Learning Objectives

1. Describe the nature of diversity in organizations.

2. Describe the different types of diversity and barriers to
inclusion that exist in the workplace.
3. Discuss the emergence of globalization and cross-
cultural differences and similarities.
Definition & Types of Diversity
Diversity
– The variety of observable and unobservable similarities and
differences among people
Types of Diversity
• can be seen directly (e.g. race, age, ethnicity, physical abilities and
characteristics, gender)
• can’t be seen directly (e.g. goals, values, decision-making styles,
knowledge, attitudes, skills)
• differences in position or opinion
• meaningful differences in a certain type or category (e.g. knowledge,
functional background)
• differences in concentration of valuable assets (e.g. dissimilarity in rank,
authority, pay, status)
Trends in Diversity in Asia
• Another dimension of gender in the workplace is that of
the LGBTQ employment rights and benefits.
• Taiwan was the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
marriages.
• Talent shortages at all levels will increase.
• Many countries in Asia—among them Japan, Singapore,
Taiwan, Vietnam, and Thailand—are aging. Philippines
and India are not. Countries with aging populations face
the rising incidence of age-related chronic diseases.

• What others have you observed?

Age Diversity
• Harmonizing Age Diversity
– Reverse mentoring: pairing a junior employee with a senior
employee to transfer technical/computer skills from the junior
employee to the senior one

Generations (by birth year)

Experts characterize today’s workforce as comprising four
generations.
– Seniors: 1922 - 1943
– Baby boomers: 1943 - 1963
– Generation X: 1964 - 1980
– Generation Y / Millennials: 1980 - 2000
Discussion 1
What are you experiences working with others from a different age group and
how will you adapt to them?

1. Baby Boomers
2. Gen X
3. Millennials (Gen Y)
As employees, the better we are able to
work with all types of people, the more
effective we will be in our jobs.

As managers, diversity awareness will

enable us to hire, retain, and engage
the best talent, which will help to
maximize the organization’s
performance.

Diversity also fosters greater creativity and

innovation.
 Business Case for Diversity I
– One reason that organizations should promote
diversity is performance. Firm performance
increases when employees have more positive
attitudes toward diversity.

– Diversity contributes to a firm’s competitive

advantage when it enables all employees to
contribute their full talents and motivation to the
company.

– Asia-Pacific countries that appeared in the top

30 were Singapore (second), Japan (twentieth),
Malaysia (twenty-seventh), and South Korea
(thirtieth).
 Business Case for Diversity II

• Diversity can be a source of competitive

advantage for organizations. Culturally diverse
work teams make better decisions over time than
do homogeneous teams.

• The broader social network of diverse employees

can give workgroups and organizations access to
a wider variety of information and expertise.

• Diversity can be a source of creativity and

innovation that can create a competitive
advantage. It can enhance creativity and improve
a team’s decision-making.

https://yello.co/blog/diversity-in-the-workplace-statistics/
 Business Case for Diversity III
– Research by noted management expert
Rosabeth Moss Kanter found that innovative
companies intentionally use heterogeneous
teams to solve problems and do a better job of
eliminating racism, sexism, and classism.

– Having more women in top management affects

the performance of firms pursuing an innovation
strategy.

– Diversity management is also important for legal

reasons. Obeying the law and promoting
diversity is consistent with hiring the people best
suited for the job and organization.

https://jehansaduk.blogspot.com/2019/09/workplace-diversity.html
 Barriers to Inclusion
1. “Like me” bias: people prefer to associate with others they
perceive to be like themselves
2. Stereotypes: beliefs about groups and individuals based on the
idea that all group members are the same
3. Prejudice: outright bigotry or intolerance for other groups
4. Perceived threat of loss: impeding diversity efforts to protect a
perceived threat to one’s own career opportunities
5. Ethnocentrism: the belief that one’s own language, country, and
culture are superior to all others
6. Unequal access to organizational networks: women and
minorities are often excluded from organizational networks, which
can be important to job performance and career opportunities
Discussion 2: Inclusion Issues

• Teams 1 to 3 – Neurodiversity
• Teams 4 to 5 - Gender diversity
• Teams 6 to 7 – Cultural diversity

• What inclusion challenges do these some of these

segments faced at the workplace?
Managing Diversity I

• Top management support is essential for successful

diversity initiatives.

• An inclusive environment is created when all

employees’ cultural awareness and empathy are
enhanced through diversity training and all
employees are given equal access to mentors and
other influential company employees.

