978-0133548198 Section VI Part 2

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52. Diversity and Inclusion Awards: A Critical Examination

1. The Minority Work Force

2. The Minority Consumer Force

SECTION VIII. THE AWARDS IN PERSPECTIVE

A. Quality Controls . . . Noteworthy Selection Practices

B. Questions to Consider

Teaching Tips

Partial Text Assignments: In lieu of reading about all of the awards, Instructors may wish

to assign only particular sections of the article such as the Race and Ethnicity or the

Decision to Apply sections to accompany discussion of those topics.

Additional Discussion Points: It can be instructive to explore the financing underlying the

awards and the possible effect the form of financing may have on the selection of the

winners.

• With the possible exception of awards made through online voting by

employees, award sponsorship is expensive whether selection is done in-house

or by an outside agency. For some awards, financing will be apparent from the

article in this text, as some sponsors charge an application fee.

• Awards are generally presented at dinners. Catalyst posts hefty charges and

requires dinner attendance (see text) presumably to cover award sponsorship

costs.

• The names of the annual meeting sponsors usually appear on their websites —

names that may overlap with the list of winners. Website sponsors are also

named online. SEIU reports that “out of the twenty ‘site sponsors’ whose

company logos are prominently displayed on the DiversityInc website, all but

four of them received DiversityInc awards in 2010 alone – and nine appear in the

‘top ten’ category.” (http:/www.seiu.org/2010/04/ click: Behind Sodexho’s

“Awards” Sodexo and DiversityInc.)

• Note that membership in an association is an official requirement for applying

for some awards, thereby potentially restricting the pool of applicants and

possibly funding the award selection costs.

• Other countries also have diversity awards. For example, Canada’s Best

Diversity Employers are included in the Best Employers Around the World

study. (http://was2.hewitt.com/best employers/pages/index.htm)

52. Diversity and Inclusion Awards: A Critical Examination

VI – 22

Discussion Questions and Answers

1. DiversityInc’s list of Top 10 Companies for LGBT Employees® requires that any

company named to this list must have a CEI (Corporate Equality Index) rating

of 100 percent, thus linking this list to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation

corporate ratings. Do you think this is a good practice? Explain.

2. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects people from discrimination based on race,

color, sex, national origin, and religion. Affinity and resource groups are

common for all of these (except for religion) in organizations winning diversity

awards. For example, only 10 percent of the 401 companies in the 2009

DiversityInc Top 50 Companies competition have religious resource groups.

Why do you think this is the case?

3. The garment industry targets a diverse consumer market. If you were to create

a diversity award for this industry,

a) What would be your mission?

b) What criteria might you consider in making this award and why might you

select these criteria?

Answers should be concerned with both a) inclusiveness within a diverse workforce

4. In some companies, the human resources director selects the minority workers

who respond to the employee survey from the award sponsor. Evaluate this

practice.

5. If you were a potential employee, such as a working mother or an Asian man, and

you saw an award for your group on a company’s website:

a) prior to a job interview at that company, what would you ask a friend of yours

who works at the company and why?

Answers will vary, but will likely center on: what kind of programs the company has

experiences; etc.

b) What questions could you then ask in a job interview concerning whether this

company actually implements the policies?

c) Why should these questions differ from each other?

52. Diversity and Inclusion Awards: A Critical Examination

VI – 24

Writing Assignment

Select a diversity category not covered in the text and design an original diversity

award for organizations in your category. Specify:

a) Name of the award and type (i.e., list, profile, award, etc.)

b) Purpose of the award

c) Eligible organizations

d) Criteria (clearly related to the purpose of the award)

e) Selection process

Starting Sources:

* Section I. Judging the Awards (from the text article)

* CEI methods/sources for checking the self-reports of the organizations it

rates . . .

* Considerations and Quality Controls (from the text article)

Instructor Note on the Writing Assignment: You may wish to make this a small group

assignment.

52. Diversity and Inclusion Awards: A Critical Examination

Additional Writing Assignments not included in the text (2)

Writing Assignment

Below are organizations that won diversity awards only to have discrimination

lawsuits filed against them. Select two of them.

a) Briefly describe each case.

b) How could you explain this apparent contradiction of winning diversity

awards and also being sued for discrimination at the same time?

