HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN ORGANIZATION

John Kervie B. Vergara

BSA Elec 1
Prelim Week 2

Diversity not only concerns how people see themselves, but how they see others. Those perceptions influence
their interactions. Human resource professionals are required to effectively deal with issues like
communication, adaptability and chan ge. This dealing is for a wide range of employees to perform effectively
as an organization. Diversity will increase considerably in the upcoming years. Successful organizations are
aware of the need for urgent action and are prepared and eager to spend resources on managing diversity in the
workplace now.

WORKPLACE DIVERSITY MEANING

Diversity is simply differences. Workplace diversity is a characteristic of a group of people inside the
organization where differences exist on one or more relevant dimensions like gender, age, religion, race, social
class, sexual orientation, personality, functional experience or geographical background. It is the otherness or
those human qualities that are unique from what the individual owns and outside the groups, to which he
belongs, yet present in other individuals and groups. It is vital to understand how these dimensions influence
performance, motivation, success, and interactions with others in the workplace.

Workplace diversity can offer remarkable benefits in terms of enhanced morale, outside-the-box thinking, better
teamwork, and an ambiance of common understanding and respect. Diversity in the workplace adds value to an
organization by letting workers to approach their jobs from different angles. Many employers are aware of the
need for workplace diversity and instigate strategies to sustain a diverse workforce.

DIMENSIONS OF WORKPLACE DIVERSITY

Experts in diversity have identified three dimensions of diversity that often represent the types of differences
that are represented, particularly in the workplace. These dimensions of diversity are also the lenses and filters
that a person uses and others use to identify people. These dimensions could help discover the important ways
in which people inside the organization differ. The primary dimensions of diversity are those human differences
that are inborn and/or that exert an important force on the early socialization and continue to have a powerful,
sustained impact on the individual's experiences, values, assumptions and expectations throughout every stage
of life. These six differences are age, race, ethnicity, gender, physical abilities and sexual/affectional orientation
which are sometimes referred to as the core dimensions of diversity. They shape the basic self-image of a
person.

Age
The workforce is rapidly aging. The same trend seems to be happening elsewhere in the world. Age is
correlated with a number of positive workplace behaviors, such as higher levels of citizenship behaviors like
volunteering, higher compliance with safety rules, lower work injuries, lower counterproductive behaviors, and
lower rates of tardiness or absenteeism. As people get older, they are also less probable to want to give up their
job when they are dissatisfied at work. Despite their positive workplace behaviors, employees who are older
often have to deal with age-related stereotypes at work. Some stereotypes about older employees are simply
inaccurate like they perform on a lower level; they are less able to handle stress, or their performance declines
with age.

Age diversity within a team can in fact direct to higher team performance. This means teams with higher age
diversity were capable to think of different possibilities and diverse actions, leading to higher performance for
the teams. At the same time, managing a team with age diversity may be challenging because different age
groups appear to have dissimilar opinions about what is fair treatment, leading to different perceptions of
organizational justice.

Age diversity also means that the workforce will consist of employees coming from different generations. Some
organizations are observing a generation gap and noting implications for the management of employees.
Focusing to such differences and tailoring various aspects of management to the particular employees in
question may lead to more effective management of an age-diverse workforce.

Race
Race is another demographic characteristic that still exists in organizations. Regrettably, discrimination against
ethnic minorities still takes place. Ethnic minorities experience both an earnings gap and a glass ceiling. Earning
gap is a statistical indicator often used to compare the earnings of other races and ethnicities. Glass ceiling is a
political expression used to express the invisible, yet indestructible fence that keeps minorities and women from
rising to the upper steps of the corporate ladder, despite of their qualifications or achievements.

In addition, ethnic minorities are less likely to experience a satisfying work environment. It seems that the
perception that the organization does not value diversity is a fundamental explanation for why ethnic minorities
may feel alienated from coworkers. Creating a fair work environment where diversity is valued and appreciated
seems to be the key. Organizations often make news headlines for alleged or actual race discrimination, but
there are many stories involving complete turnarounds, suggesting that conscious planning and motivation make
organizations friendlier to all races. to improve may

Ethnicity
Ethnicity, like race, is a social construct, but it's still a construct with significant implications for the world.
How people perceive ethnicity, both their own and that of others can be tough to measure, particularly given
that it's so subjective. Part of ethnicity is the religious belief of people. Religious discrimination often occurs
because the religion necessitates modifying the employee's schedule. For instance, devout Muslim employees
may want to pray five times a day with each prayer lasting 5 to 10 minutes. This situation pits employers'
concerns for productivity against employees' desires to execute religious obligations. Accommodating
someone's religious preferences may also require companies to relax their dress code to take into account
religious practices such as wearing a covering one's hair with a scarf for Muslim women.

