Defining & Managing Diversity

DEFINING AND
MANAGING
DIVERSITY
Companies that J&J have pumped a lot of resources into
promote
diversity ensuring that all employees help to create an
management inclusive environment. The organization's Global
Diversity and Inclusion vision is “to maximize the
global power of diversity and inclusion, to drive
Total employees: 132000 +
superior business results and sustainable
competitive advantage.” How they’re making this
happen is through employee resource groups,
mentoring programs and ‘Diversity University’,
which is a dynamic website that helps employees
to understand the benefits of working
collaboratively. The Chief Diversity officer also
reports directly to the CEO and Chairman of
Johnson & Johnson, meaning that the whole
operation is being overseen by top-level
management.
Companies that
promote
diversity Mastercard consistently makes it into the Top 10
management of Diversity Inc’s 50 Best Companies for
Diversity list. They believe that “diversity is what
drives better insights, better decisions, and better
Total employees: 13400
products. It is the backbone of innovation”. A
particularly unique project that Mastercard has
executed over the past few years involves getting
older employees in the company more active
when it comes to social media. To address
generational barriers, “YoPros” BRG (the Young
Professionals Business Resource Group) offers a
one-on-one ‘Social Media Reverse Mentoring’
program to older employees who want to become
familiarised with the platforms..
Companies that
promote Accenture believe that “no one should be
diversity discriminated against because of their
management
differences, such as age, disability, ethnicity,
gender, gender identity and expression, religion
Total employees: 513000 or sexual orientation.” Diversity training within the
company is broken into 3 different categories:
1.) Diversity Awareness – to help people
understand the benefits of working with a diverse
organisation.
2.) Diversity Management – to equip executives
to manage diverse teams.
3.) Professional Development – to enable
women, LGBT and ethnically diverse employees
to build skills for success.
Companies that
promote
diversity
management As the largest managed care organisation in the
USA, the Kaiser Permanente labour force reflects
no racial majority, with nearly 60% of the staff
Total employees: 217828
comprising of people of colour. Additionally, three-
quarters of all employees, nearly half of the
executive team, and more than one-third of their
physicians are women. Part of the diversity
agenda is to provide culturally-acceptable
medical care and culturally-appropriate services
to all of the 140 cultures currently represented in
the population of the US. The company also
ranked in the Hall of Fame on DiversityInc.
Companies that
promote
diversity At EY, they believe that “only the highest-
management performing teams, which maximise the power of
different opinions, perspectives, and cultural
references, will succeed in the global
Total employees: 280000 +
marketplace.” The organisation was the first of
the Big Four to assign full-time, partner-level
leadership to diversity recruiting. Ever since, the
number of women in top executive management
positions has increased by more than 20% and
programmes such as EY Launch have begun,
which is for ethnically diverse college freshmen,
sophomores and transfer students, and builds
awareness of accounting as a major and
professional services as a profession.
Companies that
promote Named as one of the ‘World’s Best Multinational
diversity Workplaces by Great Place to Work’, the world’s
management
largest annual study of workplace excellence,
Marriott International extends their commitment to
Total employees: 174000 + creating an inclusive guest experience to their
workforce around the globe. Women-owned
business enterprises make up approximately
10% of Marriott’s supply chain and they vow to
spend $1 billion with diverse-owned businesses
by 2020. LGBT inclusion is also a top priority for
Marriott International. They received that ‘Best
Place to Work for LGBT Equality’ accolade when
they earned a perfect score on the HRC’s 2016
Corporate Equality Index, a widely recognised
benchmark for diversity and inclusion.
 Diversity management refers to organizational actions that
aim to promote greater inclusion of employees from
different backgrounds into an
organization’s structure through specific policies and
programs.
 Organizations are adopting diversity management
strategies as a response to the growing diversity of the
workforce around the world.
 Advancements in technology now allow companies to hire
and manage employees from around the world and in
different time zones.
 Companies are designing specific programs and policies to
enhance employee inclusion and promotion, and retention
of employees who are from different backgrounds and
cultures.
 The programs and policies are designed to create a
welcoming environment for groups that lacked access to
employment and more lucrative jobs in the past.
LAYERS OF DIVERSITY

Diversity represents the multitude of individual differences

and similarities that exist among people, making it as a
major issue in modern organizations.
Managing diversity constitute an important input for the
success of an organization.
This is why the topic is so important to managers.
Moreover, diversity pertains to everybody. It is not an issue
of age, race, or gender; of being heterosexual, gay, or
lesbian; or of being Catholic, Jewish, Protestant or Muslim.
Diversity pertains to the host of individual differences that
make all of us unique and different from others.
FOUR LAYERS OF
DIVERSITY
Lee Gardenswartz and Anita Rowe, a team of
diversity experts, identified four layers of
diversity to help distinguish the important
ways in which people differ. Taken together,
these layers define your personal identity and
influence how each of us sees the world
Layer 1 (Personality)