Starting Sources:

Kodak

http://.adversity.net/kodak/default.htm

http://fiance.yahoo.com/news/Judge-OKs-Kodaks-settlement-apf-2502795686.html

search engine: Kodak diversity awards

search engine: Kodak diversity lawsuits

Sodexo

http://cleanupsodexo.org/2010/04 (Five Years After Landmark Class Action …)

http://cleanupsodexo.org/2010/01 (Diversity-Experts-More-smoke-and-Mirrors)

search engine: Sodexo diversity awards

search engine: Sodexo diversity lawsuits

WalMart

http://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/release/10-1-10c.cfm

http://www.nationalreview.com (search box: April 29, 2010 the class action

lawsuit)

http://retailindustry.aboutcom (search box: despite massive sex discrimination

class)

http:blogs.forbes.com/work-in-progress/2010/04/27 (Wal-Mart faces the largest

sex discrimination lawsuit in the U.S. history.)

Xerox

http://www.highbeam.com/Daily+Record+(Rochester%2c+NY)publications.aspx

www.xeroxcareers.com/docs_Diversity_Awards-Accolades

search engine: Xerox settles discrimination suit

52. Diversity and Inclusion Awards: A Critical Examination

Writing Assignment

THE AMERICAN WORKER SPEAKS

Most diversity awards rest upon management reports of organizational diversity

programs and initiatives.

In contrast, NUL (National Urban League) conducted a large-scale study of

employees in 2003-2004. Among other findings, it reported that workers were

generally favorable to diversity, but only about 30 percent felt their company had

effective initiatives.

DiversityInc criticized the methodology in the NUL study. In 2009, NUL reported

the findings from a second study.

1. Discuss the findings of the two studies.

2. Evaluate the methodology in the latest NUL study.

Sources

NUL 2005 and 2009 studies:

Diversity practices that work, the American worker speaks

http:/www.nul.org Search box: The American worker speaks

DiversityInc criticism:

Frankel, Barbara. (2006). What’s wrong with the Urban League’s Diversity

Study? (Internet search by title.)

52. Diversity and Inclusion Awards: A Critical Examination

Diversity on the Web

There are multiple diversity awards for some of the special interest groups. Below

are some of them. Choose two categories below. How similar are the awards and

their winners within each category? How might you explain any differences?

A. Executive Women

* Top 10 Companies for Executive Women® (DiversityInc)

http://www.diversityinc.com/article (click “The 2010 DiversityInc Lists” [L

column];

then click link to “The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Executive Women®”.

* Top 50 Companies for Executive Women (Nat’l Ass’n for Female

Executives (Working Mother Magazine)

http://www..wmmsurveys.com

* Catalyst (Catalyst)

http://www.catalyst.org (click “Catalyst Award”; then click “Apply for the Catalyst

Award”)

B. Blacks

* Top 10 Companies for Blacks® (DiversityInc)

http://www.diversityinc.com/

* 40 Best Companies for Diversity (Black Enterprise Magazine)

http://blackenterprise.com/diversity/diversity-list-2009

C. Asians

* 100 Best Employers for Asian Americans (Goldsea Asian American

Poll) http://goldsea.com/Poll/employers.html

* Best Companies Awards (Asia society)

http://sites.asiasociety.org/diversityforum/awards

53. One Workplace Bully is One Too Many: The Four Faces of Workplace Bullying

ONE WORKPLACE BULLY IS ONE TOO MANY:

THE FOUR FACES OF WORKPLACE BULLYING

Andra Gumbus,

Sacred Heart University

Goals

• To understand the behaviors of workplace bullies

• To recognize how diversity effects bullying

• To understand the role of the victim of bullying

• To recognize the role of the organization and corporate culture in fostering

bullying

• To provide the legal framework for workplace bullying

Summary

This article addresses the problem of workplace bullying and why it is prevalent in the

U.S. today. Bullying is defined, behaviors of bullies are described and characteristics of

victims are reviewed. Workplace harassment is distinguished from sexual harassment and

is profiled on three dimensions: the bully, the victim, and the organization. Bullying

results from a complex interplay of all three components and should be attacked from all

three perspectives in order to reduce and eliminate it from our workplaces.

