Module 11
Managing Cultural Diversity
PowerPoint Presentation by Charlie Cook
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
The Meaning of Diversity
• Dimensions of diversity:
 Social identities: personal characteristics such as race,
gender, nationality, sexual orientation, age, disability
that trigger others to treat people as members of a
group rather than as individuals
 Additional personal characteristics: marital status,
family background, educational level, etc.
 Organizational role: position, years of service, career
employee or temporary worker, executive or hourly
employee, etc.
Class Note: Managing Cultural Diversity
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
11–2
The Meaning of Diversity (cont’d)
• Cultural diversity:
 Refers to the primary dimensions of diversity and the
opportunities and challenges posed to work teams and
departments that represent people from many groups
Class Note: Managing Cultural Diversity
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
11–3
The Meaning of Diversity (cont’d)
• Diversity within nations and around the world
 Diversity is not merely a U.S. preoccupation
 Most nations have cultural differences in ethnicity,
language, gender, or class
• Sources of conflict around the world
 Race (U.S.)
 Ethnic and religious differences (Europe)
 Differences in national origin and immigration (Asia)
 Issues of indigenous peoples and class differences
(Latin America)
Class Note: Managing Cultural Diversity
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
11–4
The Meaning of Diversity (cont’d)
• Business case for diversity
 Research suggests managers cannot expect that
attracting and maintaining a diverse workforce will be
easy or natural
 Diversity does not automatically translate into positive
group or organizational performance
 Gains from greater diversity arise when training in
communication and teamwork enable managers to
learn from diversity
Class Note: Managing Cultural Diversity
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
11–5
The Business Case for Diversity
“I see three main points to make the business case for
diversity:
1. A talent shortage that requires us to seek out and use the full
capabilities of all our employees.
2. The need to be like our customers, including the need to
understand and communicate with them in terms that reflect their
concerns.
3. Diverse teams produce better results.
This last point is not as easy to sell as the first two—
especially to engineers who want data. What I need is the
data, evidence that diverse groups do better.”
Class Note: Managing Cultural Diversity
Source: Lew Platt, [former] CEO, Hewlett-Packard. Informal comments to Diversity Research Network,
Stanford Business School, March 18, 1998. Reproduced with permission of Hewlett-Packard Company.
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
Figure 11.1
11–6
The Meaning of Diversity (cont’d)
• What managers need to understand and do
 Understand how diversity affects group and
organizational processes
 Understand how to manage these processes to
produce positive results for stakeholders
 Be attentive to key stakeholders at three levels
Provide equal opportunity and fair treatment to everyone at
societal level
 Offer fair treatment and equal opportunity at organizational
level
 Translate diversity into positive organizational outcomes

Class Note: Managing Cultural Diversity
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
11–7
U.S. Societal and Policy Context
• Civil rights movement gave rise to policies of
equal opportunity and affirmative action
• These policies continue to reflect American
commitment to equality as a fundamental belief
• Some people believe much progress has been
made, while others believe problems of racial
division persist
Class Note: Managing Cultural Diversity
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
11–8
U.S. Societal and Policy Context (cont’d)
• Government policies
 In 1964, U.S. federal government enacted
comprehensive law to provide equal opportunity to all
people regardless of race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin
 Other protected categories later added: age and
disability
 Executive Order of 1965 requires all firms doing
business with the government to apply affirmative
action in hiring and promoting minorities and women
Class Note: Managing Cultural Diversity
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
11–9
U.S. Societal and Policy Context (cont’d)
• Government policies (cont’d)
 Affirmative action does not require hiring unqualified
individuals or choosing less-qualified members of a
protected group over others who are more qualified
 Government policies prompted positive effects in
protected groups from the late 1960s through the
1970s
 Significant challenges remain for black men, black
women, Hispanics, and Asians
Class Note: Managing Cultural Diversity
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
11–10
Organizational Processes
• Strategic design perspective
 Focus is on aligning corporate policies to government
regulations and other corporate requirements
• Political perspective
 Attention is on underlying tensions and conflicts of
interest that affect how diversity programs are
perceived and carried out
• Cultural perspective
 Important issues are how employees live out their
approach to diversity and the norms they develop
Class Note: Managing Cultural Diversity
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
11–11
Typical Elements in a
Corporate Diversity Program
• A formal position or department dedicated to
diversity management
• Training programs designed and conducted by
employees
• Diversity advisory councils chaired by the CEO
• Mentoring programs open to all high-potential
employees
• Participation in benchmarking studies of diversity
programs in other companies
Class Note: Managing Cultural Diversity
Source: Survey of Fortune 500 companies reported by the Society of
Human Resource Management in Mosaics 1(1), March 1995, p. 5.
