Diversity in the

Organization
Chapter 2
• U.S. workforce has become diverse today.
• In order to adapt this shift, organizations need to make
diversity management a central component of their
policies and practices

Demographic Characteristics
of the U.S. Workforce
Surface-level diversity
• Difference in easily perceived characteristics
• It can lead employees to perceive one another through
stereotype and assumption
• Such as race, age, gender
Deep-level diversity
• More important for determining similarity as people get
to know one another
• Such as values, personality, and work preferences

Level of Diversity
Discrimination means we allowing our behavior to be influence by
stereotypes about groups of people.
• Unfair discrimination is often very harmful to organization and employees,
such as reduces productivity, negative conflicts, and increased turnover
Discrimination type
• Discriminatory policies or practices
• Sexual harassment
• Intimidation
• Mockery and insults
• Exclusion
• Incivility

Discrimination
Biographical characteristics means personal characteristics
that are objective and easily obtained from personal
records.
• Surface-level diversity
• Such as age, gender, race, and length of tenure

Biographical
Characteristics
Does age and job performance have relationship?
Does age and job satisfaction have relationship?

Age
Whether women perform as well on jobs as men do?

Gender
• Workers with disabilities receive higher performance
evaluations
• But they encounter lower performance expectations and
are less likely to be hired

Disability
Tenure
• Seniority as time on a particular job
• Tenure is a good predictor of employee productivity
• Tenure on an employee’s previous job is a powerful
predictor of that employee’s future turnover
Religion
Sexual orientation and gender identity

Other Biographical
Characteristics
An individual’s current capacity to perform various tasks in
a job

Ability
Intellectual Abilities
Dimensions of
Intellectual Ability
Physical ability is the capacity to do tasks demanding
stamina, dexterity, strength, and similar characteristics.

Physical Ability
Dimensions of Physical
Ability
Contrast Intellectual
from Physical Ability
Diversity management is a process and programs by which
managers make everyone more aware of and sensitive to
the needs and differences of others.

Diversity Management
???
Attracting, Selecting, Developing,
and Retaining Diverse Employees
• Individuals who are demographically different from their
co-workers are more likely to feel low commitment and
turn out
• All workers appeared to prefer an organization that
values diversity

Attracting, Selecting, Developing,

and Retaining Diverse Employees
Diversity in Group
Effective Diversity
Programs
Biographical Characteristics
• Some biographical characteristics vary across cultures
Intellectual Ability
• Evidence strongly supports the idea that the structures
and measures of intellectual abilities generalize across
culture

Global Implications
• Diversity management must be an ongoing commitment
that crosses all levels of the organization.

Effective Diversity
Management