MGMT Ch 12: Managing Individuals and a Diverse Work Force

Which of the following statements about disabilities is true?

Accommodations for disabilities needn't be expensive.

Purposeful steps taken by an organization to create employment opportunities for minorities and women

Affirmative action

Treating people differently (e.g., in hiring and firing, promotion, and compensation decisions) because of their age

Age discrimination

The degree to which someone is cooperative, polite, flexible, forgiving, good-natured, tolerant, and trusting

Agreeableness

Training that is designed to raise employees' awareness of diversity issues and to challenge the underlying assumptions or stereotypes they may have about others

Awareness training

The degree to which someone is organized, hardworking, responsible, persevering, thorough, and achievement oriented

Conscientiousness

Differences such as personality and attitudes that are communicated through verbal and nonverbal behaviors and are learned only through extended interaction with others

Deep-level diversity

____ consists of differences such as personality and attitudes that are learned only through extended interaction with others and are communicated through verbal and nonverbal behaviors.

Deep-level diversity

A mental or physical impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities

Disability

Treating people differently because of their disabilities

Disability discrimination

The tendency to respond to situations and events in a predetermined manner

Disposition

A variety of demographic, cultural, and personal differences among an organization's employees and customers

Diversity

____ within P&G's management has led the company to realize that Hispanic consumers "are more likely to support a company or brand that is active in their community."

Diversity

A(n) ____ is a formal assessment that measures employee and management attitudes, investigates the extent to which people are advantaged or disadvantaged with respect to hiring and promotions, and reviews companies' diversity-related policies and procedures.

Diversity audit

Formal assessments that measure employee and management attitudes, investigate the extent to which people are advantaged or disadvantaged with respect to hiring and promotions, and review companies' diversity-related policies and procedures

Diversity audits

A mentoring program in which people of different cultural backgrounds, sexes, or races/ethnicities are paired together to get to know each other and change stereotypical beliefs and attitude

Diversity pairing

The degree to which someone is not angry, depressed, anxious, emotional, insecure, and excitable

Emotional stability

Which of the following is one of the Big Five personality dimensions?

Emotional stability

The degree to which someone is active, assertive, gregarious, sociable, talkative, and energized by others

Extraversion

Activity-based diversity training teaches employees the practical skills they need for managing a diverse work force, skills such as flexibility and adaptability, negotiation, problem solving, and conflict resolution.

False

Affirmative action actually makes good business sense in terms of cost savings, the ability to attract and retain talent, and business growth.

False

Conscientiousness is the degree to which someone is shy, quiet, reserved, less active, and reclusive.

False

Diversity does not exist in a company unless it takes specific steps to foster it.

False

Employee turnover remains unaffected in companies that have a diversity program.

False

Sex discrimination occurs when people are treated differently because of their sexual preferences.

False

Special programs for training, development, mentoring, or promotion should be based on group status, not on individual strengths and weaknesses.

False

Structural accommodation is the degree to which group members are psychologically attracted to working with each other to accomplish a common objective.

False

The Big Five dimension of conscientiousness is the degree to which someone is cooperative, polite, flexible, forgiving, good-natured, tolerant, and trusting.

False

The learning and effectiveness paradigm focuses on integrating surface-level diversity differences, such as age, race, gender, and disability into the workplace.

False

The invisible barrier that prevents women and minorities from advancing to the top jobs in organizations

Glass ceiling

The fastest-growing population group in the United States is ____.

Hispanic-Americans

The degree to which someone is curious, broad-minded, and open to new ideas, things, and experiences; is spontaneous; and has a high tolerance for ambiguity

Openness to experience

A work environment where (1) all members are empowered to contribute in a way that maximizes the benefits to the organization, customers, and themselves, and (2) the individuality of each member is respected by not segmenting or polarizing people on the basis of their membership in a particular group

Organizational plurality

The term ____ refers to a work environment where (1) each member is empowered to contribute in a way that maximizes the benefits to the organization, customers, and themselves; and (2) the individuality of each member is respected by not segmenting or polarizing people on the basis of their membership in a particular group.

Organizational plurality

The relatively stable set of behaviors, attitudes, and emotions displayed over time that makes people different from each other

Personality

____ is the relatively stable set of behaviors, attitudes, and emotions displayed over time that makes people different from each other.