 The figure shows that personality is at the center of the diversity

wheel because it represents a stable set of characteristics
responsible for a person’s identity.
 These are the dimensions of personality. The major such elements
are:
1. Attitude
2. Behavior
3. Heredity
4. Introversion and extroversion
5. Feelings
6. Intuition
7. Motivation
LAYER 2 INTERNAL DIMENSION

 The next layer of diversity includes internal dimensions that are referred to as
surface-level dimensions of diversity.
 “Surface-level characteristics are those that are quickly apparent to
interactants, such as race, gender, and age.”
 Because these characteristics are viewed as unchangeable, they strongly
influence our attitudes, expectations, and assumptions about others, which, in
turn, influence our behavior.
 Take the encounter experienced by an African-American woman in middle
management while vacationing at a resort. While she was sitting by the pool, a
large 50-ish white male approached her and demands an extra towels
assuming that she is working there.
 When she objected by saying that she is not an
employee the man walks away without saying sorry.
LAYER 3: EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
 Figure shows that the next layer of diversity comprises external influences.
 They represent individual differences that we have a greater ability to influence or control.
Examples include the following:
1. Geographical location
2. Income
3. Personal habits
4. Religion
5. Educational background
6. Work experience
7. Parental status
8. Marital status

These dimensions also exert a significant influence on our perceptions, behavior, and attitudes.
LAYER 4: ORGANIZATIONAL DIMENSIONS
The organizational dimensions are those factors that influence the individuals and
their interactions. The major organizational dimensions are:
1. Functional level/Classification
2. Work field
3. Divisions/Departments/Units
4. Seniority
5. Work Location
6. Political Affiliations
7. Management Status

 When we integrate layer 3 and layer 4, it can be called as deep-level

characteristics of diversity.
 Deep-level characteristics are those that take time to emerge in interactions,
such as attitudes, opinions, and values.”
 These characteristics are definitely under our control.
Inclusive organization
Recognition of Individuality
 The individual is a central feature of organisational behavior.
 Organizations are made up of their individual members,
whether acting in isolation or as part of a group, in response to
expectations of the organization, or as a result of the influences
of the external environment.
 Individual differences can foster creativity, enjoyment and
satisfaction at work but can also be the potential for conflict and
frustration.
 Managers are required to be competent at selecting and
developing individuals who will be valuable to the organization.
 They need to be observant about the individuals who are
capable of effective performance, have the potential for
development and work well with other people within the context
of the organization as a whole.
 Effective management of people requires not only an
understanding of individual employees, but also
recognition of the culture of the organization.
 What is expected and accepted in one work situation
may not be the same in another.
 For instance, creativity and individuality may be
encouraged in one organization but undermined by
bureaucracy in another.
 Managers also need to be able to recognise, respect
and value individual difference and be sensitive to
contrasting needs.
 Finally, managers need to know themselves and
understand their uniqueness and the impact of their
own personality on others.
 Managing relationships at work has always been a key skill,
but the speed of change in organizations and the external
environment places increasing pressure on individuals at work.
 Sensitivity to individual needs and differences, especially in
terms of their resilience, becomes particularly significant when
organizations embark on change initiatives.
 When change appears to be externally imposed, the
management of people takes on a different dimension in terms
of the sensitivity required.
 Such changes may lead to new mindsets, attitudes and
perceptions that enable people to cope with and adjust to the
different world.
 Managers will be expected to understand the strains
employees feel during times of change, but at the same time
deal with their own levels of stress.
 HOW INDIVIDUALS DIFFER
 In an organizational setting, individuals differ in following:
1. Ethnic origin
2. Physique
3. Gender
4. Early family experience
5. Social and cultural factors
6. National culture
7. Motivation
8. Personalilty traits and types
9. Intelligence and abilities
10. Perception
 Individual differences and diversity have long been
recognized as important for effective team performance, but in
recent years greater attention has been given to the management
of diversity.
 Reasons for this include:
1. Changing social attitudes;
2. More global environment and increasing internationalization
3. Influence of regional integration
4. Equality Act 2010 and equal employment opportunities legislation;
5. Government action to increase female representation at senior
levels;
6. Demographic changes in the workforce;
7. Wider customer base;
8. Shortage of higher-level skills;
9. Programmes of affirmative action, inclusion and positive
discrimination;
10. Increasing number of women, older and part-time workers in the
workforce
 In the 1950s, Edwin Fleishman began a program of research
to determine the most common mental and physical abilities
associated with human performance, including work
performance.
 The result was a comprehensive list, or taxonomy, of 52
abilities (Fleishman & Reilly, 1992), which can be divided
into the broad categories of cognitive, physical, and
perceptual-motor abilities.
 This cover an impressive variety of abilities without covering
personality, interest and affect.
 COGNITIVE ABILITIES (g)
 “Intelligence is a very general mental capability that, among other things, involves
the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex
ideas, learn quickly, and learn from experience” (Arvey et al., 1995 p. 67).
 Is ‘g’ important at work?
 Almost every job requires some active manipulation of information, and the greater
the amount of information that needs to be manipulated, the more important “g”
becomes.
 Meta-analyses of the relationship between “g” and job performance have
demonstrated very clearly that as the complexity of the job increased, the
predictive value (i.e., criterion validity) of tests of general intelligence also
increased.
 This means that if the information-processing demands of a job are high, a person
with lower “g” is less likely to be successful than a person with higher “g.” That
does not mean, however, that high “g” guarantees success on that job.
 Can level of ‘g’ change?
 Intelligence continues to rise over time.
 Individuals appear to be getting smarter and smarter through the life span, and
new generations appear to be smarter than their parents. The phenomenon,
labeled the Flynn Effect. This says that amounts to a gain of 15 points in average
intelligence test scores per generation. This is a substantial increase, considering
that the mean intelligence on most tests is pegged at 100 with a standard deviation
of 15.
 There are many theories as to why this is occurring, including better health care,
better nutrition, increased schooling, and better-educated parents.
 Another factor may be the increasingly complex environment we live in both at
work and at home
 And within generations ‘g’ appears to be more stable
 LAYERS OF INTELLIGENCE
 Studies (Carroll), there are three layers of intelligence. The highest layer is ‘g’
 The layers are given below:

