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HARASSMENT
oHarassment is defined as an “unwelcome conduct that is based on race, color, religion,
sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic
information” from a supervisor, co-worker, or non-employee, such as a customer or
supplier.
oExamples of offensive conduct include offensive jokes, slurs, name calling, physical
assaults or threats, intimidation, ridicule, insults, offensive objects, pictures, and
interference with work performance.
oHarassment becomes unlawful when the conduct is severe or pervasive enough to create
a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or
abusive.
oA one-time minor isolated incident does not qualify as harassment. Nonetheless, minor
incidents should be brought to an employer’s attention for further investigation to
determine if a pattern is being established.
DATING, SEXUAL HARASSMENT, AND HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT
oOffice romances and dating co-workers are increasingly common with more women in
the workforce and the considerable amount of time employees spend at work.
oDiscourage employees who are dating each other from exhibiting public signs of
affection at work because it damages morale and suggests signs of favoritism.
o Dating is based on mutual consent, sexual harassment is not.
oResearchers report that 26 percent of the respondents had been sexually harassed at work.
oSexual harassment occurs when:
(1) an unwelcomed sexual favor is a quid-pro-quo condition of employment,
promotion, pay increase, continued employment, or desired assignment, or
(2) offensive comments about a person’s gender or physical harassment of a
sexual nature results in a hostile work environment.
oSexual harassment includes unwelcomed sexual comments, jokes, leering, pictures, or
physical touching.
oWhen quid-pro-quo sexual harassment or a hostile environment occurs, the employer
must immediately notify the accused person to stop the offensive behavior.
oThe most common target of sexual harassment is a woman employee in a
male-dominated occupation.
oProvocatively dressed women are particularly prone to being sexually harassed
oMales are also subjected to sexual harassment, which accounts for 16 percent of the
EEOC filings in 2009.
oMost of these cases reflect two types of scenarios.
oOne situation involves males harassed by females in female-dominated
occupations, such as nursing.
oThe other situation involves males harassed as being too feminine by males in
male-dominated occupations, such as construction.
RETALIATION FOR DISCRIMINATION CLAIM
oAll EEO laws carry a stipulation that it is illegal to take retaliatory adverse action against
someone who complains to an employer, manager, or law official about a discrimination
issue.
oTypical forms of retaliation include termination, demotion, promotional denial, increased
surveillance, unjustified negative performance evaluations, and harassment.
oEmployees who speak up for, or testify on behalf of, the alleged victim, or cooperate with
an investigation, are also protected against adverse retaliatory action.
oEven if an employer is found innocent of the original discrimination charge, an employer
can be found guilty if retaliatory action was taken against an employee associated with
the initial claim or subsequent investigation.
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
The EEOC differentiates between two types of sexual harassment—quid-pro-quo and hostile
environment. In small groups, discuss whether each of the following four scenarios constitutes
sexual harassment. Do they create a “hostile environment” at work? Are there differences of
opinions among, or between, the responses of male and female participants? Other scenarios can
be developed by employees who have been sexually harassed, or have been accused of sexual
harassment.
Scenario One: Mary is Tom’s administrative assistant. Every morning Tom makes flattering
comments about Mary’s appearance.
Scenario Two: Mary is Tom’s administrative assistant. Tom invites Mary out for drinks to a
singles bar after work. Mary claims not to be available. One week later Tom invites Mary out for
drinks after work again.
Scenario Three: Mary is Tom’s administrative assistant. Tom is an affectionate person and gently
touches the arms of both male and female workers while engaged in conversation. Tom gently
touches Mary’s arms two or three times a day during conversations.
Scenario Four: Mary is Tom’s administrative assistant. Tom receives several unsolicited junk
e-mails a day, including those about improving sexual performance. Tom believes one of these
unsolicited sexual performance e-mails is quite humorous, and he forwards the e-mail to Mary.
CHAPTER QUESTION 4: DISCUSS FIVE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES OF
DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT.
The United States population continues to diversify, as does the employee and customer base of
organizations. For more than two centuries, Caucasian males dominated the American
workforce. This is no longer the case. In 2008, Caucasian males made up only 39 percent of the
entire civilian labor force. Caucasian females composed 34 percent of the workforce, followed
by all Hispanics (13 percent), African-Americans (10 percent), and Asians (4 percent).
The avoidance of lawsuits and increased government regulation are fear-based incentives
for managing diversity.
Five positive bottom-line reasons why respecting diversity creates a competitive
advantage for organizations are:
1. To attract and retain diverse customers. Customers tend to feel more comfortable
doing business with people who respect them. Customers from diverse social groups
who feel unwelcomed by insensitive salespeople from a different social group will
take their business elsewhere.
