Unit 1 - Foundations and Theories of Diversity

Diversity
MULTICULTURAL DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE

Unit Objectives
• At the end, the learner should be able to:

• Define diversity
• Discuss different types of Diversity
• Discuss different theories of Diversity
• Explore the development of salient theories of workplace diversity.
Definition of Diversity
• Diversity is defined as:
• The distribution of differences among the members of a unit
with respect to a common attribute (Harrison & Klein, 2007).
• A group characteristic that reflects the degree to which there
are objective and/or subjective differences among group
members (van Knippenberg & Schippers, 2007)
• Simply, any difference between the members of the team.
Types of Diversity
Surface-Level Diversity- Deep-Level Diversity-
characteristics that are attributes that are not
noticeable when you look at immediately observable.
someone “on the surface”.
Examples: sex, race, age, Examples: attitude, values,

weight personality
Types of Diversity
Harrison and Klein (2007) proposed that there are three distinct types of
diversity:
Diversity as Separation Diversity as Variety Diversity as Disparity
It refers to differences on It refers to differences in It refers to differences in
a particular attribute such knowledge, life status or power. It could
as attributes, beliefs and experiences and reflect the concentration
values. information among team of resources including
members. status, pay and the
Examples: Examples: Differing prestige of assignments
Cultural Values, job Professional Background, among team members.
attitudes, political beliefs functional areas and
expertise.
Faultlines
• More recently, researchers had begun to examine multiple forms

of diversity that can create divisions within a team, known as
faultlines.
• Faultlines – hypothetical dividing lines which divide a group into
subgroups based on the alignment of team members’ attributes.
Example: A team could have an equal number of male and
female employees. Faultline on gender might exist.
Theories on Diversity
• Relational Demography Theory (cited by Pfeffer, 1983)

• This represents the earliest works in the team diversity
literature which examined the basic characteristics of teams.
This theory suggests that people compare their own
demographic characteristics with those of their own
teammates to determine whether they are similar or
different.
• Social Categorization Theory
• It is resting on two ideas: self categorization and social identity,
• Self-Categorization Theory – maintains that people categorize
themselves and others into in-group (those who are similar to them)
and out-group (those who are different from them) membership
based on surface-level characteristics. It is also called as the “pessimistic
view” of diversity.
• Social Identity Theory – shows that people derive part of their self-
esteem from their identity groups. Therefore, people tag positive
characteristics in their in-group, and negative characteristics to their
out-group.
• Similarity-Attraction Hypothesis
• It predicts that diverse teams will be less productive than
homogenous teams because homogenous teams share
similar attributes and are more attracted to working with one
another.
• Value in Diversity Hypothesis

• It has been called as the “optimistic” view of diversity. It
proposes may ways in which diversity can create value for
teams and how that value could overshadow any negative
effects of team diversity, providing a competitive advantage:
• Creativity argument – diversity of opinions in a decision-making
process should de-emphasize conforming to norms of the past and
should spur creativity.

• Problem-solving Argument – diverse teams should produce
better decisions via a wider range of perspectives considered
and a more thorough analysis of issues.

• Cost argument – as organizations become more diverse,
those are able to integrate diversity more smoothly will
realize cost advantages.

• Resource-acquisition argument – proposes that companies
with a good reputation for being inclusive and integrating
diversity well will win with the competition for best talent.

• Marketing Argument – diverse companies with a wealth of
cultural information among employees will be able to better
market their products in foreign markets as well to domestic
subgroups of the population.

• System flexibility argument – companies adopting a
multicultural approach to managing diversity will be less rigid
and more fluid, which will allow them to better respond to
environmental changes.

• Information-processing perspective – argues that any time
there is a task uncertainty, there is a greater amount of
information which must be processes to accomplish a task
and obtain good performance.
Diversity Terminologies
• Biases – tendencies, inclinations or feelings, particularly ones that are
preconceived and lack reasoning; they are often implicitly or subconsciously
driven.
• Stereotypes – generalizations or beliefs about a particular group or its
members which are unjustified because they reflect over-generalizations and
factual errors as well as misattributions to other groups.
• Prejudices – unfair, negative attitude toward a social group or a person who is
a member of that group.
• Discrimination – is to treat someone in a way less desirable from the way one
would normally treat others because of their group membership.

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Diversity

MULTICULTURAL DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE

• At the end, the learner should be able to:

Examples: sex, race, age, Examples: attitude, values,

• More recently, researchers had begun to examine multiple forms

• Relational Demography Theory (cited by Pfeffer, 1983)

• Value in Diversity Hypothesis

• Value in Diversity Hypothesis

• Value in Diversity Hypothesis

• Value in Diversity Hypothesis

• Value in Diversity Hypothesis

• Value in Diversity Hypothesis

• Value in Diversity Hypothesis

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