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EXERCISES:
DEVELOPING THREE ESSENTIAL SKILLS
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[CHAPTER 11: ANALYZING SELF]
EXERCISE: YOUR PIE CHART
Purpose
The purpose of this exercise is three-tiered: to compare the student’s own cultural background
with that of others; to raise awareness of the importance of self-identity based on affiliations with
groups; and to consider the influence of self-identity on individuals’ experiences in
organizational settings.
Instructions prior to class
Before class, have the students read our opening essay (at least the first half), “Diversity in the
Workplace: A Theoretical and Pedagogical Perspective,” in which we delineate a number of
prominent definitions of diversity. Marilyn Loden presents a definition that is described as a
“Diversity Wheel.” This model consists of two dimensions: primary and secondary. The primary
dimensions of diversity—age, ethnicity, gender, mental/physical abilities, race, and sexual
orientation—are interdependent and represent the core of individuals’ identities. Secondary
dimensions, which tend to be less visible yet more dynamic include: work style, geographic
location, communication style, organizational role and level, income, work experience, military
experience, family status, religion, native language, and education. Together, the primary and
secondary dimensions interact to give definition to people’s lives.
Gender
Ethnic
Heritage
Race
Mental &
Physical
Abilities
Sexual
Orientation
Age
Military
Experience
Religion
Income
Work
Experience
Geographic
Location
Comm. Style
Work
Style
Education
First
Language
Dimensions
Dimensions
THE DIVERSITY
WHEEL
Marilyn Loden
Implementing
Diversity
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Instructions in class
1. Have the students work individually to create a pie chart identifying group affiliations
that are important to the construction of their self-concept. These affiliations may be
2. First in teams, and then with the entire class, have students participate in a discussion
based on the following questions:
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EXERCISE: DIVERSITY QUESTIONNAIRE
Purpose
1. Instruct the students to place the number that best describes their own actions and beliefs
next to each question.
1=almost always
2=frequently
3=sometimes
4=seldom
5=almost never
1. _______ Do you recognize and challenge the perceptions, assumptions, and biases that affect
your thinking?
2. _______ Do you think about the impact of what you say or how you act before you speak or
act?
3. _______ Do you do everything you can to prevent the reinforcement of prejudices, including
avoiding using negative stereotypes when you speak?
4. _______ Do you encourage people who are not from the dominant culture to speak out on
their concerns, and do you respect those issues?
5. _______ Do you speak up when someone is making racial, sexual, or other derogatory
remarks, or is humiliating another person?
6. _______ Do you apologize when you realize you might have offended someone due to
inappropriate behavior or comments?
7. _______ Do you try to know people as individuals, not as representatives of specific groups,
and welcome different types of people in your peer group?
8. _______ Do you do everything that you can to understand your own background, and try to
educate yourself about other backgrounds, including different communication
styles?
2. The lower their score, the more often they communicate to improve the climate in their
3. You may want students to discuss their results in small teams or in the larger group. You
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EXERCISE: DIVERSITY JOURNAL
Purpose
The purpose of this exercise is to (1) encourage students to understand the connection between
diversity and current events and (2) incorporate analytical writing into the diversity curriculum.
Instructions prior to class
It is important to introduce this assignment early in the semester because it is time consuming.
You may choose to have the students craft a five-entry journal or a ten-entry journal; I typically
assign the ten-entry journal.
I introduce this assignment during week two or three of the semester and then collect it during
the final few weeks of class. When I give this assignment, I frame it in the context of not having to
be business related. The students enjoy writing about diversity in other contexts such as sports,
television, film, commercials, pop culture, politics, their every day experience, religion, etc.
It should be typed, single spaced, a space between paragraphs, with the source at the top
followed by the summary and response. My diversity course is a writing intensive course and
this assignment helps to develop and maintain students’ writing skills. They are graded not only
on their analysis of the diversity current event but also their writing in terms of grammar:
sentence structure, punctuation, coherence, spelling, and so forth.
Specific guidelines
1. Choose a diversity-related topic, event, or person found in a specific source (i.e.
newspaper article, Web site article, magazine article, Web video, blog entry, scene from a
film, episode from a television show, commercial, and so forth). One source is needed for
each entry.
2. Each diversity journal entry contains two parts. The first part is a summary of the
diversity-related topic/event found in the source. The second part is a brief analysis of the
entry, and your opinion on the topic is welcome. As a way to frame your analysis, use at
least one concept from the textbook, such as:
a. Diversity management
b. Primary and secondary dimensions of diversity
c. Prejudice and discrimination
d. Stereotyping
e. Diversity paradigms
f. Business case for diversity
g. Legal aspects of diversity
h. Integrated approach to diversity management
i. Authentic leadership commitment
ii. Clear organizational communication
iii. Inclusive recruitment practices
iv. Long-term retention strategies
v. Diversity as part of main work of organization
vi. Diversity metrics
vii. Expansive external relationships
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EXERCISE: MASCULINE AND FEMININE SPEAKING STYLES
Purpose
The purpose of this exercise is to have students develop self-awareness of how gender affects
their communication style.
Instructions prior to class
Have the students review “masculine” and “feminine” speaking styles either before class or
during class.
According to Julia T. Woods, “Researchers report that masculine socialization teaches most men
to see talk as a means of accomplishing instrumental goals. They talk when there is a problem or
when there is a need to explain something, or inform or advise others. Research also indicates
that masculine socialization encourages men to be assertive . . . they learn to initiate topics when
they wish.”
Feminine talk, on the other hand, is “expressive—a means of communicating thoughts and a way
to establish and sustain connections with others.” And, “the content of communication doesn’t
need to be significant for conversation to be valuable. Talking is relating. Communication is an
end in itself, regardless of what is being communicated.”