Responses are needed from the organization with clear policies and procedures to combat

bullying since there are no laws against it in the U.S. The article provides information on

the current state of legislation and the Healthy Workplace Bill designed to prevent

bullying. Traditional organizational responses to harassment are reviewed and additional

suggestions provided to create a positive culture at work that values diversity.

Pedagogy

This article can be used in undergraduate or graduate courses in management, diversity

management, human resources management, organizational behavior or ethics. The topic

of workplace bullying is applicable to discussions of styles of management, corporate

culture, gender and age differences, and recruiting and retaining talent. Workplace

53. One Workplace Bully is One Too Many: The Four Faces of Workplace Bullying

bullying can be applied to models of leadership, managerial style, motivation, diversity,

communication and organizational culture.

When teaching this topic in the classroom, expect emotions to rise as students speak

about their personal experiences with bullying. Often this occurred in the schoolyard or

on the Internet. Students will also speak of witnessing or knowing victims even if they

personally have not been bullied. After allowing students to vent, it is helpful to turn the

discussion to what students can do to empower themselves when faced with bullying.

Web Resources

(http://www.workplacebullying.org)

(http://www.insidecounsel.com)

(http://www.newworkplaceinstitute.org)

http://www.haltabuse.org/resources/stats/2006Statistics

http://www.cyberbullying.us/resources

Outline

I. Bullying in today’s workplace

A. Statistics from WBI Survey, 2007

B. Bullying is increasing

II. Bullying and diversity

A. The effects of gender on bullying

B. The effects of age on bullying

III. Face One: Bullying defined

A. Eight categories of bullying

B. Tactics used by bullies

IV. Face Two: The bully

A. Stereotypes of bullies

B. Bullies and power abuse

V. Face Three: The human victims

A. Stereotypes of victims

B. Victims as alpha males/females

C. Physical and emotional effects of bullying on the victim

53. One Workplace Bully is One Too Many: The Four Faces of Workplace Bullying

VI. Face Four: Organizations as victims

A. Organizational factors that support bullying

B. Corporate policies and cultures against bullying

VII. Coping with bullying

A. Hirschman’s four strategies

B. Advice to victims and courses of action

VIII. Traditional responses are not enough

A. EAP progress

B. Training

IX. Rx for the future

A. Strategies for the organization to reduce bullying

B. Strategies to help victims react to bullying

X. Concluding remarks

Discussion Questions and Answers

1. In the 21st century, both diversity and bullying have increased in the workplace.

Do you see any connections between these two trends? Please explain your

answer.

Students may argue either side of this question and offer comments to support a

connection between bullying and diversity or they may not see a connection. Either

position requires defending their opinion on the interrelationship of these two trends.

threats, and/or humiliating, or demeaning employees.

2. What does the presence or absence of anti-bullying policies suggest to you about

the corporate culture and values of an organization?

Bullying is accepted in cultures that have inept leadership, lack of training, improper

supervision, and poor work design, all resulting in low morale. A culture that

tolerates incivility and disrespect would not have an explicit policy against bullying.

effectiveness is rare.

3. What does the lack of effective bullying legislation in the U.S. suggest about

American culture?

Our history of individualism and capitalism may contribute to the lack of legislation

on workplace bullying. Some have suggested that our work culture values profits

53. One Workplace Bully is One Too Many: The Four Faces of Workplace Bullying

4. Have you ever been bullied or witnessed an incident of bullying either at school

or in the workplace? Describe the incident. How did you react and why? What

might you do differently after reading this article?

Answers to this question will vary based on the individual who may have

experienced or witnessed a bullying event. Reactions will vary from doing nothing to

reporting it to the police and everything in between. Hopefully, after reading this

5. Is it possible for an employee to bully his or her boss? Why or why not?

Bosses can be victimized by bullies, particularly those who are alpha males or

53. One Workplace Bully is One Too Many: The Four Faces of Workplace Bullying

Diversity on the Web

Search for a video on YouTube that is about Bullying in the workplace and write a

review that critically examines the positive and negative aspects of the video, as a

critic would do in a movie review.

