Exam 11: Section 1: Managing Human Resource Systems

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.

The glass ceiling is the so-called invisible barrier that prevents women and minorities from advancing to the top jobs in organizations.

What is affirmative action? How does it affect U.S. business?

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.

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.

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________ .

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.

When AT&T hired a female as its president, it was evidence that AT&T does not have a(n)____________ women from rising to leadership positions.

List the Big Five Personality Dimensions. How does an understanding of these dimensions benefit managers?

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 Wal­Mart's million­plus 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 class­action 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 Wal­Mart 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, Wal­Mart'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." Wal­Mart, 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 Wal­Mart's practices are in compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws wherever it does business throughout the world. CEO Lee Scott described the 140­person compliance office as "the eyes and ears of the board and management team." -Refer to Wal-Mart. What is the primary limitation of the paradigm Wal-Mart chose to use in its creation of an organizational structure in which discrimination will not be an issue?

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

Reasonable accommodations for disabled worked include assistive technology.

Someone describes as having a mind-boggling breadth of his curiosity. In terms of the Big Five Personality Dimensions, this person would be described as having a high degree of____________ .

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

When Suzanne Pogell wanted to learn to sail, she could not find anyone to teach her because men were the ones who sailed, and women were their crew. After mastering sailing, Suzanne started an all-woman sailing school Called Womanship as a sole proprietorship. The male sailors who would not teach her were exhibiting ________.

The primary benefit of the____________ increases demographic diversity. paradigm is that it generally brings about fairer treatment of employees and

Older workers________ .

Japan-based Honda Motors recently opened a manufacturing plant in China. The Chinese balked at wearing the standard Honda white uniforms because white in China is a funeral color. The Chinese workers agreed to wear the white uniforms if they could wear gray caps. The compromise made everyone happy. This cultural sensitivity is an example of how_________ influences organizations.

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