Workforce Diversity - Assignment Example

ANSWER1 A Individual Differences: Contrary to the traditional belief, all human beings are different from each other due to which their likes, dislikes, appeal, aspirations and ambitions are different. Workforce Diversity: - Work Force diversity as defined by Stephen P Robbins is “The increasing heterogeneity of organizations with the inclusion of different groups.” In layman’s language, diversity is existence of individual differences amongst employees of the same organization or as a matter of fact the same department even. From the diagram, it can be seen that the various differences amongst employees that can form the basis of diversity are: - i. Age ii. Gender iii. Race iv. Ethnicity v. Religion vi. Sexual orientation vii. Socio economic background viii. Capabilities/disabilities Another way of looking at the various factors that lead to diversity is by classifying into Biographical characteristics, ability and personality. The definitions of these terms and the various determinants can be seen in the table below: - Biographical characteristics Ability Personality Biographical Characteristics, according to Stephen P Robbins are “ personal characteristics such as age, gender, and marital status-that are objective and easily obtained from personal records” Ability: As described by Stephen P Robbins” Ability is an individuals capacity to perform the various tasks in a job”` According to Stephen P Robbins “Personality is the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others” The four Biographical characteristics are: i. Age ii. Gender iii. Marital Status iv. Tenure The different classifications of ability are: i. Intellectual abilities ii. Physical abilities The Personality Determinants are: i. Heredity ii. Environment iii. Situation Answer 1 B: It is crucial for managers to take time out and understand the individual differences in the people with whom they work because they are responsible for the overall performance of their department or work unit or section. They need to understand the differences in order to grant rewards and compensation in a way which would be best utilized by the employee and would make him most satisfied and motivated and the other prime objective is to derive the target performance or performance exceeding standards from the employees. A motivated and satisfied employee will tend to surpass performance standards in terms of efficiency and other standards that have been set. Legal: Managers need to take into account the legal implications of all their decisions specifically their decisions pertaining to their employees. A disgruntled employee, who has faced a decision of the manager that is not legally correct, can cost the manager his job, reputation and may end up in a lifelong litigation. A good everyday example would be in an organization that has a leave policy having 15 sick leaves that can be availed in case of emergency. The sick leaves are a right of the employee. However, the manager prefers that he should be informed well in advance and asked permission to grant leave prior to actually taking leave. In such a case, if an employee turns up to him to have him sign his leave application after he has taken 6 days off, and the manager refuses to sign it, as per the organizations policy, the employee can take the matter up to the higher authorities in a way subliming the managers authority. Ethical: While making decisions, managers should try their leveled best to make decisions that are ethically correct. There are three criteria to base ethical decisions on: Utilitarianism: maximizing benefits for everyone Focus on rights Focus on justice Usually in organizations, managers tend to use utilitarianism. There might be situations whereby a decision option is principally correct but ethically wrong for example if men can be sent on international business trips, just due to their gender, women should not be discriminated against if they deserve it and if they are capable to achieve the business targets from the trip. Practical: As mentioned earlier, the saying “ what you sow, so shall you reap” applies most to managers. Their decisions directly impact their own performance. The managers’ performance is determined by the performance of his employees. Thus, he has to make the decisions that are not only correct but also ones that make his team happy and motivated. A good example would be that for a certain position the requirements of a job are that the person should be an MBA good at out door sales. However, MBA’s that he has interviewed are not willing to do direct selling or require higher pays or are not MBA’s but willing to do outdoor selling at expected pay. In such a case, the manager has to make the practical decision whereby he has to ultimately meet his departments sales targets, thus his obvious decision would be to employ the candidate without the MBA degree but willing to do direct selling for him. Answer1 C Diversity Management at workplace My organization, which is one of many in this part of the sub continent, that even in this century follow the simplistic strategy “one size fits all”. This strategy when applied to employees eventually results in low job satisfaction, high rate of employee turnover and lack of motivation. Below are a few examples:- i. In an exhibition where both male and female employees are required to stay late night, women at the end are not offered a drop facility. This is a case where by the individual and gender specific needs of one gender has completely been overlooked and shows lack of sensitivity. ii. In a company dinner, there are no food items ordered for vegetarians. There is a minority of employees that are vegetarian and no consideration has been made for them while devising the menu even though they are a permanent part of the group. iii. In the annual award distribution ceremony, the efforts of newcomers who had achieved targets were rewarded with cash awards. However, employees having tenure of more than 20 years with the same company achieving the same targets were not rewarded the same way. Recommendations to manage diversity in a better way: - i. Arranging a pick and drop for women when they have to stay late at events of the organization even if they have to pay for the facility. ii. Keeping