Personality

Treating people differently because of their race or ethnicity

Racial and ethnic discrimination

Which of the following might account for the disparities between the percentages of African, Hispanic, and Asian Americans among the general population and their smaller representation in management positions?

Racial or ethnic discrimination in the workplace

Treating people differently because of their sex

Sex discrimination

Training that teaches employees the practical skills they need for managing a diverse work force, such as flexibility and adaptability, negotiation, problem solving, and conflict resolution

Skills-based diversity training

The degree to which group members are psychologically attracted to working with each other to accomplish a common objective

Social integration

When the world's biggest manufacturer of locks looked at its employee composition, it discovered that its workers were either over 50 or under 30 because the company had done little hiring during the 1980s and 1990s. ____ was needed to get these two groups to respect each other's work abilities.

Social integration

Differences such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, and physical disabilities that are observable, typically unchangeable, and easy to measure

Surface-level diversity

Which of the following is a paradigm for managing diversity?

The learning and effectiveness paradigm

A company can use a diversity audit to see how many of its employees are being discriminated against.

True

A disability is defined as a mental or physical impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.

True

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.

True

Affirmative action is a program intended to create more employment opportunities for minorities and women.

True

Diversity helps companies save money by reducing turnover, decreasing absenteeism, and avoiding expensive lawsuits.

True

Emotional stability is the degree to which someone is not angry, depressed, anxious, emotional, insecure, or excitable.

True

Organizations that fail to uphold affirmative action laws may be required to reinstate those who were wrongly fired.

True

Parveen, a 50-year-old Arab American woman, is mentoring a new employee, Ken, a 25-year-old white man. This appears to be an example of diversity pairing.

True

Since the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Title VII, there is much less racial and ethnic discrimination than there used to be.

True

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

True

The physical differences between young adults and senior citizens are examples of surface-level diversity.

True

The three different methods or paradigms for managing diversity are the discrimination and fairness paradigm, the access and legitimacy paradigm, and the learning and effectiveness paradigm.

True

Though people with disabilities are discriminated against, there is little evidence that they perform their jobs worse than those without.

True

Refer to Wal-Mart. What is one strategy Wal-Mart can use to alleviate the alleged gender discrimination?

Use mentoring

_____ are formal assessments that measure employee and management attitudes, and investigate the extent to which people are advantaged or disadvantaged with respect to hiring and promotions. a. Diversity audits b. Diversity principles c. Access and legitimacy paradigms d. Representativeness heuristics e. Learning and effectiveness paradigms

a. Diversity audits

Which of the following is exemplified by a program in which an African American male is matched with a Caucasian female for mentoring? a. Diversity pairing b. Diversity paradigm c. Diversity audit d. Diversity principle e. Diversity heuristic

a. Diversity pairing

Azture, an advertisement firm, is looking to increase the diversity of its work force. To achieve this, Azture is conducting job fairs at historically black colleges and women's colleges. Azture is also planning to source candidates from various racial, ethnic, and social organizations. In this scenario, Azture is using the technique of _____ to achieve its goal. a. affirmative action b. structural accommodation c. conscientiousness d. social integration e. diversity pairing

a. affirmative action

Studies have shown that people with disabilities: a. have better safety records on the job than other employees. b. are promoted at a much higher rate than other employees. c. have a higher rate of absenteeism than other employees. d. have a lower rate of unemployment than the overall U.S. population. e. perform at the same level at their jobs even when provided with assistive technology.

a. have better safety records on the job than other employees.

Older workers ____.

are accurately described by none of these

Jean-Marie has excellent keyboarding skills and enters data for a marketing research firm. Jean-Marie is also vision-impaired. In order to perform his job, Jean-Marie needs a computer monitor that produces oversized print so he can read it. Providing the monitor to facilitate Jean-Marie's job performance is an example of ____.

assistive technology

Which of the following is a diversity principle? a. Treat group differences as special but not important. b. Maintain high standards. c. Solicit only positive feedback. d. Tailor opportunities to groups, not individuals. e. Focus on differences over commonalities.

b. Maintain high standards.

