Diversity

• Effective diversity management increases an organizations

access to possible pool of
- skills
- abilities
- ideas
• Managers need to recognize differences among people
can lead to
- miscommunication
- conflict
- misunderstanding
Demographic characteristics of workforce

• Multi ethnic workforce

• Increased women in workforce
• Inclusion of DM in company policies and
practices
• Differences in wages and executive positions
 Levels of diversity
• Surface-level diversity
Differences in easily perceived characteristics
such as gender, race, ethnicity, age, or
disability that do not necessarily reflect the
ways people think or feel but that may
activate certain stereotypes.
• Deep-level diversity
Differences in values, personality and work
preferences that become progressively more
important for determining similarity as people
get to know one another better.
 Discrimination
• Noting of a difference between things; often
we refer to unfair discrimination, which means
making judgments about individuals based on
stereotypes regarding their demographic
group
• Discriminatory policies or practices
Actions taken by representatives of the organization that deny
equal opportunity to perform or unequal rewards for
performance

• Mockery and insults

jokes or negative stereotypes

• Intimidation
overt threats or bullying directed at members of specific groups
of employees
• Exclusion
exclusion of certain people from job opportunities, certain
discussions and events

• Incivility
Disrespectful treatment, including behaving in an aggressive
manner, interrupting the person or ignoring his opinions

• Sexual harassment
verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that create a
hostile or offensive work environment
 Disadvantages of discrimination
• Reduced productivity
• Citizenship behavior
• Negative conflicts
• Increased turnover
 Biographical characteristics
• Personal characteristics such as age, gender,
race and length of tenure that are objective
and easily obtained from personal records.
• These characteristics are representative of
surface-level diversity.

• Variations in these surface-level characteristics

could act as basis for discrimination
 Age
Qualities of older workers:
- experience
- judgment
- strong work ethic
- commitment to quality
• Older workers are also perceived as lacking
flexibility and resisting new technology.
• "The older you get, the less likely you are to
quit your job. That conclusion is based on
studies of the age-turnover relationship.“
• Age is also inversely related to absenteeism
• The relationship between age and
productivity?

• The relationship between age and job

satisfaction?
 Gender
• Women do they perform equally well on jobs
as men do?
• There are no consistent male-female differences in
problem solving ability, analytical skills, competitive
drive, motivation, sociability or learning ability.
• Women are more agreeable and willing to conform
to authority
• There are no significant differences between
productivity of both men and women, however
women in male domains are perceived as less
likeable and more hostile
• Preference for work schedules
- part-time work
- flexible work schedules
- telecommuting
• Absence and turnover rates?
• Women are more likely to turnover than men,
they also tend to have high rates of
absenteeism due to home and family
responsibilities.
 Disability
• A person with disability means a person
suffering from not less than 40 percent of any
disability certified by a medical authority.
examples:
low vision, hearing impairment, locomotor
disability, mental illness etc.
• Workers with disabilities receive higher
performance evaluations

• They encounter lower performance

expectations and are less likely to be hired
Other biographical characteristics
• Tenure
seniority-productivity relationship. If we define
seniority as time on a particular job the most
recent evidence demonstrates a positive
relationship between seniority and productivity
Seniority is negatively related to absenteeism
and turnover and positively related to job
satisfaction
• Religion
- Prohibiting employers to discriminate against
employees based on religion
- Faith can be an employment issue when
religious beliefs prohibit certain behaviors
- religious individuals believe that they have
certain obligations in workplace too
 Ability
• An individual's capacity to perform the various
tasks in a job.

"Regardless of how motivated you are, it is

unlikely that you can act as well as Meryl Streep,
run as fast as Michael Johnson, write horror
stories as well as Stephen King, or sing as well as
Whitney Houston"
• Intellectual abilities
the capacity to do mental activities- thinking,
reasoning and problem solving
jobs differ in their demand they place on
intellectual abilities
the correlation between intelligence and job
satisfaction is about zero
Dimension Description Job example

Number aptitude Ability to do speedy and Accountant: Computing the sales tax on a
accurate arithmetic set of items

Verbal Ability to understand Plant manager: Following corporate

comprehension what is read or heard and policies
the relationship of words
to each other

Perceptual speed Ability to identify visual Fire investigator: Identifying clues to

similarities and support a charge of arson
differences quickly and
accurately

Inductive reasoning Ability to identify a logical Market researcher: Forecasting

sequence in a problem demand for a product in the next time
and then solve the period
Problem
Deductive Ability to use logic and
reasoning assess the
implications of an
argument
Spatial visualization Ability to imagine how an
object would look if its
position in space
were changed
Memory Ability to retain and recall
past experiences
Supervisor: Choosing between
two different suggestions
offered by employees
Interior decorator:
Redecorating an office
Salesperson: Remembering
the names of customers
 Physical abilities
• The capacity to do tasks that demand stamina,
dexterity, strength and similar characteristics
 Implementing Diversity Management
Strategies
• Diversity Management
The process and programs by which managers
make everyone more aware of and sensitive to
the needs and differences of others
 Attracting, Selecting, Developing and
Retaining Diverse Employees
• Placement of advertisements to attract
various demographic groups
• Advertisements that fail to show women and
minorities in positions of organizational
leadership send a negative message
• Qualifications are far more important in hiring
decisions
• Similarity in personality does appear to affect
career advancement

• Data suggests individuals who are different

from their co-workers are more likely to quit
and feel low commitment
 Diversity in Groups
• Does diversity help or hurt group
performance?
• Demographic diversity does not appear to either
help or hurt team performance in general
• Individuals who are highly intelligent and
interested of working in teams are more effective
• Group of individuals with different education and
expertise would be more effective than groups in
which everyone wants to be in charge
• Group leaders can play an important role
 Effective Diversity Programs
• Effective diversity programs have three basic
components
1. They teach managers about legal framework for
equal employment opportunity and encourage
their fair treatment of all people regardless of
their demographic characteristics
2. How a diverse workforce would be better able to
serve a diverse market of customers and clients
3. They foster personal development practices
that bring out the skills and abilities of all
workers acknowledging how differences in
perspective can be a valuable way to improve
performance for everyone
 Case
• Ayesha ranked among the top 100 in the merit list in the difficult
and prestigious civil services exams in Pakistan. During the interview
she was asked how she managed to read and write despite her
several visual impairment. They asked her how it was that she
wanted to take the top bureaucratic job in Pakistan, did she think
she would be able to serve the country? Ayesha thought the
interviewers were unfair and discriminatory in their questions. After
she came from interview she lodged a complaint with the National
Centre for promotion for Employment for Disabled people.
Simultaneously, the results were announced and Ayesha was ranked
among the top 100 candidates. However, even a year later she had
not been offered a posting. She feels that she is being discriminated
against. She’s planning to go to court on this issue.
• What advice would you give to Ayesha? Do
you think she’s being too sensitive?
 Case
• Asad is a good student. His parents were very supportive and ensured
that he was able to get the opportunity to work hard and excel. Asad was
overjoyed when he got admission in a very prestigious university in
Lahore to study economics. However, the first day he went to university
he realized all classes were on the first floor and there was no washroom
in the university that he could use. The university had given him the
admission without realizing the fact that he had a disability which due to
which he had to be in the wheel chair all the time. With his motorized
wheel chair he could manage on his own, but only when buildings were
accessible. The university was willing to move the classes to ground floor
but even the ground floor was not entirely accessible to Asad without
some support from fellow student. The principal of the university said
there was no budget to make the university accessible immediately.
• What would be your decision as the Principal
of Asad’s university? How would you ensure
fairness towards him?