Exam 3: Managing Diversity

When the VP of marketing selected the new product development team members,he made sure there was a mix of ages,genders,and ethnicities on the team.This VP was most concerned with ________.

What positive perception do employers typically have of older employees?

________ provides an organizational performance benefit from workforce diversity.

Discrimination or Stereotyping? (Scenario) Jeremy, Amanda, Taylor, and Omar work in the design department at Casuarina which makes casual and fitness related clothing for the local market. The company has been up and running for over five years and is making profit. Now they are in the process of expanding to the Japanese market where Canadian brands and quality are highly valued. The company has from the beginning embraced diversity as the founders were from Ireland and Turkey. As the company expanded, more diverse and multicultural employees were brought in. There are one or two pockets of the company where talented Caucasian employees at times seem standoffish and keep themselves apart from the rest of the employees during breaks or social occasions. -The manager who hired Omar recognizes that one big challenge for managers of diverse workforce is to ________.

Mrs.Shipman had a good work record until she suffered a serious injury in a car accident.She applied for a graduated return-to-work program where she would work an increasing number of hours each week until her full recovery.The employer insisted on a firm return date and when she could not comply they fired her.The Human Rights Board determined that ________.

How to Break the Glass Ceiling? (Scenario) Fresh Effects is a large, now global, natural skin care and toiletries manufacturer with headquarters in Vancouver. The company is thriving and its products are more popular than ever due to the growing interest in natural products free of toxic ingredients and artificial chemicals. The company employees are overwhelmingly female who obviously would have an interest in working for such a business. However, a look at the executive offices shows a different picture. All but one of the executives running the company are men, and none are from visible minorities. A group of highly educated, mid-level managers and supervisors have been meeting in an unofficial "club" to discuss their roles and careers in the company. They all believe in the company and want to stay, but also feel that they would like to have a greater role in the management and strategy formulation going forward. -Mona has been employed at Fresh Effects for eight years as a package design coordinator.She loves her job and has many innovative ideas that over the years have proved successful.She recently applied for a job as a director of creative solutions,which would be a direct line upward from her current position.To her dismay the company promoted Logan who theoretically was below her in the company hierarchy,albeit in a different department.But nevertheless Logan has been in the company only five years and has no direct creative design experience.Mona was discussing her disappointment with Rana,Ailin,and Lucia,three of her colleagues.Their conclusion was the despite being a company whose products appeal mostly to women,the company management seems to feel that ________.

When the VP of marketing selected the new product development team members,he made sure there was a mix of ages,genders,and ethnicities on the team.This VP is most concerned with ________.

Discrimination on any basis is prohibited by law and has been replaced with more covert discriminatory actions like incivility or exclusion.

________ is related to race,but it refers to social and cultural characteristics maintained by a shared heritage,language,religion or other bond.

Which one of the following demographic characteristics reflects surface-level diversity?

Failure to comply with equal employment opportunity laws can ________.

Employee resource groups or networks are an important part of finding support for people connected by some common dimension of diversity.

Diversity Drive at FinnTech (Scenario) Management at FinnTech think the company is doing well. They have grown from the original 8 employees to the current 26. In the last year the business has been booming and they quickly needed more employees. Now the company has a comfortable mix of the original 8 men, some women and visible minorities. The original 8 run the company from executive positions. Because employment laws in Canada have changed considerably, the executives at FinnTech have made a concerted effort to bring in more women and visible minorities. The women work in less important positions in the company and most of the factory floor workers are recent immigrants and visible minorities. They know that Asians are good with figures so they brought in Anna Li to head the two-person accounting department. They even hired one of the newly arrived Syrian refugees as he was highly recommended for his technical skills. The company lounge and lunch room is a popular place for employees to mix and get to know one another although it seems that there are closed groups that are drawn to one another all the time. Tom Harrington is the HR manager and often drops in, visibly for coffee and doughnuts, but in reality to observe and listen how the employees get along. -Juan escaped persecution in Guatemala and has been now on the factory floor for over six years.He seems like a friendly Latino,but his English language skills are weak.He tries very hard to socialize with the other employees or participate in meeting discussions without much success as he is usually ignored.Juan is experiencing ________ that may be unintentional.

Strategic benefit of workforce diversity is the moral and ethical view; the "right" thing to do.

Diversity is limited to fair hiring practices,perceived discrimination and inequality.

Research has found that women managers are significantly more likely than their male counterparts ________.

In a short essay,explain in detail how workplace diversity benefits organizations from a strategic perspective.

Employers are justified if they do not hire workers with disabilities as they lack job skills and experience necessary to perform as well as their able counterparts.

Introducing Diversity Training (Scenario) Jackson Larkin is the general manager of Royal City Club in the business district of Toronto. The club is now over 100 years old with a proud tradition of serving its members who mostly work in finance, legal systems, and commercial properties. When the club originally was opened its membership was limited to men only. Due to pressures of the twentieth century equal opportunity movements, the club began accepting women as members in the late 1990s. The club board of directors, as well as the membership is predominantly white males with about 15% of the members now female. Jackson is reviewing the operating reports of the club. His main concern is stagnation in revenues due to very few new members coming in, operating costs increasing, competition from several new clubs in the downtown area that seemed to offer both modernized facilities, innovative services, and open memberships. Jackson is preparing a presentation to the board of directors specifically pointing out the bottom line which may be headed to closing of the club if revenues and operating budgets don't increase. He has some specific suggestions which he feels will improve the club, but at the same time he is apprehensive as he knows the club is known as the "old boys club" that is not exactly excited about anything that would change the comfort they feel in keeping the status quo. Some of the things he plans to bring up are more openness in membership, diversity in accepting new members as well as in hiring of staff, and revamping the restaurant menus to reflect the multiculturalism of the business world. -Due to the fact that the club now had a small percentage of members from visible minorities,the "old boys club" mentality still prevails.Most of the newcomers seem to socialize among themselves and clearly seem uncomfortable when having to deal directly with any of the long-time members.Jackson has been mulling about offering an informal presentation on diversity to all the members as part of their regular Friday evening lecture sessions.He knows that human nature is not to accept or approach anything that is different from us.So to challenge the status quo he feels that starting with ________ training would be the first step toward more cohesive and accepting atmosphere at the club.

Characteristics of people such as age,race,gender,and ethnicity reflect ________.