Diversity is simply differences.

Workplace diversity is a characteristic of a group of people

inside the organization where differences exist on one or more relevant dimensions like
gender, age, religion, race, social class, sexual orientation, personality, functional
experience or geographical background. It is the otherness or those human qualities that are
unique from what the individual owns and outside the groups, to which he belongs, yet
present in other individuals and groups. It is vital to understand how these dimensions
influence performance, motivation, success, and interactions with others in the workplace.

Workplace diversity can offer remarkable benefits in terms of enhanced morale, outside-the-
box thinking, better teamwork, and an ambiance of common understanding and respect.
Diversity in the workplace adds value to an organization

DIMENSIONS OF WORKPLACE DIVERSITY

Experts in diversity have identified three dimensions of diversity that often represent the
types of differences that are represented, particularly in the workplace. These dimensions of
diversity are also the lenses and filters that a person uses and others use to identify people.
These dimensions could help discover the important ways in which people inside the
organization differ. The primary dimensions of diversity are those human differences that are
inborn and/or that exert an important force on the early socialization and continue to have a
powerful, sustained impact on the individual's experiences, values, assumptions and
expectations throughout every stage of life. These six differences are age, race, ethnicity,
gender, physical abilities and sexual/affectional orientation which are sometimes referred to
as the core dimensions of diversity. They shape the basic self-image of a person.

Age

The workforce is rapidly aging. The same trend seems to be happening elsewhere in the
world. Age is correlated with a number of positive workplace behaviors, such as higher
levels of citizenship behaviors like volunteering, higher compliance with safety rules, lower
work injuries, lower counterproductive behaviors, and lower rates of tardiness or
absenteeism. As people get older, they are also less probable to want to give up their job
when they are dissatisfied at work. Despite their positive workplace behaviors, employees
who are older often have to deal with age-related stereotypes at work. Some stereotypes
about older employees are simply inaccurate like they perform on a lower level; they are less
able to handle stress, or their performance declines with age.

Age diversity within a team can in fact direct to higher team performance. This means teams
with higher age diversity were capable to think of different possibilities and diverse actions,
leading to higher performance for the teams. At the same time, managing a team with age
diversity may be challenging because different age groups appear to have dissimilar
opinions about what is fair treatment, leading to different perceptions of organizational
justice.

Age diversity also means that the workforce will consist of employees coming from different
generations. Some organizations are observing a generation gap and noting implications for
the management of employees. Focusing to such differences and tailoring various aspects
of management to the particular employees in question may lead to more effective
management of an age-diverse workforce.

Race

Race is another demographic characteristic that still exists in organizations. Regrettably,

discrimination against ethnic minorities still takes place. Ethnic minorities experience both an
earnings gap and a glass ceiling. Earning gap is a statistical indicator often used to compare
the earnings of other races and ethnicities. Glass ceiling is a political expression used to
express the invisible, yet indestructible fence that keeps minorities and women from rising to
the upper steps of the corporate ladder, despite of their qualifications or achievements.

In addition, ethnic minorities are less likely to experience a satisfying work environment. It
seems that the perception that the organization does not value diversity is a fundamental
explanation for why ethnic minorities may feel alienated from coworkers. Creating a fair work
environment where diversity is valued and appreciated seems to be the key. Organizations
often make news headlines for alleged or actual race discrimination, but there are many
stories involving complete turnarounds, suggesting that conscious planning and motivation
to improve may make organizations friendlier to all races.

Ethnicity

Ethnicity, like race, is a social construct, but it's still a construct with significant implications
for the world. How people perceive ethnicity, both their own and that of others can be tough
to measure, particularly given that it's so subjective. Part of ethnicity is the religious belief of
people. Religious discrimination often occurs because the religion necessitates modifying
the employee's schedule. For instance, devout Muslim employees may want to pray five
times a day with each prayer lasting 5 to 10 minutes. This situation pits employers' concerns
for productivity against employees' desires to execute religious obligations. Accommodating
someone's religious preferences may also require companies to relax their dress code to
take into account religious practices such as wearing a covering one's hair with a scarf for
Muslim women.

