Workplace Diversity DIMENSION OF WORKPLACE DIVERSITY
WORKPLACE DIVERSITY
Diversity is simply differences. Workplace
diversity is a characteristic of a group of
people inside the organization where
differences exist on one or more relevant
dimensions like gender, age, religion, race,
social class, sexual orientation, personality,
functional experience or geographical
background. It is the otherness or those BENEFITS OF WORKPLACE DIVERSITY
human qualities that are unique from what 1. Higher Creativity in Decision Making
the individual owns and outside the groups, 2. Better Understanding and Service of
to which he belongs, yet present in other Customers
individuals and groups. It is vital to 3. More Satisfied Workforce
understand how these dimensions influence 4. Higher Stock Prices
performance, motivation, success, and 5. Lower Litigation Expenses
interactions with other in the workplace. 6. Increased Adaptability
7. Broader Service Range
1. The Primary Dimensions of Diversity - are 8. Higher Company Performance
those human differences that are inborn and/or
that exert an important force on the early ROADBLOCK TO WORKPLACE DIVERSITY
socialization and continue to have a powerful, 1. Prejudice and Discrimination
sustained impact on the individual’s experiences, Prejudice is the irrational, inflexible
values, assumptions and expectations throughout opinion based on limited and insufficient
every stage of life. These six differences are: information and unfair negative attitudes
A. Age individuals hold about other people who
Age is correlated with a number of positive belong to social or cultural groups
workplace behaviors, such as higher levels different from their own.
of citizenship behaviors like volunteering, Discrimination is a behavior that
higher compliance with safety rules, lower results to unequal treatment of
work injuries, lower counterproductive individuals based on group membership.
behaviors, and lower rates of tardiness or
absenteeism. 2. Stereotyping
Age diversity within a team can in fact Stereotyping is a generalized set of
direct to higher team performance. This beliefs about the characteristics of a
means team with higher age diversity group of individuals. Stereotypes are
were capable to think of different unrealistic, non – factual and most of the
possibilities and diverse actions, leading to times are negative.
higher performance for the teams.
B. Race Stereotyping is difficult to stop due to
C. Ethnicity the following reasons:
D. Gender A. It is not easy to dismiss
E. Physical Abilities B. Stereotypes guide what information
F. Sexual/ Affectional Orientation people look for, process and remember
C. Stereotypes seem to be an enduring
2. Secondary Dimensions of Diversity - are human quality
those individual differences that are acquired,
discarded and/or modified throughout the life of 3. Differences in Social Identity
a person. These eight dimensions are: Social identity is a person’s knowledge
A. Work Background that he fits into a certain social group,
B. Income where fitting into those groups has
C. Geographical Locale emotional importance. It is hard to
D. Family Background handle when person’s social identity is
E. Marital Status different from that of the majority
F. Military Experience because of the following reasons:
G. Education A. a person’s social identity becomes
noticeable when he is in the
minority on a significant
dimension. A woman could be very
conscious when in an all-male
work environment that when she
is a mixed-gender group.
4. Power Differentials
The reasons of this prevention are the d. Preferential Treatment
following:
A. High-status people speak more and use
stronger influence tactics than low-
status people
B. People belonging to groups having
different degree of power and level of
status may avoid interaction and may
form factions with members of their
own group.
5. Poor Structural Integration
Poor integration of women and minorities
can give several roadblocks to creating a
diverse workplace. Here are the reasons:
A. Poor integration creates power and
status differentials which can then
link to gender or race.
B. Poor integration fosters negative
stereotypes.
C. Poor integration when overall
make use of “exception rule”
D. Poor integration may bring the
feeling of being impossible to rise
to the top for most women and
minorities.
6. Communication Problems
A potential problem occurs when
everyone speaks a particular language
fluently and people who are less fluent
may no longer contribute to the
conversation. People who speak the
same language may exclude the one
who do not speak the language. Many
misunderstandings happen due to
language differences.
The differences of the appropriate norms
may lead to communication problem
among different cultures. Common
disagreements among different cultures
in the workplace are:
A. willingness to openly disagree
B. the importance of maintaining
dignity
C. the way agreement is defined
D. the amount of time for building
relationships
E. willingness to speak aggressively
F. mode of communication whether
verbal or written
G. personal space and non-verbal
communication
EFFECTIVELY CREATING AND MANAGING
WORKPLACE DIVERSITY
1. Build a Culture of Respecting Diversity
2. Make Managers Accountable for Diversity
3. Diversity Training Programs
4. Review Recruitment Practices
5. Affirmative Actions Programs
There is some research indicating that
affirmative action programs may lead to
stigmatization of the perceived
beneficiaries.
a. Simple Elimination of Discrimination
b. Targeted Recruitment
c. Tie-breaker
