Diversity

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Diversity
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What is diversity?
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Why do we need to focus on diversity and
cross-cultural issues?

• Demographic changes
• Changing legal definitions and laws
• Employment problems of certain groups
• Global expansion of business

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The U.S. Population (2005 ACS)
Population Pyramid
Gender Males 49 Females 51
Census Bureau
Racial Background White 75 Hispanic
14.5 Black 12.1 Asian 4.3 American
Indian/Alaska Native .8 Hawaiian/Pacific
Islander .1
Age Under 25 35 25-64 54 65 over 12
Bureau of Labor Statistics
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Changing legal definitions and laws

• Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 1991
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act

• American with Disabilities Act
• Family and Medical Leave Act

EEOC Statistics
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Employment Problems

• Productivity losses from family care-giving needs
  is estimated at 11 billion per year
• High unemployment among young blacks (29 vs. 13
  for whites) (2007)
• 40 of GLBT employees report hostile treatment at
  work
• Disabled persons who want to work are 2 ½ times
  more likely to be unemployed than non-disabled
• 50 of the available American Indian workforce is
  unemployed
• Low wage employees have extreme difficulty in
  balancing work and family needs

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Global expansion of business

• Transnational HR management issues
• Deployment
• Knowledge and information dissemination
• Identifying and developing talent globally
• Roberts, Kossek, Ozeki, 1998

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Managing Diversity
DiversityPrinciples
DifferentDiversityParadigms
Business Case For Diversity
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Diversity Paradigms
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Basic Diversity Principles

• Carefully and faithfully follow and enforce all
  equal employment opportunity laws
• Treat group differences as important, but not
  special
• Tailor opportunities to individuals, not groups
• Re-examine, but maintain, high standards for
  everyone
• Solicit negative and positive feedback about how
  initiatives are working

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Developing the Business Case for Diversity
Management

• Develop specific business objectives related to
  diversity
• Identify the actions required for each objective
• Conduct cost/benefit analyses
• Develop tracking mechanisms to assess progress
  and financial impact (process and outcome
  measures)