The Philippines has 10 major distinct groups mainly the Bicolano, Ibanag Ilocano,
Kapampangan, Moro, Pangasinan, Sambal, Tagalog and Visayan. The Philippines also has
several aboriginal stocks such as the Badjao, Igorot, Lumad, Mangyan and Negrito. The
country also has considerable communities of American, Arabic, Chinese, Indian, and
Hispanic descent and other ethnicities from other countries.

Gender

In spite of the existence of strong law, women and men often face different treatment at
work. The earnings gap and the glass ceiling are two of the key problems women may
experience in the workplace. There are many potential explanations for the earnings gap.
One explanation is that women are more likely

to have gaps in their resumes because they are more likely to take time off to have children.
Women are still the crucial caregiver for young children in many families and career gaps
tend to influence earnings potential because it prevents women employees from
accumulating job tenure. Another potential explanation is that women are less likely to
pursue high-paying occupations such as engineering and business. Research shows that
men and women have somewhat different preferences in job attributes, with women valuing
characteristics such as good hours, an easy commute, interpersonal relationships, helping
others, and opportunities to make friends more than men do. In turn, men seem to value
promotion opportunities, freedom, challenge, leadership, and power more than women do.
Finally, negotiation differences among women are often cited as a potential reason for the
earnings gap. In general, women are less likely to initiate negotiations.

Another issue that provides a challenge for women in the workforce is the so- called glass
ceiling. While women may be represented in lower level positions, they are less likely to be
seen in higher management and executive suites of companies. In fact, while women
constitute close to one-half of the workforce, men are four times more likely to reach the
highest levels of organizations. One explanation for the glass ceiling is the gender-based
stereotypes favoring men in managerial positions. Traditionally, men have been viewed as
more assertive and confident than women, while women have been viewed as more passive
and submissive. Assumptions such as these are problematic for women's advancement
because stereotypes associated with men are characteristics often associated with being a
manager. Stereotypes are also found to influence how managers view male versus female
employees' work accomplishments.

Physical Qualities

Employees with a wide range of physical and mental disabilities are part of the workforce.
Particularly employees suffering from illnesses that last for a long time and require ongoing
care seem to be at a disadvantage, because they are more likely to be stereotyped, locked
into dead-end jobs, and employed in jobs that require substantially lower skills and
qualifications than they possess. They also are more likely to quit their jobs.

What can organizations do to create a better work environment for employees with
disabilities? One legal requirement is that, when an employee brings up a disability, the
organization should consider reasonable accommodations. This may include modifying the
employee's schedule and reassigning some nonessential job functions. Organizations that
offer flexible work hours may also make it easier for employees with disabilities to be more
effective. Finally, supportive relationships with others seem to be the key for making these
employees feel at home. Particularly, having an understanding boss and an effective
relationship

with supervisors are particularly important for employees with disabilities

Sexual/Affectional Orientation

Lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgender (LBGT) employees in the workplace face a number
of challenges and barriers to employment. Research shows that one of the most important
issues relating to sexual orientation is the disclosure of sexual identity in the workplace.
According to one estimate, up to one-third of lesbian, gay, and bisexual employees do not
disclose their sexual orientation at work. Employees may fear the reactions of their
managers and coworkers, leading to keeping their sexual identity a secret. In reality though,
it seems that disclosing sexual orientation is not the key to explaining work attitudes of these
employees it is whether or not they are afraid to disclose their sexual identity. In other words,
those employees who fear that full disclosure would lead to negative reactions experience
lower job satisfaction, reduced organizational commitment, and higher intentions to leave
their jobs. Creating an environment where all employees feel welcome and respected
regardless of their sexual orientation is the key to maintaining a positive work environment.

