·
Infant
– egocentric, getting needs met by others
·
Children
– expand boundaries to include self and family
·
Then
extend to circle of friends and our community
·
Adults
– comfortable with people like ourselves
·
Socioeconomic
class
·
Culture,
language, race, age, gender, ethnicity, etc.
·
Groups
i.e. work groups, class at school, etc.
·
We’re
always organizing around groups that feel comfortable, have things in common.
Origins of discrimination (NOT OBJECTS OF SHAME OR
BLAME)
·
We
must discriminate to sort through the “noise” – information we are constantly
receiving to decide how to respond to new situations
·
It’s
appropriate to decide who and what is safe and who or what behavior is
appropriate or not
·
What
is safe, irrelevant, or positive in one situation may be different in another
situation
·
Left
behind oppressive religious, economic or political situations to seek freedom,
independence, and right to self-expression
·
Found
diverse people
·
Looked
for commonalities – similarities with dominant culture
·
In
North America this was English and Northern European
·
Common
denominator became English language and English and Northern European customs
·
This
could have been Asian, African, Latin, etc., had they been the dominant culture
These “others” often subverted customs to blend into
the new culture
·
Things
that made them stand as “different” were put aside
·
Examples:
stop speaking in native language, abandon customary dress and behavior of
native culture so as to appear “American” as quickly as possible
·
Most
chose to come here – exceptions early African-Americans, Native Americans,
Mexican-Americans
·
Similarities
in reasons for coming here
o Promise of new country
o Relief from oppression in
homeland
o Personality
·
Common
language
·
Need
to accommodate to dominant culture
·
Discouraged
expression of behavioral differences and cultural styles
·
Many
reject saying we are more similar than dissimilar
·
Shouldn’t
focus on our differences
·
We
are similar in many ways, however this allows us to look at our differences
without losing our connections to each other or our own identities
·
Our
problems are not caused by our similarities but by our differences
o Sometimes by false
perceptions
o Sometimes by realities
·
First,
uncover the differences
o Attitude, style, ways of
being and doing
·
Determine
if differences keep a manager from
o Finding the right employee
o Noticing equal competence
o From communicating in an
interview or other situation
o From trusting an applicant
enough to hire, or an employee to do the job
o From understanding enough to
train
o From valuing enough to
promote
o From seeing differences as
benefits
·
If
so, a greater knowledge of the differences is needed to break through the
barriers and to learn to VALUE THE DIFFERENCES
·
Some
arguments against
o We are becoming increasingly
similar
o Time will effectively “melt”
us together
o Hire those who’ve already
assimilated
o Wait for others to
assimilate, then hire
·
7/8
is below the surface
·
as
icebergs grow and drift closer, likely to clash at their base
·
on
the surface there is no visible contact
·
Similar
dynamic
o Speak a common language
o Dress and act in common ways
o Seem to work together “above
the table” without apparent friction
·
Below
the surface
o Behaviors-manners,
communication style, listening attitudes, etc.
o Represent the below the
surface base of the iceberg
·
Effect
o Appear to be communicating
without friction (above the table)
o Actually, often suppressing
feelings of mistrust, dislike and irritation (beneath the surface)
·
Problem
o We don’t see our coworkers
in their fullest expression, nor do they see us
o Keeps us from being
successful
o Cover or deny either
ignorance or discomfort with other’s style and manner, the professional
interaction and working results are negatively affected
·
To
be successful, we need
o Reciprocal recognition of
competence
o Feelings of trust
o Open communication
o Shared sense of our end
goals
o Level of comfort doing work
with people who are different, and
o Break through to a higher
level
·
When
we see differences, we are taught to
1.
Presume
they are false
§
Mistrust
our judgments
§
Pretend
we don’t have (or suppress) them –
·
Examples,
about white males, black females, those with physical disabilities or anything
else marking us as different
2.
Consider
them irrelevant to the task at hand
§
Differences
that cannot be denied – skin color, racial characteristics, differences in
accents and language facility
§
These
include race, age, gender, physical ability, religion, sexual orientation
·
In
the workplace, it means we cannot consider these differences in hiring,
promoting, firing, evaluating, etc.
·
-
Reinforces barriers caused by discomfort with differences
·
+
Successfully avoid discriminating arbitrarily and prejudicially against those
unlike ourselves
·
+
Act affirmatively and work to ensure equal employment opportunity
·
-
Fail to develop a positive discriminating ability, capable of seeing human
beings in all their diversity
·
-
Efforts at antidiscrimination perpetuates denial and ignorance, which
perpetuates denial and ignorance..
·
-
When one group gives “equal opportunity” to another, especially a dominant
group to a less dominant group, we can act as if we are comfortable with
differences.
·
-
This can be exhausting and depleting to those who deny (as if false) and to
ignore (as if irrelevant) one’s own cultural and ethnographic identity.
