Diversity

1
Diversity
All forms of individual differences,
including culture, gender, age, ability,
personality, religious affiliation, economic
class, social status, military attachment, and
sexual orientation
2
Dimensions of Diversity
Primary Secondary

• Educational background
• Income
• Geographic location
• Marital status
• Military experience
• Religious beliefs
• Work experience
• Parental status

• Age
• Ethnicity
• Gender
• Physical abilities/qualities
• Race

3

• Culture tells us who we are, defines how we look
  at life, and guides how we respond to different
  people and situations
• Differences within and among
• Change and evolve
• Organizational cultures are reflected in the way
  that they manage people

4
Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination

• Stereotypes?
• Prejudice is an attitude
• How prejudice develops
• Discrimination is a behavior

5
Building a Business Case for Diversity

• The business care for diversity is complex to
  establish
• Diversity initiatives are long-term investments
  in short-term environments
• Payback can be somewhat intangible and
  unpredictable
• Organizations use different definitions of
  diversity

6
Building a Business Case for Diversity

• Structuring the case for diversity by linking
  these reasons with business objectives
• Determine business objectives or needs related to
  diversity
• Determine the actions that the organization needs
  to take to achieve these objections
• Focused approach short-term using targeted
  specific objectives
• Comprehensive approach long-term involving
  multiple targets and objectives

7
Building a Business Case for Diversity

• Structuring the case for diversity by linking
  these reasons with business objectives
  (continued)
• Determine the costs and benefits of the planned
  initiatives
• Develop a tracking system to measure and evaluate
  the program
• Outcome measures show financial implications
  and long-term results tied to business objectives

8
Building a Business Case for Diversity

• Building a business case for diversity requires
  that it be linked to strategic business
  objectives
• Business reasons for managing diversity
• Cost savings
• Attracting and retaining talent
• Optimizing the benefits of diversity
• Marketplace
• Creativity
• Teamwork

9
Building a Business Case for Diversity

• Structuring the business case for diversity
• Objectives of the organization
• Short and long-term goals
• Cost benefits
• Tracking results
• Assessing progress/process
• Assessing progress/outcomes

10
Resistance to Change
Slower Decision- Making
Diversity Problems
Possibility of Conflicts
Lack of Cohesiveness
Communication Problems
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Diversity in the Workplace Ethics, Pragmatism,
or Some of Both?

• Ethics is a process
• Can the process of implementing diversity
  initiatives in the workplace be ethical and
  practical at the same time?
• Economic arguments for diversity relate to
  business outcomes not ethics
• Market driven/globalization
• Demographic changes in terms of labor pool
  availability
• Increased creativity range or perspectives
• Resource base theory of the firm

12
Categories of Ethical Theories
 
13
The Pragmatic and the Ethical with Regard to
Diversity
Pragmatic
Quadrant IV
Quadrant I
Quadrant III
Quadrant II
Non-pragmatic
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Questions for a Discussion of Ethical Aspects of
Decisions

• Have you defined the problem accurately?
• How would you define the problem if you stood on
  the other side of the fence?
• How did this situation occur in the first place?
• To whom and what do you give your loyalties as a
  person and as a member of the corporation?
• What is your intention in making this decision?

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Questions for a Discussion of Ethical Aspects of
Decisions(continued)

• How does this intention compare with the likely
  results?
• Whom could your decision or action injure?
• Can you engage the affected parties in a
  discussion of the problem before you make your
  decision?
• Are you confident that your position will be as
  valid over a long period of time as it seems now?

16
Questions for a Discussion of Ethical Aspects of
Decisions(continued)

• Could you disclose without a qualm your decision
  or action to your boss, your CEO, the board of
  directors, your family, or society as a whole?
• What is the symbolic intention of your action if
  understood? If misunderstood?
• Under what conditions would you allow exceptions
  to your stand?