26. Professor on Wheels: A Case of Disability and Diversity
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therefore are not wheelchair accessible. Additionally, some classrooms
may not be equipped with the technology he requires to teach his courses
4. How do some of the new technological advances in education, such as online
courses, benefit both teachers and students with physical challenges, learning
disabilities, etc.? Be specific.
The use of adaptive technology such as voice synthesizers could make his lectures
clearer. Stephen Hawing, a theoretical physicist and genius by any standard, also
cannot communicate in the typical verbal mode.
Online classes may not work for everyone. Some students need the face-to-face
contact and some need the structure of class meetings to avoid procrastination.
A traditional hybrid: At least half of the classes are online with the remainder in
class. How might they be different from a traditional online class and what are the
limitations?
A flipped class: Students access the lectures at home on their own schedule and
attend class during the traditional time to engage in exercises, labs or discussions or
26. Professor on Wheels: A Case of Disability and Diversity
to work on assignments. How might a flipped class make learning/teaching easier
for a student or faculty member with disabilities?
5. List the advantages and disadvantages of hiring Dr. Edwards from the
perspectives of:
Students
Advantages
These would include a valuable real world work experience and connections with
sport management.
Dr. Edwards provides a successful role model for students with disabilities.
Disadvantage
Students may need to read parts of the lecture that they did not understand from
SCU President Richard Yoshikawa
Advantage
More than just saying “diversity is important”, hiring diverse faculty
public relations advantage.
Disadvantages
The president may need to ensure that appropriate accommodations exist. For
example, it may be more awkward to refuse tenure for Dr. Edwards if he does not
meet established criteria for tenure and promotion as these may not be as
with other faculty.
His last name suggests that President Yoshikawa may well represent diversity
himself as a minority. He may be more supportive of adding diversity to the
accommodation.
The Faculty Association may be solidly behind the ousted member, or may be
26. Professor on Wheels: A Case of Disability and Diversity
that union member. If the latter is true, then some of the pressure is off of Dean
Jessop and President Yoshikawa.
SCU Sport Management program
Advantages
Disadvantage
6. Imagine you are Dean Jessop and have the ability to make the final decision on
the hiring of Dr. Edwards.
a. Why is hiring a faculty member from an underrepresented group an
important aspect of your diversity plan?
b. How is your diversity goal impacted by the resignation of the Associate
Dean?
The loss of a diverse member of the leadership team could be signaling that there
are problems with acceptance of diverse faculty. This could also signal that the
c. As Dean, what are your specific options regarding the Sport Management
position?
• Fail the search, citing too small of a pool of qualified applicants and later re-
open the search.
d. If you hire Dr. Edwards, what are the professional risks to you as Dean?
26. Professor on Wheels: A Case of Disability and Diversity
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• If Dr. Edwards is hired and fails as an instructor, it could undermine support
question – potentially undermining your own career.
e. If you don’t hire Dr. Edwards, what are the professional risks to you as
dean?
• Your vision and leadership once again come under scrutiny. If you value
• With your associate dean leaving and your failure to hire a qualified (diverse)
Sport Management faculty candidate, the message you will be sending is that
f. Are Dr. Edwards’ challenges in becoming a college professor relevant to
your decision? Please explain.
• Yes. Dr. Edwards’ work ethic is visible from his continued efforts to attain a
g. If you were Dean Jessop, would you hire Dr. Edwards?
There must be compatibility between the qualities of the candidate and the needs
important to a department.
• Yes. If I (Dean Jessop) believed that he is the most qualified candidate and
that he matches the academic needs of the department.
26. Professor on Wheels: A Case of Disability and Diversity
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Instructor Note: Writing Assignment Instructions
1. Divide the class into groups of 3 to 4 students each.
2. Ask each group to evaluate a different on-campus building. (If there are not enough
buildings on campus, groups may do this exercise in any public building, retail store,
restaurant, etc.)