2. To attract and retain diverse employees. As an organization’s reputation for
appropriately managing diversity issues increases, so does the diversity of the
organization’s job applicant pool.
3. To achieve cost reductions. Cost reductions associated with diversity management
include fewer employee grievances, absences, turnover, and litigation. Responding to
claims that an employee is being discriminated against requires time and resources to
resolve.
4. To enhance decision-making, problem solving and creativity. Due to different life
experiences, different cultural groups perceive the world in different ways, enhancing
organizational decision-making, problem solving, and creativity. A multicultural
workforce is likely to make more informed decisions regarding their own cultural
groups, and examine an issue from multiple perspectives.
5. To increase stakeholder goodwill. Organizations that are diversity leaders earn
goodwill from the media, government, socially conscious consumers, and job
candidates wanting to contribute to a broad social mission. This translates into free
advertising from the media and consumers, and high-profile government and industry
task forces.
Review BEST PRACTICE IN USE about the Well Fargo Diversity Imperative. Wells
Fargo is one of the nation’s largest financial services corporations. In 2010, its
278,000 employees included 60 percent women and 34 percent minorities. Among
officers and managers, 49 percent were women and 23 percent minorities.
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Have students visit the Working Mother website at
http://www.workingmother.com/john-chambers/2009/10/ceo-diversity-leadership-a
ward. Read about and discuss the CEO Diversity Award Leadership winners. What are the
common themes?
CHAPTER QUESTION 5: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BEST OPERATIONAL
PRACTICES FOR MANAGING DIVERSITY?
In 1998, the EEOC Task Force published examples of the “best” diversity policies, programs,
and practices in the private sector. Integrating these best practices in diversity management
throughout organizational operations can ensure long-term continuous success.
Personnel policies. Provide flexible personnel policies reflecting the needs of diverse
populations. Areas for flexibility include the use of personal days, cafeteria-style
benefits plans, and work schedules.
Performance appraisals. Link bonuses to achieving diversity goals. Include a
performance appraisal scale measuring behaviors that demonstrate respect for diverse
co-workers and customers.
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Have students visit the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index website at
http://www.hrc.org/cei2011/index.html. Also explore the best places to work for lesbians,
gays, bisexual, and transgender people links. What are the common themes?
CHAPTER QUESTION 6: WHAT ARE THE RECOMMENDED TEN-STEPS FOR
IMPLEMENTING A DIVERSITY INITIATIVE?
Creating an organizational culture that respects diversity requires planning and effort. The
following 10-step process describes how to successfully implement diversity initiatives based on
a traditional organizational change model.
1. Present a business case for the diversity initiative. Determine which of the five
competitive advantages of diversity discussed earlier is most important for achieving
2. Create a shared vision statement. Employees implementing the diversity initiative
must be committed to achieving the desired results. Achieve commitment by
3. Respectfully build from the past. A diversity initiative is one step along the continuous
4. Create a sense of urgency. Emphasize the importance of undertaking the change right
5. Empower a change agent. All organizational changes require a point person
6. Gather political support. Success depends on all work units supporting the diversity
initiative. Educate all formal and informal leaders about the importance of the change
initiative. Establish a diversity committee composed of key supporting people to
oversee the initiative.
7. Craft an implementation plan. Gather input from those directly affected by the
changes. Anticipate, and overcome, obstacles by inviting representatives from the
8. Develop enabling processes. Train key participants to manage the change process.
Establish multiple communication channels for input and feedback on the quality and
9. Evaluate the progress. Gather relevant historical data to benchmark and measure
progress toward achieving the stated goals and objectives. Recognize all positive
10. Reinforce the change. Link the accomplishment of diversity objectives to
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Have students independently use the 10-steps for implementing a diversity initiative to create a
diversity initiative plan for the School of Business or college. Share the plans in small groups
and reach consensus on a plan that could be given to the Dean or College Diversity Committee
for their feedback.
ADDITIONAL QUESTION 1: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING A
MEMBER OF A DOMINANT GROUP AND A SUBORDINATE GROUP?
DOMINANT GROUP AND SUBORDINATE GROUP
Helping employees overcome their biases against diverse people requires training. Review
EXHIBIT 7.3 “Diversity Training Problems and Solutions,” which highlights 7 common
diversity training problems that can arise from within, or between, dominant and subordinate
workplace groups, along with recommended solutions.
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Have students review Exhibit 7.5 “Dominant/Subordinate Group Dynamics” and categorize
themselves as belonging to the dominant group or the subordinate group in terms of gender, race,
ethnicity, religion, or some other diversity dimension. Use the exercise topics to examine how
membership in this group impacts interactions with people at school, work, or in the community.
