A Comparative Study of
Awareness and Sensitivity Diversity Training Strategies and
Human Resource Policy Driven Strategies
?A THESIS SUBMITTED by:? Doris Lena Papillon
?In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of
?Master of Human Resources and Organization Development
?The University of San Francisco, March, 2000
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Background of Problem
Cultural diversity has become the buzzword for the 1990's.? We hear less and less about equal employment opportunity and affirmative action efforts and programs, but hear more about multiculturalism, managing cultural diversity, and diversity training.? The importance of the cultural diversity movement stems in large part from the predicted demographic shifts that are already underway in America's labor force.? In 1987, the Hudson Institute published a report, Work Force 2000, which predicted radical shifts in the demographic make-up of the American labor force (Ricucci, 1997, p. 1).?
Now, some eight years after the various demographic forecasts were made, human resources specialists, policy makers, and researchers are beginning to look at the effectiveness of those diversity training programs (Ricucci, 1997, p. 2).
Progressive managers are increasingly aware of the prevailing demographic and social shifts.? In short, these managers possess an "intellectual awareness" of diversity.?They know the facts about workforce demographic shifts and have begun to consider the impact on their respective organizations (Stoner & Russell-Chapin, 1997, p. 1).
Unfortunately, many contemporary organizations have not progressed beyond this preliminary "intellectual awareness" stage.? Consequently, these organizations are languishing in the initial phases of the diversity movement.? Many are experiencing diversity but failing to really manage it (Stoner et al., 1997, p. 2).? Although managers possess an "intellectual" awareness and understanding of recent and emerging themes, organizational response ? the "enactment" of a meaningful diversity process ? has been limited and fragmented (Stoner et al., 1997, p. 3).??????
Perhaps the most critical shortcoming around organizations efforts to prepare for workforce 2000 is that many employers have not integrated their diversity initiatives into the broader, long-term goals and missions of the organization.? Rather, they tend to do "one shot" deals.? Managing diversity is not just a simple program, but an initiative that will take many years (Ricucci, 1997, p. 4).
While organizations recognize a need to make the workplace more accepting of differences, they place too much emphasis on changing the attitudes of people in a company instead of changing the company culture itself.? They do this by focusing solely on all-inclusive diversity training (Caudron & Haynes, 1997, p.2).
Certain aspects of managing diversity are necessary, or at least strongly advised, as a matter of law.?In the United States, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (as amended in 1972, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, the Age Discrimination Act of 1967, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) collectively outlaw discrimination on the basis of sex, color, race, religion, pregnancy, national origin, age, or physical ability.?
The vast number of workers covered by these camiseta celtic 2011 laws suggests that employers are well advised to invest in such managing diversity activities as worker training and organizational research to uncover evidence of unfair treatment of workers related to the various group memberships addressed in the legislation (Cox, 1994, p. 12).
Moreover, history has shown that the failure of organizations to manage diversity in this respect can lead to costly lawsuits.? To mention just a few examples, in 1991 a jury awarded $20.3 million to a single person in a sex discrimination suit involving denial of promotion ("jury awarded," 1991); in 1998, Honda Motor Company made a $6 million settlement of a suit involving charges of discrimination by blacks and women in its U.S. operations Cole & Deskins' study (as cited in Cox, 1994, p. 13).? In 1992, Shoney's agreed to set aside $105 million to compensate victims of racial discrimination after a lawsuit was filed against the company Pulley's study (as cited in Cox, 1994, p. 13).? Thus, it is clear that there are economics as well as good citizenship implications of the legal obligations in this area of management (Cox. 1994, p. 13).
Statement of the Problem
The purposes of this study are as follows:? 1) Compare human resource policy driven diversity strategies with awareness and sensitivity training diversity strategies. 2) Determine which of the two strategies is most successful at diminishing racial discrimination in the workplace.
Normative Definitions of Relevant Variables
The independent variables are the two different types of diversity strategies.? The two strategies studied are the awareness and sensitivity training diversity strategy and the Human Resources (HR) policy driven diversity strategy.? The dependent variable is racial discriminative behavior.
Specification of Hypothesis for Study
The purpose of the study is to examine the effectiveness of two different types of diversity strategies in diminishing racial discrimination and to test the following hypothesis:? Organizations that implement policy driven diversity strategies will experience more of a decrease in racial discrimination than organizations that implement awareness and sensitivity training strategies only.
Importance of the Study
This study?is very important in determining if awareness and sensitivity training strategy alone is an effective intervention for diminishing racial discriminative behavior in the workplace.? It will also help understand how essential it is for organizations to implement a policy driven diversity strategy.
Review of Literature
This section will review a collection of relevant research in the area of current trends and practices of diversity management and their effectiveness.? Also, discussed are discrimination lawsuits, which is a key driving force for diversity management.? For the purpose of this research workforce diversity will be limited to ethnic racial minorities. The review will cover two types of diversity strategies awareness and sensitivity training strategy, and human resource policy driven strategy.?
