Chapter 6 Homework Instructors Should Point Out Students That Rns

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Chapter 6: Asians/Asian Americans

Chapter 6

Asians/Asian Americans

Table of Contents

Content

Page No. in the IM

Chapter Outline

Chapter Objectives

Lecture Notes and Teaching Suggestions

Key Facts (and Associated Questions)

Consideration as Discussion Points

Questions to Consider (End of Chapter)

Actions and Exercises

Suggested Test Questions

Chapter Outline

2. History of Asians in the United States

4. Population

6. Asian American Entrepreneurs

8. Recommendations for Individuals and Organizations

10. Key Terms

12. Actions and Exercises

Chapter Objectives

After completing this chapter, readers should have a greater understanding of the role of

Asian Americans in organizational diversity. Specifically, they should be able to:

Chapter 6: Asians/Asian Americans

• discuss the history of and diversity among Asians in the United States.

• explain participation rates, employment, and income levels of Asians.

• examine research on the employment-related experiences of Asians.

• compare similarities and differences among Asian Americans and between Asians

and other minority groups.

Lecture Notes and Teaching Suggestions

This chapter focuses on Asians and Asian Americans as a particular racial group relevant

to diversity in organizations. When compared with other people of color, Asians are

perhaps the most under-studied and most diverse minority group in the United States,

differing in culture, language, experiences, and background. Despite these and other

differences, Asian Americans are sometimes perceived as a monolithic group, who

Instructors should also point out the diversity among those categorized as “Asians” or

“Asian Americans,” and they should encourage students not to assume that all Asians are

the same. There are differences in country of origin, languages, religions, education,

income, poverty levels, and appearance, among other things for this minority group. At

this point, instructors may note that the chapter discusses research on Asians’ or Asian

Americans’ preferred choice of self-identification among Asian American, Asian, ethnic

American, or ethnic origin alone. This research indicates that many Asians or Asian

Americans prefer to identify themselves as ethnic American (e.g., Chinese American) or

by their ethnic origin alone (e.g., Chinese). However, when probed, a majority of them

accepted the term “Asian American.”

Although most Asian Americans are immigrants, many Americans of Filipino, Japanese,

and Chinese ancestry have been in the United States for generations. Most Southeast

Asians are much more recent immigrants or refugees who have fled their native

countries. Instructors should emphasize to students that Japanese people, like the

Chinese, also faced hostility and exclusionary legislation. The internment of more than

120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II is recognized as an act having

devastating effects.

Asians worked alongside Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans in fighting for civil

Chapter 6: Asians/Asian Americans

rights. In many cases, people of color (and Whites) often worked side by side to advance

common civil rights. Issues arising from employment discrimination, hate crimes, racial

profiling by police, and customer discrimination continue to underscore similarities

between the experiences of Asians and those of other minorities. Instructors should point

out that in a Gallup Poll study conducted in conjunction with the fortieth anniversary of

Instructors should emphasize that Asians are one of the fastest growing groups, besides

Latinos, in the U.S. due to immigration. They should also discuss some of the EEOC

cases of egregious discrimination against Asians and how they get lower returns on their

educational investments when compared with Whites. Instructors should also have

students focus on the earning differences between Asians and Whites at all education

levels and the differences in earnings between Asian men and women, which, as with

other chapters, reiterate gender-based earnings differences that make up the wage gap.

Many students might be surprised to know that Asians have such a wide variety of

education and income levels and that Asian Indians are significantly more likely to have

completed college than Whites, but the levels of education, income, and poverty for

Vietnamese, Laotians, Hmongs, and Cambodians are similar to that of Blacks and

Latinos.

Asians’ unemployment is lowest or second lowest across the five education categories.

Research indicates that when Asians are unemployed, they remain unemployed longer

than Whites, Hispanics, and sometimes African Americans. Asians are making headway

into senior management and executive ranks, although the movement is slow and erratic.

Instructors should emphasize to students that Asians/Asian Americans may be

underrepresented in higher-level positions of organizations due to the stereotypical

perceptions about this group.