It is important to note, however, that these styles are not exclusive to the specific gender. In other
words, some women communicate in a more “masculine” style, while some men communicate in
a more “feminine” style. All of us use both types of communication at least some of the time.
Instructions in class
1. With the understanding that “masculine talk” and “feminine talk” are on two ends of a
continuum, have the students locate where their own communication style fits on the
continuum.
2. Then, in teams or with the class as a whole, have the students grapple with the following
questions:
In what situations do you use characteristics of “masculine talk” and when do you use
characteristics of “feminine talk”?
Is it useful to describe communication styles as “masculine” and “feminine,” or is there a
more representative way to describe communication styles?
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EXERCISE: RELIGION & THE WORKPLACE—A BRAINSTORMING ACTIVITY
Purpose
The purpose of this exercise is twofold: (1) to gain knowledge about different religions and belief
systems; and (2) to gain skills on how to manage effectively organizational members who hold a
variety of different religious beliefs.
Instruction prior to class
For pre-work, instruct your students to research the main principles/values of dominant
religions/belief systems; for example, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism,
Daoism, agnosticism, atheism, and so forth.
Instructions in class
1. Divide participants into groups of five.
2. Have groups brainstorm everything they know about major religions/belief systems.
Have them organize their thoughts in terms of the following categories:
Name of religion
Values/teaching
Texts
Holy days
Rituals/practices
Important symbols
Place of worship
Branches
3. Use the white board to organize the information (with headings and columns) by writing
the names of at least six major religions/beliefs systems that students decide are most
important to focus on.
4. To enhance the interactive quality of this exercise, have a few members from each group
write their information under each heading.
5. Have each team report out loud the contributions that they have written on the board.
6. Shift focus to the workplace and have the group grapple with questions regarding the
relationship between religion and work:
a. What aspects of these religions/belief systems may come into play in the
workplace?
b. As a manager, what aspects of these religions/belief systems would be helpful to
know when managing a person with this particular set of beliefs?
c. If an employee requests a particular religious accommodation—for example,
wearing religiously significant clothing and/or jewelry, taking time to pray
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during the day, creating facilities for prayer, taking off a few hours during the
day to celebrate a particular holy day, etc.—how would you manage this
situation?
7. To end, facilitate a discussion about the role of religion in the workplace (as framed by
the questions listed above).
Helpful information about religions
Christianity
Main Beliefs
o Follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, who is believed to be the Son of God. God
sent his son to earth to save humans from sin.
o God is made of The Holy Trinity: The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit/Ghost.
o God created the universe.
o God created man in his own image.
Values/Teachings
o Four Gospels describe Jesus’s values of love and forgiveness.
Text(s)
o The Bible
The Old Testament
The story of humans up to the life of Christ.
The New Testament
Include four Gospels (known as the Synoptic Gospels): the
Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These Gospels
recount the story of Jesus.
Holy Days
o Christmas: celebrated on December 25. Celebrates Jesus’s birth.
o Lent: the 40 days between Ash Wednesday to Easter. Considered a period of
reflection.
o Good Friday: commemorates the crucifixion.
o Easter: Celebrates the resurrection of Jesus.
Rituals/Practices
o Eucharist: ritual reenacting the Last Supper with Jesus’s 12 disciples, where
bread and wine/water symbolize the blood and body of Christ (the interpretation
of the Eucharist varies between the various Christian faiths). Also referred to as
Holy Communion, Mass or the Lord’s Supper.
Important Symbols
o The Cross: predates Christianity, symbolizing universality with the four cardinal
directions of north, east, west and south. Within Christianity, the cross represents
the death of Christ and the sacrifice he made to save humanity from sin.
Name of place of worship: Church
Worldwide population: 2 billion*
Branches
o Roman Catholicism (1.1 billion)
o Eastern Orthodox (est. 150-350 million)
o Pentecostals (105 million)
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o Baptist (100 million)
o Lutheran (84 million)
o Angelican Communion (78 million)
o Presbyterian (60 million)
o LDS (13 million)
o Jehovah’s Witness (6 million)
Judaism
Main Beliefs
o Believe in a single God, traditionally known by the sacred, unutterable name
YHWH.
Values/Teachings
o Judaism includes commandments to give to charity and eat “proper” by eating
kosher food.
Text(s)
o The Torah: literally translated from Hebrew as “law” and tells the story of the
first Jews on earth.
o The Talmud: Interpretations of the Torah by Rabbis (Jewish priests) over the
span of several hundred centuries.
Holy Days
o The Sabbath, or Jewish holy day, begins on sunset on Friday and lasts until
sunset on Saturday.
o Rosh Hashanah: Jewish New Year, the beginning marked by the blowing of the
shofar.
o Yom Kippur: Jewish Day of Atonement when fasting and prayer take place.
o Pesach: Commemorates when Moses led the Jews out of captivity in Egypt.
o Shavuot: Jewish harvest festival
o Hanukkah (“festival of lights”): celebrates Jewish victory over rulers of Syria in
170 BCE when a candle is lit on the menorah each night of the eight holy days.
Rituals/Practices
o 8 days after birth, heath permitting, Jewish boys are circumcised.
o The Bar Mitzvah ceremony, undertaken by boys at 13 and girls at 12, welcomes
them to the community as adults.
Important Symbols
o The Menorah: A candelabra that holds eight branches, one for each day of
Hanukkah.
o The Shofar: a ram’s horn that is blown during Rosh Hashanah
Name of place of worship: Temple
Worldwide population: 14 million
Branches
o Hasidism (4.5 million)
o Orthodox Judaism (3 million)
o Reform Judaism (1.1 million)