Diversity in the Workplace

1
Diversity in the Workplace

• The Role of Communication in a Diverse Workplace

2
Statistics to Ponder

• The Hudson Institute, Workforce 2000 5/6 of
  those entering the workforce in the year 2010
  will be women and minorities
• In the federal workforce, white males 44, white
  females 26, 8 African American males,10
  African American women, only 6 Hispanic men and
  women (2004 stats)
• Survey of top corporate jobs in Chicago finds
  only about 15 (boards and executive positions)
  are held by women (Boeing, Sears, Walgreen,
  Allstate, Kraft) (2004)
• Fortune 500 companies with the highest
  representation of women in top management show
  35 higher ROE and 35 higher total shareholder
  return
• The private sector will spend hundreds of
  millions of dollars on diversity training this
  year

3
Diversity Categories

• Protected or suspect classes
• Gender
• Age
• Ethnicity/Race
• Physical Abilities
• Religious Affiliation
• Sexual Orientation

4
Some Hypothetical Examples

• A professional African American male comes to
  work with his hair newly done in corn rows. It
  is widely interpreted by his rural, white
  co-workers as representative of a prison or
  gangster culture. Some workers complain to
  managers about being afraid.

5
Hypothetical 2

• A Latina manager complains that her mostly Asian
  subordinates dont respect her because when she
  addresses them, they do not look her in the eye.

6
Metaphors for Diversity

• melting pot
• multicultural stew
• patchwork quilt
• tributaries leading to a mighty river
• assimilationist policies versus policies which
  truly celebrate differences (The Borg versus The
  Federation)

7
Flaws in Diversity Training

• Targeted at SWAMs
• Unitary in nature, one size fits all
• Dogmatic in philosophy, looking to change hearts
  and minds
• Often conducted by women/minority trainers
• Perpetuates victimage
• Often seen as diversity penance

8
Communication Training to Enhance Diversity

• The Wrong Way--U.S. DOT confrontation style
  program, suspended in 1993
• The Right Way
• ethnocentrism awareness
• monitoring language
• ability to tolerate ambiguity
• conflict training

9
Successful Diversity Training

• Needs to be integrated into the overall business
  plan
• Needs to recognized as an organizational
  commitment, top to bottom
• Thomas (1992) diversity training is about
  enhancing a managers capability to tap the
  potential of a diverse group of employees.
• Use teams of trainers

10
The Nature of Resistance

• Resistance is unavoidable
• Resistance provides protection
• Resistance is a source of energy
• DT should work with resistance
• bring it to the surface
• honor the resistance (I understand how this
  could be a problem for you)
• explore methods for resolving it