Exam 9: Communicating Difference at Work

Whiteness is defined as race and "being white" is defined as institutionalized practices and ideas.

Organizations often institutionalize and normalize a white world view in a manner that is often covert and can be perceived as racist.

Organizations try to exploit human sexuality or harness it as a ______.

Which of the following best exemplifies the meaning of the phrase, "differences that make a difference"?

Amanda is white and attends a multiracial church. When pointing out people to others, she used to describe white people by their hair color and their clothing (e.g., "The blonde woman in the blue button-down."), and people of color by their clothing and their race or ethnic group (e.g., "The black woman wearing the green dress and turquoise jewelry."). She was not trying to be racist at all, but felt as though those that heard her variance in descriptions marked difference between people of different races more than she intended. Which of the following markers of difference best applies to this situation?

______ describes the set of communicative strategies that a person may use to be identified as a straight woman at work, despite her homosexuality.

Organizational communication research that focuses primarily on corporate settings has overlooked many of the nuances and experiences of the ways in which race and organizing intersect.

One important way of addressing race as an everyday, routine feature of organizational life is to look at ______.

______, once a derogatory term used to describe gay people, is now constructive in that it helps to show how normalization marginalizes people.

Whose standpoint does Jablin's stages of socialization most frequently represent?

Ford's Sociological Department and its emphasis on "clean living" (and careful elimination of jazz music among the employees it checked up on) is an example of the organization of race because ______.

A critical perspective on "difference" tends to look at difference as sets of individual characteristics and as something that exists "within" organizations.

Which of the following describes an approach to sexuality through which workers might use their sexuality to resist organizational control?

Studying whiteness enables us to see the ways in which whiteness is the often unspoken ______ of organizational life.

Which of the following terms best describes the argument that organizations ultimately hurt their bottom line if they are not drawing upon the full set of skills offered them by the working population?

Which of the following is a communicative element of "passing"?

As long as an organization deals with any instances of overt racism, issues of race in organizations become relatively invisible.

Eventually, TD and his partner decide that they will attend a school picnic together, essentially "outing" themselves to the staff and the students and families all at once. Everything goes pretty well. Over the next several weeks, however, TD notices that his female colleagues who used to leave him in relative peace are approaching him to ask questions about fashion and to inquire into his sex life. How could we best describe what's happening?

The study of whiteness is best described as ______.

Managing diversity most often refers to ______.