OVERVIEW

Complex problems are best solved by a diverse group of people. People who are alike in certain ways tend to share the same assumptions or paradigms. Consequently, in order to get the widest array of creative thinking, organizations need to involve many people to get different perspectives. For this reason, a number of organizations have adapted participative management of some sort. Participation is also the cornerstone of nearly all Americans ideal model for government - democracy. In unit 13 we will see that participation is part of the natural order of the universe.

The question then becomes, how do organizations ensure that they receive the necessary participation by organization members? Policies that encourage men to participate may be different from those that would encourage women to participate. Cultural norms of the organization may encourage participation by whites, but subtly discourage participation by blacks.

Managing diversity is the process of recognizing, understanding, and appreciating characteristics different from one's own. It is managing so that these differences are utilized to make the organization's performance as effective as possible. Managing diversity is ensuring that each employee is allowed and encouraged to make the maximum valuable contribution to the organization that she is capable of making.

Organizations have traditionally viewed differences in people as reason for suspicion rather than celebration. Perhaps this is because socially we are most comfortable around people like ourselves. If we are from the midwest, we tend to relate more easily to midwesterners. If we have professional degrees, we tend to relate more easily to others who also have professional degrees. Human diversity, however, has been shown to offer strengths to a work group. People who are different from you may have strengths where you have weaknesses. Consequently, many organizations today strive to celebrate and capitalize on the differences in their employees.

There seem to be four major problem areas in managing diversity. They are stereotypes and assumptions, unwritten rules, inclusion, and cultural differences. Organizations have developed many strategies for dissolving these problem areas. These strategies include raising the sensitivity of employees and assigning mentors to women and minorities.

OBJECTIVES

After completing this unit, you should be able to:

Explain how diverse organizations can outperform homogeneous ones.

Discuss the four primary problem areas preventing people other than white males from working effectively in organizations

Illustrate a strategy for tapping the full potential of a multicultural workforce.

DISCUSSION

INTRODUCTION

We mentioned in unit 1 that society's standard of living is dependent on its productivity. You can view the process of an improving standard of living as one of increasing the use of resources which have been idle or underutilized. No one who has read the course guide this far will be surprised to hear that nearly all employees are underutilized at work. Employees often have so much more (and want) to give than their organizations encourage or allow. Organizations in the bureaucratic cycle, for example, are more interested in perpetuating the system than they are in improving it.

American organizations, in particular, are finding that they must increase productivity not to increase the standard of living, but in many cases simply to maintain what they have because of the increasing competitiveness of other organizations in their business. Companies have historically tried to increase productivity by investing in capital. Capital investments are still a good idea, however, they are subject to diminishing returns, and most large organizations have already made the most cost-effective investments. In fact, some organizations have removed robots and other automation devices that they thought would increase productivity because of an unexpected decrease in productivity.

For many organizations the most obvious source for the next big productivity increase is from the workforce. This increase will come, not from working more hours or from increasing the number of employees, but from working more effectively. The workforce is a ripe opportunity for two main reasons. One, most work is becoming more complex. Although there is still the need for unskilled labor, the vast majority of work is requiring a higher level of skill. Nearly all jobs will require computer proficiency, for example. Two, the workforce is far more diverse than it was 20 years ago, and it is becoming even more diverse.

DIVERSITY SIMPLIFIES COMPLEXITY

With complex problems, the best solutions are usually offered by a group of people with diverse backgrounds. Complex problems are those for which all of the information necessary to solve the problem cannot be contained in one person's head. When people create a group, however, they have a tendency to surround themselves with people like themselves. This makes social relationships much more comfortable, but this natural tendency works against the capability to collectively solve problems. When people surround themselves with people like themselves they are adding people who probably have the same strengths and weaknesses that they do. However, different types of expertise and experiences are necessary to solve any complex problem. Paradoxically, in order to achieve high performance, people need to include in their work groups others who they may not be naturally as comfortable with.

The challenge for organizations is how to tap into the one or more pieces of the puzzle, if you will, that are contained in each person's head. This challenge is compounded by the fact that, because of subtle or not so subtle reasons, many managers are ignoring people with crucial pieces of the puzzle rather than empowering them to participate to their full capacity in the organization. In the past, organizations have succeeded without diverse people in the organization or with those people not being allowed to contribute fully. In today's competitive global environment, it simply makes good business sense to hire people who will help the organization achieve its mission and to allow and encourage all employees to make their maximum contribution.