Fluid Crystallized General Visual Auditory Retrieval Cognitive

Intelligence intelligence Memory Perception Perception Ability Speediness

SPECIFIC ABILITIES
1. Fluid intelligence refers to the ability to reason and think flexibly.
2. Crystallized intelligence refers to the accumulation of knowledge, facts, and
skills that are acquired throughout life
3. Memory refers to the processes that are used to acquire, store, retain, and later
retrieve information. There are three major processes involved in memory:
encoding, storage, and retrieval.
4. Visual perception could be defined as the ability to interpret the information that
our eyes receive. The result of this information being interpreted and received
by the brain is what we call visual perception, vision, or sight. Visual perception
is a process that starts in our eyes
5. Auditory perception could be defined as the ability to receive and interpret
information that reached the ears through audible frequency waves
transmitted through the air or other means
6. The act of getting information out of memory storage and back into conscious awareness is known
as retrieval. This would be similar to finding and opening a paper you had previously saved on your
computer’s hard drive. Now it’s back on your desktop, and you can work with it again. There are three ways
you can retrieve information out of your long-term memory storage system: recall, recognition, and
relearning. Recall is what we most often think about when we talk about memory retrieval: it means you can
access information without cues. For example, you would use recall for an essay test. Recognition happens
when you identify information that you have previously learned after encountering it again. The third form of
retrieval is relearning, and it’s just what it sounds like. It involves learning information that you previously
learned. Whitney took Spanish in high school, but after high school she did not have the opportunity to speak
Spanish. Whitney is now 31, and her company has offered her an opportunity to work in their Mexico City
office. In order to prepare herself, she enrolls in a Spanish course at the local community center. She’s
surprised at how quickly she’s able to pick up the language after not speaking it for 13 years; this is an
example of relearning.