Which topics, if any, are most problematic? How can these problems be rectified?
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Have students experience Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege” exercise which emphasizes many
subtle aspects of dominant group privilege in American society. The exercise is available at
http://husky1.stmarys.ca/~evanderveen/wvdv/Race_relations/white_privilege.htm.
Have participants line up with their backs to a wall and then slowly read each descriptive
statement. After each statement, participants who answer affirmatively take one step forward.
After all the statements are read, have participants turn to face each other and express their
thoughts and feelings about the results of the exercise. Be sensitive when facilitating the
post-exercise discussion because dominant group members can become defensive or subordinate
group members antagonized when the gap is exposed.
DIVERSITY DISCUSSION GUIDELINES
Initial employee tension and resistance can be defused by a warm-up activity where
participants agree on discussion guidelines.
Discussion guidelines typically include:
oone person speaking at a time without interruption
obeing open and honest
oparticipating fully at one’s own comfort level
Maintaining discussion confidentiality is particularly important.
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
If none exist, have students independently and jointly create a “Discussion Guidelines” statement
for class discussions. Develop a list of behaviors and rules that lead to constructive class
discussions.
CHAPTER QUESTION 7: DESCRIBE SEVERAL DIVERSITY TRAINING
WORKSHOPS. HOW WOULD YOU ADDRESS THE TYPICAL PROBLEMS
ASSOCIATED WITH DIVERSITY TRAINING?
WORKSHOP OPTIONS
This book section contains several diversity training exercises.
The following diversity training activities have been presented earlier in the teaching
manual as “Discussion Activity” suggestions:
COMMUNICATION STYLE
Communication style is an often overlooked aspect of employee diversity.
Some people tend to get right to the point and typically assume that the people they
communicate with want to get right to the point. If the other person does not, then that
other person is judged to be distracted or wasting time.
different color. Individuals can exhibit all four styles to some extent, but most likely one
or two styles dominate.
Review EXHIBIT 7.8 “Communication Styles” and the four communication styles.
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Have students review the four communication styles in Exhibit 7.8 “Communication Styles.”
Step 1: Determine with of the four communication styles represents (a) your own, (b) your
boss/teacher, (c) a peer, and (d) someone you struggle with a lot?
Step 2: Take a poll on each person’s communication style color (how many browns?), and the
communication style color people struggle with the most (how many struggle with brown?).
Step 3: Have all those of the same color (all browns) stand on one side of the room, and all those
who struggle with that color stand on the other side.
Step 4: Have those who struggle with the (brown) color explain what they like about that color’s
communication style and what frustrates them about that style.
Step 5: Have those of that color (browns) explain why the other person’s frustration may be a
misunderstanding and explain the best way to address someone like that color.
Step 6: Repeat same previous two steps for the remaining three colors.
INDIVIDUAL UNIQUENESS AND COMMONALITIES
People want to be treated as individuals, rather than as representatives of a social group.
End this chapter by not only showing how every person is different, but also how
everyone shares some commonalities.
Review EXHIBIT 7.7 “Individual Uniqueness and Commonalities” to help students
understand how each of them is unique, and also how each of them shares some common
traits with members of other diverse groups.
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Have students do Exhibit 7.7 “Individual Uniqueness and Commonalities” exercise.
Step 1: Write down 5 experiences, activities, accomplishments, or attributes that make you
unique from others.
Step 2: Share your items with other participants and circle those that are still unique.
Step 3: Have an informal discussion with other participants and find 5 things you have in
common with them.
DIVERSITY TRAINING PROBLEMS
Common problems include:
oTrainer credibility: use co-leaders, one from dominant and subordinate groups
oProblems portrayed too negatively: Praise previous diversity efforts
oDominant group members portrayed too negatively: Recognize good examples
oTraining limited to dominant group: Include everyone
oTraining exercises not relevant: Address real-world situations
oTraining over-emphasizes differences: Highlight commonalities among people
oTraining emphasizes knowledge, not behaviors: Address behavioral issues
Begin the diversity training workshop by discussing the five competitive advantages of
diversity presented earlier. The purpose of diversity training is to improve organizational
performance and profitability.
Provide some national and industry examples of diversity problems and their associated
costs.
Educate employees about the best operational practices, presented earlier in this chapter,
so they can see what leading-edge organizations are doing to manage diversity.
Praise previous diversity efforts the organization and particular managers have
undertaken, and acknowledge the need for continuous improvement.
Design workshops that foster greater personal awareness of diversity issues, and develop
action plans to improve diversity management.
