Exam 12: Managing Individuals and a Diverse Work Force

Companies in several industries are now waking up to the market needs of gays and lesbians. Through diversity programs, organizations are actively recruiting and hiring gays and lesbians to ____.

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. What is one strategy Wal-Mart can use to alleviate the alleged gender discrimination?

Differentiate between surface-level diversity and deep-level diversity. Describe the extent to which different programs, both voluntary programs and those required by the government, might address diversity management in each of these areas.

Which of the Big Five personality measures has the greatest impact on behavior in organizations?

Recently, the cable television networks have bombarded viewers with a variety of shows based around teams that come in to redecorate homes and gardens in a very short time frame. Since these teams are typically made up of men and women of different ethnic backgrounds, age, and physical capabilities, the fact they work so well with each other to accomplish the redecorating goal is an example of ____.

With surface-level diversity, differences are immediately observable, easy to measure, and ____.

____ is the relatively stable set of behaviors, attitudes, and emotions displayed over time that makes people different from each other.

The learning and effectiveness paradigm for managing diversity focuses on the acceptance and celebration of differences; so that the diversity within the company matches the diversity found among primary stakeholders such as customers, suppliers, and local communities.

The ____ is a barrier that prevents women and minorities from advancing to the top jobs in an organization.

Among the paradigms for managing diversity, only the learning and effectiveness paradigm focuses on integrating deep-level diversity differences in addition to dealing with surface-level diversity.

In a recent meeting, San Mateo County Supervisors voted unanimously to conduct a(n) ____, which would provide an accounting of how well the makeup of local boards and commissions reflects the racial, gender, cultural, geographic, and ethnic diversity of the county.

As compared to men's career choices, women's career choices are more likely to choose jobs or careers that also give them the greater sense of accomplishment, more control over their work schedules, and easier movement in and out of the workplace.

Briefly identify and provide an example of the likely content for each of the two basic types of diversity training programs.

To make sure that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else, organizations can ____.

Companies in several industries are now waking up to the needs of gays and lesbians. They are not only valuable consumers but also great employees who actually help their employers better understand the market. Companies that have hired gays and lesbians more than likely have ____.

There has been little direct evidence of the practice of racial or ethnic discrimination in the workplace in recent years.

U.S.-based McKinsey & Co., the global consultancy, draws its consultants from more than 40 countries. A benefit of its global hiring is that it raises cultural sensitivity. In other words, this benefits McKinsey & Co by ____.

Which of the following diversity practices is a special kind of mentoring?

Bentley College launched a comprehensive diversity initiative that includes frequent diversity retreats for faculty, staff, and student leaders; innovative recruitment efforts; employee benefits for domestic partners; and extensive support services focused on race, gender, and disability. Bentley uses the ____ paradigm for managing diversity.

A modem factory in the U.S has 1,200 workers who speak 20 different languages. This factory illustrates ____.