Describe the positive and negative effects of diversity by using social categorization theory and information/decision-making theory.

"Minorities" are becoming more popular, and the old people are relying more and more on the younger generation to support them.

Changing things up to appeal to the changing demographics

Ethnocentrism. The ethnocentrism barrier represents the feeling that one’s cultural rules and norms are superior or more appropriate than the rules and norms of another culture. This barrier is thoroughly discussed in Chapter 4.

Inaccurate stereotypes and prejudice. This barrier manifests itself in the belief that differences are viewed as weaknesses. In turn, this promotes the view that diversity hiring will mean sacrificing competence and quality.

Poor career planning. This barrier is associated with the lack of opportunities for diverse employees to get the type of work assignments that qualify them for senior management positions.

A negative diversity climate. Climate is generally viewed as employee perceptions about an organization’s formal and informal policies, practices, and procedures.74 Diversity climate is a subcomponent of an organization’s overall climate and is defined as the employees’ aggregate “perceptions about the organization’s diversity-related formal structure characteristics and informal values.”75 Diversity climate is positive when employees view the organization as being fair to all types of employees; the concept of organizational fairness is discussed in Chapter 8. Recent research revealed that a positive diversity climate enhanced the positive effects of diversity while a negative diversity climate reduced the positive aspects of employee diversity.76

An unsupportive and hostile working environment for diverse employees. Sexual, racial, and age harassment are common examples of hostile work environments. Whether perpetrated against women, men, or older individuals, hostile environments are demeaning, unethical, and appropriately called “work environment pollution.” Moreover, the EEOC holds employers legally accountable for behavior that creates a hostile work environment. An expert on the subject explains: An employer violates Title VII of the Civil Rights [Act] of 1964 [see Table 2–1] if it engages in unlawful discrimination by maintaining a hostile work environment. To prove a hostile work environment claim involving co-workers, an employee must show that she was subject to unwelcome harassment based on a protected characteristic [e.g., race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age] and that the harassment was severe or pervasive enough to create a hostile or abusive working environment. In addition, the employee must show that the employer knew or should have known about the environment and failed to act promptly to prevent or end the harassment.77 Sexual harassment, which we discuss in Chapter 11 under the context of men and women working together in groups, is the most frequent type of hostile environment charge filed with the EEOC.

Lack of political savvy on the part of diverse employees. Diverse employees may not get promoted because they do not know how to “play the game” of getting along and getting ahead in an organization. Research reveals that women and people of color are excluded from organizational networks.78

Difficulty in balancing career and family issues. Women still assume the majority of the responsibilities associated with raising children. This makes it harder for women to work evenings and weekends or to frequently travel once they have children. Even without children in the picture, household chores take more of a woman’s time than a man’s time.

Fears of reverse discrimination. Some employees believe that managing diversity is a smoke screen for reverse discrimination. This belief leads to very strong resistance because people feel that one person’s gain is another’s loss.

9. Diversity is not seen as an organizational priority. This leads to subtle resistance that shows up in the form of complaints and negative attitudes. Employees may complain about the time, energy, and resources devoted to diversity that could have been spent doing “real work.”

The need to revamp the organization’s performance appraisal and reward system. Performance appraisals and reward systems must reinforce the need to effectively manage diversity. This means that success will be based on a new set of criteria. For example, General Electric evaluates the extent to which its managers are inclusive of employees with different backgrounds. These evaluations are used in salary and promotion decisions.79

Resistance to change. Effectively managing diversity entails significant organizational and personal change. As discussed in Chapter 18, people resist change for many different reasons.

Option 1: Include/Exclude

This choice is an outgrowth of affirmative action programs. Its primary goal is to either increase or decrease the number of diverse people at all levels of the organizations. Shoney’s restaurant represents a good example of a company that attempted to include diverse employees after settling a discrimination lawsuit. The company subsequently hired African Americans into positions of dining-room supervisors and vice presidents, added more franchises owned by African Americans, and purchased more goods and services from minority-owned companies.81

Option 3: Assimilate

The basic premise behind this alternative is that all diverse people will learn to fit in or become like the dominant group. It only takes time and reinforcement for people to see the light. Organizations initially assimilate employees through their recruitment practices and the use of company orientation programs. New hires generally are put through orientation programs that aim to provide employees with the organization’s preferred values and a set of standard operating procedures. Employees then are encouraged to refer to the policies and procedures manual when they are confused about what to do in a specific situation. These practices create homogeneity among employees.

Option 5: Isolate

This option maintains the current way of doing things by setting the diverse person off to the side. In this way the individual is unable to influence organizational change. Managers can isolate people by putting them on special projects. Entire work groups or departments are isolated by creating functionally independent entities, frequently referred to as “silos.” Shoney Inc.’s employees commented to a Wall Street Journal reporter about isolation practices formerly used by the company: White managers told of how Mr. Danner [previous chairman of the company] told them to fire blacks if they became too numerous in restaurants in white neighborhoods; if they refused, they would lose their jobs, too. Some also said that when Mr. Danner was expected to visit their restaurant, they scheduled black employees off that day or, in one case, hid them in the bathroom. Others said blacks’ applications were coded and discarded.83

Option 6: Tolerate

Toleration entails acknowledging differences but not valuing or accepting them. It represents a live-and-let-live approach that superficially allows organizations to give lip service to the issue of managing diversity. Toleration is different from isolation in that it allows for the inclusion of diverse people. However, differences are not really valued or accepted when an organization uses this option.

Option 7: Build Relationships

This approach is based on the premise that good relationships can overcome differences. It addresses diversity by fostering quality relationships—characterized by acceptance and understanding—among diverse groups. Rockwell Collins, Inc., a producer of aviation electronics in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is a good example of a company attempting to use this diversity option. Rockwell is motivated to pursue this option because it has a shortage of qualified employees in a state that is about 6% nonwhite. To attract minority candidates the company “is building closer relationships with schools that have strong engineering programs as well as sizable minority populations. It also is working more closely with minority-focused professional societies.”84 The city of Cedar Rapids is also getting involved in the effort by trying to offer more cultural activities and ethnic-food stores that cater to a more diverse population base.