管理学习题4

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76) Define \diversity over the last five decades.

Answer: Workplace diversity is defined as the ways in which people in an organization are different from and similar to one another. This definition reinforces the belief that managers and organizations should view employees as having qualities in common as well as differences that separate them.

The following table gives a description of the timeline of the evolution of workforce diversity: 1960s to 1970s - Focus on complying with laws and regulations: Title VII of Civil Rights Act; Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; affirmative action policies and programs Early 1980s - Focus on assimilating minorities and women into corporate setting: Corporate programs developed to help improve self-confidence and qualifications of diverse individuals so they can \

Late 1980s - Concept of workforce diversity expanded from compliance to an issue of business survival: Publication of Workforce 2000 opened business leaders' eyes about the future composition of workforce–that is, more diverse; first use of term workforce diversity

Late 1980s to Late 1990s - Focus on fostering sensitivity: Shift from compliance and focusing only on women and minorities to including everyone; making employees more aware and sensitive to the needs and differences of others

New Millennium - Focus on diversity and inclusion for business success: Workforce diversity seen as core business issue; important to achieve business success, profitability, and growth Page Ref: 99-100 Objective: 1

Difficulty: Moderate

Classification: Conceptual

77) Briefly explain the demographic characteristics that affect workforce diversity. Answer: The demographic characteristics that we tend to think of when we think of

diversity—age, race, gender, ethnicity, etc.—are just the tip of the iceberg. These demographic differences reflect surface-level diversity, which are easily perceived differences that may trigger certain stereotypes, but that do not necessarily reflect the ways people think or feel. Such

surface-level differences in characteristics can affect the way people perceive others, especially when it comes to assumptions or stereotyping. However, as people get to know one another, these surface-level differences become less important and deep-level diversity—differences in values, personality, and work preferences—becomes more important. These deep-level differences can affect the way people view organizational work rewards, communicate, react to leaders, negotiate, and generally behave at work. Page Ref: 100 Objective: 1

Difficulty: Moderate

Classification: Conceptual

78) Give a brief description of the people management benefits derived from workplace diversity. Answer: The people management benefits that organizations get because of their workforce diversity efforts revolve around attracting and retaining a talented workforce. Organizations want a talented workforce because it's the people—their skills, abilities, and experiences who make an organization successful. Positive and explicit workforce diversity efforts can help organizations attract and keep talented diverse people and make the best of the talents those individuals bring to the workplace. In addition, another important people management benefit is that as companies rely more on employee teams in the workplace, those work teams with diverse backgrounds often bring different and unique perspectives to discussions, which can result in more creative ideas and solutions. However, recent research has indicated that such benefits might be hard to come by in teams performing more interdependent tasks over a long period of time. Such situations also present more opportunities for conflicts and resentments to build. But, as the researchers pointed out, that simply means that those teams may need stronger team training and coaching to facilitate group decision making and conflict resolution. Page Ref: 101 Objective: 1

Difficulty: Moderate

Classification: Conceptual

79) What benefits does workplace diversity afford an organization in terms of its performance? Answer: The performance benefits that organizations get from workforce diversity include cost savings and improvements in organizational functioning. The cost savings can be significant when organizations that cultivate a diverse workforce reduce employee turnover, absenteeism, and the chance of lawsuits. Organizational performance can be enhanced through workforce diversity because of improved problem-solving abilities and system flexibility. An organization with a diverse workforce can tap into the variety of skills and abilities represented and just the fact that its workforce is diverse requires that processes and procedures be more accommodative and inclusive. Page Ref: 101 Objective: 1

Difficulty: Moderate

Classification: Conceptual

80) How is workplace diversity beneficial to organizations from an ethical perspective?

Answer: From an ethical perspective, workforce diversity and effectively managing diversity is the right thing to do. Although many societies have laws that say it's illegal to treat diverse people unfairly, many cultures also exhibit a strong ethical belief that diverse people should have access to equal opportunities and be treated fairly and justly. Businesses do have an ethical imperative to build relationships that value and enable all employees to be successful. Managers need to view workforce diversity as a way to bring different voices to the table and to build an environment based on trusting relationships. Page Ref: 102 Objective: 1

Difficulty: Moderate

Classification: Conceptual

81) What are the significant trends occurring in the composition of the global workforce? What are the likely repercussions of such trends?