Chapter 6: Asians/Asian Americans

Key Facts (and Associated Questions)

Questions following each “Key Fact” are helpful in stimulating class discussion.

(Selected key facts include discussion points in this Instructors’ Manual. Instructors may

choose different ones to emphasize depending on the needs/interests of students and

instructors). Instructors may have students formulate questions relevant to the key facts

and use them for class discussion.

• The category Asian American includes people from many different backgrounds

who have disparate education, income, and employment experiences in the United

States.

Question: Why are Asians so often all believed to have high education levels?

This perception is consistent with the model minority myth, which works to point

• With growth fueled by immigration, the Asian population is the fastest growing

group in the United States.

Question: What do you think are the reasons why the Asian population is the fastest

growing group in the U.S.?

Students’ answers will vary. It could be that employers prefer to hire foreign-born

Asians. Employers might also hire Asians because they know more than one

Chapter 6: Asians/Asian Americans

• Nearly three-quarters of Asian adults are foreign-born and many come to the

country for employment or school.

Question: What factors make Asians more likely to be in technical fields, but less

likely to be managers in such fields than other minority group members?

Students’ answers will vary. This may be a reflection of perceived language

differences, steering away by management (due to their stereotypical perceptions

• Asian immigrants are likely to become naturalized citizens and often do so faster

than other immigrants.

Question: If the above fact is true, why do you think that Asians still experience

access and treatment discrimination as employees in organizations?

Students’ answers will vary. Many people are most likely to assume that

discrimination does not affect Asians because they are seen as the model minority

• Asians are represented among the highest and lowest education levels, depending

upon the country of origin.

Question: Why do you think that the movement of Asians with highest education

levels to senior management positions is slow and erratic?

Students’ answers will vary. At higher job levels, job competition is likely to be

Chapter 6: Asians/Asian Americans

Selected Items for Instructors’ Consideration as Discussion

Points

1. Individual Feature: 6.1: Helen Zia

Questions to Consider:

1. Prior to reading this selection, had you heard of Helen Zia? With which famous

Asian Americans are you familiar? From what part of Asia is their ancestry?

2. Zia learned that many people see race as Black and White, while neglecting Asians.

How prevalent is that perspective today? How does this perspective affect Asians in

the United States? How prevalent is the opinion that diversity issues are primarily

race issues? How does this perspective affect other diversity issues?

Students’ answers will vary. Students might suggest that along with African

2. Focal Issue 6.1: Jersey Guys’ Disc Jockeys make Racist Anti-Asian Statements on

Air

This case discusses a situation of two disc jockeys who made racist statements about Jun

Choi, a Korean American mayoral candidate for Edison, New Jersey, while on air and the

negative ramifications for the radio station. Outraged members of the Asian American

community, the NAACP, and the Anti-Defamation League (historically associated with

African American and Jewish people, respectively) had complained about the show, and

advertisers indefinitely suspended their advertisements from that station. Instructors

should ask students what factors would make the disc jockeys feel so comfortable making

Chapter 6: Asians/Asian Americans

such comments about a racial group on air?

Questions to Consider:

1. Aside from apologies, what specific responses are appropriate from organizations

when actions such as those of the Jersey Guys take place?

Students’ answers will vary. Termination would probably be an appropriate

response in such egregious cases. Some organizations have made donations to non-

2. Explain how Cox and Blake’s ideas about valuing diversity are relevant to this

issue.

Students’ answers will vary. Students may perform a library or Web search on Cox

3. Research Summary 6.1: Successful Small Business Owners or Unsuspecting

Pawns?

This research summary ties back to one of the chapter’s key facts, and it discusses

empirical research by Edna Bonacich who documented the problems faced by Korean

immigrants.

Questions to Consider:

1. How familiar are you with small businesses owned by Asian immigrants? If you are

Chapter 6: Asians/Asian Americans

familiar with such businesses, how does what you perceive about their level of

profitability, hours worked, and employees compare with what Bonacich reported?

