Managing a Diverse Workforce

Learning Activities

Gary N. Powell

• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9781412990929
• eBook ISBN: 9781452237664
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• Index: Business

Experiential activities help students understand workplace diversity

This book shows readers how to create an inclusive work environment and culture that can value and leverage the contributions of all members, regardless of personal characteristics that are not pertinent to the job. To achieve this, the book provides a comprehensive set of learning activities that address issues related to workplace diversity.  

Drawing on a variety of work settings, including both business and not-for-profit organizations, Managing a Diverse Workforce, Third Edition will be an invaluable asset for human resource development courses in departments of management, public administration, and human services. It is a perfect companion to core texts on workforce diversity, including Gary Powell?s Women and Men in Management, Fourth Edition (SAGE).

1          Your Pie Chart

 

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Purpose:	To increase awareness of your own cultural background and how it compares to that of others. To raise awareness of the importance of self-identity based on affiliations with groups. To consider the influence of self-identity on individuals’ experiences in organizational settings.
Preparation:	None
Time:	30 to 45 minutes

BACKGROUND

Personal characteristics (some changeable, others not), which may influence individuals’ basic self-image and sense of identity, may also influence experiences in the workplace. Primary dimensions of diversity are essentially unchangeable personal characteristics (e.g., sex, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, physical and mental abilities). Secondary dimensions of diversity, on the other hand, are changeable personal characteristics that are acquired and may be modified or abandoned throughout life (e.g., education, income, marital and parental status, religion, political affiliation, work experience). People also distinguish themselves in many other ways, such as in their choices of collegiate fraternities or sororities, hobbies, activities, clothing and grooming style, and music. Of course, secondary characteristics are not completely self-determined; educational background, work experience, income, and marital status are affected by others’ decisions. However, people generally have more control over secondary dimensions of diversity than over primary dimensions.

Because individuals’ sense of identity is influenced by self-selected groups, this exercise examines how people categorize themselves in their group affiliations along the many different dimensions of both types of diversity.

PROCEDURE

1. Working individually, create a pie chart identifying group affiliations that have some importance in your self-concept. These affiliations may be based on any of the primary or secondary dimensions of diversity mentioned above or on some other personal characteristic that is particularly important to you (e.g., cat or dog lover, fan of favorite sports team or musician). Indicate the approximate importance of each group affiliation by the size of the slice of pie that you assign to it. (10 minutes)
    
2. Participate in a discussion based on the following questions: (remaining time)
   
   a. What did you learn about yourself?
   
   
   b. What surprised you the most?
   
   
   c. What group affiliations were mentioned the most?
   
   
   d. What did you learn about others that surprised you?
   
   
   e. How does your self-identity influence your experiences in organizational settings?

 

REFERENCE

Loden, M., & Rosener, J. B. (1991). Chapter 2, Dimensions of diversity. In Workforce America: Managing employee diversity as a vital resource (pp. 17–35). Homewood, IL: Business One Irwin.

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AUTHOR’S NOTE: This exercise is reprinted with permission of the publisher. From Developing competency to manage diversity: Readings, cases and activities, © 1997 by Taylor Cox, Jr. & Ruby L. Beale, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., San Francisco, CA. All rights reserved. www.bkconnection.com.

2          People Like Us

 

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Purpose:	To apply concepts of intergroup dynamics to everyday problems that people face. To raise awareness of the underlying group dynamics in organizational settings. To consider the influence of how others categorize them on individuals’ experiences in the workplace.
Preparation:	None
Time:	60 to 75 minutes

BACKGROUND

Categorizations of others are made along the many different dimensions of diversity, both primary and secondary. When people have little or no experience in working together, initial categorizations, which are likely to be along the highly visible and primary dimensions of diversity such as sex, race, and age, may result in stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. A stereotype is a set of beliefs about the personal attributes of a group of people. Stereotyping is a cognitive activity, related to thinking, learning, and remembering distinctions between various groups of people. People who display prejudice, or a negative attitude toward members of other groups, are engaging in an emotional activity. Finally, discrimination, a behavioral activity, is exhibited in how people treat members of other groups and in what they decide about others.

We have reason to be concerned about all three of these phenomena. All of us may be targets of or engage in stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. This exercise examines the effects of how members of different groups are categorized by others on their experiences in the workplace.

PROCEDURE

1. The instructor will guide participants in the formation of discussion groups based on primary dimensions of diversity.
2. As a group, answer the following question: “What are the primary problems that people like us experience in this organizational setting?” Select the three problems that bother you the most. (20 minutes)
    
3. The instructor will provide instructions for the remainder of the exercise.

 

REFERENCES

Fiske, S. T. (1998). Stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology, vol. 2 (4th ed., pp. 357–411). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Hunter, T. D. (Ed.) (2009). Handbook of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination. New York: Psychology Press.

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AUTHOR’S NOTE: This exercise was prepared by Judith A. Neal. © Judith A. Neal. Used with permission.

3 Becoming a Minority

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Purpose:	To expose you to cultural differences between yourself and others in a self-chosen environment that is unfamiliar to you. To increase understanding of how cultural differences influence feelings of comfort and relationships between people in social settings.
Preparation:	Complete assignment
Time:	30 to 45 minutes

BACKGROUND

If they have a choice, people generally choose to associate with others whom they see as similar to themselves in familiar ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• 1. Your Pie Chart
• 2. People Like Us
• 3. Becoming a Minority
• 4. Would You Repeat That?
• 5. Gender-Based Perceptions
• 6. Once Upon a Time
• 7. Consulting Analyst Wanted
• 8. Who Gets Hired?
• 9. The Prison “Break”
• 10. Beyond O. J.
• 11. Designer Decorations
• 12. Dealing With Sexually Oriented Behavior
• 13. Mixing Sex and Work
• 14. Have I Got Good News for Us!
• 15. Managing From a Distance
• 16. Networking Role Play
• 17. We Are Family
• 18. Puzzled Perceptions
• 19. Sara’s Acting Strange Lately
• 20. The Older Employee
• 21. The College Graduate
• 22. Diversity Incidents
• 23. Affirmative Action at Ole State
• 24. The Inclusive Workplace
• About the Author