Diversity

• 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: differences in values, personality, and work preferences that become progressively more important for determining similarity as people get to know one another better.

• Discrimination: noting of a difference between things; often we refer to unfair discrimination, which means making judgments about individuals based on stereotypes regarding their demographic group.

Biographical characteristics

• Biographical characteristics: personal characteristics such as age, gender, race, and length of tenure that are objective and easily obtained from personnel records. These characteristics are representative of surface-level diversity.

  • Age

    • Older workers lack flexibility, resist technology but have experience and judgement

    • Relationship between age and job satisfaction

      • Satisfaction tends to increase among professionals as they age

      • Falls with non-professionals and then rise again later

  • Gender

    • Gender bias is still present in managers when selecting candidates

      • Maternal wall bias (possibility of having children)

    • Women still earn less money than men for the same positions

    • Combatting sex discrimination would result in better performance

      • Employees who are discriminated against will want to leave

  • Race and ethnicity

    • Biological heritage people use to define themselves

    • Relates to employment outcomes like personnel selection decisions, performance evaluation, pay and workplace discrimination

    • Leads to increased turnover, minorities tend to face discrimination

  • Disability

    • Representation of disabled people in the workplace has increased

    • Workers with disabilities receive higher performance evaluations

      • Tend to encounter lower performance expectations and likely to be hired

  • Tenure

    • Positive relationship between seniority and job productivity

    • The longer a person is at a job the less likely he/she is to quit

  • Religion

    • Significant effect in the workplace

    • Victims of religious discrimination have higher levels of health problems, absence and turnover

  • Cultural identity

    • Organizations must adapt to cultural clashes that tend to happen in the workplace

    • Global integration and changing labour markets

Ability

• Ability: individual’s capacity to perform the various tasks in a job.

• Intellectual abilities: capacity to do mental activities - thinking, reasoning, and problem solving.

• General mental ability (GMA): overall factor of intelligence, as suggested by the positive correlations among specific intellectual ability dimensions.

• Physical abilities: capacity to do tasks that demand stamina, dexterity, strength and similar characteristics.

  • Strength factors

    • Dynamic strength: ability to exert muscular force repeatedly or continuously over time.

    • Trunk strength: ability to exert muscular strength using the trunk (particularly abdominal) muscles.

    • Static strength: ability to exert force against external objects.

    • Explosive strength: ability to expend a maximum of energy in one or a series of explosive acts.

  • Flexibility factors

    • Extent flexibility: ability to move the trunk and back muscles as far as possible.

    • Dynamic flexibility: ability to make rapid, repeated flexing movements.

  • Other factors

    • Body coordination: ability to coordinate the simultaneous actions of different parts of the body.

    • Balance: ability to maintain equilibrium despite forces pulling off balance.

    • Stamina: ability to continue maximum effort requiring prolonged effort over time.

Implementing diversity management strategies

• Diversity management: 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

  • Placing advertisements geared towards specific groups

  • Selection process is the most important to apply diversity efforts

  • Individuals who are different from their co-workers may feel low commitment

• Diversity in groups

  • Groups of individuals who have different expertise and education are more effective than homogenous groups

• Effective diversity programs

  • Workforce programs that encourage diversity have three distinct components

    • Teach managers about the legal framework and encourage fair treatment of all people

    • Diverse workforce = target more diverse clients

    • Foster personal development practices that bring out skills and abilities of all workers