Lesson 07
Managing Cultural Diversity

Dimensions of Diversity

Diversity encompasses a lot of territory.

The dimensions of diversity include the following:

• Social Identities: personal characteristics such as race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, age, disability that trigger others to treat people as members of a group rather than as individuals
• Personal Characteristics: marital status, family background, educational level, etc.
• Organizational Role: position, years of service, career employee or temporary worker, executive or hourly employee, etc.

Diversity is not merely a U.S. preoccupation. Most nations have cultural differences in ethnicity, age, language, gender, or class.

Sources of conflict around the world:

• Race and age (United States)
• Ethnic and religious differences (Middle East, Europe)
• Differences in national origin and immigration (Asia)
• Issues of indigenous peoples and class differences (Latin America)

The Business Case for Diversity

1. Research suggests managers cannot expect that attracting and maintaining a diverse workforce will be easy or natural.
2. Diversity does not automatically translate into positive group or organizational performance.
3. Gains from greater diversity arise when training in communication and teamwork enable managers to learn from diversity.

Lesson 07 Assignments

1. Participate in the Lesson 07 Discussion Forum on Diversity Training.
   

   In many organizations, diversity training is viewed as a necessary evil.  It is easily parodied in movies and television shows (The Office as an example) given the tendency of diversity training to step into areas outside the purview of business. 

   1. In terms of your first work-related experiences, describe how "diverse" the workforce was across three of the diversity categories. In terms of your last or more recent work experiences, describe how "diverse" the workforce was across three of the diversity categories. Explain why you think the diversity of the workforce has or has not changed much since your first and last job.
   2. What diversity training have you participated in? 
   3. If you have participated in diversity training, what about it did you find most effective?  If you've never participated in diversity training, use the Internet to research some of the available options and describe an option you think would be most effective.

   Log back into this discussion forum after everyone's posted and answer the following question:

   • What are some key takeaway points about effective diversity training that seem to emerge from the responses to the questions above?
   
   
2. Submit your Reflection Assignment.
   

   Revisiting Individual-Level Concepts
   

   You have the opportunity to revisit and crystallize some of the important concepts from the first part of 802. Pick two of the following four questions to answer. You will be graded based on the depth of analysis, clarity of writing, use of relevant examples, and connection to the course material. For each question, you should expect to write 2 pages (double spaced, 12 point font).

   Option 1: Decision-Making:

   Answer the following questions.

   1. In reviewing the various hiccups or issues that can lead to imperfect decisions, which two specific framing, heuristic, and/or biases have been most detrimental in your workplace (either because you got caught up in these decision-making traps or because others you worked with feel victim). For each specific framing, heuristic, and/or bias, please provide a specific example from your work life to illustrate this issue.

   2. What can you do to avoid, minimize, or address each of the decision-making traps you identified in Q1?

   Note: There are 9 different decision-making traps you can choose from: Risky-choice framing, Goal framing, Attribute framing, Availability Heuristic, Representative Heuristic, Implicit Favorite bias, Hindsight bias, Person sensitivity bias, and Escalation of commitment bias.

   Option 2: Motivation System:

   Imagine for the purposes of this exercise that your company is considering the adoption of one of the following employee evaluation schemes as official policy for all departments. You have been asked to consider and weigh the choices and come to a decision about which one you will advocate.
   
   THE FIVE EVALUATION SCHEMES UNDER CONSIDERATION ARE:

   1. The "forced normal distribution" scheme. Under this scheme an evaluation scoring curve will be used, so that 20% of the employees get a below average rating (say 70), 60% will get an average rating (say 80), and 20% will get an excellent rating (say 90). The option to give someone an unsatisfactory rating also exists.

   2. The "(almost) everyone can be excellent" scheme. Under this scheme, all employees can get an excellent (score of 90), although in practice it is expected that about 67% will get excellent and about 39% will get acceptable (score of 80). The option to give someone an unsatisfactory rating also exists.

   3. The "excellence is special" scheme. Under this scheme, a score of 80 will become the evaluation for very good, solid performance that most employees should deliver, and scores of 90 or better will be reserved for the very few excellent employees (probably about 10%) to keep an "excellent" score significant and meaningful.

   4. The "satisfactory or unsatisfactory" scheme. Under this scheme, number scores will be de-emphasized, but the option to give unsatisfactory ratings for not fulfilling the employment expectations is retained.

   5. The "no ratings" scheme. Under this scheme, employees will not be given scores or any ratings at all. Detailed verbal feedback (written and oral) will be provided at regular pre-determined intervals.

   Which of the above schemes have you had the most experience working (or learning) under? If none of the above, describe an evaluation scheme that you have the most experience with. Prepare a statement that indicates which scheme you advocate and explain three specific reasons why this is a good scheme. Identify two potential problems with this scheme. Make sure to incorporate at least one motivational theory within your answer.

   Option 3: Personality

   In thinking about your cognitive style (an aspect of your personality), what would be the ideal personality composition for you to work with in your present job and why? Please remind me of your current job. What might be a disadvantage to working with this cognitive style? What personality style would be your worst nightmare to work with in your present job and why? What might be an advantage to working with this type of cognitive style? And what is one strategy for "making the most of it" in the event that you would have to work with this cognitive style?

   Option 4: Communication

   Tell me about a time in which you experienced a severe breakdown in communications within an organizational setting. Make sure to share enough details so that I can follow along with the application of the concepts. Use the communication process as outlined in your module to explain at what stage the breakdown(s) occurred (sendor, message … etc.) and what barriers or information richness issues contributed to the breakdown."

   
   
3. Continue to work on the Team Assessment Assignment.

This is the end of this lesson. Check your Course Syllabus for the timeframe for the next lesson.