual
harassment
increase by 26% in Nifty 50 companies

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/company/corporate-trends/sexual-harassment-cases-rise-by-26-in-nifty-50-companies-wipro-
icici-infosys-top-list/articleshow/54573926.cms, September 29, 2016
Quotas: Meritocracy or
women card?

“When women are in their thirties, their work and family responsibilities often
peak together. It is then you find a lot of women dropping out”. “Earlier, there
was compelling economic logic for women to continue working after marriage,
and they had a support system. This logic has now weakened compared to the
last two decades, and family support systems are definitely breaking down”
- Chanda Kochhar

“Couples who stay in are the ones who share the chores and women who fall by
the wayside are the ones who do not have a marriage that supports them”
– Naina Lal Kidwai

Source: Gender Diversity in Boardrooms (Revised Edition) The Companies Act, 2013 Series
Are Golden skirts a Solution!

Women Matter 2010,

a report by
management
consultancy
McKinsey, suggested
that companies with
gender-balanced
executive
boardrooms are 56%
more profitable than
all-male boards.
Gender Quotas

Norway was a pioneer in corporate board gender

quotas when it introduced its 40% female
representation requirement in 2006. A decade later,
42% of board seats in Norway belonged to women.

But SKIRTS in seats may not be enough.

Conditions for Board Diversity
Success

Source: Fitzsimmons(2012)
Google Anti diversity Memo
Few Highlights

Women are underrepresented in tech not because they face

bias and discrimination in the workplace, but because of inherent
psychological differences between men and women.
We need to stop assuming that gender gaps imply sexism.
 Google’s political bias has equated the freedom from offense with
psychological safety, but shaming into silence is the antithesis of
psychological safety.
This silencing has created an ideological echo chamber where some ideas
are too sacred to be honestly discussed.
The lack of discussion fosters the most extreme and authoritarian
elements of this ideology.
Extreme: all disparities in representation are due to oppression
Authoritarian: we should discriminate to correct for this oppression
Differences in distributions of traits between men and women may in part
explain why we don’t have 50% representation of women in tech and
leadership. Discrimination to reach equal representation is unfair, divisive,
and bad for business.
Men and Women- Differences

On average, men and women biologically differ in many ways. These

differences aren’t just socially constructed because:
They’re universal across human cultures
They often have clear biological causes and links to prenatal
testosterone
Biological males that were castrated at birth and raised as females often
still identify and act like males
The underlying traits are highly heritable
They’re exactly what we would predict from an evolutionary psychology
perspective
Personality differences
Women, on average, have more:

Openness directed towards feelings and aesthetics rather than ideas.

Women generally also have a stronger interest in people rather than
things, relative to men
Extraversion expressed as gregariousness rather than assertiveness.
Also, higher agreeableness.
This leads to women generally having a harder time negotiating salary,
asking for raises, speaking up, and leading.
Neuroticism (higher anxiety, lower stress tolerance)
Men’s higher drive for status

Status is the primary metric that men are judged on, pushing
many men into these higher paying, less satisfying jobs for the
status that they entail.
The Harm of Google’s biases

Programs, mentoring, and classes only for people with a certain gender
or race
A high priority queue and special treatment for “diversity” candidates
Hiring practices which can effectively lower the bar for “diversity”
candidates by decreasing the false negative rate
Reconsidering any set of people if it’s not “diverse” enough, but not
showing that same scrutiny in the reverse direction (clear confirmation
bias)
Setting org level OKRs for increased representation which can
incentivize illegal discrimination
The Disabilities Act, 2016
this has repealed the Disabilities Act, 1995
The Rights of Persons with
Disabilities Act, 2016

The Act, replaces the erstwhile Persons with Disabilities (Equal

Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995.
The law on protection and prohibition of discrimination of the disabled has
come into effect on April 19, 2017. The rules have been made effective
from June 15, 2017.
While majority of the obligations under the Disability Law are cast upon
the appropriate government and/or local authorities; certain
obligations/duties are also cast upon establishments (including in the
private sector).
 Cont…