Secondary dimensions of diversity are those individual differences that are acquired,
discarded and/or modified throughout the life of a person. These eight dimensions are work
background, income, marital status, military experience, geographic locale, family
background and education. These dimensions add breadth to an individual's core identity
and they specifically influence one's self- esteem. In addition they enhance one's life
experiences.

Finally, there are the dimensions of diversity that people don't always think about, but that
can have a great force on how interactions in the workplace can take place.

1. Language and communications - not just the language an individual speaks (English,
Spanish, Mandarin, Filipino, etc.) but how people desires to share information with one
another

2. Appearance and dress -further than clothing and consist of tattoos, piercing, hairstyles

3. Food and eating habits-types of food, when a person eats, vegetarians, vegan, lactose
intolerance

4. Time and time-consciousness-preferred and most productive time of the day, punctuality,
flexibility

5. Sense of space-how close does a person stand, how much of area do they require

6. Smokers and non-smokers

BENEFITS OF WORKPLACE DIVERSITY

An organization's success and competitiveness depends upon its ability to embrace diversity
and realize the benefits. When organizations actively assess their handling of workplace
diversity issues, develop and implement diversity plans, multiple benefits could be attained.

Having a diverse workforce and managing it effectively have the potential to bring about a
number of benefits to organizations. Here are the benefits of workplace diversity:

1. Higher Creativity in Decision Making A diverse workforce that feels comfortable

communicating varying perspectives provides a larger pool of ideas and experiences. The
organization can draw from that pool to meet business strategy needs and the needs of
customers more effectively. With diverse workforce higher quality decisions could be
produced. It is more possible for individuals to reflect on more alternatives and think outside
the box when making decisions in these teams. Novel solutions could be identified by team
members when thinking about a certain problem. Thus, a

bottom line may be influenced directly by having a diverse workforce through increasing
creativity in decision making.

2. Better Understanding and Service of Customers - A company with a diverse workforce

may create products or services that appeal to a broader customer base. A company with a
diverse workforce may comprehend the needs of particular groups of customers better, and
customers may feel more comfortable when they are dealing with a company that
understands their needs.

3. More Satisfied Workforce - When employees feel that they are fairly treated, they are
likely to be more satisfied. On the other hand, when employees observe that they are being
discriminated against, they tend to be less attached to the company, less satisfied with their
jobs, and feel more stress at work. Organizations where employees are satisfied frequently
have lower turnover.

4. Higher Stock Prices - Companies that do a better job of managing a diverse workforce are
often rewarded in the stock market, signaling that investors employ this information to
evaluate how well a company is being managed

5. Lower Litigation Expenses Companies doing a particularly bad job in diversity

management face costly litigations. When an employee or a group of employees feel that the
company is disobeying laws, they may file a complaint. Regardless of the outcome, these
lawsuits are pricey and include attorney fees as well as the cost of the settlement or
judgment, which may reach millions of money. The resulting poor public relations also have
a cost to the company. Thus, effective management of diversity can direct to big cost
savings by lessening the probability of facing expensive and discomfiting lawsuits.

6. Increased Adaptability - Organizations making use of a diverse workforce can convey a

greater range of solutions to problems in service, sourcing, and allocation of resources.
Employees from diverse backgrounds carry individual talents and experiences in suggesting
ideas that are flexible in adapting to changeable markets and customer demands.

7. Broader Service Range - A diverse collection of skills and experiences permits a company
to offer service to customers on a global basis.

8. Higher Company Performance As a result of all these potential benefits, companies that
administer diversity more effectively tend to do better than others. Companies that promote
diversity in the workplace encourage all of their employees to perform to their highest ability.
Company-wide strategies are executed effectively, resulting in higher productivity, profit, and
return on investment.