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
Figure 11.2a
11–12
Typical Elements in a
Corporate Diversity Program (cont’d)
• Provision of electronic or printed diversity calendars
and schedule of company-sponsored diversity events
• Formal employee networks, support groups, and task
forces with direct access to top management that
identify issues, explore solutions, and support
implementation
• Awareness workshops with follow-up meetings and
results
• Global video conferencing supported by a culturally
sensitive manual
Class Note: Managing Cultural Diversity
Source: Survey of Fortune 500 companies reported by the Society of
Human Resource Management in Mosaics 1(1), March 1995, p. 5.
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
Figure 11.2b
11–13
Organizational Processes (cont’d)
• Three places in the organization where
complexities of diversity can be seen from
political and cultural perspective:
 Top leadership
 Grassroots employee advocacy groups
 Bystander awareness
Class Note: Managing Cultural Diversity
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
11–14
Organizational Processes (cont’d)
• Bystander training
 A bystander is anyone who witnesses an offensive or
inappropriate remark or behavior and faces the choice
of what to do about it
• Bystander training recognizes that everyday
issues which set the tone for diversity often pop
up suddenly and require quick and informal
intervention
Class Note: Managing Cultural Diversity
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
11–15
Situating
Diversity Within
Multiple
Organizational
Processes
Figure 11.4
Class Note: Managing Cultural Diversity
Source: From Maureen Scully and Amy Segal,
“Passion with an Umbrella: Grassroots Activists Inside
Organizations.” Paper presented at the Academy of
Management Meetings, Dallas, Texas, August 1994.
Reprinted by permission.
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
11–16
Composition of U.S. Labor Force
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, 2002.
11–17
What a Bystander Is and Is Not
Bystander Awareness
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
Figure 11.5
11–18
Bystander Awareness
• Bystander training focuses not on perpetrators,
victims, or managers but on those who witness
offensive or unprofessional behavior
• Lack of support from bystanders often worsens
strains in work groups
• Training can help bystanders turn around tense
situations and reinforce shared commitment to
inclusivity and respect
Bystander Awareness
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
11–19
Bystander Awareness (cont’d)
• Bystander inaction can be reduced by:
 Practicing interventions in a safe space
 Thinking through various scenarios in advance
 Expanding menu of possible responses
 Understanding cultural differences
 Learning from others’ experiments
 Taking personal ownership of a situation
 Becoming self-aware and understanding norms
 Discussing options with others and making bystander
action open, expected, and legitimate
Bystander Awareness
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
11–20
Bystander Awareness (cont’d)
• Speaking on behalf of another requires:
 Tactfulness
 Willingness to take risks
 Awareness of one’s own power or privilege
Bystander Awareness
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
11–21
Some Tactics for Bystanders:
Ideas from Workshop Participants
• Inclusion:
 Invite someone into the
conversation
 Solicit the opinions of
people who have been quiet
 Be an ally for someone
taking a risk
 Be gracious, help others
save face
• Discovery:
 Ask questions
 Give people a chance to
clarify
 Check assumptions
 Consider the big picture, the
broader context
Bystander Awareness
Source: Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Review. From “Making Differences Matter:
A New Paradigm for Managing Diversity” by David A. Thomas and Robin J. Ely, Sept/Oct 1996.
Copyright © by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
Figure 11.6a
11–22
Some Tactics for Bystanders (cont’d)
• Cooling things down:
 Ask for a break
 Use humor (but with care)
 Suggest next steps, another
meeting, off-line
conversations
• Heating things up:
 Surface emotions
 Say how the situation
makes you feel
 Point to the “unspeakable”
issues that may be lurking
• Body language/ signaling:







Stand up
Turn away
Raise your hand
Bang the table
Say “ouch”
Laugh
Leave the room
Bystander Awareness
Source: Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Review. From “Making Differences Matter:
A New Paradigm for Managing Diversity” by David A. Thomas and Robin J. Ely, Sept/Oct 1996.
Copyright © by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
Figure 11.6b
11–23
Three Paradigms for Managing Diversity
Bystander Awareness
Source: David Thomas and Robin Ely. 1996. Making Differences Matter. Harvard Business Review (September–October).
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
Figure 11.7
11–24
Eight Scenarios of Bystander Actions
Scenario
Name
Some Dimensions of
Diversity Addressed
1. Introducing the Invisible Colleague
gender
2. Is It Really About Race?
race
3. The Awkward Invitation
sexual orientation
4. Is It the Nature of the Project?
nationality, language
5. Counting on a Colleague
invisible disability
6. I Was Just Trying to Be Sensitive
nationality, language, gender
7. You Just Weren’t Listening
nationality, language, status
8. The Stapler
class/status/hierarchical level
Exercises: Bystander Scenarios: What Would You Do?
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
Figure 11.8
11–25