Chapter 13: Managing Diversity and Inclusion

Dividends of Workplace Diversity

- Better use employee talent - Increased understanding of marketplace - Enhanced breadth of understanding among managers - Better team problem solving - Lower costs related to turnover, absenteeism, lawsuits

Monoculture

A culture that accepts only one way of doing things and one set of values and beliefs

Sponsor

A higher-ranking senior member of the organization who is committed to providing upward mobility and support to a protege's professional career

Diversity of Thought

Achieved when a manager creates a heterogeneous team made up of individuals with diverse backgrounds and skill sets to provides a broader and deeper base of ideas, opinions, and experiences for problem solving, creativity and innovation

Cognitive Diversity

Achieved when a manager creates a heterogeneous team made up of individuals with diverse characteristics who bring different ideas, viewpoints, and ways of thinking and reasoning; also called diversity of thought

Diversity

All the ways in which employees differ

Pluralism

An environment in which the organization accommodates several subcultures, including employees who would otherwise feel isolated and ignored.

Glass Ceiling

An invisible barrier that separates women and minorities from senior management positions

Implicit Bias

Attitudes and stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner

Managing diversity and inclusion

Creating a climate in which the potential advantages of diversity for organizational or group performance are maximized, while the potential disadvantages are minimized

Employee resource groups

Groups based on social identity, such as gender or race, that are organized to focus on the concern of employees from that group

Unconscious Bias

Occurs when a person is not aware of the bias in his or her favorable and unfavorable assessments, actions, and decisions toward members of specific groups

Ethnorelativism

The belief that groups and cultures are inherently equal

Inclusion

The degree to which an employee feels like an esteemed member of a group in which his or her uniqueness is highly appreciated

First Rung

The first promotion onto the management career ladder

Coaching

The process of engaging in regular conversations with an employee that facilitate learning and development by supporting strengths and overcoming weaknesses to improve behavior and performance

Prejudice

The tendency to view people who are different as being deficient