In this unit, we will use the word diversity in its broadest sense. Possibly the two greatest diversity issues in organizations today are the participation by blacks and women. Other important dimensions of diversity exist. Following are several examples: union and non-union, union and management, vast experience in the organization and vast experience in other organizations, long tenure and short tenure, college educated and high school educated, English as a first language and English as a second language. Everyone can think of an example of a time when an unexpected person had the best idea. Consider the example of an employee sharing her expertise from another company with her new organization. Or, the youngest child in the family coming up with the best gift idea for mother. Or, the employee without a college degree who solves a problem that had engineers stumped.

In most organizations, employees, especially women and minorities, have untapped potential that could tremendously improve the performance of their organizations. A 1993 study found that many executives who have developed ways of addressing this unrealized potential believe that their organizations have a competitive advantage over organizations who have not (Randle, 1993, p. H2).

This competitive advantage springs from several benefits. Companies that don't actively attempt to fully realize the contribution of women and minorities have more turnover, lower productivity, and higher absenteeism. Organizations that are consciously managing a diverse workforce have been shown to have better problem solving, more creativity, and a greater ability to market to a diverse customer base (Mabry, 1990a, p. 43). Recognize that as the workforce becomes more diverse, so does the customer base for most organizations. Results like these have led experts to conclude that "the need for diversity management isn't based on morality and being nice. It's based on sheer raw economic necessity" (Mabry, 1990a, p. 43).

The process of trying to tap the unrealized potential of the workforce has been called managing diversity, cross-cultural management, or multiculturalism. We will use the term managing diversity because it conveys a broader set of differences. The two terms with culture in them may cause people to form a paradigm that doesn't consider differences in education, physical ability, or gender, for example. Managing diversity is the process of recognizing, understanding, and appreciating characteristics different from one's own. It is managing so that these differences are utilized to make the organization's performance as effective as possible. Managing diversity is not affirmative action or equal opportunity employment. Managing diversity means valuing differences and capitalizing on the benefits that differences bring.

THE DIVERSE WORKFORCE

A 1994 study found the following increases in the workforce between 1983 and 1993.

women 69.1 percent

African Americans 59.1 percent

Hispanics 49.4 percent

Asians 44.4 percent

white men 10.3 percent (Kleiman, 1994, p. H7)

The workplace today, and increasingly in the future, will be filled with people with a diversity of assumptions.

You might think that in this so-called melting pot of America, that although the assumptions may be different, they are probably similar. Studies have shown, however, that the assumptions can be dramatically different. Consider the results in Table 11.1. Natasha Josefowitz, a professor of management at San Diego State University, conducted this study by giving people a list of things that they may consider important at work. Participants were asked to rank the list from most to least important. The differences are striking. The top two choices of blacks are nowhere near the top of any other list. The only item that appears more than once in any list is "participating in decisions that affect them," which appears on each list except that of blacks. Interestingly, when whites were divided into categories of male and female, white women had lists that were much closer to each of the minorities than to the white men.

Asians

1. having friendly coworkers

2. participating in decisions that affect them

3. having a boss they can respect

Blacks

1. being praised and promoted

2. receiving monetary rewards

3. having a pleasant work environment

Hispanics

1. knowing what is expected of them

2. participating in decisions that affect them

3. learning new skills

Whites

1. participating in decisions that affect them

2. having a boss they like

3. having job variety

Recognize that research like this is very general. You may be a Hispanic male who would not have listed the top three items here as your top three items. This disagreement can happen for several reasons. One reason is that generalizations are never true of any one single individual. In general, women are shorter than men. Some women, however, are taller than nearly all men. A second reason is that within large groups like these, there is still tremendous diversity. The Asian category would include people of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese ancestry. These cultures have some similarities, and also many differences. The lesson with a study like this is the same as discussed in unit 3 - use the information when it is helpful, but don't assume that it is fact.

THE PREVAILING PARADIGM

A student who has not worked in the typical American organization may at this point be wondering, what is the big deal about participation? How can an organization discourage women, for example, from sharing their ideas - all they have to do is say them aloud? Recall from unit 9 how strong an organization's culture can be in shaping the behavior of organization members. Certainly a woman could just state her idea, but she may be contesting strong organizational norms in doing so. Subtle norms can work against people participating in the way they want. Consider the typical high school classroom. How many students don't share their ideas for the simple reason that they don't want to appear stupid?

