Chapter 8

Managing a New and Diverse

Workforce

DeNisi  Griffin  Sarkar

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 Workforce Diversity

Diversity exists in a group or

organization when its members differ
from one another along one or more
important dimensions.

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 The Nature of Workforce
Diversity

Trends
Trends in
in Workforce
Workforce Diversity
Diversity

Changing
Changing Diversity
Diversityas
asaa Employment
Employment Increasing
Increasing
demographics
demographics source
sourceofof legislation
legislationand
and globalization
globalization
ininthe
thelabor
labor competitive
competitive legal
legalactions
actions of
ofbusiness
business
force
force advantage
advantage

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 Diversity Management versus
Equal Employment Opportunity
• Equal Employment • Diversity
Opportunity Management
 Treating people fairly  Recognizing and
and equitably appreciating differences
 Taking actions that do among people at work
not discriminate on  Accommodating
the basis of some differences to the extent
illegal criterion that is feasible and
possible

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 Fig. 8.1 Immigration Trends into the United
States

0
01
–2
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00
20
 Similarities Among People at
Work
Have
Have aa fundamental
fundamental andand basic
basic desire
desire
to
to be
be treated
treated with
with respect
respect and
and
dignity
dignity by
by their
their employer
employer
Most
Most
People
People
Have
Have aa capacity
capacity for
for being
being reasonable
reasonable
and
and understanding
understanding when
when confronted
confronted
with
with reasonable
reasonable behavior
behavior byby others
others

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 Identical Treatment Versus
Equitable Treatment
• Employers should be aware that:
 Employees of different beliefs and faiths desire
different religious holidays
 Men have greater muscle mass than do women and
therefore can lift heavier weights
 Women bear children; they may need longer
periods of time off after childbirth
 Accommodations for disabled employees may be
perceived as an unfair advantage

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 Three Paradigms in Managing
Diversity
• Discrimination and Fairness Paradigm: Focuses on equal
opportunity of employees, fair treatment for all, increased
representation of employees from diverse backgrounds
through recruitment processes to ensure compliance with the
law of the land.
• Access and Legitimacy Paradigm: Companies operating
under this paradigm serve increasingly diverse pool of
customers with diverse pool of capabilities. They try to match
different capabilities with different customer requirements.
• Learning and Effectiveness holds that we work in the
corporate world, with our differences and not despite our
differences. Organizations operating under this paradigm truly
celebrate diversity.
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 Dimensions of Diversity

Common
Common Aspects
Aspects of
of
Workforce
Workforce Diversity
Diversity

Age
Age Gender
Gender Ethnicity
Ethnicity Disability
Disability

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 Diversity in Age Distributions
• Average age of the U.S. workforce is gradually
increasing.
• Declining birth rates among post-baby-
boomers account for smaller percentages of
new entrants into the labor force.
• More people are working beyond the age at
which they might have retired just a few years
ago.

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 Age and Accident Rates

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Changing
Composition
of the U.S. *Projection
Workforce

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 Other Dimensions of Diversity
• Sexual orientation and gender identity
• People with different religious or political
ideologies
• People with special dietary preferences
(e.g., vegetarians)

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 Diversity and Social Change
• Diversity in organizations both facilitates
and is facilitated by social change in the
environment.
 Organizations affect social change through
the images they use to promote themselves
and their products.
 Organizations that use diverse groups as
representatives convey a message of their
sensitivity toward diversity.

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 Diversity and Competitiveness

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 Diversity and Conflict
• Conflict can arise when an individual
thinks that someone has been hired,
promoted, or fired because of their
diversity status.
• Diversity that is misunderstood,
misinterpreted, or that causes
inappropriate interactions between people
of different groups can promote conflict.

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 The Bottom Line on Diversity
• Diversity leads to positive outcomes
such as better firm performance.
 When a firm reaches true diversity,
subgroup conflict dynamics disappear as
everyone begins to view themselves as
members of the same organization.

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 Managing Diversity in
Organizations
Individual
Individual Strategies
Strategies for
for
Dealing
Dealing with
with Diversity
Diversity

Understanding
Understanding Empathy
Empathy Tolerance
Tolerance Communication
Communication

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 Organizational Strategies and
Diversity
Organizations
Organizationsadopt
adoptthem
thembecause
becausethey
they
Organizational
Organizational directly
directlyor
orindirectly
indirectlyaffect
affecthow
howpeople
peopleare
are
policies
policies treated.
treated.

Diversity
Diversitycan
canbebemanaged
managedmore
moreeffectively
effectively
Organizational
Organizational by following practices and procedures
by following practices and proceduresbasedbased
practices
practices on
onflexibility
flexibilityrather
ratherthan
thanrigidity.
rigidity.

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 Diversity Training

Training specifically
designed to enable
members of an
organization to
function better in a
diverse workplace.

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 The Multicultural Organization
• Has achieved high levels of diversity
• Can capitalize fully on the advantages of
the diversity
• Has few diversity-related problems

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 The Multicultural Organization

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 Managing Knowledge in
Organizations
• Organizational Memory
 The collective, institutional record
of past events
• Organizational Learning
 The process by which an
organization “learns”
from past mistakes
and adapts to its
environment
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 Managing Knowledge Workers
• Employees who add value because of what
they know and are compensated accordingly.
• Issues:
 Establishing equitable career paths and
compensation structures for managerial,
professional, and technical employees
 Attracting and retaining employees with valued
knowledge and skills

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 Diverse Customer/ Community Partnership Fig 8.6 Financial Impact
Diversity
To achieve Obj. Measure Targets Initiative Score- To succeed Obj. Measure Targets Initiative
our vision how card financially,
should we how should
deliver we appear to
products and our
services to shareholders?
our diverse
customer
community?

Workforce Profile
Workforce Climate/ Culture
To meet Obj. Measure Targets Initiative
customer To motivate Obj. Measure Targets Initiative
needs, our workforce,
Vision
what how will we
&
should our sustain a
Strategy productive,
workforce
reflect? inclusive work
How will climate?
we retain
them?

Diversity Leadership Commitment

Learning & Growth
To achieve Obj. Measure Targets Initiative To achieve Obj. Measure Targets Initiative
our vision how our vision,
should we how will we
sustain sustain our
leadership ability to
accountability change and
for diversity? improve?

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 Social Responsibility Social
Entrepreneurship
Corporate
Corporate Social
Social
Responsibility
Responsibility

Responsible
Responsible Accountable
Accountable

Transparent
Transparent Sustainable
Sustainable

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