at least one item in the menu for the vegetarian minority iii. Keeping a balance when giving rewards or cash awards and linking performance targets to rewards. ANSWER2 A Maslow’s Theory V’s Alderfer’s Theory One of the basic motivation theories includes Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. Hierarchy of Needs: As defined by Stephen P. Robbins,”there is a hierarchy of five needs-physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self actualization, and as each need is substantially satisfied, the next need becomes dominant. Maslows theory consisted of two parts: (1) The classification of human needs, and (2) Consideration of how the classes are related to each other The classes of needs were summarised by Maslow as follows: The Hierarchy:- - A person starts at the bottom of the hierarchy (pyramid) and will initially seek to satisfy basic needs (e.g. food, shelter) - Once these physiological needs have been satisfied, they are no longer a motivator. the individual moves up to the next level - Safety needs at work could include physical safety (e.g. protective clothing) as well as protection against unemployment, loss of income through sickness etc) - Social needs recognise that most people want to belong to a group. These would include the need for love and belonging (e.g. working with colleague who support you at work, teamwork, communication) - Esteem needs are about being given recognition for a job well done. They reflect the fact that many people seek the esteem and respect of others. A promotion at work might achieve this - Self-actualisation is about how people think about themselves - this is often measured by the extent of success and/or challenge at work Maslows model has great potential appeal in the business world. The message is clear - if management can find out which level each employee has reached, then they can decide on suitable rewards. Alderfers ERG Theory:- As defined by Stephen P. Robbins “there are three groups of core needs: existence, relatedness and growth” It seems that ERG theory is a theory very similar to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Differences between the two theories:- i. ERG theory has 3 groups of needs as compared to Maslow’s 5 basic needs ii. The ERG theory demonstrates that more than one need maybe operative at one time. The second implication of ERG theory is that if a higher level need is satisfied, the desire to satisfy a lower level of need would increase. iii. Maslow’s theory is like a progressive way up however ERG theory is more flexible in the sense that it allows for 2 groups of needs to exist at the same time whereas Maslow’s theory insists that when one basic need is satisfied, then only there would be desire for the net level. iv. Another implication of ERG theory is the frustration regression dimension which means that lets say if a higher level need is not being met, frustration develops and there is a tendency of consuming more of the lower level need for example if the social need is not being satisfied, there would be a tendency to spend more money. ANSWER 2 B Alderfer’s Theory to understand A problem employee There can be two reasons according to Alderfer’s theory that might lead to dissatisfaction of an employee. 1 Failure to achieve a higher end need, eventually will lead o frustration regression on a lower level need and more will be consumed of the lower level need. 2. For people of some cultures, sociological needs are more important than physiological needs and vise versa. It might be such that the current job offering does not satisfy the preferred needs of the individual due to which he is dissatisfied A good real life example would be a highly ambitious employee who is performing well is wishing for a promotion. However, the management keeps increasing his pay, enough to make him stick on to the job, but still not promoting him. The resulting frustration –regression can be seen in his difficult attitude towards peers, excessive alcoholism in after office hours, low motivation and unusually high spending on gadgets, cars etc. Eventually this behavior reflects badly on the department and his performance is reduced to70% of his capabilities. The manager needs to understand the behavior of this employee, rather then disciplining him, he should explore the root cause. It is difficult to train a new employee and sometimes losing well-trained staff is costly to an organization. Another example for the case whereby people prefer sociological advancement more than physiological advancement is when an employee shifts job just because of a designation change even though he is moving at the same income level. It is a clear indication that the key motivating factor for such an employee was satisfaction of sociological needs. Answer 2 C Equity Theory and its use in predicting Behavior: In my opinion, Equity Theory is the one of those motivation theories that are closest to life and closest to human nature. As defined by Stephen P Robbins equity theory is defined as, “individuals compare their job inputs and outcomes with those of others and then respond so as to eliminate any inequities” Food For thought: have we ever wondered why different employees working in the same environment, performing the same kind of duties tend to keep their salary slips confidential? It is also seen that organizations do not appreciate salary discussions or employees do not like to discuss the real amount of their increments. The underlying truth is the Equity Theory. Employees tend to weigh their inputs versus their outcomes in their job relative to those of others. There are four references an employee can use for comparison: 1. Self inside: viewing oneself in a different role/position in the same organization 2. Self outside: visioning oneself in a similar position outside the organization 3. Other inside: evaluating other individuals in the same organization 4. Other outside: viewing another individual or group outside the employees’ organization. My way of observing the validity of equity theory is in predicting employee behavior as well as employer behaviors from the months May up to August. The usual tendency in organizations is to have employee appraisals towards financial year end which is June. April -May May-July August