The Philippines has 10 major distinct groups mainly the Bicolano, Ibanag, Ilocano, Kapampangan, Moro,
Pangasinan, Sambal, Tagalog and Visayan. The Philippines also has several aboriginal stocks such as the
Badjao, Igorot, Lumad, Mangyan and Negrito. The country also has considerable communities of American,
Arabic, Chinese, Indian, and Hispanic descent and other ethnicities from other countries.

Gender
In spite of the existence of strong law, women and men often face different treatment at work. The earnings gap
and the glass ceiling are two of the key problems women may experience in the workplace. There are many
potential explanations for the earnings gap. One explanation is that women are more likely to have gaps in their
resumes because they are more likely to take time off to have children. Women are still the crucial caregiver for
young children in many families and career gaps tend to influence earnings potential because it prevents women
employees from accumulating job tenure. Another potential explanation is that women are less likely to pursue
high-paying occupations such as engineering and business. Research shows that men and women have
somewhat different preferences in job attributes, with women valuing characteristics such as good hours, an
easy commute, interpersonal relationships, helping others, and opportunities to make friends more than men do.
In turn, men seem to value promotion opportunities, freedom, challenge, leadership, and power more than
women do. Finally, negotiation differences among women are often cited as a potential reason for the earnings
gap. In general, women are less likely to initiate negotiations.
Another issue that provides a challenge for women in the workforce is the so- called glass ceiling. While
women may be represented in lower level positions, they are less likely to be seen in higher management and
executive suites of companies. In fact, while women constitute close to one-half of the workforce, men are four
times more likely to reach the highest levels of organizations. One explanation for the glass ceiling is the
gender-based stereotypes favoring men in managerial positions. Traditionally, men have been viewed as more
assertive and confident than women, while women have been viewed as more passive and submissive.
Assumptions such as these are problematic for women's advancement because stereotypes associated with men
are characteristics often associated with being a manager. Stereotypes are also found to influence how managers
view male versus female employees' work accomplishments.

Physical Qualities
Employees with a wide range of physical and mental disabilities are part of the workforce. Particularly
employees suffering from illnesses that last for a long time and require ongoing care seem to be at a
disadvantage, because they are more likely to be stereotyped, locked into dead-end jobs, and employed in jobs
that require substantially lower skills and qualifications than they possess. They also are more likely to quit their
jobs.

What can organizations do to create a better work environment for employees with disabilities? One legal
requirement is that, when an employee brings up a disability, the organization should consider reasonable
accommodations. This may include modifying the employee's schedule and reassigning some nonessential job
functions. Organizations that offer flexible work hours may also make it easier for employees with disabilities
to be more effective. Finally, supportive relationships with others seem to be the key for making these
employees feel at home. Particularly, having an understanding boss and an effective relationship with
supervisors are particularly important for employees with disabilities.

Sexual/Affectional Orientation
Lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgender (LBGT) employees in the workplace face a number of challenges and
barriers to employment. Research shows that one of the most important issues relating to sexual orientation is
the disclosure of sexual identity in the workplace. According to one estimate, up to one-third of lesbian, gay,
and bisexual employees do not disclose their sexual orientation at work. Employees may fear the reactions of
their managers and coworkers, leading to keeping their sexual identity a secret. In reality though, it seems that
disclosing sexual orientation is not the key to explaining work attitudes of these employees-it is whether or not
they are afraid to disclose their sexual identity. In other words, those employees who fear that full disclosure
would lead to neg..tive reactions experience lower job satisfaction, reduced organizational commitment, and
higher intentions to leave their jobs. Creating an environment where all employees feel welcome and respected
regardless of their sexual orientation is the key to maintaining a positive work environment.

Secondary dimensions of diversity are those individual differences that are acquired, discarded and/or modified
throughout the life of a person. These eight dimensions are work background, income, marital status, military
experience, geographic locale, family background and education. These dimensions add breadth to an
individual's core identity and they specifically influence one's self- esteem. In addition they enhance one's life
experiences.

Finally, there are the dimensions of diversity that people don't always think about, but that can have a great
force on how interactions in the workplace can take place.