7. It is related to the speed in which a person can understand and react to the information they receive,
whether it be visual (letters and numbers), auditory (language), or movement. In other words, processing
speed is the time between receiving and responding to a stimulus.
 A fundamental value that contributes to a
successfully diversified workplace is respect
among workers and employees.
When there is a lack of acceptance of the
diverse culture and beliefs among employees,
1. ACCEPTANCE AND
RESPECT conflicts may arise.
Acceptance fosters mutual respect and
prevents conflicts from arising.
Diversity training will help employees
understand, accept, and respect each other’s
differences.
 Diversity in cultural, spiritual, and political
beliefs can sometimes pose a challenge in a
diverse workplace.
Employees need to be reminded that they
shouldn’t impose their beliefs on others to
2. ACCOMMODATION OF prevent spats and disputes.
BELIEFS
This happens in the case of imposing
someone’s religious, customs or practices
upon others.
Certain people feel that what they believe and
think is right and hence others have to accept
it.
 Issues from ethnic and cultural differences are
still present in the workplace.
There are still some individuals who hold
prejudice against people who have different
ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds as
3. ETHNIC AND CULTURAL their own.
DIFFERENCE
This prejudice and discrimination should never
be tolerated in the workplace as it creates
conflict.
 Cultural sensitivities training and diversity
awareness programs in the workplace can
help address this issue.
  Despite the popular belief that women have nearly
closed the gender gap in the workplace, men
continue to land the majority of high-paying jobs.
 Although the gender gap is slowly closing, women
still only make 84 cents for every dollar their male
counterparts make.
4. GENDER INEQUALITY  Gender gap can be closed by creating fair and
transparent hiring, compensation, evaluation, and
promotion policies.
 Bridging the gender gap can improve employee
engagement, retention, financial returns and
innovation.
  Often, disabled employees have a difficult time
navigating through their workplace because proper
accommodations as simple as wheelchair ramps
are not available.
 Some special needs employees also have service
5. PHYSICAL AND MENTAL dogs, and some office buildings don’t allow them
DISABILITIES
inside.
 An organization should have procedures in place for
people with physical or mental disabilities.
 Some companies have a “quiet room” so that when
employees start to feel anxious, they can use that
room to ease their anxiety.
  By 2025, millennials will make up 75% of the
workforce, and they are changing the work culture.
 Employees from other generations may have
difficulties adapting to changes in the workplace and
the work culture that the younger generation are
6. GENERATION GAP bringing about.
 In larger corporations, there are more diversified
age groups, from teenagers to senior citizens.
 As a result, cliques and social circles may be
formed, and some workers may be isolated from the
team.
  Language and communication barriers are ever-
present in companies with a diverse workforce.
 Many research studies have suggested that
companies with more diverse workforce outperform
companies with a homogeneous workforce.
 Embracing a diverse workforce has emerged as a
7. LANGUAGE AND
COMMUNICATION top priority for leaders.
 It has evolved from being a mere legal imperative to
becoming indispensable for business
 Make sure that your company works to increase
diversity in the workplace right from the very
beginning rather than just a lip-service. .
  In a transnational entity, people from different
nationalities work together to achieve the objectives
of the organization
 In many organizations, there exists absence of
8. GLOBALIZED BUSINESS proper socialization program which leads to
CONCEPT
problems between nationalities
 People belonging to the same nationality have got
the tendency to form informal groups and cliques.
This leads to conflict between groups which
ultimately leads to dysfunctional results.
  With their different backgrounds and experiences,
diverse employees have different ways of
approaching the same scenario and putting forth
their ideas.
 Employees who do so are extremely valuable to
your organization; they will keep driving innovative
9. MULTIPLICITY OF ideas and identify issues.
OPINION WITHIN A TEAM
 However, an excessive number of opinions can lead
to failure to reach a consensus.
 Particularly innovative solutions to problems may go
unnoticed amongst the plethora of other ideas.
 Too many opinions can compromise the
organization's ability to stick to tight deadlines due
to this reduction in productivity.
  It can be defined as how more men are joining
female dominated areas, such as health care sector
jobs and elementary school teaching.
 Within these job responsibilities, the men are
skipping right past women to reach the top. Similarly
to if they were on an escalator and a woman was
10. GLASS ESCALATOR stepping each stair to progress in her career for
promotion.
 Men are being offered more promotions than
women although women have worked just as hard,
they are still not being getting offered the same
chances as men are in few situations termed as
glass escalator.
  The “sticky floor” refers to women who accept low-
pay, less promotional positions such as junior
clerical and assistants, healthcare, childcare jobs.
11. STICKY FLOOR
 Sticky floors can be described as the arrangement
that women are, compared to men, less likely to
start to move up the job and career ladder. Thereby,
this circumstance is related to gender differences at
the bottom of the wage distribution.
Affirmative Action and Managing
Diversity
Affirmative Action & EEO Legislation
It’s important to understand that affirmative action is not a law in
and of itself. It is an outgrowth of equal employment opportunity
(EEO) legislation.
The goal of this legislation is to outlaw discrimination and to
encourage organizations to proactively prevent discrimination.
Discrimination occurs when employment decisions about an
individual are due to reasons not associated with performance or
are not related to the job. For example, organizations cannot
discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex,
age, physical and mental disabilities, and pregnancy.
Affirmative action is an artificial intervention aimed at giving
management a chance to correct an imbalance, injustice, mistake,
or outright discrimination that occurred in the past.
Affirmative Action
Affirmative action:
• Affirmative action refers to both voluntary and mandatory
programs undertaken by organizations to avoid discrimination
• Does not legitimize quotas. Quotas are illegal. They can
only be imposed by judges who conclude that a company has
engaged in discriminatory practices.
• Does not require companies to hire unqualified people.
• Has created tremendous opportunities for women and
minorities.
• Does not foster the type of thinking that is needed to
manage diversity effectively.
Affirmative Action
Research on affirmative action uncovered the following divisive
trends. In the US affirmative action plans are:
1. Perceived more negatively by white males than women and
minorities because white males see the plans as working against
their own self-interests.
2. Viewed more positively by people who are liberals and
Democrats than conservatives and Republicans.
3. Not supported by people who possess racist or sexist attitudes.
4. Found to negatively affect the women and minorities
expected to benefit from them. Research demonstrates that
women and minorities, supposedly hired on the basis of affirmative
action, feel negatively stigmatized as unqualified or incompetent.
TRENDS IN WORKFORCE DIVERSITY
GLASS CEILING
 Coined in 1986, the term glass ceiling is used to represent an invisible but
absolute barrier or solid roadblock that prevents women from advancing to
higher-level positions.
 Various statistics support the existence of a glass ceiling.
 The pay gap between men and women is one example.
 In 2012, the median weekly income in full-time management, professional, and