Tension Mounting Employees clustering around each other discussing each others performance as well as performance of the group as a whole On the management side, frequent meetings of the HR manager with the other managers. Anticipation takes form Promotions announced Demotions announced Relocations announced Transfers announced Increments made Cash rewards announced Settlement with the new set up. Disgruntled employees showing low levels of motivation Happy employees taking rest before beginning of new year, business activities in a lull Equity theory as can be seen applied in the above example, can be used in any and almost all organizations. A good application of equity theory is Jane: - Jane Reference Group Input Output Impact on Jane A Levels School Friends (best friend Juliet) 5 hours work Earning less than Jane Satisfied, feels she is being rewarded for the work she does University University friends Javier 50 hour work week Earning very high as compared to Jane Dissatisfied, feels she could have done better by working for some other organization JOB Colleagues Amy Same work hours Earning more Dissatisfied, Jane feels she is being taken forgranted by her organization since she is putting in maybe more effort than Amy with no returns Previous Job Other individuals 40hour work week Earning same Equity An implication of Equity Theory is that , employees tend to achieve a state of perceived equity by making the following choices:- 1. Change their inputs 2. Change their outcomes 3. Distort perceptions of themselves 4. Distort perceptions of others 5. Choose a different referent 6. Leave the field It is thus that a managers should try to match cash rewards, salaries and increments with perceptions of the employees. Answer 3 A: Six C’s of Effective Communication A manager could keep in mind the seven principles of effective communications. The seven C’s of effective communication are completeness, conciseness, consideration, concreteness, clarity, courtesy, and correctness. 1. Completeness: A business language is complete when it contains all the essentials required for a reader to be able to expedite what is required. The guidelines to achieving completeness are: Answer all questions asked Give something extra when desirable Check for any other essentials. Example of completeness: Travel booking sent by a client having travel timings, names of guest but not the flight number. Such a booking will cause discomfort and inconvenience and the hotel might not be able to pick the guest on time. 2. Conciseness: is saying what has to be said in least number of words. The guidelines to achieving conciseness are: Eliminate wordy expressions Include only relevant statements Avoid unnecessary repetition Example of conciseness In a job interview, a potential employer asks the candidate what package he would be expecting. The answer o the candidate is anything above my current. However, this does not concisely answer the question since the employer cannot have an idea of what you are earning and if he asks you he cannot verify it. The best answer would be to tell him you expect Rupees 40,000 per month. 3.Concreteness: this means communicating by being specific, definite and vivid rather than vague and general. The guidelines to being concrete are: Use specific facts and figures Put action in your verbs Choose vivid image building words Example of Concreteness: When ordering creative artwork, the event coordinator said to the vendor “please can I have the plaques ready at the earliest” rather than saying “Please, kindly have the 100 plaques arranged by 23rd March 2008 latest”. The second message gives cut off dates and is specific whereas at the earliest is vague. 4.Clarity: refers to getting your message in such a way so that there is no ambiguity about it and the receiver understands what you convey. The guidelines to achieving clarity are: Choose short, familiar conversational words Construct effective sentences and paragraphs Achieve appropriate readability Include examples Example of clarity A good example would be “I prefer option A over option b because it gives more value for money” rather than “Option B looks very good but option A is cheaper”. 5. Courtesy: it helps in fostering good business relationships. The guidelines to achieving courtesy are: Be sincerely tactful Omit expression that irritate, hurt or belittle Grant and apologize good-naturedly Example of courtesy: Example of Courtesy In memo writing, “It is requested for the concerned department to do the needful” rather than “kindly expedite”, leaves a better impression on the reader. 6.Correctness: refers to using correct spellings, grammar punctuation and spelling. The guidelines to achieving correctness are: Use the right level of language Check the accuracy of figures, facts and words Maintain acceptable writing mechanics Choose non discriminatory expressions Example of correctness: Ina welcome letter writing, “our team will be eager to welcome you” rather than “our team can not wait to welcome you” since the second message has a negative sound to it. Answer 3 B: Five Types of Downward communication. Answr3 C: Upward Communication: Upward communication flows to a higher level in the group or organization good example would be a memo from a junior executive to the manager. Answer 4 A: 5 Conflict Handling Styles, how Low and High Scores are Manifested Conflict is defined by Stephen P Robbins as a process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected or is about to negatively about to effect something that the first party cares about. The usual perception is that all conflict is bad. However, this does not hold true. A certain level of conflict is required for a higher level of performance output. Functional conflict is a desirable type of conflict since it supports the goals of the organization whereas dysfunctional conflict hinders group performance. There are five approaches to handling dysfunctional conflict. The five approaches are: competing, collaborating, avoiding, assertive and compromising. Competing: is an approach where a person’s main objective is to satisfy his or her own interest regardless of the impact on the other party in the conflict. The person tends to be assertive and non-cooperative. Collaborating: is an approach where all parties want to resolve the concerns of all parties. This approach is characterized by assertive and cooperative behavior of all parties. Avoiding: This is an approach whereby the person realizing that there might be conflict either avoids it or suppresses it. This approach is characterized by unassertive and uncooperative attitude. How High and Low Scores are manifested In order for conflict to be functional, an optimal level of conflict needs to be established as shown in the diagram. If the conflict is too high or if it is too low, it will hinder performance. Low levels of conflict shows that work unit is apathetic, stagnant, non-responsive to change and has lack of new ideas.