Challenges of Managing in a Modern World Diversity
Workforce diversity:
- Differences among people such as age, race, ethnicity, gender, physical characteristics (height, weight etc.), mental and physical ability, personality, sexual orientation at work
- In addition to the above differences, workforce diversity also encompasses differences among workers in: religious beliefs, educational attainment, experience, family status, parental status, pregnancy etc
Multicultural organisation: an organisation that actively promote and embrace pluralism and respect for diversity
Structural integration: minorities are well represented in all levels and functional areas
Informal network integration: mentoring and support groups exists to assist the career development of minorities
Pluralism: both minority and majority cultures are equally influential
Absence of prejudice and discrimination: training and development in place to eliminate culture-group biases
Minimal intergroup conflict: diversity does not result in intergroup conflict
Diversity management and POLC
Planning = recruitment goals, organisational goals and individual workloads
Organising = allocation of resources across genders, age groups, cultural groups
Leading = percentage of minority group representatives in leadership positions
Controlling = measuring of employee performance subject to opportunities and personal circumstances
Social identity theory
Ethical considerations of diversity
Workload
Flexibility
Job design
Mentoring and career assistance
Leave entitlements
Inclusive work environment
Equal opportunity
Performances measured in relation to opportunity and personal circumstances
Social dilemmas of workforce diversity
Divided the world into “them” (= out-group) and “us” (= in-group) based through a process of social categorization (i.e. we put people into social groups)
Individuals validate their social identity by favouring their ‘in-group’ at the expense of ‘out-groups’ to enhance their self-image
- individuals perceive that it is ‘easier’ to communicate with other members of their in-group as they are more predictable, trustworthy, and more likely to reciprocate favours
The impact of a glass ceiling and globalisation on employment and working conditions of women and other minorities
Managerial participation
Organisational participation
Individual participation
The success of organisational diversity initiatives dependent upon the degree to which its employees embrace/resist them
Formation of subgroups along social categories may result in restricting the movement of information
Due to exclusion, employees may form further informal subgroups resulting in subgroup competition
Cq of the dilemma of individual participation
Managers likely to recruit individuals they perceive to be similar to them (i.e. their social category) + Individuals may also seek out managers that are similar to them
Those that do not ‘fit in’ often leave resulting in a homogenous workforce
Dependent upon how well the social dilemmas relating to individual and managerial participation are addressed
Perceptions in relation to the relationship between homogenous workers and employee turnover
Diversity initiatives benefit society not organisations implementing them, organisations bear the costs and accrue little benefit
Focus on short-term costs and not long-term benefits
Creates barriers for selecting highly talented candidates due to ill-informed and short sighted views
Solutions to organisational participation
Solutions to individual and managerial participation
Avoiding the creation of legislation that results in ‘protected classes’ of workers
Instead developing legislation that requires firms to develop and implement diversity initiatives that result in sustainable success
Not focusing on encouraging just diversity, but ‘effective’ diversity
Aligning individual interest with organisational diversity initiatives by restructuring incentives
Assisting individuals in realising that their self-interest can be facilitated by embracing organisational diversity initiatives
Developing measurable objectives for diversity
Developing superordinate goals which can only be achieved through cooperation amongst diverse members
Creating a work environment that encourages and facilitates communication between diverse employees
Keeping work team/group sizes small
Measuring managerial performance from a long-term perspective
Glass ceiling: a phenomenon that limits the advancement of women and other minority groups to senior managerial positions in organisations
How to overcome?
Changing societal norms around the role of women and eradicating gender bias
Eliminating the stigmatisation of men whose choose to stay at home for family reasons
Introduction of paid-parental leave schemes, especially for men that goes beyond "one week"
Introducing gender quotas for company boards
Realising that a more representative blend of women and men in senior roles just makes good business sense
Globalisation effects
- requires a "gendered" consideration of access to employment, conditions of employment, wages and income, time spent in car activities vs time available for leisure