Exam 4: Managing Diversity

According to the U.S.Supreme Court,workers over 40 years old who file age bias lawsuits must prove that the employer intentionally discriminated against them.

An informal social and business network of high-level male executives that typically excludes women and minorities is called a(n)________.

The label "Hispanic" is best described as a:

Additional Case 4.2 MGN, Inc. is a Fortune 500 company that wants to manage its diverse workforce more effectively. HR is facilitating meetings among middle managers to communicate this idea and to gather input from the managers about the best way to accomplish this goal. Mercedes, a Latina manager, suggests that the company does not need to do more than what is already being done. She cites the company's previous affirmative action plan. "Also," she argues, "we've given African-Americans and Asian-Americans more than enough opportunity. I tried to promote a Latino to supervisor position, and you guys (HR dept.) told me I really needed to give Kym, an African-American, the opportunity." Paul, a white supervisor, feels that management is management. Managing diversity is just a gimmick or a passing fad. "I've been a supervisor for 20 years, and I've found that if I treat people fairly and listen to them, things work out just fine." Ana, a relatively new middle-manager, is a bit more positive about the idea but has significant reservations. She feels, however, that the company really needs to give women and minorities access to the "old boys' network." If all the company does is conduct training and devise slogans, nothing will happen. Finally, Rahkim, an African-American supervisor, says he doesn't care what they do. He's giving notice because he's joining some other African-Americans in starting their own company. He's been a supervisor for five years and has been passed over for promotion twice. He feels that he has experienced discrimination because he's African-American. -Refer to Additional Case 4.2.The case study shows a number of challenges to implementing a diversity management program.Mercedes' concerns represent which of the following challenges?

Additional Case 4.2 MGN, Inc. is a Fortune 500 company that wants to manage its diverse workforce more effectively. HR is facilitating meetings among middle managers to communicate this idea and to gather input from the managers about the best way to accomplish this goal. Mercedes, a Latina manager, suggests that the company does not need to do more than what is already being done. She cites the company's previous affirmative action plan. "Also," she argues, "we've given African-Americans and Asian-Americans more than enough opportunity. I tried to promote a Latino to supervisor position, and you guys (HR dept.) told me I really needed to give Kym, an African-American, the opportunity." Paul, a white supervisor, feels that management is management. Managing diversity is just a gimmick or a passing fad. "I've been a supervisor for 20 years, and I've found that if I treat people fairly and listen to them, things work out just fine." Ana, a relatively new middle-manager, is a bit more positive about the idea but has significant reservations. She feels, however, that the company really needs to give women and minorities access to the "old boys' network." If all the company does is conduct training and devise slogans, nothing will happen. Finally, Rahkim, an African-American supervisor, says he doesn't care what they do. He's giving notice because he's joining some other African-Americans in starting their own company. He's been a supervisor for five years and has been passed over for promotion twice. He feels that he has experienced discrimination because he's African-American. -Refer to Additional Case 4.2.Rahkim's statements indicate the firm's general problem with:

Additional Case 4.3 Your retail company has 80% of its stores located in downtown metropolitan areas. Your biggest stores are in communities where minorities represent 60% of your customers. Your middle-management team has been changing over time so that 50% of your managers are women and about 30% are ethnic minorities. A significant number of your hourly employees, about 35%, have served over 20 years in their respective stores and many are over 40 years of age. Top management feels that African-Americans are under-represented in the hourly workforce and in middle management. They want HR to initiate an aggressive recruitment process to address the situation. Hispanics are the biggest minority group, besides women, in your workforce. In a discussion about where the company should target its diversity program, the CEO explains she wants to implement a training program for managers to raise their sensitivity to minorities, especially Hispanics. She also notes that there are no disabled persons in the workforce and very few Asian-Americans. Carlos, the VP of facilities, notes that he has accommodated all the Asian-American employees he can in his MIS and facility support services. He also argues that he only has about $10,000 in his budget for reorganizing display space in the stores to accommodate disabled employees and that this amount probably isn't sufficient to accommodate a disabled employee. -Refer to Additional Case 4.3.Which of the following would most likely help women at the firm advance their careers?

Diversity,Inc.publishes an annual list of the best companies for minorities and women.

The percentage of homosexuals in the U.S.population is best described as:

African-Americans constitute about 12% of the U.S.workforce,but approximately 15% of the chronically unemployed in America are African-Americans.

Currently,the employment environment for homosexuals can best be described as:

While diversity programs offer companies a number of benefits,some potential pitfalls also arise,such as:

Improving diversity management must begin with:

According to the text,what is the best strategy to handle the various challenges of managing a diverse workforce?

Asian-Americans have largely overcome stereotypes and are highly represented in top corporate positions to the degree that in some technical industries they are overrepresented.

With the rising number of women in the workforce,the majority of large U.S.firms have responded by offering day care,flexible schedules,and telecommuting options to retain female employees.

When identifying individual characteristics in groups of people,it is very likely that:

Approximately 43 million people in the United States today are disabled.Of that number,about ________ are actively employed.

Diversity is best defined as:

Most managers accurately estimate the cost of making accommodations for disabled workers.

Which of the following is a true statement about Latinos in the U.S.workplace?