• Creating fair company policies and practices that

give all employees equal access to performance
feedback, training and development, and
advancement opportunities is also critical.
 Managing Diversity II

• One technique used to promote diversity awareness

and inclusion is reciprocal mentoring, which is pairing
senior employees with diverse junior employees to
allow both individuals to learn more about a different
group.
• Some organizations use career development
programs, networking opportunities, and mentoring
programs for all employees to promote diversity.
• Diversity training and diversity education need to
communicate that bias is a part of being human.
• The goal isn’t to eliminate biases, but to
acknowledge and control them to prevent both
explicit and implicit displays of bias.
 Globalization and Business
• Globalization
– The internationalization of business activities
– The shift toward an integrated global economy

• Trends in Globalization
– Advances in communication and transportation
– Growth by expansion into international markets
– Control of labor, distribution, and distribution costs
– Increased international competition
Culture Across the World
• Culture
– A set of shared values that help people in a group, organization, or
society understand which actions are considered acceptable and
which are deemed unacceptable.
• Cultural Competence
– People from different cultures see and do things in different ways.
– Cultural competence is the ability to interact effectively with people
of different cultures.
– A culturally competent person has a respectful awareness and
understanding of cultural differences.
Multicultural
Diversity / Culture
Competences
Culture Competence
There are four components of cultural competence:

1. Awareness of our own cultural worldview, and of our reactions to people who
are different
2. Our attitude toward cultural differences: This reflects a willingness to
honestly understand our beliefs and values about cultural differences.
3. Knowledge of different worldviews and cultural practices: Research has
found that our values and beliefs about equality may be inconsistent with our
behaviors.
4. Cross-cultural skills: This component addresses the importance of practicing
cultural competence, including nonverbal communication, to become
effective cross-culturally.

Cultural awareness can improve performance in culturally diverse

organizations, or when a firm’s customers are diverse.
Cross-Cultural Differences and Similarities
Cultural and national boundaries may not coincide.
• In Asia, there are cultural similarities across countries
that used to share a common history, such as India,
Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
• Many Asian states or cities also shared common trade
routes and were under the same colonial masters. In
Southeast Asia, for example, Malacca, Penang, and
Singapore.
• Patterns of migration have also led to close ties among
Asian countries.
Cross-Cultural Differences and Similarities
• General Observations
• Behavior in organizational settings varies across cultures—culture
is one major cause of this variation.
• Employees in companies based in Japan, the United States, and
Germany are likely to have different attitudes and patterns of
behavior. The behavior patterns are also likely to be widespread
and pervasive within an organization.
• Organizations and the way they are structured appear to be growing
increasingly similar.
• The same individual behaves differently in different cultural settings.
• Cultural diversity can be an important source of synergy in
enhancing organizational effectiveness.
Hofstede’s Primary Dimensions
Geert Hofstede’s Research: Attitudes and behaviors differ significantly because of values and beliefs that
characterize different countries.
Individualism The extent that people in a culture define themselves primarily
as individuals rather than as part of one or more groups or
organizations

Collectivism The tight social frameworks in which people tend to base their
identities on the group or organization to which they belong

Power Distance The extent to which people accept as normal an unequal

distribution of power

Uncertainty The extent to which people feel threatened by unknown

Avoidance situations and prefer to be in clear and unambiguous situations

Masculinity The extent to which the dominant values in a society

emphasize aggressiveness and the acquisition of money and
other possessions as opposed to concern for people and
overall quality of life

Long-Term A focus on the future, working on projects that have a distant

Orientation payoff, persistence, and thrift versus an orientation toward the
past and the present including respect for traditions and social
obligations
Discussion 3
Apply Hofstede’s Primary Dimensions to the
following. How should you adapt when working with
them?

• Americans
• Germans
• Japanese
• Chinese
• Indians
• Philippines
• Indonesians
Diversity and Multicultural Teams
• Benefits of Diverse Teams:
– Creativity and innovation
– Improved decision making
– Improved problem solving

• Challenges of Diverse Teams:

– More misunderstandings and conflict
– Less integration and communication
– Less able to provide for all members’ needs
 Challenges of Multicultural Teams
• Direct vs indirect communication
– In non-Western cultures, meaning is embedded in the way the message
is presented
– Members of Western cultures have difficulty interpreting indirect
communication
• Differing attitudes toward hierarchy and authority
– Members of status-oriented cultures feel uncomfortable arguing with the
team leader, older people, or others perceived to have a greater status
• Conflicting decision making norms
– Cultures differ in how quickly and decisively decisions ought to be made