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Week 7, SUMMARY, Workplace diversity & the need to manage it, Social…
Week 7
SUMMARY
▪ Social categories arising from in- and out-groups result in three social dilemmas requiring solutions at the individual, managerial, and organisational levels
The glass ceilings impact employment and working conditions of women and other minorities
Workplace diversity a reality of modern
organisations, especially in Australia
Workplace diversity both influences and is
influenced by the management functions of POLC
Individuals form in- and out-groups based on
their social identities
Workplace diversity & the need to manage it
What is diversity?
▪ Term used to describe differences among individuals
▪ Age, race, ethnicity, gender, physical characteristics (height, weight etc), mental and physical ability, personality, sexual orientation etc
Workplace diversity therefore refers to differences
among people at work
Is it necessary to manage diversity?
Australian population:
28% born overseas, third highest in the world
▪ Overseas-born residents contribute to more than 50 per cent of population growth
▪ Overseas-born population from Asia and Africa have proportionally larger young (0-14 years) and working age (15-64 years) populations compared to those from europe
▪ Indigenous Australians comprise of approximately 2.4% of the population
▪ Over the next 50 years, approximately ¼ Australians will be 65 years or older
▪ Embracing the LGBT community
Is it neccessary to manage diversity?
▪ One of 4 core labour standards of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) - Elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation
▪ Anti-discrimination, equal opportunity, and affirmative action legislation in Australia
▪ Changing composition of the labour market
▪ Not about merely meeting ‘legal’ or ‘moral’ obligations
Social Dilemmas of Workplace Diversity
Individual Partcipation
The success of organisational diversity initiatives is 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
Managerial Participation
▪ A consequence 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
▪ Can result in ‘power battles’
Organisational Participation
Dependent upon how well the social dilemmas relating to individual and managerial particiption are addressed
▪ Incorrect perceptions in relation to the relationship between homogenous workers and employee turnover
▪ Belief that diversity initiatives benefit society not organisations implementing them
▪ Focus on short-term costs and not long-term benefits
▪ Creates barriers for selecting highly talented candidates due to inaccurate views
Social Identity Theory
Social identity theory stipulates that individuals
validate their social identity by favouring their ‘ingroup’ at the expense of ‘out-groups’
A shared social identity increases percieved differences between individuals belonging to different social categories (ie. between in and out groups)
Solutions for Social Dilemmas
The management problem - overcoming individual & managerial participation
Aligning individual interest with organisational diversity initiatives
▪ Assisting individuals in realising that their self interest can be facilitated by embracing organisational diversity
▪ Developing measurable objectives for diversity
▪ Developing superordinate goals which can only be achieved through cooperation
▪ 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
The public policy problem – overcoming organisational participation
▪ Avoiding the creation of legislation that results in 'protected classes' of workers
▪ Instead developing legislation that requires firms to develop and implement diversity intiatives that result in sustainable success
▪ Not focusing on encouraging just diversity, but 'effective' diversity
▪ Educational curricula at primary/secondary level
The Glass Ceiling
What is the Glass Ceiling?
▪ A phenomenon that limits the advancement of women and other minority groups to senior managerial postions in organisations
only 25% of key management positions on
company boards are held by women in Australia
However, in the public service 40% of all senior
executive positions filled by women
Eastern European and Scandinavian nations lead
the way in abolishing the glass ceiling
Overcoming the Glass Ceiling
▪ Changing societal norms around the role of women and eradicating gender bias
▪ Eliminating the stigmatisation of men who choose to stay home for family reasons
▪ Introduction of paid-parental leave schemes
▪ Introducing gender quotas for company boards
▪ A more representative blend of women and men in senior roles