Robbins, Judge, and Vohra

Organizational Behavior
15th Edition

Diversity in Organizations

Kelli J. Schutte
William Jewell College
Copyright © 2014 Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd
Authorized adaptation from the United States edition of Organizational
Behavior, 15e 2-1
Chapter Learning Objectives
 After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
– Describe the two major forms of workforce diversity.
– Define the key biographical characteristics and describe how
they are relevant to OB.
– Define intellectual ability and demonstrate its relevance to
OB.
– Contrast the two types of ability.
– Describe how organizations manage diversity effectively.
– Show how culture affects our understanding of biographical
characteristics and intellectual abilities.

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Diversity

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Biographical Characteristics
Objective and easily obtained personal characteristics.
Age
– Older workers bring experience, judgment, a strong work
ethic, and commitment to quality.

Gender
– Few differences between men and women that affect job
performance.

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Biographical Characteristics (Continued)
Disability
– Today’s organizations have started making efforts to hire
people with disabilities.

Tenure
– People with job tenure (seniority at a job) are more
productive, absent less frequently, have lower turnover, and
are more satisfied.

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Other Biographical Characteristics
 Religion
– May impact the workplace in areas of dress, grooming, and
scheduling. The law prohibits employers from
discriminating against employees on the basis of their
religion.
 Sexual Orientation
– In June 2009, the High Court of Delhi, in a landmark
judgment, decriminalized homosexual sex between
consenting adults, overturning a 149-year-old British
colonial law
– Domestic partner benefits are an important consideration.
 Gender Identity
– Relatively new issue – transgendered employees.
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Ability
An individual’s capacity to perform the various tasks in a
job.
 Intellectual and Physical Abilities

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Ability
Made up of two sets of factors:

– Intellectual Abilities
• The abilities needed to perform mental activities.
• General Mental Ability (GMA) is a measure of overall
intelligence.
• No correlation between intelligence and job satisfaction.

– Physical Abilities
• The capacity to do tasks demanding stamina, dexterity,
strength, and similar characteristics.

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Dimensions of Intellectual Ability

See E X H I B I T 2–3 for details

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Nine Basic Physical Abilities

See E X H I B I T 2–4 for details

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Flexibility Factors

Flexibility Factors
•Extent flexibility
•Dynamic flexibility

See E X H I B I T 2–4 for details

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Other Physical Factors

Other Factors
•Body coordination
•Balance
•Stamina

See E X H I B I T 2–4 for details

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Role of Disabilities
 When focusing on ability, it can create problems when
attempting to develop workplace policies that recognize
diversity in terms of disabilities.
 It is important to recognize diversity and strive for it in
the hiring process.
 An organization needs to be careful to avoid
discriminatory practices by making generalizations
about people with disabilities.

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Implementing Diversity Management Strategies
 Making everybody more aware and sensitive to the
needs of others.

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 Global Implications
 Biographical Characteristics
– Not much evidence on the global relevance of the
relationships described in this chapter.
– Countries do vary dramatically on their biographical
composition.

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Additional Global Implications
 Intellectual Abilities
– Structures and measures of intelligence generalize across
cultures.
 Diversity Management
– Diversity management is important across the globe.
However, different cultures will use different frameworks
for handling diversity.

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Summary and Managerial Implications
 Summary:
– Ability
• Directly influences employee’s level of performance.
• Managers need to focus on ability in selection, promotion, and
transfer.
• Fine-tune job to fit incumbent’s abilities.
– Biographical Characteristics
• Should not be used in management decisions: possible source
of bias.

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Summary and Managerial Implications
– Diversity Management
• Must be an ongoing commitment at all levels of the
organization.
• Policies must include multiple perspectives and be long term
in their orientation to be effective.

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without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the
United States of America.

Copyright ©2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Publishing as Prentice Hall

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