The Management of Workplace Diversity

WEBPAGE PROJECT UPDATE

Steven M. Brown, Luke V. Vargo, Konstantin Kutschenko

Workplace diversity defined

Relates to the differences that people bring to a workplace

Two dimensions of diversity:

Primary (visible)/Secondary (invisible)

Every company has workplace diversity to some degree

Why We Chose Our Topic

Career relevance

Current trends in economy (globalization,

organizational mergers)

Linkages to social psychology

Objective

The objective of our project is to create a webpage

that informs about the increasing importance to manage

a diverse workplace and to examine and evaluate strategies

that are currently used in companies for the workplace

management.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Title VII

Equal Pay Act

American Disability in Employment Act

Social Psychology provides us with explanations for the lacking effectiveness of these employment laws Modern racism

Ambivalence

Color blindness

Advantages and Disadvantages

Depends on how well the diverse work place is managed. Advantages:

Helps bring in more talented people

Saving of litigation costs

More perspective on customer needs and wants

Disadvantages:

More miscommunication, tension, and conflict in workplace.

Can deter talented people from working

Mission critical work vs outside of mission critical work Outside of Mission critical work is defined as

working on miscommunication disagreement amongst various things.

The more time has to be spend on outside of mission critical work the more money and time will be wasted.

Mission critical work: effective use of time and energy devoted to the job at hand.

Types of Prejudices

Sexism

Nationalism

Classism

Sexual Discrimination

Racism

Religious Discrimination

Linguistic Discrimination

Origins of Prejudice

Inherent Human Potential for Prejudice

Intergroup Dynamics Individual Differences Structural, Situational, Individual

Theories of Reducing Prejudices

Propaganda

Education

Self-Confrontation Technique

Create opportunities for contact between members of different groups.

Sensitivity Training

Approaches to managing diversity

In research by Thomas and Ely (1996), they present the practitioner/consultant which examines the positive outcomes associated with diversity.

Research performed by Dietz and Petersen (2006) categorized diversity approaches to the macro or organizational-level approach and the micro approach that is based on psychological models of discrimination and inter-group relations.

Approaches to Managing Diversity

Litvin (1997) claims that exposure to managerial diversity discourse encourages individuals to view thier co-workers in particular ways. Litivin also argues that socially constructed demographic categories are portrayed as obvious, natural, and immutable and thus preclude any consideration of mechanisms for change.

Webpage Components

Types of Prejudices

Diversity

Laws Relating to Work Diversity

Managing Diversity

Reducing Discrimination in the Workplace

Advantages vs Disadvantages of a Diverse Workplace

What’s Next?

Further Social Theory Exploration

Gather Additional Research

Webpage Construction

Real World Examples

References