Students’ answers will vary. Instructors should encourage students to talk about

their experiences. Students are often familiar with dry cleaners, doughnut shops,

tailoring businesses, nail salons, restaurants, convenience stores, or other small

2. Many small businesses are staffed entirely or almost entirely by people of the same

race or ethnicity of the owners—indeed they are very homogeneous. Is such

homogeneity of employees in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act? Why or

why not?

Students’ answers will vary. Students frequently wonder whether staffing with

people of the same race or ethnicity is illegal. They should know that it is not illegal

if race is not explicitly used as a selection criterion. Owners may have family

3. What does the most recently available U.S. Census Data say about the ownership,

Chapter 6: Asians/Asian Americans

numbers, types, size, and profitability of Asian-owned businesses?

4. Featured Case 6.2: Woodbine Healthcare Center’s Treatment of Filipino

Registered Nurses

This case presents a perplexing situation in which a nursing home petitioned the

Department of Labor to hire Filipino registered nurses due to a nursing shortage in the

U.S., then discriminated against the nurses by paying them lower wages than U.S. RNs

and assigning them tasks of people with lower qualifications when they arrived.

Questions to Consider:

1. Some of the Filipino RNs were assigned to work as nursing aides and technicians

instead of RNs. Shortages of RNs are widely reported in U.S. media. Are there

comparable shortages of nursing aides and technicians? What skills are required for

the latter jobs?

2. Woodbine had trouble with the EEOC and the Department of Labor. What factors

cause organizations to fail to comply with multiple types of employment-related

laws? What can organizations do to avoid this?

This question is useful for instructors to emphasize to students how ignorance of

organizational decision-makers (e.g., managers and supervisors) of labor laws and

3. One common issue in discrimination against immigrants is claims of language

problems. If the Filipino nurses were unable to adequately communicate in English,

what could Woodbine have done to avoid illegal discrimination? What safeguards

should an organization put in place to ensure any communication difficulties are

real rather than imagined?

Instructors should point out to students that when employers have legitimate

performance-related issues, acting on them is not illegal, even if there is a disparate

impact against certain groups. If the Filipino nurses were unable to adequately

4. Researchers have documented discrimination against medical professionals by

patients who wish to be treated only by Whites. An EEOC case against

Georgetowne Place, a senior community, stated that for nine years the former

general manager had used elaborate marks on applications to identify minorities so

as to avoid hiring them. She claimed that residents “preferred White employees,

and did not want minorities to come in their rooms.” In another case, management

at Linden Grove Health Care Center complied with a family’s request that no

“colored girls” work with the resident, did not address frequent use of racial slurs

by residents and employees, assigned nursing staff to work shifts, lunch times, and

lunch rooms by race, and denied promotions to experienced, highly qualified

Blacks.

a. What should healthcare management do if patients express desires to only be

treated by certain kinds of employees?

Patients may feel that non-U.S. workers or non-White workers are less

qualified than U.S. workers. Woodbine should emphasize to all patients that

all employees are qualified as registered nurses and that only employees who

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b. What proportion of nursing professionals are women of color? Speculate on

increases in recruitment, selection, and training costs associated with refusal

to hire women of color for such jobs.

Even without a formal search or investigation, students might say that there

are fewer RNs who are women of color, but in some markets, (particularly

Questions to Consider (End of Chapter)

1. Japanese-Americans served in World War II while their family members were held

in relocation centers. As discussed in Chapter 4, African Americans served in

World War II but rode in the back of busses and drank from separate “colored–

only” water fountains while German prisoners of war drank from “Whites-only”

fountains; Latinos returning from war faced considerable hostility and violence.

What ironies currently exist for people of color in the U.S. military in the present?

Chapter 6: Asians/Asian Americans

Students’ answers to this question will vary. Some students might suggest that

2. Prior to reading this chapter, were you aware of the Chinese Exclusion Act and the

internment of Japanese Americans? If yes, how much did you know?

3. What are some potential negative individual and organizational consequences for

Asian Americans being perceived as being highly successful and well-educated?

