Chapter 13

Managing DiversityWhat do you recall from reading Ch 13 ?

q.xorro.com/ ebzhBut also go to Diversity.org for additional NZ perspectives

http://www.diversenz.org/Toolkit.html?utm_content=buffere7839&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

http://www.diversenz.org/Why+D++I/NZ+Stories/A+New+Zealand+story+Diverse+Boards.html

Turnitin- thanks to students who have now viewed comments on ass 1

Lecture overview• Valuing diversity• The changing workplace• Current debates about affirmative action• The glass ceiling• Current responses to diversity• Defining new relationships in organisations• Global diversity• Work issues: from past to future• Diversity in a turbulent world• Driving sustainability through effectively managing

diversity

Valuing diversity

• What is diversity?• Attitudes towards diversity

Valuing diversity

• Diversity is all the ways in which people differ• Is the above definition too broad? Why/why

not?

• Workforce diversity– Hiring, training and valuing people with different

human qualities or who belong to various cultural groups.

Valuing diversity

Valuing Diversity

• Dimensions of diversity– Primary Dimensions• Core elements through which people shape their self-

image and world views.– e.g. age, race, ethnicity, gender, mental or physical abilities

and sexual orientation

– Secondary dimensions• Can be acquired or changed throughout a lifetime.

– e.g. education, religion, location, experience, parental status, marital status

Valuing diversity• Attitudes towards diversity– Ethnocentrism

• Believing one’s own group or subculture is superior. Attitudes towards diversity.

– Monoculture• One way of doing things and one set of values and beliefs.

– Ethno relativism• Believing that groups and subcultures are equal.

– Pluralism• An environment with several subcultures, including those

employees who would otherwise feel isolated and ignored.

Case study: Indigenous Maori in the workplace p. 478

From your reading discuss in groups • Tangata whenua are described as……………..?• Highlights to you from the case……………….?

The changing workplace

• What challenges do minority groups face in the workplace?

• What “Management challenges” does diversity offer?

The changing workplace• Challenges minority groups face in the

workplace:– Differences as deficiency or dysfunction• Never having ‘the right stuff’.

– Biculturalism• The sociocultural skills and attitudes used by racial

minorities as they move back and forth between a dominant culture and their own.

The changing workplace• Management challenges:– Creating a workplace that values and supports all

people• Bias-free human resource systems.• Providing reasonable accommodation for disabled

employees.• Developing educational programs to assist immigrants.

The changing workplace

Current debates about affirmative action

• Affirmative action refers to government-mandated programs that provide opportunities to women and members of minority groups.

• Facilitates greater recruitment, retention and promotion of women and minorities.

• However, full integration is yet to be achieved.

Current debates about affirmative action

• Minorities are the majority in many industries and companies and are more than 50% of the workforce.

• Affirmative action reverses discrimination.• Stigma of incompetence of affirmative action

hires.

The glass ceiling- next section questions:

• The opt-out trend• The female advantage

The glass ceiling• The invisible barrier that separates women

and minorities from top management positions.

• Invisible obstacles such as attitudes and stereotypes prevent advancement.

• Glass walls– Invisible barriers to lateral movement within an

organisation.

The glass ceiling• Women and minorities hold few management

positions in New Zealand and make less money.– E.g. The NZ report, the ‘Census of Women’s

Participation 2008’, found that although 41.6% of lawyers are women, but they make up just 19.34% of partners in law firms.

• The glass ceiling is also prevalent for homosexuals in the workplace.

Why do women not proceed so readily to upper management?

The glass ceiling• The opt-out trend:– Women drop out of mainstream careers prior to

hitting the glass ceiling for a variety of reasons.• Reduced family and personal time.• Greater stress.• Negative health effects.• Lack of career progression opportunities.• Negative corporate cultures.What advantages do women bring to upper management?

The glass ceiling• The female advantage:– Women may make better managers because of a

more collaborative, less hierarchical, relationship-oriented approach that is in tune with today’s global and multicultural environment.

– Women in the labour force and civic affairs are increasing whilst men are decreasing.

– Organisations with more women in top management outperform those with low percentages of women in top management.

Current responses to diversity• Changing the corporate culture– Start from the top down

• Changing structures and policies– Recruitment• To reflect labour pool and customer base

– Career advancement• Mentoring

– Accommodating special needs• e.g. single parents, non-English speakers

Current responses to diversity• Diversity training– Educating employees to increase awareness of own biases

and teaching communication and working in a diverse workplace.