related occupations was $1,328 for men in contrast to $951 for women.
 This gap continued for MBA graduates.
 Female graduates from top MBA programs earned 93 cents for every dollar
earned by a male graduate, and the pay gap tends to increase over time.
 Also, a recent WSJ/NBC national poll revealed that 40 percent of the women
reported experiencing gender discrimination.
A study conducted in the US and the statistics further showed that
women had made strides along several measures:
1. Educational attainment (women earned the majority of bachelor’s
and master’s degrees from 2006 through 2012 in the US).
2. Seats on boards of directors of Fortune 500 firms (9.6% in 1995
and 16.6% in 2013).
3. Leadership positions in educational institutions (in 2010, women
represented 18.7% of college presidents and 29.9% of board
members).
4. Federal court appointments (in 2013, 32% and 30% of federal
courts of appeals and US district court judges, respectively, were
women).
The US workforce is becoming increasingly diverse.
Between 2012 and 2060, the Census Bureau predicts the following
changes in ethnic representation:
Growth: The Asian population (from 5.1% to 8.2%).
Growth: The Hispanic population (from 17% to 31%).
Mild growth: The African-American population (from 13.1% to
14.7%).
Decline: Non-Hispanic whites (from 63% to 43%).
 BARRIERS &
CHALLENGES
IN MANAGING
 Diversity is a sensitive, potentially volatile,
and sometimes uncomfortable issue for
people.
 For example, some think that diversity
programs serve to create reverse
discrimination against whites, and others
believe that it is immoral to be anything
other than heterosexual.
 It is therefore not surprising that
organizations encounter significant
barriers when trying to move forward with
diversity initiatives.
 The following is a list of the most common
barriers to implementing successful
diversity programs:
1. Inaccurate stereotypes and prejudice
2. Ethnocentrism
3. Poor career planning
4. A negative diversity climate
5. An unsupportive and hostile working
environment
6. Lack of intention on the part of
diverse employees
7. Difficulty in balancing career and
family issues
8. Fears of reverse discrimination
9. Diversity is not considered to be an
organizational priority
10. A need to revamp performance
appraisal and reward system
11. Resistance to change
12. Resistance to women’s leadership
13. Part-time workforce
14. Queen Bee Syndrome
15. Workforce incivility
1. Inaccurate stereotypes and prejudice
• This barrier manifests itself in the belief that differences are viewed as
weaknesses.
• In turn, this promotes the view that diversity hiring will mean sacrificing
competence and quality.
• A good example can be seen by considering a particular stereotype that
significantly disadvantages women during salary negotiations. “Women are
generally seen as low in competence but high in warmth, and men are seen as
high in competence but low in warmth.”
• Research shows that women experience backlash when they engage in gender
incongruent behaviors like being an aggressive negotiator.
• The end result is that recruiters or hiring managers lose interest in hiring or
working with women who violate the high-warmth, low-competence
stereotype
2. Ethnocentrism.
• The ethnocentrism barrier represents the feeling that
one’s cultural rules and norms are superior or more
appropriate than the rules and norms of another
culture.
3. Poor career planning.
• This barrier is associated with the lack of opportunities
for diverse employees to get the type of work
assignments that qualify them for senior management
positions.
4. A negative diversity climate.
• The organizational climate is the employee perceptions about an organization’s
formal and informal policies, practices, and procedures.
• Diversity climate is a subcomponent of an organization’s overall climate and is
defined as the employees’ aggregate “perceptions about the organization’s
diversity-related formal structure characteristics and informal values.”
• Diversity climate is positive when employees view the organization as being fair
to all types of employees.
• Recent research revealed that a positive diversity climate enhanced employees’
psychological safety.
• Psychological safety reflects the extent to which people feel safe to express their
ideas and beliefs without fear of negative consequences.
5.An unsupportive and hostile working environment for diverse employees.
• Sexual, racial, and age harassment are common examples of hostile work
environments.
• Whether perpetrated against women, men, older individuals, or LGBT people,
hostile environments are demeaning, unethical, and appropriately called “work
environment pollution.”
• You certainly won’t get employees’ best work if they believe that the work
environment is hostile toward them.
• Remember, a hostile work environment is perceptual. This means that people
have different perceptions of what entails “hostility.” It also is important to note
that harassment can take place via e-mail, texting, and other forms of social
media.
6. Lack of political savvy on the part of diverse employees.
 Diverse employees may not get promoted because they do not know how to “play
the game” of getting along and getting ahead in an organization.
 Research reveals that women and people of color are excluded from
organizational networks.
 Some organizations attempt to overcome this barrier by creating employee-
resource groups.
 These groups encourage individuals with similar backgrounds to share common
experiences and success strategies. American Express has 16 network groups
and Cisco has 11.
7. Difficulty in balancing career and family issues.
• Women still assume the majority of the responsibilities
associated with raising children. This makes it harder for
women to work evenings and weekends or to frequently
travel once they have children. Even without children in the
picture, household chores take more of a woman’s time than
a man’s time.
8. Fears of reverse discrimination.
 Some employees believe that managing diversity is a smoke
screen for reverse discrimination. This belief leads to very
strong resistance because people feel that one person’s gain
is another’s loss.
9. Diversity is not seen as an organizational priority.
• This leads to subtle resistance that shows up in the form of complaints and
negative attitudes. Employees may complain about the time, energy, and
resources devoted to diversity that could have been spent doing “real
work.”
10. The need to revamp the organization’s performance appraisal and reward
system.
• Performance appraisals and reward systems must reinforce the need to
effectively manage diversity. This means that success will be based on a new set
of criteria. For example, General Electric evaluates the extent to which its
managers are inclusive of employees with different backgrounds. These
evaluations are used in salary and promotion decisions.
11. Resistance to change.
• Effectively managing diversity entails significant organizational and personal
change. People resist change for many different reasons.
12. Resistance to women’s leadership
 People view successful female managers as more deceptive, tough,
egoistic, and hard to take than successful male managers.
 Studies prove that generally male managers attempt to resist the
leadership of women managers.
 Gents develop selective perception on the achievement and skills of
women managers.
13. Part Time Workforce
 Women form a major part of the part-time employees in many
organizations across the world.
 Part-timers are given lesser priority and importance in scaling up in
organizations.
14. Queen Bee Syndrome
 Sometimes women managers do not promote women employees.
 This is a big irony because man promotes man but women might not
promote women even though they are from the same gender.
15. Workplace Incivility
 Many a times, it happens that the working women are not given the
due respect and care they deserve from their male co-workers.
 This is because many of the male co-workers have the same
psychology and mental conditioning that the women occupy a
subjugated position both at home and beyond.
How to manage diversity in
workplace
 1 Hire and employ the most qualified people

