Nine basic physical abilities

Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.

Welcome to this Organizational Behavior course that uses the 17th edition of the textbook, Organizational Behavior by Robbins and Judge. This is considered among the most widely used OB textbooks in the world. Robbins and Judge are recognized as definitive aggregators of OB concepts, applications, and practices. The course and this book will provide you with a resource that will benefit you throughout your degree program and your professional life.

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Diversity

in

Organizations

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Chapter 2: Diversity in Organizations

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Learning Objectives

Describe the two major forms of workplace diversity.

Demonstrate how workplace discrimination undermines organizational effectiveness.

Describe how the key biographical characteristics are relevant to OB.

Explain how other differentiating characteristics factor into OB.

Demonstrate the relevance of intellectual and physical abilities to OB.

Describe how organizations manage diversity effectively.

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After studying this chapter, you should be able to:

Describe the two major forms of workplace diversity.

Demonstrate how workplace discrimination undermines organizational effectiveness.

Describe how the key biographical characteristics are relevant to OB.

Explain how other differentiating characteristics factor into OB.

Demonstrate the relevance of intellectual and physical abilities to OB.

Describe how organizations manage diversity effectively.

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Workplace Diversity

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Surface-Level Diversity

Deep-Level Diversity

Diversity Management

LO 1

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Everyone brings differences to the organizations where they work. These differences can create energy and excitement in the workplace, but they can also cause conflict. So it is important that we have an understanding of how diversity works in organizations.

When we look at the workplace, we recognize two levels of diversity. Surface-level diversity represents the characteristics that are easily observed such as race, gender, age, etc. Deep-level diversity represents the aspects that are more difficult to see at first glance such as values, personality, and work preferences.

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Workplace Discrimination and Organizational Effectiveness

Discrimination is to note a difference between things.

Unfair discrimination assumes stereotypes about groups.

Refusal to recognize individual differences is harmful to organizations and employees.

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LO 2

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Managing diversity effectively requires working to eliminate unfair discrimination. The act of discrimination means to note differences between things, which isn’t a bad thing. However, when we allow our behavior to be influenced by stereotypes about groups of people, unfair discrimination can be harmful to organizations and employees. Recognizing people for their abilities rather than assumptions of stereotypes is an important part of OB and its application to the work environment.

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Workplace Discrimination and Organizational Effectiveness

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LO 2

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This Exhibit lists definitions and examples of different types of discrimination. Increasing legal scrutiny and social disapproval have reduced most overt forms of discrimination, but less obvious discrimination, like incivility or exclusion, continue to exist. This type of discrimination can be difficult to eliminate because it’s less easily observed, and because it’s not always intentional. Even so, it can have serious negative implications for an organization including reduced productivity, increased turnover, and increased conflict among employees.

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Biographical Characteristics and Organizational Behavior

Biological characteristics are personal characteristics that are objective and easily obtained from personnel records.

Variations in these can be the basis for discrimination

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LO 3

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Biographical characteristics typically include age, gender, and race, and represent many of the surface-level aspects of diversity. We can usually find out about these from personnel records. Because biological characteristics can be the basis for discrimination, it’s important to understand how they are related to work outcomes.

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Biographical Characteristics and Organizational Behavior

Age

The U.S. workforce is aging.

Does job performance decline with increasing age?

Studies show that turnover and absenteeism rates are lower among older workers, and age is not associated with lower productivity.

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LO 3

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Age is an increasingly relevant characteristic as the workforce is aging. Older workers bring with them a wealth of knowledge and experience, but the misperception is that productivity often declines with age. Whether this is true or not, it is a perception people act upon and will affect the workplace.

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Biographical Characteristics and Organizational Behavior

Sex

There are no consistent male-female differences in problem-solving ability, analytical skills, competitive drive, motivation, sociability, or learning drive.

But women earn less than men for the same positions and have fewer professional opportunities.

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LO 3

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Another biological characteristic is sex. In studying gender in the workplace, it has been found that there are very few differences between men and women that impact job performance. However, women still earn less money than men for the same positions and working mothers may face additional bias that limits their professional opportunities.

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Biographical Characteristics and Organizational Behavior

Race and Ethnicity

Employees tend to favor colleagues of their own race in performance evaluations, promotion decisions, and pay raises.

African Americans and Hispanics perceive higher levels of discrimination in the workplace.

African Americans generally fare worse than Whites in employment decisions.

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LO 3

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Race is a controversial issue and research shows members of racial and ethnic minorities perceive discrimination in the workplace. More specifically, studies indicate that people in the workplace do identify more with people like themselves; so in some cases, opportunities may be given to people based on the fact that they are like their supervisor, rather than on their merits. Keep in mind, though, that research has found no significant differences in race or ethnic backgrounds related to absence rates, applied social skills, or accident rates, and that discrimination can lead to higher turnover.