One of the subtle forces at work in organizations is double standards. Natasha Josefowitz, a renowned expert on differences in the workplace and frequent talk show guest, has compiled a comprehensive list of the double standards of male and female employees in the prevailing paradigm. A few of these differences are listed in Table 11.2.

when he becomes a father, it will make him more responsible at work

when he is talking in the halls, he must be talking business

when he leaves for a better job, he knows how to seize an opportunity

when he has a good relationship with the boss, he must be a rising star

when she becomes a mother, her family will take precedence

when she is talking in the halls, she must be gossiping

when she leaves for a better job, we knew we couldn't depend on her

when she has a good relationship with the (male) boss, she is having an affair or ingratiating herself

It is interesting to note that these are impressions generally held by men and women, although men hold them to a greater degree.

Although the examples in Table 11.2 are for men and women, similar double standards could be listed for whites and minorities. There is a dichotomy in the beliefs of blacks and whites in organizations, for example, on the seriousness of the issue of diversity. White executives overwhelmingly believe that they make no distinctions in managing white or black subordinates, yet Jones (1986) found in his research that 98 percent of black executives believe that organizations do not really have equal opportunity for minorities. Moreover, 98 percent of black executives believe that subtle prejudice pervades their workplace (p. 86).

MANAGING DIVERSITY

Results such as those in Table 11.1 suggest that the prevailing paradigm will be replaced by a multiplicity of paradigms, not one single set of overriding assumptions as minorities and women comprise an increasing percentage of the workforce and organizations tap the full potential of all employees. "The objective [of managing diversity] is not to assimilate minorities and women into a dominant white male culture but to create a dominant heterogeneous culture" (Thomas 1990, 114). The objective is to celebrate and take advantage of differences, not pretend to be blind to them. In the past, organizations focused almost exclusively on equal treatment rather than fair treatment. Fair treatment means making choices and acknowledging that people have different needs. The "cafeteria" style of employee benefits is a movement toward fair treatment. Instead of providing all employees with the same benefits, the organization allows the employee to choose from an array of benefits. The organization expends the same amount of resources for each employee (possibly according to salary, rank, seniority, or other factors), but recognizes that employees have differing needs.

The philosophy is the same for discerning intrinsic motivation, for example. Each manager should expend the same resources on each employee to determine his or her interests, and then provide different (if necessary) opportunities for tapping that motivation. This philosophy also offers a tremendous leverage point for organizations because the differences that people have provide for an expanded set of strengths which can be appropriately employed for effective and efficient creativity, problem solving, or decision making.

It is interesting to note that Baxter International Inc. has a director of diversity management, Digital Equipment Corporation has a director of valuing differences, Honeywell has a director of work-force diversity, and Avon has a director of multicultural planning and design (Copeland, 1988, p. 49). Although these directors can do many things to coordinate diversity programs and keep a focus on issues of diversity, the change to managing diversity must take place throughout the organization if it is to affect the largest percentage of employees.

Even these directors should have as their goal not the staging of training programs or events such as Black History Month, but changing systems and the way people think about diversity and inclusion. Research by Florence Geis has suggested that stereotypes are most easily broken by seeing role models perform in roles outside of the stereotype (Bass, 1990, p. F5). This suggestion adds a new meaning to affirmative action programs. Not only can these programs help disadvantaged groups, but they also benefit everyone in the organization by helping to breakdown inaccurate stereotypes and change mindsets toward appreciating differences. Other studies have found that false stereotypes are most easily stripped away when people learn from personal experiences about the fallacies in the stereotypes.

Four Problem Areas of Diversity

Human resource development professionals "seem to agree that four major problem areas need attention" (Copeland, 1988 p. 51) for a diverse workforce to function effectively:

stereotypes and assumptions

unwritten rules

inclusion

cultural differences

A consistent theme of this course guide has been to be aware of the assumptions that you make about anything. Actually, the danger is in making assumptions without realizing it. This advice is apropos in the area of diversity. Whether you are a man or woman, use the techniques of unit 3 to catch yourself if you make distinctions such as in Table 11.2. Don't assume that men talking in the halls are always discussing business and women talking must be gossiping.

We noted in unit 9 that the culture of most organizations is transmitted through unwritten rules. We also pointed out that it may take an employee a few years to thoroughly understand the organization culture. The problem is that what is obvious to white males about the culture, and will help them to catch on, may be invisible to women and minorities. They simply may never be aware of important parts of the culture.