1. Language and communications not just the language an individual speaks (English, Spanish, Mandarin,
Filipino, etc.) but how people desires to share information with one another
2. Appearance and dress -further than clothing and consist of tattoos, piercing, hairstyles
3. Food and eating habits -types of food, when a person eats, vegetarians, vegan, lactose intolerance
4. Time and time-consciousness-preferred and most productive time of the day, punctuality, flexibility
5. Sense of space-how close does a person stand, how much of area do they require
6. Smokers and non-smokers
 BENEFITS OF WORKPLACE DIVERSITY

An organization's success and competitiveness depends upon its ability to embrace diversity and realize the
benefits. When organizations actively assess their handling of workplace diversity issues, develop and
implement diversity plans, multiple benefits could be attained.

Having a diverse workforce and managing it effectively have the potential to bring about a number of benefits
to organizations. Here are the benefits of workplace diversity:

1. Higher Creativity in Decision Making – A diverse workforce that feels comfortable communicating
varying perspectives provides a larger pool of ideas and experiences. The organization can draw from
that pool to meet business strategy needs and the needs of customers more effectively. With diverse
workforce higher quality decisions could be produced. It is more possible for individuals to reflect on
more alternatives and think outside the box when making decisions in these teams. Novel solutions
could be identified by team members when thinking about a certain problem. Thus, a company's bottom
line may be influenced directly by having a diverse workforce through increasing creativity in decision
making.
2. Better Understanding and Service of Customers – A company with a diverse workforce may create
products or services that appeal to a broader customer base. A company with a diverse workforce may
comprehend the needs of particular groups of customers better, and customers may feel more
comfortable when they are dealing with a company that understands their needs.
3. More Satisfied Workforce – When employees feel that they are fairly treated, they are likely to be
more satisfied. On the other hand, when employees observe that they are being discriminated against,
they tend to be less attached to the company, less satisfied with their jobs, and feel more stress at work.
Organizations where employees are satisfied frequently have lower turnover.
4. Higher Stock Prices - Companies that do a better job of managing a diverse workforce are often
rewarded in the stock market, signaling that investors employ this information to evaluate how well a
company is being managed
5. Lower Litigation Expenses – Companies doing a particularly bad job in diversity management face
costly litigations. When an employee or a group of employees feel that the company is disobeying laws,
they may file a complaint. Regardless of the outcome, these lawsuits are pricey and include attorney fees
as well as the cost of the settlement or judgment, which may reach millions of money. The resulting
poor public relations also have a cost to the company. Thus, effective management of diversity can
direct to big cost savings by lessening the probability of facing expensive and discomfiting lawsuits.
6. Increased Adaptability – Organizations making use of a diverse workforce can convey a greater range
of solutions to problems in service, sourcing, and allocation of resources. Employees from diverse
backgrounds carry individual talents and experiences in suggesting ideas that are flexible in adapting to
changeable markets and customer demands.
7. Broader Service Range – A diverse collection of skills and experiences permits a company to offer
service to customers on a global basis.
8. Higher Company Performance – As a result of all these potential benefits, companies that administer
diversity more effectively tend to do better than others. Companies that promote diversity in the
workplace encourage all of their employees to perform to their highest ability. Company-wide strategies
are executed effectively, resulting in higher productivity, profit, and return on investment.

ROADBLOCK TO WORKPLACE DIVERSITY

Ignoring diversity issues costs time, money, and efficiency. Some of the consequences can include unhealthy
tensions; loss of productivity because of increased conflict; lack of ability to attract and retain talented people of
all kinds; complaints and legal actions; and inability to keep important employees, resulting in lost investments
in recruitment and training.
Successful diversity management can be effective through inclusion. Inclusion can help create high-performing
organizations, where all individuals feel engaged and their contributions toward meeting organizational goals
are respected and valued. In other words inclusion is how diversity can be leveraged. However, there are
diversity roadblocks that need to be addressed to avoid the entire diversity and inclusion agenda being hindered.
They are the following:

Prejudice and Discrimination

Prejudice is the irrational, inflexible opinion based on limited and insufficient information and unfair negative
attitudes individuals hold about other people who belong to social or cultural groups different from their own.
Prejudice gives a fast and simple way of sorting all the new and different people being met each day. It takes
much more time and effort to hold back judgment until people really know someone.

Discrimination is a behavior that results to unequal treatment of individuals based on group membership.
Treatment may vary because of race, age, gender, social class, sexual orientation, or any number of other
dimensions of diversity. Besides leading to law suits, it can also be the reason for lost of valuable human
resources.

