Diversity and Ethnicity

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Chapter 1

1. What are diversity and ethnicity?
Diversity is the acceptance in the uniqueness of every individual being and identifying and respecting the individual dissimilarity in regards to ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, race or religious faiths. Diversity may be considered even in case of age, marital status, social beliefs, physical and economic stature or any other ideology that segregates one from the other.
Ethnicity is the cluster of people who feel like minded on the foundation of same nationality, cultural basis, race or skin color. Many ethnic groups may be formed within a single nation, for instance in South Asia, there are several ethnic groups like the Indo-Aryans, Dravidians, Mongoloids etc.

2.List and briefly discuss the six areas that Cox and Blake proposed as reasons for valuing diversity. What other reasons for valuing diversity can be added to this list?
While considering the six major areas that Cox and Blake have identified are: cost, resource attainment, marketing, inventiveness or creativity, ability to solve problems and pliability to the system.

• (a) Cost includes the factors like expenses incurred due to recruitment, exit interviews, lacking productivity and employee turnover.

• (b) Then gaining through the resources or employees from diversified backgrounds and trying to retain them, it is made sure that only potent employees chosen ignoring the women, children, physically disabled and also the employees who do not have a straight heterogeneous sexual orientation.

• (c) Marketing involves catering to diversified clients and customer and taking care of their demands and working to satisfy the customers of varied origin.

• (d) Creativity can be enhanced through knowledge and experiences that life offers us and again the proper education and language skills may assist in this criteria.

• (e) Problem solving becomes easier when two individuals attempt to conduct testing a product separately invoking the chances of new innovation in the course of action.

• (f) System flexibility is generated when two genders work equally as women are found to be more tolerant to ambiguousness that their male counterparts that results in higher success in situations that demand functioning under uncertainty.

The other factors that should be associated in this perspective are economic success with higher output, rational behavior, and ability to work in a team with cooperating attitude, and good communication skills to initiate pleasant interpersonal relationships with other employees.

3. What are some negative outcomes of increasing diversity, and given the inevitability of increasing diversity, what can organizations do to reduce these negative outcomes?
Some of the mostly seen troubles that are originated from enhanced diversity are communication barrier that is the major issue in most of the organizations that bring with it the cultural rigidity that hinders flawless mingling of the employees with each other and finally discrimination that sometimes happens due to diversified skin color, ethnicity or any other distinguishing factor that invoke discrimination.
Organizations may reduce these troubles by implementing diversity management strategy along with training, seminars and situations where teamwork is absolute necessity ( Kokemuller, 2018)

Chapter 2

1.    Explain the difference between prejudice and discrimination. What can organizations do to prevent prejudice from resulting in discriminatory behavior?
There are certain differences between prejudice and discrimination. The primary difference between prejudice and discrimination is that; if prejudice is constituted of all the three components of attitude (viz. affective, behavioral and cognitive) then discrimination is constituted of only one component of attitude, i.e., behavior (McLeod, 2008). 
To prevent prejudice from resulting in discriminatory behavior, organizations should enact strict rules and regulations meant for promoting diversity at the workplace. 

2. Explain in-group favoritism and out-group bias and their consequences with respect to diversity in organizations.

Out-group bias affects one’s behavior and diversity management is a cure to the problem. In-group favoritism and out-group bias are two mental processes that can instigate and trigger discriminatory practices. In group favoritism can lead to the emergence of prejudices. Prejudices can then trigger the emergence of out-group bias. It must be noted that in the context of promoting diversity in organizations it must be said that diversity management and promotion of diversity are means of preventing out-group bias result in discriminatory practices (Stangor, n.d.).

3. Why is “nondominant group” a better term than “minority” for describing groups other than white men? What are the key characteristics of nondominant groups?
It is quite rational to use the term “nondominant group” in place of “minority.” There are certain reasons behind describing groups other than white men to be nondominant rather than being minority. It must be noted that that such substitute term should be used because; in terms of number, members of groups other than white cannot be always considered as fewer or lesser than the white majority. This is one reason why such groups cannot be considered minority. 
As a nature, members of nondominant groups usually have group awareness, and this often defines the nature of groups that are not constituted of white members. 

4. How can stereotyping negatively affect diversity in organizations? What can individuals and organizations do to reduce people’s propensity to stereotype and their reactions to stereotypical situations?
Stereotyping can bring about in-group favoritism and out-group bias. Such aspects can promote stereotyping and discrimination. Both stereotyping and discriminations prevent the process of promoting diversity in the workplace. 
Providing training in diversity management is one way that organizations can discourage the practice of stereotyping and discrimination. Moreover, providing proper training for developing interpersonal skills can also contribute to the enhancement of the cause. 

Chapter 3

1. Discuss the key components of the following:

• a. The Equal Pay Act: The Equal Pay act that was formulated in 1963 as the most important federal law that spoke about paying wages to employers without any discrimi8nation in regards to their gender which means that women should be given equal wages as their male counterparts.

• b. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 mandated that women would enjoy equal application of voting registration and public facilities. The title 7 also entitled women an equal scope of employment. This act empowered women with equal rights in education, and voting rights.