Join a bullying blog and write a comment on the blog from either a victim’s

perspective (if you have been a victim of bullying) or that of a witness to bullying.

Writing Assignment

Visit the Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI) website below and prepare a report

on what you learn about workplace bullying from this website. Include the frequency

of bullying, whether bullying is gender neutral, the relationship of bully to the

victim, remedies for victims, and tactics used by bullies. Why do you think that the

U.S. is so far behind Europe in developing legislation against bullying? What can

organizations do to prevent bullying? What do you think would help to reduce

workplace bullying?

www.workplacebullyinginstitute.org

54. A Case of Harassment, Discrimination, or Bullying?

A CASE OF HARASSMENT, DISCRIMINATION, OR BULLYING?

YOU DECIDE …

Andra Gumbus

Sacred Heart University

Goals

• To understand the roles that age and gender differences can play in bullying

• To recognize bullying, workplace harassment, and their consequences

• To understand how power and politics in the workplace can lead to performance

problems and potential career derailment

• To illustrate the complexity of making good career decisions

Case Synopsis

Students read the case about Joy from three perspectives: hers; Assistant Vice President

Susan Cartwright’s, her manager; and Nancy Fitzgerald’s, the university’s Human

Resources Specialist. Issues such as workplace bullying, age and gender bias, career

decisions, power/politics, diversity, and unjust termination are addressed in this case. Did

Joy make poor career decisions that brought on the inevitable termination or was she the

victim of workplace harassment, discrimination, or bullying?

Joy was a high achieving, seasoned, female executive who always excelled in both the

academic and professional arenas. She completed her PhD and worked consistently in

ever increasing roles of responsibility in academia. She had no children, married late in

life, and treated her work as a primary focus. Joy made decisions based on advancing her

career. Some of these sacrificed her personal life to advance her career, such as living

separately from her spouse on more than one occasion.

Pedagogy

This case can be used in undergraduate and graduate Diversity Management, Business

Ethics, Human Resource Management, and Social Responsibilities courses. It is

applicable to topics such as gender and age discrimination, corporate culture, harassment,

diversity, power/politics, mentoring, and recruitment and selection. This case was written

as a companion piece to the article “One Workplace Bully Is One Too Many…” and it is

suggested that both the article and the case be assigned as readings prior to class.

54. A Case of Harassment, Discrimination, or Bullying?

About Joy’s Story

Joy’s story is a true situation that was told to the author during extensive interviews and

discussions. The names and locations have been disguised to ensure confidentiality.

Student reactions often include a lack of awareness about the consequences of bullying

and a heightened sense of proper workplace behavior for themselves and others. Students

are particularly interested to learn what the experts had to say and find it interesting to

read the differences in opinion and to compare these with their own.

Instructors should stress that there is no typical profile of a bully or a victim. Although

Joy was a female in a subordinate role, she was not as timid an individual as many

believe targets to be. She was a strong-willed, experienced manager. Instructors should

dispel and discuss stereotypes of bullies and victims, and discuss the many ways in which

Joy does not fit the stereotype of a typical victim. Ask students why they feel certain

people are bullied and others are not.

Optional In-Class Activities

1. Who Is at Fault?

Joy’s story, although common, is complex with many factors contributing to her eventual

demise. Ask students to each rank order the players listed below in terms of who they feel

is most responsible for Joy’s predicament and explain why. The individual rankings and

the reasons can then be shared in groups of 5 to 6 students. This should generate

discussion and defense of various opinions on culpability in this situation. Who is at fault,

or is it a combination of factors such as power, age, gender, corporate culture, structure,

personal values, professional values, and personalities?

Directions: Rank order the following individuals according to who is the most

responsible for Joy’s current situation (1 = most, 6 = least). Defend your rankings.

• Joy Patterson

• Joe Bradley, Special Assistant

• Dean

• Nancy Fitzgerald, University Human Resource department representative

• Vice President

• Susan Cartright, Assistant Vice President

• President of the University