Diversity in the workplace
Yu Fu
Email: yu.fu@heig-vd.ch
Learning objectives
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Topic of diversity
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Recognise the advantages and challenges of
greater diversity in the workforce
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Ways managers deal with workplace diversity
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Responses to value diversity
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Diversity
• It means valuing the differences between
people and the ways in which those
differences can contribute to a richer, more
creative and more productive working
environment.
• It’s about how we value and appreciate
those that are unlike ourselves.
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Diversity is about…
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Race
Culture
National origin
Region
Gender
Sexual Orientation
Age
Marital Status
Religion
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Ethnicity
Disability
Health
Politics
Ability
Values
and much more……
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Dimensions of Diversity
Secondary
Dimensions
Primary
Dimensions
Inborn
difference Have an
impact
throughout
one’s life
Education
Marital
Status
Parental
Status
Primary
Dimensions
Gender
Age
Secondary
Dimensions
Religious
Beliefs
Ethnicity
Person Sexual
Physical
Orientation
Ability
Military
Experience
Acquired or
changed
throughout one’s
lifetime. Have less
impact – still
impact self
definition
Race
Geographic
Location
Work
Background
Income
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Levels of diversity
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Surface-level diversity, such as demographics,
can lead employee perceive one another through
stereotypes and assumptions.
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Deep-level diversity, presents when people see
themselves as sharing more important
characteristics, such as personality and values
with others.
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Attitudes toward Diversity
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Ethnocentrism = belief that one’s own group or
subculture is inherently superior to other groups
or cultures
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Enthnorelativism = belief that groups and
subcultures are inherently equal
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Pluralism = an organisation accommodates
several subcultures
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Leveraging Diversity
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Multicultural teams = made up from diverse
national, racial, ethnic and cultural
backgrounds
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Employee network groups = based on social
identity, and organised by employees to
focus on concerns of employees from that
group
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Diverse Teams
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Advantages
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Enhanced creativity, innovation, and value in today’s
global marketplace
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Generate more and better alternatives to problems
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Produce more creative solutions than homogeneous
teams
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Increase constructive group processes and is positively
associated with performance in the workplace
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Is associated with increased sale revenue, greater market
share, more customers, and greater profits
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Diverse Teams
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Disadvantage
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Increased potential for miscommunication and
misunderstanding
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Diverse teams are shown to be less integrated and have a
higher level of dissatisfaction
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Can be linked with conflict, less group cohesiveness,
increased employee turnover and absenteeism, and low
quality of performance
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Biculturalism
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It’s the way that minorities use to deal with bias in
the workplace.
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Socio-cultural skills and attitudes used by racial
minorities as they move back and forth between the
dominant culture and their own ethnic or racial
culture.
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Inclusive Practices in the Workplace
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Building a corporate culture that values
diversity
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Changing structures, policies, and systems to
support diversity
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Recruitment
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Career advancement
Providing diversity awareness training
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Diversity Initiatives
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Recruitment
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Examine employee demographics
– Examine composition of the labour pool in the area
– Examine composition of the customer base
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Career Advancement
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Eliminate the glass ceiling
– Accomplish mentoring relationships
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Diversity Initiatives
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Accommodating Special Needs
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Child care
Maternity or paternity leave
Flexible work schedules
Home-based employment
Long-term-care insurance, special health or life
benefits
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Highest Level of
Awareness
Stages of
Diversity Awareness
Integration
Multicultural attitude-enables
one to integrate differences
and adapt both cognitively
and behaviorally
Adaptation
Able to shift from one cultural
perspective to another
Able to empathize with those
Acceptance of other cultures
Accepts behavioral differences and
underlying differences in values
Recognizes validity of other ways of
thinking and perceiving the world
Minimizing Differences
Hides or trivializes cultural
differences
Focuses on similarities among
all peoples
Defense
Perceives threat against one’s
comfortable worldview
Uses negative stereotyping
Assumes own culture superior
Denial
Parochial view of the world
No awareness of cultural differences
In extreme cases, may claim other
cultures are subhuman
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Lowest Level of
Awareness
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Diversity Programs
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Expatriates = employees who live and work in a
country other than their own
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Global Diversity Program
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Employee selection
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Employee training
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Understanding high vs. low-context communication
context
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Diversity Training
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Diversity training has three main objectives in the
workplace:
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Increase awareness about diversity issues
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Reduce bias and stereotypes that deter from effective
management
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Change behaviour to help effectively manage a diverse
workforce
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Valuing Diversity
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Top managers value diversity
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Give organization access to broader range of
opinions and viewpoints
– Reflect an increasingly diverse customer base
– Obtain the best talent in a competitive
environment
– Demonstrate the company’s commitment to
doing the right thing
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Valuing Diversity
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Job seekers value diversity
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90% of job seekers think diversity programs
make a company a better place to work
Survey commissioned by The New York Times
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Diversity in the Workplace Today
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Although government agencies and Fortune 500
companies claim that they provide diversity
training, around 40% of organisations still do not.
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Only 30% of female employees hold management
positions in Wal-mart. That is a very low number
considering 70% if their employees are female.
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Diversity in the Workplace Today
“By integrating diversity and inclusion into
the mainstream of the business, we can
translate our core values of honesty,
integrity and respect for people into action,
and improve global performance”.
(Jeroen, male, Dutch, the CEO of company A)
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HSBC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALWwK7Vz4gY
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Coke-cola: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=443Vy3I0gJs
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EUROPA & ITALIA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzQuuoKXVq0
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Bienvenue chez Nous:
http://www.20min.ch/ro/videotv/?vid=328302&cid=178
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