Prejudice and discrimination do not have to be obvious. In the workplace they could be done in subtle ways
attributing discriminatory behavior to another cause like poor performance.

Stereotyping
Stereotyping is a generalized set of beliefs about the characteristics of a group of individuals. People who
engaged in stereotyping believed that all or most members of the group have certain trait characteristics or
traits. Stereotypes are unrealistic, non-factual and most of the times are negative.

Stereotyping is difficult to stop due to the following reasons:

1. It is not easy to dismiss-When discovered that a trait is incongruent with the stereotype, people often
ignore discrepancy and regard the individual as "exception to the rule".
2. Stereotypes guide what information people look for, process and remember The trait stereotyped in a
group served as the guide on the processing of information about a certain person based on his
membership to a group even not actually seen but just "remembered".
3. Stereotypes seem to be an enduring human quality-Everyone hold stereotypes. It provides predictability
if one knows the character of the group where a person belongs. So knowing the information enables
prediction of the individual's behavior and what response should be made.

Therefore, stereotypes have detrimental effects on interpersonal relations because of unpractical and false
assumptions about members of other groups. It can have direct effects on a person's career by causing unfair
treatment.

Differences in Social Identity

Social identity is a person's knowledge that he fits in to a certain social groups, where fitting in to those groups
has emotional importance. It is hard to handle when person's social identity is different from that of the majority
because of the following reasons:

1. A person's social identity becomes noticeable when he is in the minority on a significant dimension. A
woman could be very conscious when in an all-male work environment than when she is a mixed-gender
group.
2. Belonging to a social identity different from the majority makes a person feel he has to behave in ways
that are unnatural for him in certain situations. Acting out a fake role can lead to stress and
dissatisfaction. In all-male work environment, a woman may try to act like men just to fit in.
 3. People in the minority often feel that they might lose their social identities. Social identity is a source of
pride and dignity for people. When always forced to check on this identity, people could have a sense of
loss and discomfort.
4. People tend to check on others based on their social group membership. People belonging to one's "in-
group" are better than those belonging to the "out-group".

Power Differentials
In the organization, power is not always equally distributed among individuals and groups. Sources of power
could be legitimate, coercive, expert, reward, connection or referent. Without any connection with work life,
people can be awarded or deprived of power. In the society, people can have ascribed power. Ascribed power is
status and power that is given by cultural norms and based on group membership. It is the societal culture that
prescribes who has the power and who does not have. Traditionally, here in the Philippines, women, people
from the minorities and people with disabilities are observed to belong to the lower status compared to men.
Thus, members of these groups have less power in the workplace. Power differentials can prevent an
organization from developing an inclusive workplace. The reasons of this prevention are the following:

1. High-status people speak more and use stronger influence tactics than low- status people
2. People belonging to groups having different degree of power and level of status may avoid interaction
and may form factions with members of their own group

Poor Structural Integration

Poor integration of women and minorities can give several roadblocks to crating a diverse workplace. Here are
the reasons:

1. Poor integration creates power and status differentials which can then link to gender or race
2. Poor integration fosters negative stereotypes
3. Poor integration when overall make use of "exception rule"
4. Poor integration may bring the feeling of being impossible to rise to the top for most women and
minorities

Communication Problems
A potential problem occurs when everyone speaks a particular language fluently and people who are less fluent
may no longer contribute to the conversation. People who speak the same language may exclude the one who
do not speak the language. Many misunderstandings happen due to language differences.

The differences of the appropriate norms may lead to communication problem among different cultures.
Common disagreements among different cultures in the workplace are:

1. Willingness to openly disagree

2. The importance of maintaining dignity
3. The way agreement is defined
4. The amount of time for building relationships
5. Willingness to speak aggressively
6. Mode of communication whether verbal or written
7. Personal space and non-verbal communication

EFFECTIVELY CREATING AND MANAGING WORKPLACE DIVERSITY

What can organizations do to manage diversity more effectively? In this section, a review of research findings
and the best practices from different companies to create a diverse yet effective workplace is listed. Here is the
list of suggestions for organizations:
1. Build a Culture of Respecting Diversity – In the most successful companies, diversity management is not
the responsibility of the human resource department. Starting from top management and including the lowest
levels in the hierarchy, each person understands the importance of respecting others. If this respect is not part of
an organization's culture, no amount of diversity training or other programs are likely to be effective. In fact, in
the most successful companies, diversity is viewed as everyone's responsibility.

