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2
Diversity
in
Organizations

Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Learning Objectives
 Describe the two major forms of workplace
diversity.
 Demonstrate how workplace discrimination
undermines organizational effectiveness.
 Describe how the key biographical
characteristics are relevant to OB.
 Explain how other differentiating characteristics
factor into OB.
 Demonstrate the relevance of intellectual and
physical abilities to OB.
 Describe how organizations manage diversity
effectively. .
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LO 1

Workplace Diversity

Diversity Management

Surface-Level Diversity

Deep-Level Diversity

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LO 2 Workplace Discrimination and
Organizational Effectiveness

Discrimination is to note a difference between

things.
Unfair discrimination assumes stereotypes
about groups.
 Refusal to recognize individual differences is
harmful to organizations and employees.

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LO 2 Workplace Discrimination and
Organizational Effectiveness

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LO 3 Biographical Characteristics
and Organizational Behavior

 Biological characteristics are personal

characteristics that are objective and easily
obtained from personnel records.
 Variations in these can be the basis for
discrimination

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LO 3 Biographical Characteristics
and Organizational Behavior
Age
The U.S. workforce is aging.
Does job performance decline with
increasing age?
Studies show that turnover and absenteeism
rates are lower among older workers, and
age is not associated with lower productivity.

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LO 3 Biographical Characteristics
and Organizational Behavior
Sex
 There are no consistent male-female
differences in problem-solving ability,
analytical skills, competitive drive,
motivation, sociability, or learning drive.
 But women earn less than men for the same
positions and have fewer professional
opportunities.

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LO 3 Biographical Characteristics
and Organizational Behavior
 Race and Ethnicity
 Employees tend to favor colleagues of their
own race in performance evaluations,
promotion decisions, and pay raises.
 African Americans and Hispanics perceive
higher levels of discrimination in the
workplace.
 African Americans generally fare worse than
Whites in employment decisions.

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LO 3 Biographical Characteristics
and Organizational Behavior
 Disabilities
 The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission classifies a person as disabled
who has any physical or mental impairment
that substantially limits one or more major
life activities.
 Workers with disabilities receive higher
performance evaluations, but may have
lower performance expectations.

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LO 3 Biographical Characteristics
and Organizational Behavior
 Hidden Disabilities
Sensory disabilities, chronic illness or pain,
cognitive or learning impairments, sleep
disorders, and psychological challenges.
U.S. organizations must accommodate
employees with a very broad range of
impairments.

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LO 4 Other Characteristics and
Organizational Behavior
 Tenure
 Tenure is a good predictor of employee
productivity.
 Tenure and job satisfaction are
positively related.
 Religion
 U.S. law prohibits discrimination based
on religion, but it is still an issue,
especially for Muslims.
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LO 4 Other Characteristics and
Organizational Behavior
 Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Federal law does not protect employees
against discrimination based on sexual
orientation, but this may soon change.
Most Fortune 500 companies have policies
covering sexual orientation and about half
now have policies on gender identity.
 Cultural Identity
Need to accommodate and respect
individual cultural identities.
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LO 5
Intellectual and Physical
Abilities and OB

Ability is an individual’s current capacity to

perform various tasks in a job.
Two types
 Intellectual abilities
 Physical abilities

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LO 5
Intellectual and Physical
Abilities and OB
Intellectual abilities are abilities needed to
perform mental activities – thinking, reasoning,
and problem solving.
 Most societies place a high value on
intelligence.
 General mental ability is an overall factor
of intelligence as suggested by the positive
correlations among specific intellectual
ability dimensions.

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LO 5
Intellectual and Physical
Abilities and OB

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LO 5 Intellectual and Physical
Abilities and OB
Physical Abilities
 The capacity to do tasks demanding
stamina, dexterity, strength, and similar
characteristics.
 Nine basic abilities related to strength,
flexibility, and other factors are needed to
perform physical tasks.

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LO 5 Intellectual and Physical
Abilities and OB

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LO 6 Describe How Organizations
Manage Diversity Effectively
Diversity management is the process and
programs by which managers make everyone
more aware of and sensitive to the needs and
differences of others.
 Diversity is more successful when it is
everyone’s business, not just for certain
groups of employees.

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LO 6
Describe How Organizations
Manage Diversity Effectively
Attracting, Selecting,
Developing, and Retaining
Diverse Employees

Diversity in Groups Effective Diversity

Programs

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LO 6
Describe How Organizations
Manage Diversity Effectively
Attracting, selecting, developing, and retaining
diverse employees
 Target recruiting messages to specific
demographic groups.
 Ensure that hiring is bias free.
 Create a positive diversity climate.

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LO 6
Describe How Organizations
Manage Diversity Effectively

Diversity in groups
 Most people in groups need a common way
of looking at and accomplishing major tasks,
and they need to communicate well with
each other.
Emphasize higher-level similarities among
people.

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LO 6
Describe How Organizations
Manage Diversity Effectively
Effective diversity programs
 Teach managers about the legal framework
for equal employment opportunity and
encourage fair treatment of all people.
 Teach managers how a diverse workforce will
be more effective at serving a diverse
customer base.
 Foster personal development practices that
bring out the skills and abilities of everyone.

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 Implications for Managers
Understand your organization's anti-discrimination policies
thoroughly and share them with your employees.
Assess and challenge your own stereotype beliefs to
increase your objectivity.
Look beyond readily observable biographical
characteristics and consider the individual’s capabilities
before making management decisions.
Fully evaluate what accommodations a person with
disabilities will need and then fine-tune a job to that
person’s abilities.
Seek to understand and respect the unique biographical
characteristics of your employees; a fair but individualistic
approach yields the best performance.
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