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Diversity in the Workplace
The Role of Communication in a Diverse Workplace
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Statistics to Ponder The Hudson Institute, Workforce 2000: 5/6 of those entering the workforce in the year 2010 will be women and minorities 97% of the top executive positions in America’s top 1500 corporations are white men Women hold only 3-5% of senior positions in the private sector The private sector will spend hundreds of millions of dollars on diversity training this year
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Diversity Categories Protected or “suspect” classes: Gender Age
Ethnicity/Race Physical Abilities Religious Affiliation Sexual Orientation
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Some Hypothetical Examples
A professional African American male comes to work with his hair newly done in corn rows. It is widely interpreted by his rural, white co-workers as representative of a prison or gangster culture. Some workers complain to managers about being afraid.
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Hypothetical #2 A Latina manager complains that her mostly Asian subordinates don’t respect her because when she addresses them, they do not look her in the eye.
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Metaphors for Diversity
melting pot multicultural stew patchwork quilt tossed garden salad tributaries leading to a mighty river assimilationist policies versus policies which truly celebrate differences (The Borg versus The Federation)
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Flaws in Diversity Training
Targeted at SWAMs Unitary in nature, one size fits all Dogmatic in philosophy, looking to change hearts and minds Often conducted by women/minority trainers Perpetuates victimage Often seen as “diversity penance”
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Communication Training to Enhance Diversity
The Wrong Way--U.S. DOT confrontation style program, suspended in 1993 The Right Way ethnocentrism awareness monitoring language ability to tolerate ambiguity conflict training
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Successful Diversity Training
Needs to be integrated into the overall business plan Needs to recognized as an organizational commitment, top to bottom Thomas (1992): diversity training is about enhancing a manager’s capability to tap the potential of a diverse group of employees. Use teams of trainers
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The Nature of Resistance
Resistance is unavoidable Resistance provides protection Resistance is a source of energy DT should work with resistance bring it to the surface “honor” the resistance (“I understand how this could be a problem for you”) explore methods for resolving it
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