The following definitions were used for this study:? 1) Awareness and Sensitivity Training Diversity Strategy: A one to two-day training workshop that focuses on training participants to become aware of specific biases.? These workshops also attempt to train participants to become tolerant to the differences of minorities.? 2) Human Resource Policy Driven Diversity Strategy: A strategy that looks at human resource polices such as hiring practices, promotion and retention to determine if they are fair and equitable.?
Discrimination Lawsuits
Not since the height of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s have there been so many race, sex and age discrimination lawsuits, says Gilbert F. Casellas, chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.?
This organization is often the first step toward filing a racial discrimination suit and can decide the merit of particular cases, in some instances seeking out settlements as opposed to jury cases.? However, Casellas says cases are now more often directed toward Fortune 500 companies to enforce or establish many of the victories from the Civil Rights era.?
According to a recent survey, the number of companies with employees in litigation against them rose 63% in 1995, a 10% increase over 1993.? The most common charge was race discrimination.? Last year alone, private sector employees filed more than 77,000 complaints of discrimination with the EEOC a decrease from the 91,000 cases logged in 1994 but still an increase over the 62,000 cases reported in 1990 (Aitcheson, 1997, p.1).?
Corporations around the globe largely subscribe to, and endorse, the effort to create a diverse and multicultural work force, and to end discrimination in hiring and promotion.? However, the fact is that many corporations have failed to take the necessary steps to implement this laudable goal. As a result, the loose hiring and promotion policies and unacceptable work-place practices that were frequently tolerated in the past are still in place today (Dilenschneider, 1997, p.1).
One might consider the frequency with which racial minorities report being
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, between 1979 and 1993 the real income of white families increased by 9 percent, while the real income of black families did not change.? The Bureau also reported that in 1993, blacks earned less than their white counterparts in all jobs at all levels.? Moreover, recent research indicates that these disparities in pay persist even after controlling for differences in job qualifications.?
Finally, studies indicate that blacks, in fact, do not proportionally occupy certain kinds of positions, particularly those above the very bottom level of organizational hierarchies.?Indeed, although blacks represent approximately 12 percent of the U.S. population, they make up less than 5 percent of the management ranks and considerably less than 1 percent of senior executives (Brief, Buttram, Reizenstein, Pugh, Callahan, McCline & Vaslow, 1997, p.2).
The Fair Employment Council of Greater Washington, Inc. sent out teams of black and white job candidates matched in terms of sex, age, personal appearance, articulateness, and manner to apply for the same jobs.? The pairs also were equipped with similar fictional job qualifications.? While blacks were favored over whites in 5 percent of the encounters with prospective employers, whites were favored over blacks in 29 percent of them.? In fact, the black applicants were often told the job was already filled while their white counterparts were granted interviews for the position.? This behavior is a prime example of what one scholar has termed "passive racism" (Brief et al., 1997, p. 2).
Cost of Workforce Discrimination
The Civil Rights Act of 1991 (CRA) strengthened existing federal anti-discrimination laws by making jury trials and enhanced monetary relief available to plaintiffs.? Just as many business leaders feared, the cost of discrimination claims has risen significantly since the CRA was passed.? Employees are filing more charges, lawsuits and class-action claims than ever before, and employers are spending more money to resolve them.? This new law strengthened existing federal antidiscrimination laws by making jury trials and enhanced monetary relief available to plaintiffs (Chlopecki & Mckay, 1991, p.1).
Just as many business leaders feared, the cost of discrimination claims has risen significantly since the CRA was passed.? Employees are filing more charges, lawsuits and class-action claims than every before, and employers are spending more money to resolve them.? In addition, pervasive media coverage of sexual harassment and other discrimination claims is forcing employers to defend themselves not only in courts of law, but in the court of public opinion (Chlopecki & Mckay, 1991, p. 2).
Consequently, the number of employment-related lawsuits filed in federal court has exploded.? Data maintained by the Administrative office of the United States courts shows that an excess of 23,000 such cases were filed in 1996, nearly triple those filed in 1994 (Chlopecki & Mckay, 1991, p. 2).
Legal concerns are a frequently mentioned motive for managing diversity.? Organizations that effectively value and manage diversity are more likely to reduce or prevent costly lawsuits.?Lawsuits related to sexual harassment, racial discrimination, and gender bias can cost organizations millions of dollars (Wentling & Palma-Rivas, 1998).
Strategies for Managing Diversity
Wentling & Palma-Rivas, (1998) surveyed 12 diversity experts on their perception of best strategies for managing diversity.? The four strategies most frequently mentioned were training and education programs, with ten of the experts citing (83 percent); organizational policies that mandate fairness and equity for all employees, with eight citing (67 percent); mentoring programs, with seven citing (58 percent); and career development programs, with six citing (50 percent).
Providing training and education programs was the most frequently mentioned strategy for managing diversity training. Education was considered important for such areas as building awareness, building skills, helping employees understand the need for and meaning camiseta celtic 2011 of managing and valuing diversity, educating employees on specific cultural differences, and how to respond to such differences in the workplace.
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