INDIVIDUAL

DIVERSITY IN
ORGANIZATIONS
Chapter 02
Women in Top Management Positions
 In India 50% of junior management positions are held by women, but only 5-14% of
the senior management positions are.
DIVERSITY
 Managers try to capitalize the differences to the most of their
employees.
 Effective diversity management increases an organization’s
access to the widest possible pool of skills, abilities, and ideas.
 These differences can lead to miscommunication,
misunderstanding, and conflict.
 In this chapter we will learn about how individual
characteristics like: Age, Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and abilities
can influence employee performance.
Demographic Characteristics of the Workforce
 Now the differences has reduced or somehow eliminated:
 Women is now encouraged for higher studies, full time employment and earn
wages comparable to men.
 White & Non-white / White and Asians (Color differences)
 Racial differences

 Infosys IT Company [89 nationalities working in 32 countries]

 Consulting company, HQ in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
 Levels of Diversity:
Surface and Deep Level Diversity

Surface-Level Diversity Demographics

Age Characteristics

Personality Attitudes
Physical Race/
Capabilities Ethnicity
Deep-Level Diversity

Values/Beliefs
Personality,
Values & Beliefs
Age Sex/Gender

Gender
Mental or
Mental or
Race/Ethnicity Physical
Race/Ethnicity Physical
Disabilities
Disabilities
Surface Level Similarity

 Surface level similarly will not necessary lead to positive

interaction, because their may be deep-level differences.
 You can identify through in-depth conversation.
 Political, Religious & Social Beliefs
 Philosophy of Life
 Personality Type
 Cultural values (Dinning etiquettes, superstitions etc.)
DISCRIMINATION
 Although diversity presents many opportunities for organizations,
diversity management includes working to eliminate unfair
discrimination.
 Discrimination: Noting of a difference between things; often we refer to
unfair discrimination, which means making judgements about individuals
based on stereotypes regarding their demographic group.
 Discrimination is very harmful to organization and employees.
Stereotype Threat
 Stereotyping: Judging someone on the basis of our perception of the group to which that
person belongs.
 Stereotype Threat: The degree to which we internally agree with the generally negative
stereotyped perceptions of our groups.
 It can lead to:
 Underperformance on test, performance evaluations, training exercises, negotiations and every day
interaction with others
 Disengagement and low satisfaction
 Poor job attitudes and performance
 Reluctance to seek feedback and low motivation
 Absenteeism, health issues and high turnover intention

 The following organizational changes can be successful in reducing stereotype threat:

 Increasing awareness of how stereotypes may be perpetuated
 Reducing differential and preferential treatment through objective assessments
 Banning stereotyped practices and messages
 Confronting micro-aggressions against minority groups
 Adopting transparent practices that signal the value of all employees
Discriminatory Practices in the Workplace
BIOGRAPHICAL CHARACTERSTICS
 Biographical Characteristics: Personal characteristics—such as age,
gender, race, and length of tenure—that are objective and easily
obtained from personnel records.
 Biographical characteristics are ‘Surface Level Diversity’

Race & Gender

Age Sex Disability Religion Tenure
Ethnicity Identity
Age
 Age is likely to be an issue of increasing importance.

 Young employees vs. Old employees

 Old employees also perceived as:

 Lacking flexibility
 Resisting new technology
 Less adoptable and open to change
 Age factor hinder the initial hiring

 Positive Qualities old employees:

 Older employee bring experience & judgement
 A strong work ethic
 Commitment to quality

 Older they get, less likely they are to quit job. (Less turnover)
Age
 As they become old they have fewer alternative job opportunities:
 Fewer opportunities because they have specialized to only certain type of work.

 Age is inversely related to absenteeism.

 Avoidable & Unavoidable absenteeism: i.e. sickness, health issues etc.
 Older employees have lower rates of avoidable absenteeism.

 AGE affects PRODUCTIVITY:

 Their skills like: speed, agility, strength, and coordination decay over time.
 The older workers are more likely to engage in citizenship behavior.

 Relationship Between Age & Job Satisfaction

 Older workers are tend to be more satisfied with their work.
 Report better relationships with coworkers, and are more committed to their employing
organizations.
 Engage in citizenship behavior.
Sex

 There is no consistent male-female differences in problem solving ability, analytical skills,

competitive drive, motivation, sociability or learning ability and leadership skills.

 There is no significant difference in job productivity between men and women.

 Common Perception about women and men:

 Women who succeed in traditionally male domains are perceived as less likable, more
hostile, and less desirable as supervisors.
 Men are suitable for leadership roles and challenging tasks.

 Men are more likely to be hired or given the role for leadership positions although men and
women are equally effective leaders.

 Women still earn less money on same job as compare to men and work on same traditional roles.

 Sex discrimination is also found in promotion, bonus and salaries.

 Some countries are reducing this discrimination by the help of law to increase the number of
women in workplace, but it is still a serious issue.
Race & Ethnicity
Race (Biological Heritage) Ethnicity (Cultural)
 Classification of human beings  Classification of human beings
according to biographical / according to their cultural
physical characteristics. background.
For Example: For Example:
 Skin Color  Cultural (Punjabi, Pashthun,
Sindhi, Baloch etc..)
 Eye Color
 Hair
 Sizes and shapes
Race & Ethnicity

 In workplace settings employees do favor their race & ethnicity.

