MGT 5810 - Quiz #1

FMLA (definition and two organizational particulars)

"FMLA" refers to the Family and Medical Leave Act, which is a federal law that guarantees certain employees up to 12 workweeks of unpaid leave each year with no threat of job loss. FMLA also requires that employers covered by the law maintain the health benefits for eligible workers just as if they were working. - Maternity Leave - Leave to care for an elderly parent

Components of an Integrated Approach to Managing Diversity:

(1) authentic leadership commitment (2) clear organizational communication (3) inclusive recruitment practices (4) long-term retention strategies (5) the incorporation of diversity into the main work of the organization (6) diversity management metrics (7) expansive external relationships.

Five Principles for an Improved Definition of Diversity

(1) diversity is expansive but not without boundaries (2) diversity is fluid and dynamic (3) diversity is based on both differences and similarities (4) diversity is rooted in nonessentialist thought (5) diversity is directly related to how one approaches work.

Federally Protected Classes (list all 9)

- Race - Age (40+) - Religion - Gender - GINA (Genetics) - Color of Skin - National Origin - Disability (Mental or Physical) - Veteran Status

Business Case for Diversity (three components; strengths and weaknesses)

- The first phase: crafting a definition of diversity - The second phase: examining leadership-based paradigms of diversity and the paradigms that support them - The third phase: understanding and assessing the arguments of the business case for diversity Strengths: Cost savings, Winning the competition for talent, Driving business growth. Weaknesses: If managers lead a diverse organization poorly, they will engender high levels of interpersonal conflict and low levels of group cohesion, employee morale, and organizational commitment

Personal Definition of Diversity

Accepting people of all different creeds to bring their perspective and ideas to allow for a more understanding and accommodating environment for all.

Discrimination-and-Fairness Paradigm (describe & example)

Based on accommodating the legal responsibilities of diversity, often in terms of federal mandates. Ex: 2003 case involving the University of Michigan's admissions policies, whereby the Supreme Court upheld the University's law school affirmative action policy—to continue to consider race as one element when selecting their students. In this situation, the court found that "diversity is a compelling interest in higher education, and that race is one of a number of factors that can be taken into account to achieve the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body."

Resistance Paradigm (describe & example)

Based on the rejection and evasion of diversity and diversity-promoting initiatives Ex: Cracker Barrel and its leadership maintained that because Cracker Barrel was "founded upon a concept of traditional American values" it was deemed "inconsistent with our concept and values and...with those of our customer base, to continue to employ individuals...whose sexual preferences fail to demonstrate normal heterosexual values which have been the foundation of families in our society."

Access-and-Legitimacy Paradigm (describe & example)

Companies "accept and celebrate differences so they can better serve their diverse pool of customers." Ex: Avon boasts not only increased profits and innovations but also having more women in management positions than any other Fortune 500 company; in addition, people of color make up a third of Avon's workforce.

David A. Thomas and Robin J. Ely

David A. Thomas and Robin J. Ely focus on how diversity affects work as they define diversity as "the varied perspectives and approaches to work that members of different identity groups bring." Diversity is thus "not simply a reflection of the cosmetic differences among people, such as race and gender; rather, it is the various backgrounds and experiences that create people's identities and outlooks." Further, the authors explain how diverse groups bring not only their "insider information" but also "different, important, and competitively relevant knowledge and perspectives about how to actually do work," for example, how to set and achieve goals, design organizational processes, frame tasks, communicate, and work effectively in teams. If an organization truly embraces the value of diversity, it will allow diverse employees to challenge basic assumptions about an organization's inner workings. This freedom will enable employees to "identify more fully with the work they do," thereby "setting in motion a virtuous circle." The authors use the significance of this definition to frame diversity in terms of how it affects the way that employees approach and do work—that employees' diversity directly impacts the very essence of their organizations.

Michàlle E. Mor Barak

Michàlle E. Mor Barak extends the discussion of diversity across national and cultural boundaries. With diversity having different interpretations in different countries, she admits that "generating a definition of workforce diversity that will be relevant in different countries and applicable in various cultural and national contexts proves to be a challenge." Thus, she maintains that workforce diversity refers to "the division of the workforce into distinction categories that (a) have a perceived commonality within a given cultural or national context, and that (b) impact potentially harmful or beneficial employment outcomes such as job opportunities, treatment in the workplace, and promotion prospects—irrespective of job-related skills and qualifications." Barak argues that this definition works in the global context for two main reasons. First, "it provides a broad umbrella that includes any distinction categories that may be relevant to specific cultural or national environments" without imposing the categories onto the culture but rather allowing the categories to emerge from within the specific culture. Second, it works because it highlights the significance of the "consequences of the distinction categories," thus overcoming "the limitation of the broad definitions that include benign and inconsequential characteristics in their diversity categories."

Myrtle P. Bell

Myrtle P. Bell directly addresses the issue of the expansion of the notion of diversity. For Bell, the areas of diversity include only race, ethnicity, sex, religion, age, physical and mental ability, sexual orientation, work and family status, and weight and appearance. She emphasizes these specific areas of difference because they "are based on power or dominance relations between groups, particularly 'identity groups,' which are the collectivities people use to categorize themselves and others." In addition, these areas are "often readily apparent, strong sources of personal identity, and stem from historical disparities in treatment, opportunities, and outcomes." Further, she explains that while other areas of difference are indeed important because they affect "people's organizational experiences," such as values and attitudes, "they are rarely readily apparent or strong sources of personal identity and generally do not stem from historical disparities in treatment, opportunities, or outcomes." Using the strength of this definition Bell creates meaningful boundaries when defining diversity, specifically in the context of power relations and historical inequities.

Integration-and-Learning Paradigm (describe & example)

Reflects characteristics of both the discrimination-and-fairness paradigm and the access-and-legitimacy paradigm but goes beyond them by embracing the business case for diversity and "by concretely connecting diversity to approaches to work." Ex: Former CEO of IBM Louis V. Gerstner's rhetoric of diversity management was the catalyst for IBM's philosophical shift from "minimizing differences to amplifying them and to seizing on the business opportunities they present."

ADAAA (the definition and years enacted)

The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA) was enacted on September 25, 2008. The law made a number of significant changes to the definition of "disability" under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

ADA (the definition and years enacted)

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability.

Diversity Definition: R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr.

The definition of diversity... emphasizes the relationship between diversity and individuals' similarities rather than their differences. Thomas maintains that diversity is "any mixture of items characterized by differences and similarities" and explains that when business leaders make decisions, they must deal with both differences and similarities among members of their workforce simultaneously. In addition, Thomas emphasizes that diversity must be viewed as inclusive insofar as "if you are concerned about racism, you include all races; if you're concerned about gender, you include both genders; or if you're concerned about age issues, you include all age groups." Some diversity scholars would argue that the strength of these definitions... is their inclusiveness—the way in which they tend to make room for all members of an organization within the framework of diversity. Diversity, in this sense, becomes broad and all-encompassing. Yet we believe that by avoiding the creation of boundaries for the definition of diversity in organizations, these definitions imply that all organizational members are diverse. This assumption creates a situation whereby diversity management risks losing its special meaning and significance as it becomes simply management in general.