Exam 12: Managing Individuals and a Diverse Work Force

____ is a term that describes a situation in organizations when there is a variety of demographic, cultural, and personal differences among the people who work there and the customers who do business there.

Bentley College launched a comprehensive diversity initiative, which includes frequent diversity retreats for faculty, staff, and student leaders. What basic type of diversity training is Bentley using?

Why does fostering diversity in companies make good business sense?

The term ____ refers to a work environment where (1) each member is empowered to contribute in a way that maximizes the benefits to the organization, customers, and themselves; and (2) the individuality of each member is respected by not segmenting or polarizing people on the basis of their membership in a particular group.

The fastest-growing racial group in the United States is Hispanics.

Comment on the nature, sources, pervasiveness, and impact of age discrimination in the United States. Give an example of one situation that you are acquainted with that could be construed as an example of age discrimination. Explain how, if at all, the possible remedies for age discrimination provided in the text could have avoided the situation described in your example.

____ is the degree to which group members are psychologically attracted to working with each other to accomplish a common objective.

What does the term diversity mean? Briefly explain why it is an important issue for contemporary business.

Differentiate between diversity and affirmative action. Explain why affirmative action tends to be more controversial than diversity. Explain which of these two approaches you personally feel is fairer and why you feel that way.

How is surface-level diversity different from deep-level diversity?

Wal-Mart It all started when seven female employees in San Francisco sued for employment discrimination. Then a federal judge granted class-action status to the suit, allowing 1.5 million women who have worked or now work for Wal-Mart to join the lawsuit and ordered the company to turn over 250 computer tapes containing payroll, performance, and promotion data for the last six years. When those data were analyzed by a statistics professor, here is what he found: Job Women Men Women Men Store Manager \ 89,300 \ 105,700 14.30\% 85.70\% Co-Manager \ 56,300 \ 59,500 22.80\% 77.20\% Asst. Manager \ 37,300 \ 39,800 35.70\% 64.30\% Mgt. Trainee \ 22,400 \ 23,200 41.30\% 58.70\% Cashier \ 13,800 \ 14,500 92.50\% 7.50\% Women were consistently paid less than men in the same jobs, especially store managers. And, while 65 percent of Wal-Mart's million-plus employees were female, a much smaller percentage of women held key management jobs, again especially store manager positions (just 14.3 percent). Even after controlling for seniority, part-time status, store location, and job title, women were still paid 34 cents less per hour than male workers. Consistent with these data, it took the average woman 4.4 years to be promoted to assistant manager and 10 years to become a store manager, compared to just 2.9 years and 8.6 years, respectively, for the average man. Of course, Wal-Mart appealed the judge's decision to expand the case from the seven original plaintiffs to the class-action suit with 1.5 million women. That appeal and then an eventual trial or settlement may take years. The question now is what does Wal-Mart do in the interim? Certainly, pressure is building for Wal-Mart to address these issues. Even Wal-Mart stockholders are not happy. A spokesperson for Libra Investments, which owns 30,000 shares of Wal-Mart stock, said, "We are increasingly concerned about the number of lawsuits filed against Wal-Mart and the number of negative articles in the press. We believe there is a long-term financial risk to shareholders, from community resistance to stores to [price-to-earnings] contraction." One of the things Wal-Mart decided in response is that it will promote women and minorities proportionate to how many apply for managerial jobs. Lee Scott, Wal-Mart's CEO, said, "If 50 percent of the people applying for the job of store manager are women, we will work to make sure that 50 percent of the people receiving those jobs are women." Not everyone, however, believes this is an equitable or legal solution. Roger Clegg, a lawyer for the Center for Equal Opportunity in Virginia, said, "Based on what [CEO Lee] Scott said, that's fine if 50 percent of the people who are most qualified happen to be female, but if all the most qualified applicants are women, they should be hiring all women, not just 50 percent. And conversely, if less than 50 percent women are the most qualified, they shouldn't be hiring 50 percent women. Wal-Mart, in its panic to reassure people that it wouldn't discriminate against women and minorities, is saying it will be discriminating against men and non-minorities, and that's illegal." Wal-Mart, however, maintains that its approach is fair, legal, and does not constitute a quota for the promotion of women and minorities. The other significant change that Wal-Mart is making to its organizational structure and leadership is the addition of a corporate compliance department, which will be responsible for overseeing workers' pay as well as work hours and breaks (Wal-Mart has also been sued for allegedly not paying workers the overtime pay they deserved and for not giving workers the work breaks to which they're entitled on a daily basis), and for making sure that Wal-Mart's practices are in compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws wherever it does business throughout the world. CEO Lee Scott described the 140-person compliance office as "the eyes and ears of the board and management team." -Refer to Wal-Mart. The promotion of women and minorities proportionate to how many apply for managerial jobs is most similar to ____.

Affirmative action and diversity are not only different in their definitions but also in their purpose, how they are practiced, and the reactions they produce.

Diversity helps companies save money by reducing turnover, decreasing absenteeism, and avoiding expensive lawsuits.

Which of the following is a paradigm for managing diversity?

Affirmative action programs are typically designed to ____.

Unilever Unilever has operations in 150 countries. Recently, Unilever took 100 of these top managers on a jungle retreat to Costa Rica. To the dismay of Unilever's chair, there were no women in the group. Upon investigation, he learned that only one woman had even been invited. As the retreat progressed, its participants commented on the richness of diversity in nature and how everything needs diversity to grow. These comments caused Unilever's chair to establish an executive committee to examine practical ways to overcome barriers to women's promotion. They decided to avoid setting numerical targets because they encourage positive discrimination and instead examined recruitment and promotion practices. -Refer to Unilever. A need to be concerned about ____ diversity was revealed by the retreat in Costa Rica.

Affirmative action actually makes good business sense in terms of cost savings, the ability to attract and retain talent, and business growth.

A family restaurant based in the English speaking providence of Ontario, was planning on opening a catering business in the French-speaking areas of Canada, This restaurant would need employees with which of the following dimensions of personality?

Which of the following is NOT one of the Big Five personality dimensions?

Activity-based diversity training teaches employees the practical skills they need for managing a diverse work force, skills such as flexibility and adaptability, negotiation, problem solving, and conflict resolution.