Diversity & Biological Characteristics

• Effective diversity management increases an organization’s access to widest possible pool of skills, abilities and ideas.

• Surface Level Diversity:Differences in easily perceived characteristics, such as gender, race,

ethnicity, age, or disability, that do not necessarily reflect the ways people think or feel but that may activate certain stereotypes.

• Deep Level Diversity:Difference in values, personality, and work preferences that become

progressively more important for determining similarity as people get to know one another better.

Diversity

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• Noting of differences between things; often we refer to unfair discrimination, which means making judgments about individuals based on stereotypes regarding their demographic group.

• Discriminatory policies or practices• Intimidation• Mockery & insults• Exclusion• Incivility• Harassments

Discrimination

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Objective and easily obtained personal characteristics.

•Age– Older workers bring experience, judgment, a strong work ethic,

and commitment to quality.•Gender– Few differences between men and women that affect job

performance.•Race (the biological heritage used to identify oneself)– Contentious issue: differences exist, but could be more culture-

based than race-based.

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Biographical Characteristics

• Tenure– People with job tenure (seniority at a job) are more

productive, absent less frequently, have lower turnover, and are more satisfied.

• Religion– Islam is especially problematic in the workplace in this post-

9/11 world.

• Sexual Orientation– Federal law does not protect against discrimination (but state

or local laws may).– Domestic partner benefits are important considerations.

• Gender Identity– Relatively new issue – transgendered employees.

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Other Biographical Characteristics

• The process and programs by which managers make everyone more aware of and sensitive to the needs and differences of others.

• Attracting, • Selecting, • Developing and • Retaining Diverse Employees.

Diversity Management Strategies

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• When people work in groups they need to establish a common way of looking at and accomplishing the major tasks, and they need to communicate with one another often.

• Regardless of the composition of group, differences can be leveraged to achieve superior performance.

• Groups of diverse individuals will be much more effective if leaders can show how members have a common interest in the group’s success.

Diversity in Groups

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Some examples

• Effective, comprehensive workforce programs encouraging diversity have three distinct components:

• First they teach managers about the legal framework for equal employment opportunity and encourage fair treatment of all employees.

• Second, they teach managers how a diverse workforce will be better able to serve a diverse market of customers and clients.

• Third, they foster personal development practices that bring out the skills and abilities of all workers.

Effective Diversity Programs

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Thanks for your

attention