MGT 321
Diversity in Organizations
Stereotypes & Mirror Image Fallacy
• Stereotype presumes that some person
possesses certain individual characteristics
based on their sex or membership in a racial,
ethnic, or age group.
– Barack Husain Obama
– Lawsuit against Wal-Mart for discriminating
against women
• In Mirror Image Fallacy, one presumes that all
other people are “just like me.”
Individual Differences
• Homogeneity in workforce – utopia or reality?
• Heterogeneity – competitive advantage
• research on how firms gain sustainable
competitive advantage consistently identifies
selectivity in hiring and an emphasis on
training as two central characteristics of
successful companies.
• Selective to ensure heterogeneous workforce
Discrimination
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Discriminatory policy and practices
Sexual Harassment
Intimidation
Mockery or insult
Exclusion
Incivility
Levels of Diversity
• Surface level diversity: the observable
demographic and other overt differences in
people, such as their race, ethnicity, gender, age,
and physical capabilities (McShane & Glinow,
2010)
• Deep level diversity: Differences in the
psychological characteristics of employees,
including personalities, beliefs, values, and
attitudes.
Diversity Dimensions
• Biographical
• Ability
• Personality – We will focus on it later
Biographical Dimension
Age
Biographical Dimension
Age
Source: US Census Bureau
Biographical Dimension
• Age
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Why is age becoming an issue for workforce?
Age & turnover ratio
Age & absenteeism
Age & productivity
Age & job satisfaction
• Sex
– Male & Female Roles
– Work schedules, absence and turnover rate
– Discrimination and stress
Approximate median weekly pay per occupation (2011)
$1,464
CEOs
$2,122
$1,129
Marketing & Sales Managers
$1,660
$1,547
CIS Managers
Female
$1,595
Male
$933
Financial Managers
$1,504
$1,280
HR Managers
$1,488
$0
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
Source: Robbins, S.P. & Judge, T.A. (2015). Organizational Behavior, 16th edition, Pearson.
Biographical Dimension
• Race & ethnicity
– Racial discrimination in workplace
– Promotion decisions, evaluation
– How can we relate it to Bangladesh context?
• Disability
– Physical and mental disability
– What is the situation in Bangladesh?
Biographical Dimension
• Tenure / Seniority
– Seniority and job performance, absence,
productivity
• Religion
• Sexual orientation & gender identity
Ability
• Physical abilities
– Strength factors: Muscular strength
– Flexibility factors: Movement quality
– Other factors: Endurance, balance etc.
• Intellectual or cognitive abilities
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Verbal ability
Quantitative ability
Reasoning ability
Emotional intelligence
Cultural intelligence
General cognitive/mental abilities
Contemporary cognitive abilities
Why are GMAs important for
organizations?
• Research has shown that, in virtually any job where planning,
judgment, and memory are used in day-to-day performance,
individuals high in general cognitive ability will generally
outperform those who are low in this ability
• Individuals who are high in general cognitive ability will learn the
job more quickly than their low-ability counterparts
• Workers who are high in cognitive ability show much lower on-thejob accident rates
• Individuals who are high in cognitive ability have also been found to
engage in less counterproductive behaviors at work, including
destruction of property and engaging in violent acts on the job
Contemporary Cognitive Abilities
• Emotional Intelligence
– Set of abilities, both verbal and non-verbal, that
enable a person to generate, recognize, express,
understand, and evaluate their own and others’
emotions in order to successfully cope with social
demands and pressures
– Leaders and managers who score high on this
ability tend to be perceived as more effective by
their subordinates, peers, and supervisors
Contemporary Cognitive Abilities
• Cultural Intelligence
– the ability to observe, interpret, and act upon
unfamiliar social and cultural cues and function
effectively in new and foreign environments
– Cultural intelligence is a critical individual
difference for organizations that are trying to
move into global product markets
• Correlation between intelligence and job
satisfaction is about zero
Diversity
Legal & Political Aspects
• A recent study that sent out identical résumés of
hypothetical job applicants showed that those that
came from people with “white-sounding” names, such
as Neil, Brett, Emily, or Anne, were 50 percent more
likely to be asked for an interview relative to those that
came from people with “blacksounding” names, such
as Ebony, Tamika, Rasheed, or Khirese
• Discrimination lawsuit
• Discrimination in Bangladesh – What are the
dimensions?
Diversity Management
• Recruiting and selection policy
• Training and development practices
– Legal framework for equal employment opportunity
– Competitive advantage of diverse workforce
• Do these programs work?
– Research suggests one-shot training sessions do not
ensure effective results
– Long term strategies to ensure representation to
diverse groups