 First of all, your goal should not be to force a diverse environment or

impose any artificial rules. If you hire the most-qualified people,
those with the right education, experience and skill set, a diverse
workplace will naturally follow.
 Level the playing field by putting uniform and equal practices in
place.
 Are you documenting every interview in a consistent manner? Are all
applicants for a position asked the same type of questions?
 Managers may need to be trained in the basics of interview
techniques, documentation and what can and cannot be asked. For
example, questions about an applicant’s personal life, such as how
many kids they have or where they go to church, are strictly off-
limits.
 2 Recruit Outside the Box

Finding candidates who have different backgrounds

and experience can be difficult in some industries
or areas. If that’s your situation, look for better,
more creative ways to recruit.
For instance, if you’d like to include highly qualified
candidates who are from a particular ethnic group,
expand your recruiting efforts to professional
organizations in which they might be members.
Try job fairs in other parts of town or other cities.
 3 Put the policies in writing

 Confirm that all of your personnel policies include documentation

about equality, including hiring, pay and promotions based solely on
performance. Your employee handbook should address diversity in
the following sections:
 Code of conduct should outline the company’s policy toward
diversity
 Communication plan should detail non-discriminatory
communication
 Non-discrimination policy lets people know about the laws and
exactly what is not allowed
 Compensation and benefits policy
 Employment and termination policy
 4 Enforce a zero tolerance policy

 Off-color jokes about people’s differences or stereotypical slurs have

no place in today’s workplace. Put policies in place to handle
transgressions and let it be known they will not be tolerated.
 Encourage employees to report any instances of this type of
behavior.
 Establish formal grievance policies and procedures so that
employees know exactly how to report issues and managers can
respond promptly.
 Managers must be responsible for holding people accountable.
 5 Stay current

 Keep abreast of changing employer-related laws and trends.

 Be sure your human resources policies, especially those around
harassment and equal opportunity, reflect the most current
information.
 Remember laws vary from country to country, and they can change
at lightning speed.
 What’s accepted this month may not be the next.
 Good resources to stay abreast of news are websites for the Society
of Human Resources Management and Bloomberg BNA (Bureau of
National Affairs)
 6 Secure executive buy-in

 Executives and upper management need to be on board and model

open-minded behavior.
 For example, they should:
 Treat all employees with respect and not show favoritism toward a
particular group
 Act swiftly if there is a diversity breach, such as an employee making
jokes about another group.
 Communicate about the value of diversity at company-wide
meetings
 If you meet resistance, you may want to counter with a list of ways
that diversity in the workplace can be good for business and a
reminder of the legal consequences for ignoring it.
 7 Invest in sensitivity training

 Some people might be reluctant to get on the diverse workplace bandwagon,

especially in an industry or business that has been a particular way for a long time.
 Even if this is not the case in your business, sensitivity training is a good
investment in your culture, and in some states it’s required.
 It can help employees:
• Examine and adjust their perspectives about people who are different than they
are
• Appreciate the views of others
• Learn exactly what is offensive
• Communicate calmly if someone offends them
• Apologize if they unknowingly offend someone
All employees should be included in the training; adding special training for managers
makes it even more impactful. Some companies even offer sensitivity training online
 8 Provide thorough training to the manager EEO

The ultimate solution is in imparting proper training to

managers at all levels in equal employment opportunity
(EEO).
The most important and key topics in EEO are:
1. EEO Basics in :
 Race
 Color
 National origin
 Gender discrimination
 Religion
 Sexual harassment
 8 Provide thorough training to the manager EEO

