DIVERSITY AND ORGANIZATIONS 1

Diversity and Organizations: Welcoming Dialogue on Class Bias

Cassie Andresen

Department of Project Management, Arizona State University

PMG 350: Diversity and Organizations

Trista Guzman

September 12, 2023

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Welcoming Dialogue on Class Bias

Throughout this module, one of the most significant things that I learned was how one

can relate the understanding of “work” to the way they move through the world. As we learned

in the To Be Welcoming course, economic anxiety and economic marginalization are some of the

largest issues affecting the middle class in the United States, and this can be defined in large by

learning the difference between income distribution and wealth distribution; the top 20% of

income earners earn over half of all of the income in the country in contrast to the bottom 20% of

income earners earning only 5% (ASU: TBW500 Welcoming Dialogue on Class Bias, 2023). To

compare to wealth inequality, the top 20% of individuals hold nearly 90% of all of the money (or

wealth) in the country, whilst the bottom 40% hold no wealth at all; this means that those with

low socioeconomic status are unable to access any wealth due to the unequal distribution that

society has created (ASU: TBW500 Welcoming Dialogue on Class Bias, 2023). The possibility

of gaining wealth, despite the rather unrealistic concept of the American Dream, is based in the

idea that wealth can be gained through dedication, hard work, and consistency rather than

acknowledging that fact that most wealth is generational or gained through access to very

expensive education or connections that are unreachable for many individuals in the United

States. While this may seem bleak, it is simply very important to have awareness for this

phenomenon because the wealth gap is only growing, and making smart decisions is a way that

we can use activism in organizational work.

In the To Be Welcoming course that I took this week, we learned about how class affects

the quality of life for each individual, and how privilege impacts the way people can get access

to education, jobs, and other opportunities. One topic that was discussed in the reading was

Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy, which argues that people gain motivation from being able to satisfy
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their own unmet needs; he uses a pyramid to show the distinguishing characteristics of needs,

which the base of the pyramid showing necessities such as food and shelter, and the higher levels

promoting relationships and achievements (Nahavandi, 2022, pg. 466). To compare this to the To

Be Welcoming assignment, we learned about the idea of the “social contract” which is the

implicit agreement that links together a society by the three main economic actors which are

government, private corporations, and individual workers; it is with this mindset that we can

deconstruct the idea that people who work more than one minimum wage job at a time are not

working just as hard as someone given many more privileges based on their socioeconomic

status (ASU: TBW500 Welcoming Dialogue on Class Bias, 2023). As of current, there are 40

million Americans living in poverty, with nearly 19 million people in extreme poverty, and over

5 million in absolute poverty; people of color are by far the highest number of households with

lower median incomes and are therefore unable to meet their basic needs, such as described in

Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy (ASU: TBW500 Welcoming Dialogue on Class Bias, 2023). These

are related due to the fact that if those basic needs cannot be met, it is impossible to reach a level

of safety or comfort within relationships or the possibility of achievement and this

disproportionately affects those of lower socioeconomic statuses because their access to

resources is so limited.

When I look at how this information relates to my current position at work and my

potential career growth, I think back to being in college and struggling to live, eat, or pay rent.

For years, I was living off of less than $9,000 per year and struggling to finish homework

assignments in between working three different jobs at once. As a comparison, I now work one

job that easily pays for my rent and lifestyle in the city of Seattle combined with the income of

my live-in partner. My own socioeconomic status has increased my opportunities due to the fact
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that I have access to other resources that could further my career and my education through my

career by participating in the Starbucks College Achievement Plan. Now working at the

Starbucks Headquarters as an administrative assistant, I have so much more room to grow

because I do not have to work an extra job to make ends meet and I have the space and time in

my schedule to continue professionally growing because all of my basic needs are met, as

described above. As previously stated, having this awareness allows me to understand how to

support others through now having more socioeconomic privilege.

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References

ASU: TBW500 Welcoming Dialogue on Class Bias. (n.d.) Starbucks Global Academy. ASU.

https://courses.starbucksglobalacademy.com/courses/course-v1:ASU+TBW500+2019/co

urseware/f1d5fb556b634fe289d8dde687d4c0c5/31ad0fb7a52f4ff980fd5ffbe603a388/?chi

ld=first

Nahavandi, A. (2022). The Cultural Mindset: Managing People Across Cultures. SAGE

Publications, Inc.