CHAP 1-3

• Multicultural diversity in the workplace

  • Recognize people's uniqueness
  • Shift organizational culture from mono-cultural to multicultural
• Three-step development procedure for multicultural diversity

  1. Monolithic stage

  2. Stage of Plural Representatives

  3. Extremely Diverse Model
• Diversity


  Not just a technical endeavor to comply with legal requirements, but a component of an organization's intended business goal
• There should be a system in place to hold managers responsible for achieving diversity objectives, represented in performance evaluation
• Open communication channels must be established to enable the transfer of new ideas, complaints and feedback
• Corporate rituals and rites should allow for religious holidays, dietary preferences, and clothing styles that do not conflict with organizational operations
• Culture


  Acquired knowledge that individuals use to understand experience and create social behavior
• Definitions of culture


  • Coakley (2007): Ways of life that individuals develop as members of a group or community
  • J.W. Salacuse (1998): Socially transmitted behavior patterns, norms, beliefs and values
  • K. Avruch (1998): Byproduct of individual experience, something acquired or produced by people themselves or socially handed on to them
  • Stephen J. Caroll and Martin J. Gannon (1997): Structured way of thinking, feeling, and responding that exists within a certain group, organization, profession, sub-group of a society, country, or set of countries
  • Lederach (1995): Collective knowledge and methods developed by a group of people for seeing, understanding, expressing, and reacting to social reality
  • Guddykunst and Kim (1992): Interpretation of the world that teaches us how to react
  • Hofstede (1984): Communal programming of the mind that differentiates members of one group
  • Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952): Explicit and implicit patterns on and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups
  • Edward Taylor (1871): Comprehensive totality that encompasses knowledge, religion, art, morality, law, tradition, and any other capacities and habits acquired by man as a member of society
• Features of culture


  • Dynamic
  • Learnt
  • Non-uniform
  • Patterned
  • Social
  • Shared
  • Transferable
• Dimensions of culture


  • Edward and Mildred Hall Model: Time Language, Space Language, Language of Objects, Language of Friendship, Agreement, Cultures of High and Low Context
  • Florence Kluckhohn and Fred Strodtbeck Model: Basic nature and beliefs about the other person, Rights and responsibilities towards nature, Duty of a person towards others, Form of activity in a society, Consideration of space in a business organization, Importance of past, present or future
  • Geert Hofstede: Power Distance Index, Individualism vs Collectivism, Masculinity vs Femininity, Uncertainty Avoidance Index, Long-term Normative Orientation vs Short-term Normative Orientation, Indulgence vs Restraint
  • Trompenaars and Hampden Model: Universalism vs Particularism, Individualism vs Collectivism, Neutral vs Emotional, Specific vs Diffuse, Achievement vs Ascription, Sequential vs Synchronous, Inner-directed vs Outer-directed
  • GLOBE (Global Leader and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) Project: Performance Orientation, Uncertainty Avoidance, Humane Orientation, Institutional Collectivism, In-group Collectivism, Gender Egalitarianism, Future Orientation, Power Distance, Assertiveness
• Diversity


  Acceptance and respect of the reality that each individual is unique
• Inequalities may be based on race, age, status, financial status, physical ability, religious beliefs, and other variables
• Diversity must be examined in a safe, pleasant, and loving environment
• Thomas R. Roosevelt was among the first to draw attention to diversity management
• Diversity is a general issue for businesses, and as such, it must be managed with caution
• Diversity


  • Reflects the degree to which there are objective or subjective differences between people within the group without assuming that group members are necessarily aware of objective differences or that subjective are strongly related to more objective differences
  • Includes age, gender, ethnicity, education, religion, and culture
  • Refers to the wide range of differences that distinguishes an organization's people resources
  • Includes differences based on gender, race or ethnicity, age, religion, physical or mental impairment, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status
  • Includes cultural characteristics such as race, gender, age, color, physical ability, ethnicity, and so on
• Workforce diversity


  Differences and variations in the backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, and characteristics of employees in an organization
• Diversity

  • Multidimensional - encompasses both visible and unseen human aspects
  • Includes both differences and similarities among individuals
  • Can provide a competitive advantage if handled correctly, but can lead to the firm's demise if mishandled
• Dimensions of diversity

  • Class
  • Gender
  • Age
  • Color
  • Ethnicity
  • Income
  • Spiritual beliefs
  • Sexuality
  • Physical talent and traits
• Types of diversity dimensions

  • Primary dimensions - inborn human traits that have a continuing influence on a person's life, including early socialization
  • Secondary dimensions - less permanent or visible
• Responses to diversity


  • Exclusion
  • Denial
  • Suppression
  • Segregation
  • Assimilation
  • Tolerance
  • Connection establishing
  • Promoting mutual adaptation
• Managers and businesses must go to great lengths to ensure that the culturally diverse workforce is given top attention
• Diversity, when managed correctly, may show to be a competitive advantage for the business, and if neglected, may lead to the organization's demise
• Managers must plan ahead of time for which methods they will use if anything goes wrong when dealing with a culturally varied staff