Answer: According to United Nations forecasts, \demographic shift that will reshape societies, economies, and markets over the next century.\The total world population in 2010 is estimated at almost 7 billion individuals. However, that number is forecasted to hit 9 billion by 2050, at which point the United Nations predicts the total population will either stabilize or peak after growing for centuries at an ever-accelerating rate. The main reason for this major shift is the decline in birthrates as nations advance economically. However, in developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Oceania, birthrates remain high. One of the benefits is that many of these countries are likely to experience a \productivity and economic growth.\

The world's population is now aging at an unprecedented rate. People aged 65 and older will soon outnumber children under age 5 for the first time in history. Also, the world's population aged 80 and over is projected to increase 233 percent between the years 2008 and 2040. The implications of these trends for societies and businesses are profound—from changing family structures to shifting patterns of work and retirement to emerging economic challenges based on increasing demands on social entitlement programs, dwindling labor supply, and declining total global savings rates. Such demographic shifts will reshape the global workforce and organizational workplaces.

Page Ref: 104-105 Objective: 2

Difficulty: Moderate

Classification: Conceptual

82) What are some of the fears held by employers regarding employment of disabled persons? Describe the actual realities associated with such fears. Answer:

a. Employers fear that hiring people with disabilities leads to higher employment costs and lower profit margins. In reality, absentee rates for sick time are virtually equal between employees with and without disabilities. Also, workers' disabilities are not a factor in formulas calculating insurance costs for workers' compensation.

b. Employers fear that workers with disabilities lack job skills and experience necessary to perform as well as their abled counterparts. However, commonplace technologies such as the Internet and voice-recognition software have eliminated many of the obstacles for workers with disabilities; many individuals with disabilities have great problem-solving skills from finding creative ways to perform tasks that others may take for granted.

c. Employers are uncertain over how to take potential disciplinary action with a worker with disabilities, not realizing that a person with a disability for whom workplace accommodations have been provided has the same obligations and rights as far as job performance.

d. Employers believe that there are high costs involved with accommodating disabled employees. In truth, most workers with disabilities require no accommodation but for those who do, more than half of the workplace modifications cost $500 or less. Page Ref: 108 Objective: 3

Difficulty: Moderate

Classification: Conceptual

83) What are the different types of discrimination that occur at the workplace? Briefly describe each type of discrimination.

Answer: There are several types of discrimination that commonly occur in workplaces. Some of the most common are:

a. discriminatory practices or policies - actions taken by representatives of the organization that deny equal opportunity to perform or unequal rewards for performance

b. sexual harassment - unwanted sexual advances and other verbal and physical conduct of a sexual nature that create a hostile or offensive work environment

c. intimidation - overt threats or bullying directed at members of specific groups of employees d. mockery or insults - jokes or negative stereotypes; sometimes the result of jokes taken too far e. exclusion - exclusion of certain people from job opportunities, social events, discussions, or informal mentoring; can occur unintentionally

f. incivility - disrespectful treatment, including behaving in an aggressive manner, interrupting a person, or ignoring his or her opinions Page Ref: 111 Objective: 4

Difficulty: Moderate

Classification: Conceptual

84) Explain the concept of the \creation of the \

Answer: Research has suggested that women are more likely than men to start out in entry-level positions, even though they have the same educational qualifications as men. In the 1980s, the term glass ceiling was first used in a Wall Street Journal article to refer to the invisible barrier that separates women and minorities from top management positions. The idea of a \that there is something blocking upward movement and the idea of \blocking the way isn't immediately apparent.

Research on the glass ceiling has looked at identifying the organizational practices and

interpersonal biases that have blocked women's advancement. Findings from those studies have ranged from lack of mentoring, sex stereotyping, views that associate masculine traits with leader effectiveness, and bosses' perceptions of family–work conflict. Page Ref: 112 Objective: 4

Difficulty: Moderate

Classification: Conceptual

85) Give a brief description of diversity skills training in workplaces.

Answer: Our human nature is to not accept or approach anything that's different from us. But it doesn't make discrimination of any type or form acceptable. And we live and work in a multicultural context. So the challenge for organizations is to find ways for employees to be effective in dealing with others who aren't like them. That's where diversity skills training,

specialized training to educate employees about the importance of diversity and teach them skills for working in a diverse workplace, comes in.

Most diversity skills training programs start with diversity awareness training. During this type of training, employees are made aware of the assumptions and biases they may have. Once we recognize that, we can look at increasing our sensitivity and openness to those who are different from us. Sounds simple, but it's not. But if people can be taught to recognize that they're

prejudging people and to consciously address that behavior, then the diversity awareness training has been successful. Then, the next step is diversity skills training, in which people learn specific skills on how to communicate and work effectively in a diverse work environment. Page Ref: 115 Objective: 5

Difficulty: Moderate

Classification: Conceptual