Professional Documents
Culture Documents
- More than half US workforce now consists of racial, ethnic minotiries and women
- Women 46.2% of labor force
- White accounts for 60% of labor force in 2015, drop below 50% 2040
- Asian, American indian, pacific islander, increase to 8.5%
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WORKFORCE DIVERSITY
Managing diversity
o Establishing a heterogeneous workforce (incl. white men) to perform to its potential in an
equitable work environment where no member or group has an advantage or
disadvantage
o Maximize productivity, creativity, commitment
o Meet needs of diverse groups
o Sometimes aff action is preferential treatment, but rlly it’s the first step that gives
managers the opp to correct imbalances and injustices
o Five reasons why diversity is so dominant
Shift from manufacturing to service econ
Globalization
Business strats that require more teamwork
Mergers and alliances that pin different cultures to work together
Changing labor market
The Service Economy
o 90% of US employees work in service-based industry (2011)
o manufacturing maintains output but as productivity grows, need for labor decreases
o most growth in new jobs come from service-industry (banking, financial services, health
services, tourism, retail)
o anticipating and monitoring customer needs and expectations is CENTRAL
customer literacy
o Minorities have a combined buying power of more than $3 trillion
Eggs companies to have workforce mirror customers
o BoA Baltimore showed how customer loyalty was high when tellers were locals
Can communicate better with customers who are similar to them
Globalization
o Organizations compete around the world for customers & offer choices unavailable to
them domestically
o Customers have more power and firms have to get closer to customers
i.e. Japanese carmakers showing American workers in ads
o cultural learning helps measure business factors
o CEO of Novo Nordisk requires amnagers to buy and sell 3 practices to managers to
1. Use tech to move info around
2. Learn from colleagues around the world and share info
3. Measure soft skills and hold ppl accountable for them
Business strategies that require teamwork
o Goals are now defined more broadly (world-class quality, reliability, customer service)
o No one team can do it alone
o Only through work teams can newly adopted strategies regarding better quality,
innovation, cost control, or speed be executed
o Virtual teams meet thru electronic communication
o Team membership is fluid and ever-evolving—creates a rich training agenda
o Diversity is inevitable byproduct of teamwork
Mergers and Strategic Alliances
o Managers know how important it is to knit together partners’ teams and resources
o Resources = people, and integrating culture is the top challenge in mergers and
acquisitions
o When foreign businesses attempt long-distance marriage, national and corporate cultures
are biggest barriers
50% of US managers either resign or are fired within 18 months of a foreign
takeover
culture shock
don’t know values, where people are coming from
o urgent need to capitalize on diversity to offer products and services in far-flung markets
Changing labor market
o More women, more immigrants, more people of color, more older workers
o More than 500 million ppl will legally work outside home countries in the next 20 years
Conflict, natural disasters, climate change, economic opportunism
o Attaining advantages of diversity requires teaching all employees to understand and value
diff races, ethnicities, cultures, languages, religions, sexual orientations, etc.
DIVERSITY AT WORK
Discrimination correlates with “burning out”
o Reduced willingness to take initiative, likelihood of changing jobs
o Minorities and women quit companies more often than white males do
Suggestions about handling diversity
o Inquire, show empathy, educate, state needs and/or expectations, don’t polarize people or
groups
o Culture is foundation of group differences
Culture
o Characteristic behavior of people in a country or region
o Helps people make sense of their part in the world, gives them identity
o Fam patterns, customs, social classes, religion, etc.
o Understand everything that makes a person’s culture what it is
o “value diversity,” meaning more than just being comfortable and accepting
means learning to value and respect different styles of behavior
no room for inflexibility and intolerance
African americans
o 12.4% of US workforce by 2022
now own 1.9 million businesses and employ > 921,000 ppl
generate 137.5 billion in revenue
buying power reached $1 trillion in 2013, $1.2 trillion by 2015
seven black CEOs in 2014
o despite trends, legal system makes this all happen
Nov 2000 Coca Cola $192.5 million settlement to discrimination lawsuit about
pay, promotions, performance evals
o Settlements lead to improvement
20% of coca cola US workforce is black, 41% is female, 6 blacks in the board of
directors
coc cola DiversityInc’s Top 50 companies for 11th straight year
o practices to consider
hire only those search firms with solid track for diverse candidates
make links with colleges and universities with lots of minorities
start formal mentoring and succession programs
include progress on diversity issues in management performance reviews
set specific goals in critical areas, such as % of minorities and women hired,
promoted, and in the workforce
provide employees with confidential outlets to settle greivances
Hispanics
o 19.1% of civilian labor force by 2022
o encompasses a large, diverse group of ppl
i.e. third generation white Cuban American is Hispanic
its bc they speak Spanish
o Meixcans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans = three largest groups of Hispanics
CA, TX, NY, FL 73% of the firms owned by Hispanics
o Btwn 1990 and 2012, # of Hispanic entrepreneurs in US tripled to 2million
o Hispanics getting wealthier, reaching mean income of $39,005
o Buying power difficult to measure but expected to soar to $1.5 trillion in 2015
Asian Americans
o 5.3% of the workforce in 2012, 6.3% by 2022
o buying power $1 trillion by 2017
o Asian americans are better educated than the average American
50% ages 25 and over have bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 28% of
total population
many hold top jobs, at places like applied materials, union bank, Sempra energy
i.e. at Applied Materials, Asians are 26.7% of workforce
diversity at grassroots level, funding charter school in san jose to get
latino students into college