 May slightly favor in performance appraisal, promotion decision,
and pay rises etc.
 Making worse decisions for specific race. [Discrimination]
 i.e. Non-White must have to use separate entrance at work.
 The discrimination can be minimized by understanding one
another’s point of view, diverse work group created for a mutual
goal and promoting affirmative actions.
 Positive diversity climate
 In an organization, an environment of inclusiveness and an
acceptance of diversity.
Who Knows This Person??

• One of the greatest minds of our time. He is a

professor, author and world-renowned
theoretical physicist.
• He did lot of discoveries on Black Holes.
• Stephen Hawkings (IQ Score is 160)
• Albert Einstien (IQ Level 160-190)
Motor-Neuron Disease
• Intel has given him machine to write his speech
and talk via cheek muscles.

The Theory of Everything- Hollywood Movie

Disability

 A person who has any physical or mental impairment that

substantially limits one or more major life activities.
 A person with disability means a person suffering from not less
than 40% of any disability certified by medical authority.
 Examples includes:
 Blindness, low vision, leprosy, hearing impairments, locomotor
disabilities and mental illness etc.
 Eliminating discrimination against disable person is also
problematic.
 But recognition of individual ability and talent with disability has
made the positive impact, whereas the technological
advancements have also created the jobs for disabled workers.
Disability
 Employers are required to make reasonable arrangement, so the
workplace can be accessible by the people who are physically or
mentally disable.
 Some jobs obviously cannot be accommodated to some
disabilities:
 A blind person could not be a bus driver
 Person with profound mobility constraints probably could not be a police officer.

 Mental Vs. Physical Disabilities

 Employees with mental disabilities impair performance more than physical
disabilities.
 Individual with common mental health issues as depression, and anxiety are
significantly more likely to be absent from work.
 People with mental illness are given lower ratings.
Hidden Disabilities

 These are not visible or observable or obvious until the person disclose about his/her
disability.
 Examples include:
 Impaired hearing, chronic illness or pain (like carpal tunnel syndrome), cognitive or
learning impairments, sleep disorders and psychological challenges
 Employees with hidden disabilities hide their disabilities to secure jobs and also to be
eligible for particular job.
 The believe that mangers will think that they are less capable of particular job.
 But the disclosure help all- the individual, others and organization.
 It increase the job satisfaction, well-being, help and assist the individual and allow
organization to accommodate such person to achieve higher performance.
OTHER DIFFERENTIATING
CHARACTERISTICS

Tenure
 Time spent in a job, organization or field
 Relationship Between:
 Seniority and Job Productivity is (Positive)
 Seniority and Turnover/ Absenteeism (Negative)
 Tenure and Job Satisfaction (Positive)
 Tenure and desire for further career advancement (Negative)
 The past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior.
 Tenure at previous job is best predictor of future employee turnover.
Religion
 Discrimination on the basis of religion, sect or belief
system is prohibited by Law.
 Islam is one of the most popular and majority
religion in the world.
 Holidays for the festivals of all religions are given in
India.
 Faith of individuals at workplace can be issue
because:
 Certain work behaviors are prohibited by their religion
 Christian believe not to work on Sundays whereas
Muslims believe not to work on Fridays.
 Some religious individuals express their believes and
think its their religious duty, which can be in conflict of
others believe and can cause the disputes at workplace.
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

 Transgender should be the equal part of society and

employment opportunities.
 In many countries the Law is protecting the rights of LGBT
(lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community for
discrimination in workplace.
 IBM is giving equal opportunities to LGBT Community as well.
 Gender Identity: A person's perception of having a particular
gender, which may or may not correspond with their birth sex.
 In many countries, organizations expect them to remain quiet
about their status
 But as time has changed so organizations must address such
issues and eliminate discrimination.
Cultural Identity

 Cultural Identity: A link with culture of family ancestry or youth

that last a lifetime, no matter where the individual may live in the
world.
 Cultural norms influence workplace, sometimes resulting in
clashes.
 Initially organizations followed those customs and practices
which were followed by the majority employees in workplace.
 Nowadays, due to diversity organizations do well to understand
and respect individual cultural identities.
 Organizations should look beyond just accommodating majority
groups and also create individualized practices and norms.
 Mangers need to create the bridge of workplace flexibility to
achieve organizational goals and individual needs.
ABILITY
 Ability is an individual’s current capacity to perform the various tasks in
a job.
 Abilities are “Deep Level Diversity”.
 Abilities are closely related to job performance.
 But it’s truth that we all are not created with equal all abilities.

Intellectual Physical
Intellectual Abilities

 Intellectual abilities needed to perform mental activities—Critical Thinking,

Reasoning, Problem solving, and Creative Skills.
 General mental ability (GMA): an overall factor of intelligence, as suggested by
the positive correlations among specific intellectual ability dimensions.
 Many people focus on strengthening mental abilities because generally people
can earn more if they are sound in these abilities.
 Receive higher education, certification and affiliations.
 Attend workshop, parallel education (E-MBA, Diplomas etc..)
 Although mental capability help to perform but may not necessarily increase
satisfaction.
 In fact high performers might be victimized, bullied and mistreated by their peers
due to social comparison.
Physical Abilities
 The capacity to do tasks that demand stamina, dexterity, strength, and similar
characteristics or the ability to perform some physical act.
IMPLEMENTING DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT
STRATEGIES

 Diversity Management: The process and programs by which managers make

everyone more aware of and sensitive to the needs and differences of others.
 Diversity is much more likely to be successful when we see it as everyone’s business
than when we believe it helps only certain groups of employees.

 Attracting, Selecting, Developing and Retaining Diverse

Employees
 Diversity in Groups
 Expatriate Adjustment
 Effective Diversity Programs