MANAGING DIVERSITY (SMM006)

Seminar readings and questions

Week 6 Seminar: Leadership Diversity (27 February and 1 March)

Groups should read BOTH articles:

A.H. Eagly (2007) Female leadership advantage and disadvantage: resolving the
contradictions. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 31: 1-12.

A.M. Konrad et al. (2008) The impact of three or more women on corporate boards.
Organizational Dynamics, 37, 2: 145-164.

Seminar Questions:

1. What are the different leadership styles and what kinds of behaviours do they imply?

2. Which leadership styles are deemed to be most effective? Why?

3. Are there any gender differences in leadership style? Is there any evidence to suggest
that either men or women make better leaders?

4. To what extent do women adopt a different leadership style (on boards) compared with
men (see Konrad et al. article)? If so, why?

5. To what extent does leadership effectiveness depend on context (e.g. masculine vs

feminine settings)?

6. To what extent are people still more willing to accept men as leaders (see Eagly)?

7. Why do Konrad et al. argue that ‘numbers [of women] make a difference’ on boards?

8. What kinds of leadership styles should individuals (men and women) adopt in order to be
thought of as effective leaders?

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 Week 7 Seminar: HR Diversity Policy in Action: Gender Pay Gap Reporting (6 March)

Please read the essential reading (marked with asterisk*) assigned to your group.

In addition, each group should meet prior to Monday 6th March (either face to face or
virtually) so that you can discuss in class how a particular company or organisation (e.g.
KPMG, King’s College London, John Lewis) is viewing or approaching the gender pay gap
regulations.

Groups should read the following:

*Goldin, Claudia (2015) How to achieve gender equality [US]. The Milken Institute Review,
3rd Quarter, 24-33.[Groups 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 10]

*House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee (2016) Gender Pay Gap: Second
Report of Session 2015-16. Ch. 8 Making gender pay gap regulations work? (pp. 73-82).
[Groups 3, 4, 7, 8, 11, 12]

Seminar Questions [and please also discuss your company/organisation case]:

Goldin (2015):

1. What underpins the gender pay gap? Why is it important to examine earnings gaps by
age, cohort and occupation?

2. What are the lessons that can be drawn from pharmacy and MBAs/lawyers?

3. Is the solution government intervention?

4. Is the gender earnings gap ‘only a woman’s problem’?

House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee (2016):

1. What is the stance of the House of Commons Committee towards the reporting
regulations?

2. What might be the limitations of pay gap reporting?

3. Could the regulations have more impact? What are their proposals for organisations?

4. Should the size threshold for reporting be reduced?

5. What about alternative measures, such as Equal Pay Audits etc.?

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 Week 8 Seminar: Physical appearance/lookism/weight (13 and 15 March)

ALL groups should read the (very short) Ruffle HBR article:

Ruffle, B.J. (2012) Photos of attractive female job seekers stir up HR jealousy. Harvard
Business Review, March 22. [you can access the full study on line ‘Are good looking people
more employable’ as a pdf]

Groups should ALSO read either Roehling (2002) or King et al. (2014):

Roehling, M.V. (2002) Weight discrimination in the American workplace: ethical issues and
analysis. Journal of Business Ethics, 40 (especially p.181 onwards) [Monday Groups 1, 2;
Wednesday Groups 5, 6, 9, 10]

King, E.B. et al. (2014) Waistlines and ratings of executives: does executive status
overcome obesity stigma? Human Resource Management, doi: 10.1002/hrm.21667.
[Monday Groups 3, 4; Wednesday Groups 7, 8, 11, 12]

Seminar Questions:

1. What did the Ruffle and Shtudiner study seek to investigate and how did they conduct
their study?

2. What are their main findings?

3. What might be the policy implications of their research?

4. In what ways does an employees’ weight matter [Roehling and King et al.]? Why do you
think overweight individuals are discriminated against and what are often people’s
justifications for doing so?

5. Are any groups (such as executives) not affected by obesity stigma [King et al.]?

6. What are the ethical issues associated with weight discrimination [Roehling]?

7. What is your view on how employers should respond to attractiveness discrimination?

Should it be subject to legislation? In the UK context should “attractiveness” discrimination
become a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010?

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 Week 9 Seminar: Managing multicultural employees (20 and 22 March)

For this seminar you need to read one of two articles:

Brett, J. et al. (2012) Managing multicultural teams. In G.K. Stahl et al. Readings and Cases
in international HRM and Organizational Behavior. 5th edition. Routledge. [Monday Groups 1,
2; Wednesday Groups 5, 6, 9, 10]

Fitzsimmons, S.R., et al. (2011) Multicultural employees: global business’ untapped

resource. Organizational Dynamics, 40, 199-206.[Monday Groups 3, 4; Wednesday Groups
7, 8, 11, 12]

Seminar Questions:

Brett et al. (2012)

1. What are the four key challenges Brett et al. identify in managing multicultural teams?

2. What are the principal ways in which global organistaions might respond to these
challenges?

3. Why is it so difficult to identify the right strategy for dealing with these challenges?

4. How might managers go about selecting the right strategy?

Fitzsimmons et al. (2011)

1. How do Fitzsimmons et al. suggest multicultural employees can contribute to five key
activities in global business?

 International teams

 Intercultural negotiations

 International assignments

 Global leadership and ethics

 Mergers and acquisitions

2. Why do they argue multiculturalism can be a ‘double-edged sword’?

3. What kinds of processes and procedures do global organisations need to put in place in
order to manage effectively multicultural employees?