The managers should know the following:

 Retaliation discrimination (including whistleblower
retaliation)
 Disability and Disabilities Act
 Equal Pay Act
 Age Discrimination in Employment Act
 Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act
 Local employment laws and its changes
 8 Provide thorough training to the manager EEO

2. Pregnancy Discrimination
Pregnancy is a condition that is covered under protection
from discrimination. Because it is a complex and potentially
confusing focus of preconceptions and stereotypes, the
managers should be well versed in avoiding pregnancy
discrimination, which can extend well beyond the time
parameters of a nine-month pregnancy, including family
planning and lactation breaks.
 8 Provide thorough training to the manager EEO

3. Complaint recognition
The managers need to know what constitutes a complaint and how to listen and
respond to employees. They need to learn how to recognize when employees feel
they are being treated differently because they belong to a protected category. For
example, you can train supervisors to watch out for phrases like, “I feel I’m being
treated this way, because I am female (or disabled, over 40, or another protected
category identifier).”
The managers need to be able to recognize these phrases and understand their
obligation to notify the appropriate person(s) about the complaint (typically HR), since
companies have a legal obligation to investigate employee complaints about alleged
discriminatory practices. It is important that managers let employees know that their
concerns will be taken seriously and treated with the appropriate level of
confidentiality.
 8 Provide thorough training to the manager EEO

4. Work Accommodation
Many supervisors are unsure about the protection employees have under various
Acts in many countries.
Teach front-line managers what to do if employees ask for special work
accommodations or time off for medical care. This may include notifying HR about the
request and engaging in a conversation that conforms to the rules.
The interactive process involves comprehensively considering employees’ requests
for accommodations and inquiring about possible alternatives (rather than just saying
“no”) when the company is unable to meet the specific accommodation request – and
keeping track of conversations in writing.
This is an important but often missed topic in EEO training for managers.
 8 Provide thorough training to the manager EEO

5. Follow-up guidance
 Talk to managers about what to do after an employee has brought forward a
concern and it’s been resolved.
 Surprisingly, the most common discrimination charge is retaliation – a type of
discrimination that could follow a previous discrimination allegation.
 Train the managers to follow up the right way – continue to check in with the
employee periodically following the complaint and ask how things are going.
 Encourage them not to act like the concern didn’t happen (even though following
up on a complaint can feel awkward).
 Teach them to document their check-ins with employees and any other
opportunities employees have to discuss how they’re feeling.
 8 Provide thorough training to the manager EEO

7. Investigation Process
 The EEO training should teach managers how to follow your company’s
investigation process. While this process can look different company-to-company,
the basic investigation process is to:
 Speak with the complainant.
 Speak with all relevant witnesses.
 Speak with the alleged bad actor and review any applicable documentation.
 Then review all the findings to determine how the matter will be resolved and
communicated.
 9 HR Compliance Training

1. Diversity in the workplace – how to interact with different personalities and

cultures and approach diverse people with inclusion and respect
2. Effective employee counseling – how to appropriately observe, assess and
interact with employees in ways that develop and maximize their performance
3. Fair and consistent performance appraisals – how to conduct honest
assessments of employees without being biased, too lenient or too strict
4. HR fundamentals for supervisors – covers the basics of human resources to
help supervisors navigate employment laws and effectively lead their staff
5. Preventing violence in the workplace – how to identify threats and have a
significant role in preventing violence in the workplace
6. Substance abuse and the drug-free workplace – covers the importance of
a work environment free of substance abuse and a manager’s role in preventing,
recognizing signs of and reporting abuse
EMOTIONS AT WORK
 Anger, jealousy, guilt, shame, happiness, and relief are all feelings
that you have probably experienced in organizations.
 These feelings are all part of your emotions.
 Emotions are the complex patterns of feelings toward an object or
person.
 We all know that emotions affect workplace attitudes and behaviors.
When performing your job, you experience a variety of emotions
during the day.
 You also know that how employees and leaders handle their
emotions at work has a tremendous impact on their productivity.
 The more positive emotions we experience while at work, the more
we form positive attitudes toward the organization.
 Positive emotions, such as joy, affection, and happiness, serve many
purposes.
 People also experience negative emotions
When employees experience positive
emotions, it generates following outcomes:
 Employees tend to think more creatively
 They seek out new information and
experiences
 They behave more flexibly
 They show greater confidence in their
competencies
 They become more persistence
 To bounce back from adversity fast
 Tolerate pain during stress
The distinction between positive and negative emotions is shown in
Figure below:
Negative Positive

Anger

Sadness
 Negative emotions are incongruent with the goal you are
striving to achieve. For example, which of the six
emotions are you likely to experience if you are dismissed
from a job?
 Losing a job is incongruent with the goal of accomplishing
professional growth.
 On the other hand, which of the four positive emotions,
shown in the figure will you likely experience if you
receive a promotion?
 The emotions experienced in these situations are positive
because they are congruent with your goals.
 Therefore, emotions are goal directed.
 Positive emotions have been linked to organizational
effectiveness.
 Leaders who express positive emotions encourage
employees to feel positive emotions as well.
 When individuals have positive emotions, they are more
likely to set high goals, see and fix mistakes, feel more
competent, and have greater problem-solving capabilities.
 In organizations that recently cut staff, such as AT&T and
Hewlett-Packard, those organizations with leaders who
displayed positive emotions in such trying times had
significantly higher productivity, higher quality, and lower
voluntary employee turnover than those leaders who
displayed negative emotions.
 Role of Emotions in Performance

A model of how emotions affect behavior is shown in the following

figure.