Women in the workforce
o Women raised expectations and levels of aspiration higher because of the women’s
movement
o 47% of the workforce, 51% of managerial and professional positions
o share of ppl who say they can’t “have it all” dropped to 66% in 2013
o 5 forces
changes in family
legalized abortion/contraception/divorce/declining birthrate
75% of all working women will be pregnant
71% of mothers with children under 18 will work for pay outside the
home
big employers like BoA, Accenture, BCG increase maternity-leave pay
proportion of single-parent family groups with children under 18
increased
changes in education
women earn 57% of all undergraduate degrees, 60% of all masters
degrees, 50% of all doctorates, 55% of MBAs
changes in self perception
women executives pay high personal price to be high status by never
marrying or breaking marriages
female managers less likely to be married than male managers, 59%
men have more children than women counterparts
major goal: raise awareness so women can be given a fair chance to think
about interests+potential, investigate other possibilities, make an
intelligent choice, and considered for openings or promotions on equal
basis with men
changes in technology
tech reduced physical effort and time to accomplish tasks
makes virtual work arrangements possible
changes in economy
shift away from goods production toward service industries
o 29% of business owners, 1.2 trillion in revenue
o 40% in management, professional, and related occupations
o 80% of couples are dual earners
if all working women were to quit their jobs, businesses would disintegrate
working mothers are not less committed to their work
Age-based diversity
o 4 diff generations
silent generation (born 1930-1945)
born in the middle of Great Depression
too young to fight in WW2, went to best colleges, courted by
corporations, paid more than any other group in history
employers gave increasing job responsibility, pay and benefits
baby-boom generation (born 1946-1964)
78 million people and 54% of the workforce
early and late boomers
believe in rights to privacy, due process and freedom of speech, as well
as firing just cause
huge base of knowledge and talent, bring years of management and
leadership expertise
Generation X (born 1965-1980)
50 million americans, or 1/3 of workforce
cross btwn hierarchy embracing Boomers and team-driven millenials
independent, cynical, do not expect long-term employment security
tend to be more practical, focused, and future oriented
computer literate generation
five characteristics defining rewarding work environments: control over
own schedules, improve marketable skills, expose to decision makers,
put name on tangible results, clear areas of responsibility
Generation Y (born 1981-1995)
78 million, 40% of US workforce by 2020
tech exposed to them earlier
grew up texting and IMing
multitasking is easy
accepting of differences among everyone
mantra: challenge convention, find new and better ways of doing things
good: multitasking, filtering out distractions, juggling numerous projects
bad: short attention spans, constant need for stimulation/entertainment,
blurring of lines between work and leasure
intergenerational conflict
o incidences low, but when it does occur it stems from work ethic, organizational
hierarchy, and managing change
o separating workers from different generations doesn’t work
o recognize all generations must be treated with respect
o people are uncomf with change, everyone wants to learn, everyone likes feedback
MANAGING DIVERSITY
Racial and Ethnic Minorities
o Not enough to start a mentoring program or put a woman on the board of directors
o Gotta undertake programs, not just inside company
o Some companies start early in high school and colleges to recruit sizable minority
populations
o Focus on bringing in the best talent
o Establish mentoring programs among employees of same and diff races
o Hold managers accountable
o Develop career plans for employees as a part of performance reviews
o Promote racial and ethnic minorities to decisionmaking positions
o Diversify board of directors
Female workers
o Alt career paths
o Extended leave
o Flexible scheduling
o Flextime (flexible work arrangements)
o Job sharing
o Teleworking
Gen X and Y
o Explain to them how work contributes to the bottom line
o Always provide full disclosure
o Create customized career paths
o Allow them to have input in decisions
o Provide public praise
o Treat as sophisticated consumers
o Encourage mentorship
o Provide access to innovative tech
o Consider new benefit/compensation strategies
o Offer community involvement
o Emphasize “you can do it your way”
Older workers
o Consider the following to maximize use
o Age/experience profile—look at age distribution across jobs to identify where older
workers can use their experience and talents
o Job-performance requirements—define more closely the abilities and skills needed for
posts
Physical abilities decline with age but mental abilities stay relatively stable
o Performance management
Age biases may be refelected in managers’ attitude (age grading)
Subsconscious expcetations about what people can and cannot do at
particular times
o Workforce interest surveys
Management understands abilities of its older workers so now they need to
determine what they want
Encourage older workers to continue with the org, and encourage turnover of
workers it doesn’t want
o Training and counseling
Training programs to avoid mid-career plateaus (having acceptable performance
but not high level w/ little or no effort to improve performance)
Reduce obsolences (knowledge or skills being out of date
o Structure of jobs
Explore proposed changes to work conditions jointly with workforce
Multiple generations likely to be affected by changes anyway
Workers with disabilities
o Disability won’t matter if you can prove you can contribute to employer’s bottom line
o Show you are a problem solver
o Employers regard ppl with disabilities good workers: punctual, conscientious, and
competent if given reasonable accommodation
o 68.5% of those without a disability are in the labor force, but only 19.1% of those
disabled are
o biggest barrier: lack of knowledge
o typical expenditures are pretty pricy for accommodations but there are tax incentives
o consider placing desk on blocks, lowering shelves, installing phone amplifiers, flextime,
job sharing
LGBTQ
o 6% of the population, buying power $830 billion
o loyal to specific brands
o more and more companies are advocates for gay rights