ROADBLOCK TO WORKPLACE DIVERSITY

Ignoring diversity issues costs time, money, and efficiency. Some of the consequences can
include unhealthy tensions; loss of productivity because of increased conflict; lack of ability
to attract and retain talented people of all kinds; complaints and legal actions; and inability to
keep important employees, resulting in lost investments in recruitment and training.

Successful diversity management can be effective through inclusion. Inclusion can help
create high-performing organizations, where all individuals feel engaged and their
contributions toward meeting organizational goals are respected and valued. In other words
inclusion is how diversity can be leveraged. However, there are diversity roadblocks that
need to be addressed to avoid the entire diversity and inclusion agenda being hindered.
They are the following:

Prejudice and Discrimination

Prejudice is the irrational, inflexible opinion based on limited and insufficient information and
unfair negative attitudes individuals hold about other people who belong to social or cultural
groups different from their own. Prejudice gives a fast and simple way of sorting all the new
and different people being met each day. It takes much more time and effort to hold back
judgment until people really know someone.

Discrimination is a behavior that results to unequal treatment of individuals based on group

membership. Treatment may vary because of race, age, gender, social class, sexual
orientation, or any number of other dimensions of diversity. Besides leading to law suits, it
can also be the reason for lost of valuable human resources.

Prejudice and discrimination do not have to be obvious. In the workplace they could be done
in subtle ways attributing discriminatory behavior to another cause like poor performance.

Stereotyping

Stereotyping is a generalized set of beliefs about the characteristics of a group of individuals.

People who engaged in stereotyping believed that all or most members of the group have
certain trait characteristics or traits. Stereotypes are unrealistic, non-factual and most of the
times are negative.

Stereotyping is difficult to stop due to the following reasons:

1. It is not easy to dismiss-When discovered that a trait is incongruent with the stereotype,
people often ignore discrepancy and regard the individual "exception to the rule".

2. Stereotypes guide what information people look for, process and remember-The trait
stereotyped in a group served as the guide on the processing of information about a certain
person based on his membership to a group even not actually seen but just "remembered".

3. Stereotypes seem to be an enduring human quality-Everyone hold stereotypes. It

provides predictability if one knows the character of t the group where a person belongs. So
knowing the information enables prediction of the individual's behavior and what response
should be made.
Therefore, stereotypes have detrimental effects on interpersonal relations because of
unpractical and false assumptions about members of other groups. It can have direct effects
on a person's career by causing unfair treatment.

Differences in Social Identity

Social identity is a person's knowledge that he fits in to a certain social groups, where fitting
in to those groups has emotional importance. It is hard to handle when person's social
identity is different from that of the majority because of the following reasons:

1. A person's social identity becomes noticeable when he is in the minority on a significant

dimension. A woman could be very conscious when in an all-male work environment than
when she is a mixed-gender group.

2. Belonging to a social identity different from the majority makes a person feel he has to
behave in ways that are unnatural for him in certain situations. Acting out a fake role can
lead to stress and dissatisfaction. In all-male work environment, a woman may try to act like
men just to fit in.

3. People in the minority often feel that they might lose their social identities. Social identity
is a source of pride and dignity for people. When always forced to check on this identity,
people could have a sense of loss and discomfort.

4. People tend to check on others based on their social group membership. People
belonging to one's "in-group" are better than those belonging to the "out-group".

Power Differentials

In the organization, power is not always equally distributed among individuals and groups.
Sources of power could be legitimate, coercive, expert, reward, connection or referent.
Without any connection with work life, people can be awarded or deprived of power. In the
society, people can have ascribed power. Ascribed power is status and power that is given
by cultural norms and based on group membership. It is the societal culture that prescribes
who has the power and

who does not have. Traditionally, here in the Philippines, women, people from the minorities
and people with disabilities are observed to belong to the lower status compared to men.
Thus, members of these groups have less power in the workplace. Power differentials can
prevent an organization from developing an inclusive workplace. The reasons of this
prevention are the following:

1. High-status people speak more and use stronger influence tactics than low- status people

2. People belonging to groups having different degree of power and level of status may
avoid interaction and may form factions with members of their own group

Poor Structural Integration

Poor integration of women and minorities can give several roadblocks to crating a diverse
workplace. Here are the reasons:

1. Poor integration creates power and status differentials which can then link to gender or
race

2. Poor integration fosters negative stereotypes

3. Poor integration when overall make use of "exception rule"

4. Poor integration may bring the feeling of being impossible to rise to the top for most
women and minorities

Communication Problems

A potential problem occurs when everyone speaks a particular language fluently and people
who are less fluent may no longer contribute to the conversation. People who speak the
same language may exclude the one who do not speak the language. Many
misunderstandings happen due to language differences.

The differences of the appropriate norms may lead to communication problem among
different cultures. Common disagreements among different cultures in the workplace are:

1. Willingness to openly disagree

2. The importance of maintaining dignity

3. The way agreement is defined

4. The amount of time for building relationships

5. Willingness to speak aggressively

6. Mode of communication whether verbal or written

7. Personal space and non-verbal communication

EFFECTIVELY CREATING AND MANAGING WORKPLACE DIVERSITY

What can organizations do to manage diversity more effectively? In this section, a review of
research findings and the best practices from different companies to create a diverse yet
effective workplace is listed. Here is the list of suggestions for organizations:

1. Build a Culture of Respecting Diversity - In the most successful companies, diversity

management is not the responsibility of the human resource department. Starting from top
management and including the lowest levels in the hierarchy, each person understands the
importance of respecting others. If this respect is not part of an organization's culture, no
amount of diversity training or other programs are likely to be effective. In fact, in the most
successful companies, diversity is viewed as everyone's responsibility.

2. Make Managers Accountable for Diversity - People are more likely to pay attention to
aspects of performance that are measured. In successful companies, diversity metrics are
carefully tracked. When managers are evaluated and rewarded based on how effective they
are in diversity management, they are more likely to show commitment to diversity that in
turn affects the diversity climate in the rest of the organization.

3. Diversity Training Programs Many companies provide employees and managers with
training programs relating to diversity. However, not all diversity programs. e equally suco
successful. You may expect that more successful are programs are those that occur in
companies where a culture of diversity exists.

4. Review Recruitment Practices - Companies may want to increase diversity by targeting a

pool that is more diverse. By building relations with these occupational groups, organizations
may attract a more diverse group of candidates to choose from. Companies may also benefit
from reviewing their employment advertising to ensure that diversity is important at all levels
of the company.

5. Affirmative Action Programs - Policies designed to recruit, promote, train, and retain
employees belonging to a protected class are referred to as affirmative action. Affirmative
action programs are among the most controversial methods in diversity management
because some people believe that they lead

to an unfair advantage for minority members. It is plausible that people who are against
affirmative action programs may have unverified assumptions about the type of affirmative
action program the company is using. Informing employees about the specifics of how
affirmative action is being used may be a good way of dealing with any negative attitudes. In
addition to employee reactions to affirmative action, there is some research indicating that
affirmative action programs may lead to stigmatization of the perceived beneficiaries.

a. Simple Elimination of Discrimination. These programs are the least controversial and are
received favorably by employees.

b. Targeted Recruitment. These affirmative action plans involve ensuring that the candidate
pool is diverse. These programs are also viewed as fair by most employees.

c. Tie-breaker. In these programs, if all other characteristics are equal, then preference may
be given to a minority candidate. In fact, these programs are not widely used and their use
needs to be justified by organizations. In other words, organizations need to have very
specific reasons for why they are using this type of affirmative action, such as past illegal
discrimination. Otherwise, their use may be illegal and lead to reverse discrimination. These
programs are viewed as less fair by employees.

d. Preferential Treatment. These programs involve hiring a less qualified minority candidate.
Strong preferential treatment programs are illegal in most cases.