2. Make Managers Accountable for Diversity – People are more likely to pay attention to aspects of
performance that are measured. In successful companies, diversity metrics are carefully tracked. When
managers are evaluated and rewarded based on how effective they are in diversity management, they are more
likely to show commitment to diversity that in turn affects the diversity climate in the rest of the organization.

3. Diversity Training Programs – Many companies provide employees and managers with training programs
relating to diversity. However, not all diversity programs are equally successful. You may expect that more
successful programs are those that occur in companies where a culture of diversity exists.

4. Review Recruitment Practices – Companies may want to increase diversity by targeting a pool that is more
diverse. By building relations with these occupational groups, organizations may attract a more diverse group of
candidates to choose from. Companies may also benefit from reviewing their employment advertising to ensure
that diversity is important at all levels of the company.

5. Affirmative Action Programs – Policies designed to recruit, promote, train, and retain employees belonging
to a protected class are referred to as affirmative action. Affirmative action programs are among the most
controversial methods in diversity management because some people believe that they lead to an unfair
advantage for minority members. It is plausible that people who are against affirmative action programs may
have unverified assumptions about the type of affirmative action program the company is using. Informing
employees about the specifics of how affirmative action is being used may be a good way of dealing with any
negative attitudes. In addition to employee reactions to affirmative action, there is some research indicating that
affirmative action programs may lead to stigmatization of the perceived beneficiaries.

a. Simple Elimination of Discrimination. These programs are the least controversial and are received
favorably by employees.
b. Targeted Recruitment. These affirmative action plans involve ensuring that the candidate pool is diverse.
These programs are also viewed as fair by most employees.
c. Tie-breaker. In these programs, if all other characteristics are equal, then preference may be given to a
minority candidate. In fact, these programs are not widely used and their use needs to be justified by
organizations. In other words, organizations need to have very specific reasons for why they are using
this type of affirmative action, such as past illegal discrimination. Otherwise, their use may be illegal
and lead to reverse discrimination. These programs are viewed as less fair by employees.
d. Preferential Treatment. These programs involve hiring a less qualified minority candidate. Strong
preferential treatment programs are illegal in most cases.
Step Together
This is one of our favorite diversity activities for illustrating how much two people have in common.

Here’s how it works:

1. Pick two people from the group and have them face each other six or eight feet apart.
2. Ask the other participants to call out different characteristics (e.g., age, place of birth, hair color, favorite
food, cat vs. dog, coffee vs. tea, etc.).
3. If the two people have that characteristic in common, they take a step toward each other.
4. If the two people differ in that characteristic, they take a step away from each other.
5. Though the two people may differ in a lot of ways, there will always be something that they have in
common.

I am, but I am not

The ‘I am, but I am not’ is among the best diversity and inclusion games for workplaces. The activity helps to
break down stereotypes and misconceptions among teams.

Instructions:

You can start by providing each participant with plain paper and a pen.
Each player will divide the paper into two. Participants will write ‘I am’ in one column and ‘I am not’ in the
other. Ask participants to write ‘But’ between the two columns.
Give participants five minutes to fill both columns. Participants can fill the sections with common identifier
stereotypes such as race, gender identity, religion, education background, and socio-economic status. Encourage
players to fill in both negative and positive stereotypes.
Invite participants to share statements written with their team. Then, groups can open a respectful discussion
about the stereotypes.

While sharing some of these statements may make some workers uncomfortable, the ‘I am, but I am not’
activity will help to eliminate stereotypes.

Step apart and together

‘Step apart and together’ is an activity you can use to bring teams together despite their differences.

Instructions:

You can start by dividing your workforce into smaller groups.

Let two participants stand in front of their group while facing each other.
Team players will call out diversity groupings such as age, hair color, race, culture, place of birth, and religion.
Each time the participants have a difference, they will step apart. And each time they have a similarity, they will
step close to each other.
The ‘step apart and together’ activity will teach your team that they are still teammates despite any apparent
diverse differences.

1. What is your hair color?

2. What is your gender?
3. Do you prefer the indoors or outdoors?
4. What is your hometown?
5. Who do you report to?
6. Did you bring or buy your lunch today?
7. Do you have family in town or out of town?
8. Do you like Coke or Pepsi?
9. Do you like Royal or Sprite
10. Do you still have a land line?
11. Facebook or Instagram?
12. Do you like to go to the movies or watch movies at home?
13. Toilet paper - roll up or down?
14. Do you come from a big family or small?
15. Do you prefer the beach or the mountains?
16. Cats or dogs?
17. Morning person or night owl?