Writing Assignment
A. Have you ever really looked at a public building to determine if it is truly
accessible? Choose a campus building and prepare a one page group memo
detailing the building’s features.
• How many doors are accessible to wheelchairs?
• Are the restrooms really accessible? (Take measurements – do not
always believe the posted signs.)
• If there is a fire in a multi-floor building and the elevators are shut
down, how will persons in wheelchairs get out of the building?
• Could a person in a wheelchair get across campus in the time allocated
to move from one class to another and not be late?
• Should a person in a wheelchair just avoid scheduling back-to-back
classes or take all of their classes online?
B. Colleges may not want or may not be financially able (especially if budgets
are very tight) to provide all the accommodations necessary to hire or recruit
faculty/students with disabilities. Accommodations that would be needed could
include things such as remodeling facilities, providing wheel chair access to old
buildings, funding extra assistive personnel, etc.
If this is the case and funding is not available, should the college disclose these
limitations to faculty and students with disabilities? A university employs more
than 15 people, so it is reasonable to believe that a university could have become
accessible.
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References
Dean Bennett, A. A, & Randolph, S. E. (2011). Is everyone disabled under the ADA? An
analysis of the recent amendments and guidance for employers. Employee
Relations Law Journal, 36(4), 3-14.
Goffman, Erving. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity.
Prentice-Hall. Englewood Cliffs NJ.
Konrad, A. M., Moore, M. E., Doherty, A. J., Ng, E., & Breward, K. (2012). Vocational
statuses and perceived well being of Workers with Disabilities. Equality,
Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 31(2), 100–123.
Konrad, A. M., Moore, M. E., Ng, E., Doherty, A. J., & Breward, K. (in press,
2012). Temporary work, underemployment, and workplace accommodations:
relationship to well being for workers with disabilities. British Journal of
Management.
Lowman, D., West, S. L., & McMahon, B. T. (2005). Workplace discrimination and
Americans with cerebral palsy: The national EEOC ADA research project.
Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 23(3), 171-177.
Moore, M. E., Konrad, A. M., & Hunt, J. (2010). A vision boosts the impact of
top management support on the employment of workers with disabilities: The
case of sport management in the USA. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An
International Journal 29 (6), 609–626.
Moore, M. E., Konrad, A. M., Yang, Y., Ng, E., & Doherty, A. J. (2011). The vocational
well-being of workers with childhood onset of disability. Journal of Vocational
Behavior. 79(3), 681–698.
Moore, M. E., & Parkhouse, B. L. (2006). Structural equation model of female
representation in the managerial hierarchy of recreation and sport organizations.
International Journal of Sport Management, 7(2), 194-205.
Stone, D. L. & Colella, A. (1996). A model of factors affecting the treatment of disabled
Individuals in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 21: 352-401.
Whitney-Thomas, J., & Timmons, J. (1999). Expanding Access: Changes in Vocational
Rehabilitation Practice Since the 1992 Rehabilitation Act. Rehabilitation
Counseling Bulletin, 43(1), 30.
26. Professor on Wheels: A Case of Disability and Diversity
Diversity on the Web
1. Search for a sport management faculty opening in higher education.
Compare Dr. Edwards’ credentials to the requirements of the position.
For starters, search the following website by clicking on the faculty
link, then click on sport management.
www.higheredjobs.com
An alternative would be to search the following website using the
search term: sport management.
www.chronicle.com
2. Locate at least 5 national organizations that provide services for people with
disabilities. Of those, one should be employment-related. What resources
are available through the organization that could help those with disabilities
find viable employment? For starters, search the website that follows for
organizations assisting job seekers with disabilities.
http://www.ucp.org/resources/employment
3. Provide three examples of how adaptive technology can be used to help
persons with disabilities function in the workplace. Name at least five
organizations supplying adaptive technology services. Which disability
types are they designed to assist? For starters, search the website that follows
to locate adaptive technology sources.