Students’ answers will vary. Some potentially negative consequences of perceiving

Asian Americans as being highly successful and well-educated are that they could

4. Prior to reading this chapter, were you aware of the wide variety in Asians’

education, earnings, and poverty?

5. If you are not Asian American, do you know someone well who is Asian

American? What is your relationship to this person (e.g., personal friend, manager,

classmate, or neighbor)? What are this person’s Asian roots (e.g., Japan, China, or

India)? How much time have you spent with him or her? Have you discussed race,

Chapter 6: Asians/Asian Americans

ethnicity, or other diversity issues? Explain.

Students’ answers will vary. Students might know a family member, friend,

Actions and Exercises

1. Go to U. S. government Web sites (e.g., http://www.census.gov,

http://www.dol.gov, and others) to investigate the most current earnings, education

level, and incidence of poverty for Asian Americans from five different

backgrounds of your choice. Document your findings. What would be the result of

viewing any one of these groups as representative of all Asian Americans?

Students’ answers will vary. Students could search on the Internet to find data on

the earnings, education level, and incidence of poverty for Asian Americans of their

2. Search the EEOC Web site (http://www.eeoc.gov) for recent discrimination charges

and settlements involving Asian Americans. What are the details of the cases (e.g.,

who was involved, what happened, and what was the outcome)?

3. Chapter 15 describes the EEOC case and settlement of charges against

Abercrombie and Fitch (ANF), a retail store that discriminated against Asian

American applicants and employees (and other people of color). If there is an ANF

near where you live, visit and document the race and ethnicity of the employees. If

Chapter 6: Asians/Asian Americans

there is no ANF nearby, conduct this exercise at another high-end specialty store.

Compare what you observe with the population of Asians in your area (available

from the U.S. Census Web site).

Students’ answers will vary. Asians/Asian Americans in the U.S. may live in

racially segregated neighborhoods similar to that of African Americans and

Hispanics. Some such racially segregated neighborhoods of Asians/Asian

Americans in the U.S. are Chinatown, Koreatown, Japantown, and Little India.

Hence, it is possible that some neighborhoods might have more number of

Asians/Asian Americans and others might have less number of Asians/Asian

Americans residing in it.

a. Conduct an informal census of employees in several places: fast food

restaurant, sit-down restaurant, discount store (e.g., Target and Walmart),

department store (e.g., Macy’s, Filene’s, and Marshall Fields), government

office, bank, or other locations in which many employees are visible.

Document the number of employees overall and the number of Asian

American employees visible. Compare your findings with the population of

Asians in your area.

Students’ answers will vary. Some stores might have strict policies that

promote diversity in its workforce. Hence, such stores might have employees

b. Watch television for two nights for thirty minutes to one hour each night.

Document the program, type of commercial, and the numbers of Asian

American characters on the programs and commercials.

c. What similarities and differences are apparent among the people in Questions

2, 3a, and 3b?

Chapter 6: Asians/Asian Americans

Students’ answers will vary. One similarity could be that all Asians/Asian

Americans are not given the same opportunity as Whites for employment and

media representation. Some students may mention the following differences

among questions 2, 3a, and 3b:

• In question 2, it can observed that Asians/Asian Americans who

4. Research from the Department of Housing and Urban Development using paired

testers indicates that at times Asian Americans experience housing discrimination

(renting and home buying) that is similar to that experienced by Blacks, Hispanics,

and American Indians. Search the HUD Web site for such studies and review them.

Speculate on reasons for this discrimination.

5. Conduct research to find several Asian Americans in positions of power in

corporations, politics, or universities. Describe their jobs, educational background,

experience, and other relevant factors that have contributed to their success.

Students’ answers will vary. Some of them may mention that Asian Americans hold

positions of power because of several reasons such as the following:

6. Were you aware that sixty percent of Hispanics in the United States are native-

born, and less than about 70% of Asians in the country are foreign-born? If so, how

did you learn this? If not, why do you think you were unaware of this?

Chapter 6: Asians/Asian Americans