For example, if an organization places an artificial limit on promotions, managers may have to go to meetings and advocate strongly for the promotion of their qualified employees. The meeting may be conducted by having each manager in turn "go to bat" for his employees. Female and minority managers would advocate for their employees in the same way. However, the way decisions actually get made may be more a function of the managers taking turns at getting something they want. Promotions may be only a piece of the turn taking which may also include budget allocations and new hires. Since many of the promotion candidates will be qualified, the group will take turns getting promotions for their employees. This process, however, will not ensure that the most deserving employee gets promoted simply because it may not be that employee's manager's turn. White men who don't get an employee promoted leave the meeting thinking, it'll be my turn next time. Women and minorities may leave the meeting feeling the process is very biased and irrational. They may never understand the turn taking that is occurring.

We noted earlier the paradox that effective performance often means surrounding ourselves with at least some people who are different from us. That way we stand a good chance of balancing our weaknesses with the strengths of others. Business is about relationships. We noted in unit 10 that communication in organizations is primarily for facilitating relationship development. Somehow organizations have to find ways for employees who would not naturally gravitate toward each other outside of work to establish growing relationships at work.

The final area of attention in diversity is cultural differences. Each employee must try to understand the culture of others. For example, generally speaking, Asian-American employees value the role of silence in communications and relationships. American employees tend to value talking and are suspicious about silence (Josefowitz, 1985, p. 79). The number of cultures present in a workforce today can seem overwhelming. It is not uncommon for an American organization to have employees whose native countries are Spain, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Brazil. These employees may not even like being lumped together under the heading of Hispanic. The easiest way of learning cultural differences is simply to ask people. Asking is also the primary method for determining intrinsic motivation even within a homogeneous group. When employees are not able to articulate important aspects of their needs and viewpoints, organizations have been successful in using directed questionnaires. The outcomes shown in Table 11.1 were a result of such a questionnaire.

We mentioned earlier that the objective is not to assimilate women and minorities into a dominant white male culture. Each of the problem areas above requires work by women and minorities, but also by white men who are listed as managers in the following statement by Lennie Copeland (1988), a noted diversity expert.

While women and minorities must perform, build relationships, learn the rules and work to become members of the club, managers must share the rules, invite people into the club, accommodate cultural differences, create climates that support diversity and establish systems that enable different types of employees to succeed. (p. 56)

Diversity Strategies

Most companies start the process of managing diversity by hiring consultants to conduct "diversity" seminars (Mabry, 1990a, p. 38). The purpose of these seminars is to heighten the sensitivity of people to subtle biases they have, but do not realize they have. Nearly everyone leaves these seminars with a new insight about preconceptions they had unknowingly formed. Many organizations also issue corporate policy statements on diversity (Randle, 1993, p. H2).

Although these first two steps are helpful for laying the groundwork for change, the real benefit to managing diversity doesn't occur until the system - the policies, procedures, culture, and others are changed. For example, organizations should alter promotion expectations so that managers do not expect their employees to be mirror images of the managers if they are to be promoted. Organizations should see that complementary skills are also acknowledged and rewarded. A second example is allowing mistakes when people are trying to develop relationships that have never existed before in the organization. Do not sink the careers of managers if they have one bad experience with a person who is different. Applaud these risk-taking, pioneering efforts by both white males and women and minorities.

Another important strategy is integrating diversity into all aspects of the organization's functions. For example, University of Maryland University College has established the goal of bringing a global context into the undergraduate curriculum. All new course designs and course revisions have to achieve either awareness (a reasoned understanding of the interaction of cultures), facility (direct contact with other cultures and the development of cross-cultural sensitivities), or integrated worldview (ability to recognize and evaluate the interrelationships of different cultures). No longer will students be expected to learn about multiculturalism, for example, solely in a specific course by that title. Diverse viewpoints will be integrated into all courses.

Two final strategies are mentoring and establishing a diversity task force. In mentoring programs, organizations assign women and minorities more senior employees whose objective is to explain the unwritten rules and see that the mentored employee is included in the "club." In organizations that do not have a director of valuing differences, for example, a diversity task force can serve as the coordinating body which sees that diversity policies are implemented and that the organization maintains a focus on diversity in all of its activities.

REFERENCES

Bass, A. (1990, March 20). "The bias below the surface." The Washington Post. p. F5.