http://www.atia.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1
27. The Cracker Barrel Restaurants
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THE CRACKER BARREL RESTAURANTS
John Howard
King’s College, London
Goals
• To explore sexual orientation employment discrimination issues in the
workforce
• To understand the implications of having only minimal legislation in the
United States that protects LGBT employee rights
• To provide current information on workplace and customer discrimination
conflicts at Cracker Barrel Restaurants
Summary
Cracker Barrel Restaurants, headquartered in Lebanon, Tennessee, was one of the few
major American corporations to explicitly incorporate a ban on lesbian and gay
employees into its personnel policies. After its adoption in January 1991, at least 17
employees were fired. A nationwide boycott followed. Activists attempted to change the
company policy, buying single shares of common stock and encouraging large
shareholders to sponsor anti-discrimination resolutions. Cracker Barrel management
resisted change. Not until ten years after adoption of the anti-gay policy did the board
vote to rescind it. (Meanwhile, the company became a repeated target of complaints for
racial bias against its non-white customers and employees.)
Teaching Tips
Do not allow students to write off the Cracker Barrel case as an aberration – an isolated,
regionally-specific incident. Nor should they view the case solely as the work of a single,
uneducated, authoritarian president. Though rarely written into policy, such employment
bias occurs with great frequency across North America, initiated by managers of various
class and educational levels. Though studies suggest that intolerance of homosexuality is
indeed greater in the South than elsewhere, homophobia is not limited to that region.
Press students to look beyond a simplistic explanation of the case as “hicks” harassing
lesbians and gays.
Some students likely will consider employment discrimination based on sexual
orientation to be a legitimate or moral corporate practice. Such sentiments, if allowed to
circulate in discussion, could help expose the irrational anxieties and fears that underlie
such discrimination. Therefore, do not squelch students whose remarks appear
27. The Cracker Barrel Restaurants
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homophobic. Moreover, encourage fellow students in their attack or defense of such
positions.
Build empathy for the fired Cracker Barrel employees. It may prove helpful to single out
the most virulently homophobic student and have him or her imagining being fired for
appearing to be gay or lesbian. Stress how subjective such judgments can be.
Discourage students from viewing sexuality as a “private” matter, to be completely left
out of corporate and public policy. The simplest of Monday morning questions in the
workplace – “How did you spend your weekend?” – can yield revealing and potentially
damning information about sexual orientation. Policies around childbirth, maternity and
paternity leave, childcare, insurance, and other benefits all involve assumptions about
employees’ so-called private lives.
Finally, emphasize that employment discrimination against lesbians and gays remains
within the law in many large parts of the United States, not just in the South. Examine the
cost effectiveness of legislation on a city–by-city, county-by-county, and state-by-state
basis as compared to federal legislation that would protect all employees across the
country. Note that the Cracker Barrel employees were never rehired and that Cracker
Barrel Old Country Store was never brought to trial.
Consult www.hrc.org for a current listing of the locations that prohibit discrimination
based on sexual orientation.
Of the video pieces available on this case, the Kelly Anderson and Tami Gold
documentary (Out at Work, see below) is most compelling. Despite whatever regional
differences may exist between students and Cracker Barrel protestors in styles of dress
and speech patterns, you may elicit positive responses to Cheryl Summerville as she
explains her story. Scenes of Summerville at home, playing with her dog, and sitting with
her lover as she knits may help humanize the episode and allow students to overcome
prejudices.
Discussion Questions and Answers
1. Discuss the factors that make it more difficult to establish workplace
discrimination based on sexual orientation than discrimination based on race.
With the exception of some religious and other institutions, employers feel compelled
27. The Cracker Barrel Restaurants
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choose the white applicant. While this systemic racism can be readily observed over
2. Do chain restaurant operations, which prize uniformity – and thus reliability –
in store design, products, and operating procedures, require uniformity of
personnel policies? Were the regional variations that Dan Evins proposed on
February 27, 1991 a viable corporate strategy? Why or why not?
