Exam 11: Managing Individuals and a Diverse Workforce

Diversity exists in organizations when there are a variety of demographic,cultural,and personal differences only among the customers who do business there.

The Big Five dimensions of personality are autonomy,Machiavellianism,empathy,locus of control,and affectivity.

Narrative 11-1 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,no women were 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 for anything to grow,there needs to be diversity. 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 Narrative 11-1. Which type of diversity did the retreat in Costa Rica reveal a need to be concerned about?

Surface-level diversity refers to differences such as age,gender,race/ethnicity,and physical disabilities that are observable,typically unchangeable,and easy to measure.

Identify the three different methods or paradigms for managing diversity. Specify which level of diversity each paradigm focuses on. Explain which approach you personally believe will make the greatest contribution to helping Canadian companies manage diversity more effectively in the future.

What is organizational plurality? Define the paradigm for managing diversity with which it is associated.

Which paradigm for managing diversity not only takes into account surface-level diversity but also focuses on integrating deep-level diversity differences,such as personality,attitudes,beliefs,and values,into the work of the organization?

What are the Big Five Personality Dimensions? Explain the significance of the Big Five Personality Dimensions. Specify how one of more of those dimensions might be used to select or place applicants for employment in a particular job or company.

In diversity pairing,people of different cultural backgrounds are paired for mentoring.

Malcolm will be working in the China division for his company. To prepare him for the different cultural experience,Malcolm is working with Ming,a Chinese Canadian immigrant,for the next several weeks. What is this an example of?

Which of the following might account for the disparities between the percentages of Canadian visible minorities in the general population and their smaller representation in management positions?

Out and The Advocate are two of the highest-circulating publications targeted to gays and lesbians. Which of the following best describes the situation if the publishers of these two magazines decide not to hire any heterosexuals to work on their editorial staffs?

Which of the following actions represents a commitment to workplace flexibility?

Research has shown that performance capabilities decline with age.

Which of the following is organizational plurality consistent with?

Which action should companies take to help make sure that people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds have the same opportunities?

What can organizations do to make sure that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else?

What must occur for disability discrimination to occur?

What is the term for an individual's tendency to respond to situations and events in a predetermined manner?

The government of Newfoundland and Labrador has an initiative in place to target workers between ages 55 and 64 to ensure their skills are meeting the emerging needs of provincial employers. Which kind of surface-level diversity is the provincial government hoping to achieve?