Anticipatory Outcome
Goal Behavior Goal Attainment
Emotions Emotions
 Role of Emotions in Performance

 Goal
 A goal refers to what an individual is trying to accomplish.
 That is, a goal is your purpose or intent. An eye doctor may have a goal of serving 30 patients a
week.
 Anticipatory emotions
 Anticipatory emotions refer to the emotions that individuals believe they will feel after
achievement of or failure to reach their goal.
 For example, at Sewell Automotive in Dallas, Texas, a salesperson’s goal is to sell 9 cars a
month. If they sell between 9 and 19 cars, they receive special recognition from their manager
(e.g., flowers, round of golf, choice of cars to drive for the next month). If they sell more than 20
cars in any month, they receive a special letter from Carl Sewell, a weekend package at a local
hotel with all expenses paid, as well as flowers, golf, etc. If they sell fewer than 9 cars a month,
they will receive coaching on their selling tactics. If they sell fewer than 27 cars in three months,
they are dismissed
 The key motivational device is to have each salesperson imagine the emotions she will feel
when she reaches her goal. The more desirable the implications are for achieving the goal, the
more intense will be the anticipated emotions from achieving that goal
 Role of Emotions in Performance

 Behaviors
 If the anticipatory emotions are of sufficient intensity to motivate the individual, the individual will
engage in those behaviors in order to reach his goal. That is, a person will need to develop a
plan, outline the behaviors needed to reach his plan, and exert effort to exhibit those behaviors
 Goal Attainment
 The next step is the goal attainment. If we attain our goals, we develop positive emotions
 If we fail to attain our goal, we develop negative emotions.
 Cross Cultural Differences

 There exist cross-cultural differences in the display of emotions.

 Most Japanese managers believe that it is inappropriate to get emotional while doing business, compared
with 40 percent of Americans, 34 percent of French managers, and 29 percent of Italians.
 Italians, for example, are more likely to accept individuals who display their emotions at work, whereas
this would be considered rude in Japan.
 In the Japanese culture, hiding one’s emotions is considered a virtue because the lack of expression
minimizes conflict and avoids drawing attention to the individual
 Tomoko Yoshida is a customer relations training expert who works at the Sheraton Hotels in Japan. He
teaches hotel employees never to show emotions while talking with a guest. In particular, even if the
employee is upset, they are instructed never to point with a finger. Pointing is considered rude. Using
one’s whole hand shows more effort and is considered more polite and business-like. Similarly, if a
customer is sitting in a restaurant and the waiter raises his or her voice, it signals to the customer that the
waiter wants the guest to leave and isn’t welcome any longer. Yoshida also instructs bellmen not to use
their feet to close a door or move a customer’s bags or toys even if the bellman is upset.
 Cross Cultural Differences

Yoshikihiko Kadokawa, author of The Power of Laughing Face,

found that even in Japan’s culture, the friendliest clerks in some of
Japan’s biggest retail stores consistently rang up the highest sales.
 His research found that smiling salesclerks reported 20 percent
more sales than non-smiling salesclerks.
McDonald’s Corporation is using Kadokawa’s techniques in Japan
to screen applicants. The company screens out individuals who are
too poker faced. When asked by the company to describe a
pleasant experience, those applicants who don’t smile and indicate
that they find pleasure in what they’re discussing aren’t hired.
McDonald’s wants all of their employees to provide the friendly
service at the price stated on its menu: “Smiles, 0 yen.”
Ways to create positive emotions in organization
Express positive emotions—gratitude, generosity, optimism, trust—regularly at • work. Start meetings with sincere
words of appreciation. Remember that positive emotions are contagious, especially when expressed by direct
supervisors and organizational leaders

A rule of thumb is that the number of positive communications sent by the leader • should outnumber the number of
negative communications by a ratio of 5:1 if the employee is to have positive emotions at work.
Give unexpected kindness and reach out to others when it is least expected. When • the leader engages in positive
emotions and behaviors when it goes against the norm, the element of surprise and courage becomes a powerful
example to others, both strengthening individuals’ trust in their leader and role-modeling behavior for others to
follow.
Help individuals find positive meaning in their day-to-day work lives. The leader • should assist employees with
seeing how their work contributes to a greater good and whom they are helping through their efforts.
Provide opportunities for employees to help each other and to express apprecia-• tion for the help they receive from
others.
Celebrate small wins with employees so that they experience ongoing success and • the associated positive
emotions.
Help people to see their worth