The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (the “Disabilities Act,
2016”) along with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules, 2017
(together, the “Disability Law”) has been enacted by the Indian government

The new Disability Law gives effect to the principles of the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The Disability Law inter alia seeks to protect disabled persons from various
forms of discrimination, increases measures for effective participation and
inclusion in the society, and ensures equality of opportunity and adequate
accessibility
KEY FEATURES

‘Disabled persons’ have been categorized as: (i) persons with disability; (ii)
persons with benchmark disability and (iii) persons with disability having
high support needs.
The definition of ‘person with disability’ under the Disabilities Act, 2016 is
an inclusive definition as opposed to the exhaustive definition provided
under the Disabilities Act, 1995 and includes 21 types of disabilities as
‘specified disabilities’. The Disabilities Act, 1995 covered only 7 types of
disabilities.
 Cont…

All establishments (including in the private sector) are required to frame and
publish an Equal Opportunity Policy.

Establishments (including in the private sector) to inter alia provide for

facilities, benefits and accessible environment for the disabled.

It prohibits discrimination of persons with disabilities, unless it can be shown

that the act of discrimination was a proportionate means of achieving a
legitimate aim.
 Cont..

Time limit for accessibility by service providers

The service providers whether Government or private shall provide services

in accordance with the rules on accessibility formulated by the Central
Government under section 40 within a period of two years from the date of
notification of such rules: Provided that the Central Government in
consultation with the Chief Commissioner may grant extension of time for
providing certain category of services in accordance with the said rules.
 Cont…

Reservation in vacancies in government establishments has been

increased from 3% to 4% for certain persons or classes of persons having
benchmark disability.
For ensuring speedy trial, special courts are to be constituted in each
district to handle cases concerning violation of rights of persons with
disabilities.
Enhanced penalties with a monetary penalty extending up to Rs.
500,000 (~USD 7750) and imprisonment extending up to 5 years.
WIPRO PWD Program features
Mirchi and Mime
Lemon Tree Hotels
 "Hiring differently abled is not a charity but a business decision for
us. My guests love them too" Patu Keswani, CMD, Lemon Tree Hotels
The
Triggers and
Hurdles
SAP: Autism at Work

▪SAP's "Autism at Work" program, integrates people with autism into the
company's workforce.
▪The company has a stated objective of making 1% of its workforce people
with autism by 2020. SAP's rationale for the program is based on the belief
that "neurodiversity" contributes to the company's overall innovative
capabilities ("We believe that innovation comes from the edges").

▪The program is not viewed as a subsidized Corporate Social

Responsibility activity but as a positive net benefit activity, as well as a way
of addressing skills shortages by tapping into non-traditional pools of
(considerable) talent.
Source: SAP SE: Autism at Work, HBS Case
Autism at work
JP Morgan Chase

How Our Autism at Work Program Is Helping to Win the War for Top Tech
Talent
▪ Autism at Work, a program focused on hiring employees with Autism. Hired more
than 30 individuals who have ASD and anticipate hiring hundreds more across the
globe over the coming years
▪Through partnerships with organizations that have more experience in working with
individuals with ASD, the company is learning to look beyond the traditional interview
process
▪ Working closely with senior leaders to identify roles that would benefit from the
talents of ASD adults and ensure to provide an inclusive work environment for these
employees to thrive
Source: https://www.jpmorganchase.com/corporate/news/insights/jmahoney-autism-at-work-program.htm,
April 21, 2017
The strategic Management of
Diversity

Determine why diversity is important for the organization

Articulate how diversity relates to the mission and strategic
objectives of the organization
Define diversity and determine how inclusive its efforts will be
Make a decision as to whether special efforts should be
extended to attract a diverse workforce
Assess how existing employees, customers and other
constituencies feel about diversity
Determine specific types of diversity initiatives that may be
undertaken
 REMEMBER THE TITANS
Attitude Reflects Leadership Technologies
1.2
01.36 mins
THANK YOU!