Isobel is very popular among her colleagues and bosses. She is courteous, friendly, good-natured, and forgiving. She is also flexible and does her best to take criticism positively. In this scenario, Isobel demonstrates _____. a. emotional instability b. agreeableness c. conscientiousness d. introversion e. individualism

b. agreeableness

Diya is an exceptional employee. She maintains a schedule on a daily planner and is very well organized. She is always on time and finishes her work by the stated deadline, even if it requires her to work overtime. She also makes sure to clarify any doubts she has regarding work. In this scenario, Diya demonstrates _____. a. collectivism b. agreeableness c. conscientiousness d. introversion e. openness to experience

c. conscientiousness

Even when he is under extreme stress or pressure, Andy is very relaxed and retains the ability to find solutions to demanding problems. His colleagues find that he rarely gets either angry or anxious. Andy has a high level of _____. a. agreeableness b. openness to experience c. emotional stability d. conscientiousness e. extraversion

c. emotional stability

A person who is very active, friendly, conversational, and invigorated by interactions with others has high levels of _____. a. individualism b. emotional stability c. extraversion d. conscientiousness e. acceptance

c. extraversion

What action can a medium-sized manufacturing company take if it wants to create a positive work environment; where every employee does his or her best work and individual differences are respected and not just ignored?

create a diversity program

Which of the following is an example of surface-level diversity? a. Personality differences b. Attitude c. Beliefs d. Gender e. Values

d. Gender

Max, a 56-year-old African American man, was terminated from his job at the local printing press after it became fully automated. His manager believed that Max was too old to learn the new computer-based method of operation. In this scenario, Max faced _____. a. sex discrimination b. racial discrimination c. ethnic discrimination d. age discrimination e. disability discrimination

d. age discrimination

Although Christine promised all job applicants that she would be fair and unbiased when she considered them for the new accountant position, she confessed to her friends that she would prefer to hire an Asian because "they're so good at math." She also said that she would most likely not hire an African American because "I've never met one who worked hard." Clearly, Christine's hiring policy is an example of _____ discrimination. a. disability b. religious c. sex d. racial or ethnic e. age

d. racial or ethnic

As the German pharmaceuticals company decided to implement a diversity training program, its human resources managers discovered the Americans reached decisions very quickly. One German manager described them as "hip shooters." He said, "We [Germans] are more analytical. We're more logical and systematic." This discovery had to do with ____.

deep level diversity

An individual's ____ refers to his or her tendency to respond to situations and events in a predetermined manner.

disposition

_____ is the degree to which someone is cooperative, polite, flexible, forgiving, good-natured, tolerant, and trusting. a. Extraversion b. Openness to experience c. Conscientiousness d. Emotional stability e. Agreeableness

e. Agreeableness

Which of the following diversity paradigms emphasizes equal opportunity and unbiased treatment, as well as strict compliance with equal employment opportunity laws? a. The learning and effectiveness paradigm b. The empathy paradigm c. The equity and equality paradigm d. The access and legitimacy paradigm e. The discrimination and fairness paradigm

e. The discrimination and fairness paradigm

People with the Big Five dimension of ____ respond well under stress.

emotional stability

To help companies reduce age discrimination, their managers can ____.

ensure that younger and older workers interact with each other

The glass ceiling is most closely associated with ____.

ethnic, racial, and gender discrimination

Refer to Unilever. After studying the problem, the executive committee discovered that the company recruited the same number of men and women, but women were not being promoted to the top management positions. This probably resulted from the existence of a(n) ____.

glass ceiling

Diversity helps companies grow by ____.

improving marketplace understanding

U.S.-based McKinsey & Co., the global consultancy, draws its consultants from more than 40 countries. A benefit of its global hiring is that it raises cultural sensitivity. In other words, this benefits McKinsey & Co. by ____.

improving the quality of problem solving

Companies in several industries are now waking up to the market needs of gays and lesbians. Through diversity programs, organizations are actively recruiting and hiring gays and lesbians to ____.

promote business growth

Organizational plurality is consistent with ____.

the learning and effectiveness paradigm

Which of the following is a paradigm for managing diversity?

the learning and effectiveness paradigm

With surface-level diversity, differences are immediately observable, easy to measure, and ____.

typically unchangeable