• c. The Americans with Disabilities Act: This act prevents employers with fifteen plus employees along with their religious faiths would be hired and entitled with promotions, privileges, training and also the employer should not query about the disability of the employee and allow privacy to the employee regarding the shortcoming. If the employee may cope with the responsibility, then equal status would be imparted to the disabled with the other employees.

• d. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act: The age discrimination in employment Act (ADEA) is meant for safeguarding the rights of older employees. The Act is meant for prohibiting the setting of arbitrary age limits regardless of potential for job performance that can put older persons at disadvantage (U. S. EqualEmploymentOpportunity Commission, n.d)

2. Discuss the requirements of affirmative action programs in employment and misperceptions about affirmative action in employment. Briefly summarize arguments for and against affirmative action.
Affirmative action programs are needed to be implemented in terms of employment. Such step is needed to be taken in order to prevent the rise of the level of workplace discrimination. There are often misconceptions among the workforce that affirmative action unduly gives chance to those candidates who should not be considered as eligible for a certain job post. But such argument should be refuted considering the fact that promotion of affirmative action would only promote equality and prevent the rise of discrimination. 

Chapter 4

1.    Compare the workforce participation rates, employment levels, and income levels of Blacks in the United States with those of non-Hispanic Whites and Hispanics in the United States.
The workforce participation rates, employment levels, and income levels of Blacks in the United States are poor when compared to the rates, employment levels and income levels of those who are non-Hispanic Whites. This is due to the presence of discriminatory practices. Institutional discrimination should be held responsible for such disparity. It should also be noted that statistics and facts also point to the differentiation. 

2. Discuss some examples of stereotypes about African-Americans and provide an example from the chapter of how these negatively affected African-American employees or applicants. What happened in the case or situation described?
There are certain types of stereotyping that go against African Americans. For an example, it is believed stereotypically that blacks are prone to committing crime. It is this type of stereotyping that indulges the fire of racism and discrimination. Such views negatively impact on African-American employees and applicants and they are often discriminated against their white counterpart

3. Define and provide an example of access, treatment, and statistical discrimination.
There are different types of discriminations including access discrimination, treatment discrimination, and statistical discrimination. Access discrimination is the process that denies access to jobs, health care services, etc. to certain groups of people. Treatment discrimination or disparate treatment includes acts like not giving promotion to an eligible employee due to her racial or ethnic background. Statistical discrimination, from the perspective of economics, gives rise of practices like racial profiling. 

Chapter 5

1. Discuss the diversity among Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and Mexicans in the United States. How does this diversity affect their organizational experiences?
Diversity does exist among Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and Mexicans in the United States. It should be noted that in terms of accessing the health care delivery system the Mexicans should be considered a bit with advantage than the Cubans and Puerto Ricans. In terms of income also the Mexicans have shown more prosperity than their Cuban and Puerto Rican counterparts. Such differences affect their organizational experiences and they are often discriminated in terms of job promotion and pay hike. 

2. In which situations are “English-only” rules legal? Explain.
There are certain specific situations where “English-only” rules should be considered legal. For an example, for communications with customers, coworkers, or supervisors who only speak English the rule is legal (Tuschman, 2012). The rule is legal in emergency situations in which employees must speak a common language to promote safety (Tuschman, 2012). It must be noted that “For cooperative work assignments in which the English-only rule is needed to promote efficiency” (Tuschman, 2012), such rule is considered legal. 

3. Why might organizations wish to foster multiple language fluency among employees? What things might organizations do to foster multiple language fluency among employees?
Organizations might wish to foster multiple language fluency among employees. They might wish so to promote and manage diversity at the workplace. 
Enhancing interpersonal skills can be a way of fostering the use of multiple languages at workplace. Moreover, providing training for developing language skills can also contribute to the effort of promoting language diversity in the workforce. 

4. Discuss Latinos as customers and how they can be a marketing advantage.
Latinos as customers are easy to handle if their language and cultural aspects are readily understood. They can be marketing advantage due to their proneness to try new things. The growing number of Latinos is yet another reason why it can be profitable to promote products before Latinos (Shoshan, 2015). Moreover, tailoring the language of marketing as per the need of the Latinos can contribute to business growth and expansion too (Shoshan, 2015). 

References:

• Kokemuller N.,(2018),  Negative Effects of Diversity in the Workplace, Retrieved on February 22, 2018 from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/negative-effects-diversity-workplace-18443.html

• McLeod, S. (2008). Prejudice and Discrimination. Simply Psychology. Retrieved February 22, 2018, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/prejudice.html

• Stangor, C. (n.d.). In-group Favoritism and Prejudice. In Principles of Social Psychology (1st Ed.). Retrieved February 22, 2018, from https://opentextbc.ca/socialpsychology/chapter/ingroup-favoritism-and-prejudice/

• Tuschman, R. (2012). English-Only Policies in the Workplace: Are They Legal? Are They Smart? Forbes. Retrieved February 22, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardtuschman/2012/11/15/english-only-policies-in-the-workplace-are-they-legal-are-they-smart/#60e5577a6876

• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (n.d.). The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. Retrieved February 22, 2018, from https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/adea.cfm