– Employees at different levels require different training.

Current responses to diversity

Defining relationships in organisations

• Emotional intimacy– Non-romantic love relationships• Can be positive

– Romantic love relationships• Can be problematic

Defining relationships in organisations• Sexual harassment– Is illegal, can be defined as:• Any unwanted or unwelcome sexual behaviour which

makes a person feel offended or humiliated• Can include both physical and non-physical behaviours

– Staring, leering or unwelcome touching– Suggestive comments or jokes– Sexual emails or texts– Repeated requests to go on dates– Intrusive questions about a person’s private life– Requests for sex– The display of posters, magazines or screen savers of a

sexual nature

Global diversity

• Communication differences– High-context culture– Low-context culture

Global diversity

• The rest of the world matters more today than it ever did in the past.

• Managers need new skills and awareness.– Cross-cultural understanding, ability to build

networks and understanding geopolitical forces.

• Two significant issues for managers.– Employee selection and training and

understanding the communication context.

Global diversity• Expatriates– Employees who live and work in a country other

than their own.– Careful screening, selection and training of

employees is necessary in addition to cross-cultural training.

– Management styles may need adjustment to succeed.

Global diversity• Communication differences:– High-context culture• A culture in which communication is used to enhance

personal relationships.– e.g. Asian and Arab countries

– Low-context culture• A culture in which communication is used to exchange

facts and information.– e.g. Australasia, America and Northern Europe

Global diversity

Work issues: a global snapshot• Globalisation is increasing diversity and greater

complexity in the practices, responses and strategies of businesses as they engage with new markets and market segments

• Increased diversity inside the workplaces; accordingly increases employee diversity.

• Practices surrounding equal opportunity for women and minorities, for work life balance and organisational change are integral to success in the global environment.

Work issues: a global snapshot

• The equal opportunity picture in small business is different and much more positive than in bigger, traditional businesses and industries.

• In small business the challenges to women are:– Establishing credibility– Accessing finance– Balancing family with work responsibilities– Isolation

Work issues: a global snapshot• Positive assistance for women at work– Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace

Act 1999.• Objectives of the Act include:

– Employment for women based on merit.– Equal opportunity in promotion and employment.– Fostering of workplace consultation.– Reducing absenteeism, training costs and stress.– Improving recruitment by being an employer of choice,

improving morale and retention of employees.– Being more in tune with customers, increasing

productivity and providing clear career paths.

Work issues: a global snapshot

• Positive assistance for women at work– Implementing change involves three major steps:• Building a corporate culture that values diversity.• Changing structures, policies and systems to support

diversity.• Providing diversity awareness training.

Work issues: a global snapshot

• Interesting new trends in the workplace• Large differences in male and female participation in

senior roles, increasing part-time and casual work, workplace loyalty declines and lack of career nurturing.

Work issues: a global snapshot• Characteristics and trends in Australia and

New Zealand in the finance sector include:– Long hours, averaging 45 hours per week but with

major differences across gender.– 60% of executives work one weekend per month,

compared with 25%In the US and 31% in the UK.– On holidays, 41% of executives take with them a

means of communicating with the office.

Diversity in a turbulent world• Multicultural teams:– Teams made up of diverse national, racial,

ethnic and cultural backgrounds to provide greater potential for creativity and innovation.

– Difficult to manage due to miscommunication and misunderstanding.

• Current HR, diversity and work condition trends in Australia and New Zealand.– Skills shortages, retiring baby boomers, the

need for work-life balance etc.

Driving sustainability through effectively managing diversity

• A diverse workforce will be more likely to be open minded to a broad vision as brought by sustainable development approaches.

• An organisation where:– All types of people are welcomed– Treated very well– Fully included in advancement opportunities

is likely to be proactive in seizing sustainability opportunities.

Reading for next week 12 • Readings for week 12 Quiz: Chapter 10 Fundamentals of

organizing Case studies • Management challenge page 364 and response on page 393• Fonterra page 365-366, Formica page 369, How to delegate

p370.• You may continue to complete appraising an article from the

New Zealand Herald each week for practice. However expect summary and an appraisal of the article, implications for business etc. BY THIS STAGE OF SEMESTER

Assignment two • Progress ?• Spellcheck as you go?• Turnitin as you go ?