·
+
Some breakthroughs result gradually as we become familiar to those different
from ourselves and discomfort is reduced
Looking at our history
of dealing with diversity helps us to see how we are evolving, and what stage
we are currently
1.
egocentric
position
2.
ethnocentrism
3.
acting
affirmatively
4.
ensuring
equal opportunity
5.
affirming
our differences
6.
accepting
our differences
7.
valuing
our differences
·
Differences
in age, race, gender, physical ability, sexual orientation, religion,
socioeconomic class, education, region of origin, language, etc.
·
Differences
that impact how a person approaches and performs the functions of the job or
position
·
Differences
that impact the products and services developed by the workforce as well as
personal, interpersonal, and organizational activities
·
Benefit
o Accurate
o All inclusive
o Each person is recognized as
part of the diversity to be valued
o It’s healthy
o To limit it to differences
of gender, race, and legally protected differences is to ignore much of the
diversity that we bring
o A more limited view
maintains polarized tensions around discussions of differences into right and
wrong, we and they, you and me, etc.
o To realize individual
diversity allows us to begin to realize the we each have a rich mixture of
aspects of ourselves
·
Enlightened
self-interest – personal, interpersonal, organizational
·
PERSONAL
– valuing our uniqueness and recognizing that is often what others like or
admire about us
o All diversity work begins
with a self understanding – culturally, demographically, and ethnographically
as well as age, race, religion, gender, country, community of origin, language,
sexual orientation, education, class, etc.
o To become our fullest
selves, the most that we can be
o Becoming conscious of our
own differences and giving them freedom of expression
·
INTERPERSONAL
– self-interest becomes mutual where each person allows and encourages the
other to grow, to see who s/he is, how her/his behaviors affect what s/he looks
like from the outside, etc.
o This brings an energy to the
relationship that creates synergy
·
WORKPLACE
– adding individual differences in a way that can be the most complementary and
result in the best outcome
o Rather than a+a+a+a (similar
people) – homogeneous environment
o a+b+d+z (diversity) –
heterogeneous work environment
o Most organizations do not
have the option of the a+a+a+a environment
o Therefore, we are becoming
aware of the multiple opportunities of having a heterogeneous work environment
o Organizations have an
increasingly larger demographic talent pool of potential workers
o Organizations can remain
competitive only by recognizing, obtaining and retaining the best talent, value
the diverse perspectives that come with talent from various differences, and by
creating an atmosphere that values its workers
o Places a positive value on
our differences from others
o Allows us to experience the
real benefits from changing our relationships to those different from ourselves
o Ultimately, increased market
for its services and/or products
·
The
obvious answer is all of us
o Have an opportunity and
responsibility to gain knowledge of, become comfortable with, and ultimately
value, our own and others’ differences
o The democracy and free
enterprise systems are intended to be fully inclusive and participatory
o All of us must participate
for free enterprise to work for all of us
o Organizations can’t be fully
productive unless individuals are fully themselves and the internal
relationships are participative and inclusive
·
Developed
within context of organizational plans and challenges as a whole
·
Integrated
into the organization’s overall strategic responses
·
Systemically
·
Situational
priorities
IN
WHAT WAYS DO WE ATTEND TO THESE ISSUES?
·
Employee
Relations – assessments of the work climate and key areas to improve employee
relations
·
Empowerment
– valuing employees, bringing out their creativity
·
Leadership
on all levels – increasing personal effectiveness in working with diverse
groups, focusing on relationship dynamics and assume facilitative and enabling
roles
·
Learning
– Personal, interpersonal, organizational levels - being receptive to new
information, constantly adapting
o depending on strong internal
relationships among employees and between managers and workers, and
o external relationships
between the organization and customers and clients
·
Productivity
– consciously identify barriers to productivity
o Organizational, personal and
interpersonal levels
o Managers and supervisors
o Demonstrate authority,
delegate tasks, solve problems, be effective and innovative, demonstrate
leadership, empower employees
o avoid energy-depleting
patterns of control, manipulation, blame, denial, mistrust, racism, prejudice,
etc.
·
Synergistic
Teams – teams are effective or not, depending on whether their total is greater
than the sum of the parts.
o Enhancing interpersonal
relationships
o Obtaining total
participation, commitment and shared responsibility
o Ultimately improving
productivity of the organization
·
Trust
Building – trust is the foundation of organizational effectiveness
o People build trust
o Relationship counts more
than structure
o To build trust –
·
increase
knowledge and acceptance of differences
·
create
awareness of relationship dynamics
·
demonstrate
the effect of energy-enhancing and energy-depleting patterns
·
illustrate
the power of relationship among diverse individuals in the organization
·
enable
employees to begin to built trust
This
unit will focus on
·
encouraging
critical thinking
·
the
structural aspects of the issues at hand rather than on personal reactions to
the issues