All well-managed companies are attentive to the needs of their customers. Employees
3. How does the Cracker Barrel case support or challenge the notion that federal
legislation is warranted to stop employment discrimination based on sexual
orientation?
The Cracker Barrel case suggests that employment discrimination based on sexual
4. Why are particular retail products – for example, inanimate objects such as
mammy dolls – perceived to be racist?
Objects carry meanings. Retail products circulate within a broader social and
– turned into an object, a doll and sold to whites. When the seller is furthermore
27. The Cracker Barrel Restaurants
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Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
65
given to racist employment and service policies, the doll’s racist implications can no
longer be ignored.
5. Which areas of corporate activity should be open to broader scrutiny through
shareholder resolutions? How much stake in the company should a shareholder
have in order to present a resolution?
Experts disagree. But most accept the democratic notion of one vote for one share.
political climate in which they are presented.
6. If a controversial corporate policy is reversed only after a decade of defiance,
how should the company’s public relations officers present the change to the
media?
Initial press accounts of the incident depicted a company that was deceitful,
inflexible, and unyielding. Cracker Barrel’s early public relations efforts seemed to
After this point, opposition to Cracker Barrel would only be alleviated through a
relented only when the majority of shareholders voted in favor of the anti-
discrimination clause.
minority interests must be protected. A formal apology acknowledges the ethical
27. The Cracker Barrel Restaurants
obligations of business. To admit past mistakes is to suggest that the new policy’s
motives are genuine and that its provisions will be enforced.
Teaching Tip
The Cracker Barrel update illustrates how an organization that doesn’t value diversity as
a business advantage continues to get into legal and public relations difficulties. It is
worth asking students why this organization continues to win awards and what does this
say about the validity of such awards?
Diversity on the Web
Many of the Cracker Barrel restaurants are located in states with a significant
African American population. Visit the websites below. These articles discuss
popular misconceptions and stereotypes about the spending power of African
American consumers. As the postscript indicates, Cracker Barrel has had ongoing
legal issues with the Black community.
In terms of the business case for diversity, that is, the business advantages of diversity
in terms of profits, productivity, and recruitment of the most qualified employees,
what can Cracker Barrel now do to repair its image with African American customers
and potential employees?
a) http://www.multicultural.com. Under multicultural experts, click on
African American Markets. Read “Maximizing Your Share of the
African American Market.”
b) http://www.frontpage.wiu.edu and search for “African Americans
and Consumer Behavior.”
28. Section III. Integrative Questions
INTEGRATIVE QUESTIONS FOR SECTION III
1. Current age-related trends in the workplace include Baby Boomers working past the
traditional retirement age of sixty–five and Millennials being “underemployed” (i.e.,
able to get only part-time jobs or positions that don’t require the education,
particularly college degrees, that they have attained). What are the long-term
workplace problems that these trends could cause? Do you think this is a global or
only an American issue? Why?
2. It is often said that sexual harassment is about power not sex. What material from the
articles on women and men would support that statement? What role does privilege
play in sexual harassment?
3. Why do you think that there are no U. S. federal laws protecting LGBT workers from
losing their jobs due to their sexual orientation? What might prevent there ever being
such a law?
4. Once, after conducting the Musical Chairs exercise, an instructor asked the class how
it felt. A student who spoke English as a second language responded by saying,
“Wonderful. Now everybody has experienced what I feel every day.” What could he
have meant by that statement? What does this teach you about diversity?
5. Now that you have read about the primary dimensions of diversity, what have you
learned about yourself? Of the six dimensions covered in this text (race, ethnicity,
age, gender, sexual orientation, and physical and mental challenges), which so far
have affected your life the most? What examples can you provide to substantiate your
answer? Do you think these may change in importance during your lifetime? Why or
why not?