Copeland, L. (1988, May). "Learning to manage a multicultural work force." Training. pp. 48-9, 51, 55-56.

Jones, Jr., E. W. (1986, May-June). "Black managers: the dream deferred." Harvard Business Review. pp. 84-93.

Josefowitz, N. (1980). Paths to power: a woman's guide from first job to top executive. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley.

Josefowitz, N. (1985). You're the boss!. New York: Warner Books.

Kleiman, C. (1994, May 8). "Can a non-diverse crowd push diversity on the corporate ladder?" The Washington Post. p. H7.

Mabry, M. (1990a, May 14). "Past tokenism." Newsweek. pp. 37-43.

Mabry, M. (1990b, May 14). "Pin a label on a manager - and watch what happens." Newsweek. p. 43.

Randle, W. (1993, January 17). "Diversity becomes a dollars-and-sense issue for many firms." The Washington Post. p. H2.

Skrzycki, C. (1991, January 13). "A different style of leadership." The Washington Post. p. H3.

Thomas, Jr., R. Roosevelt. "From affirmative action to affirming diversity," Harvard business review, Vol. 68, No. 2, 1990, pps 107-117.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. There are both advantages and disadvantages to a diverse workforce. What advantages does a diverse workforce have that may allow it to be higher performing than a homogeneous one?

complex problems are best solved by a group of people with diverse backgrounds

women and minorities, in particular, have untapped potential that could tremendously improve the performance of their organizations

less turnover, higher productivity, and lower absenteeism

better problem solving, more creativity, and a greater ability to market to a diverse customer base

2. Of the four primary problem areas for diverse organizations to function effectively, which causes you the most trouble?

Your answer may be similar but need not be limited to the following.

Inclusion. People of my generation have grown up in a multiplicity of cultures so that cultural differences and stereotypes are not much of an issue for me. Unwritten rules have never been much of an issue either because I have always worked for organizations that have taken great strides to advance women and minorities. I guess for me that area would be inclusion. Much of my work is boring, so the only way I stay motivated is if I enjoy being with my coworkers. It's fun to have some friends from a different ethnic group, but I find that my life is already so fragmented that I don't have enough friends that are just like me. I would prefer to have working relationships within my ethnic group, which makes it hard to always focus on inclusion.

3. If organizations conduct diversity seminars for all employees, will that usually result in effective diversity management in the organizations?

No. Diversity seminars will usually just expose biases that employees didn't realize they had. Diversity will not be appreciated and effectively managed until the system - the policies, procedures, culture, and others are changed.

INTEGRATING QUESTIONS

1. Many people have enjoyed learning about other cultures, their distinctive beliefs, rituals, and foods. Do you believe that Americans share a culture, and if so what are some aspects of that culture?

Americans absolutely have a culture! The American culture may not be as strong or uniform as that of other countries, but it certainly exists. Your answer may be similar but need not be limited to the following. American culture includes the following beliefs: individual rights, with hard work anyone can make it to the top, Americans are a role model for the world, individualism (rather than achievement by a group), and technology leads to a higher standard of living.

2. What improvement strategy that we have discussed in earlier units could be helpful for improving the appreciation of differences in an organization?

Joiner's 7 Step Method. It is useful both for organizations who have a problem they want to solve (women don't seem to be promoted above second-level manager) and for improving a process (let's ensure that our hiring needs are as well known to minorities as to whites). The 7 Step Method is also continual, which is probably desirable in improving the appreciation of differences.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITY

Assess whether your organization makes the distinctions in Table 11.2 See if you can identify other possible distinctions your organization makes between men and women in the same circumstance (for example, when he prepares a cup of coffee, it must be for an important client. When she prepares a cup of coffee, it could be for anyone).

ON-LINE CONFERENCE ASSIGNMENT

Conduct your own class research project on-line. See how your class compares with the expectations of Asians, Hispanics, blacks, and whites mentioned earlier in the unit. To your professor, or a volunteer student your professor indicates, send your rank ordering of the following considerations that may be important at work. Also, state your ethnic group from one of the four above, or list "other."

being praised and promoted

receiving monetary rewards

having a pleasant work environment

having friendly coworkers

having a boss you can respect

participating in decisions that affect you

having job variety

knowing what is expected of you

having a boss you like

receiving clear work expectations

learning new skills

The professor or volunteer student will then compile the results and broadcast them to the class.