(Situation A in the diagram).The performance output in this case would be low. High level of conflict depicts that the work unit is disruptive, chaotic and uncooperative (situation C in the diagram).The performance score in this case would be low. Optimal level of conflict is when the work unit is viable, self critical and innovative. The performance outcome in this case would be high (situation B in the diagram) CONFLICT AND UNIT PERFORMANCE Situation Level of Conflict Types Unit’s Internal Characteristics Unit Performance Outcome A Low or None Dysfunctional Apathetic Stagnant Non responsive to change Lack of new ideas Low B Optimal Functional Visible Self Critical Innovative High C High Dysfunctional Disruptive Chaotic Uncooperative Low ANSWER 4 B My dominant style of conflict handling and its effectiveness. By nature I tend to be a reserved and soft person and do not like to get into conflicts or even arguments unless they actually matter! Thus, my natural style is also my dominant style of handling conflict. I tend to AVOID conflict and would put it off till the end. However, this approach does not work if you are closely involved in a project. This I learnt when by and by I realized that one of my colleagues was shifting all of his workload on me, and that too without recognition. Not only that, I was also responsible for any errors in that additional work I had been burdened with. My performance started getting affected. I felt I was in a state of declared urgency all the time. It meant putting in extra hours to work and being forgetful. Soon my family pointed out to me that the organization is a team of people working together and the additional work I am doing is not for welfare. I realized that there was a problem that needed to be tackled. At first I tried my usual approach that is avoiding. I would make suggestions to hand over the work to someone else since I was tied up. I would give my colleague alternatives. The problem was worsening since there seemed boiling trouble beneath the surface. However, above the surface we were as sweet as ever and on excellent working conditions. And one day when I gave another option while extra work was being shifted tome, the other party brought the conflict to surface. This time I thought it was better to try out another approach i.e competing. It was very difficult at first to be assertive but in the end it worked. Over the longer period of time, I feel it has improved my performance to a greater extent since now I am working smarter than harder. I have more time to spend on strategic moves rather than conflicting about daily operations everyday. In the end I would say no approach to conflict handling is right or wrong. The effectiveness of the conflict handling technique depends on the situation and circumstances. Ideally I feel avoiding conflict is good but I realize that there are times when you have to be assertive. ANSWER 5 POWER Power as defined by Stephen P Robbins, is the capacity that A has to influence the behavior of B so that B acts in accordance with the wishes of A Sources of Power Definition Power Bases Coercive Power Power that is based on Fear Fear Reward power Compliance achieved based on ability to distribute rewards that other view as valuable Rewards that are valuable Legitimate power The power a person has as a result of his or her position in the formal organization High Position in the organization Reward power +coercive power Expert power Influence based on special skills or knowledge Rare skill Referent Power Influence based on possession by an individual of desirable resources or personal traits. Desirable resources or traits ANSWER 5B Sally’s boss is using legitimate power over her in this situation. Legitimate power consists of reward power as well as coercive power base. Sally’s boss is using coercive power base ANSWER 5 C Sally’s boss could have used Reward Power in this situation. Subsequent Conversation: ‘Sally, it is good that you were proactive in giving the form to the Director Finance. However, the form will eventually come back tome because in the end, even though it is an organizational policy, but it is primarily a departmental decision. I suggest that net time you bump into him, try to ask him for the form and bring it to me. I will include my recommendations in it. Once the form is routed through me with my recommendations, it would have greater chances of approval.” ANSWER 6 There are five stages in Group development. They are forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. Forming Stage iis the first stage in-group development and is characterized much uncertainty. Storming, is the second stage in group formation and is characterized by intra group conflict. Norming is the third stage in-group development and is characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness. Performing is the fourth stage of group development and this is when the group is fully functional. Adjourning: is the final stage of group development for temporary groups , characterized by concern with wrapping up activities. ANSWER6 B Discussion In the following discussion, we will be identifying and evaluating the group dynamics of the 4 member event management team in observation. We will be applying our knowledge of the Group dynamics presented by the Stephen P Robbins . *Adapted from Stephin P.Robbins, Organizational Behavior, Eight Edition) Group Composition: 1.General Manager Marketing (decision maker) 2.ManagerMarketing (Interpersonal Skills) 3.Assistant Manager Marketing (leadership skills) 4.Marketing Executive Coordinator) Stage I Forming: In this stage, a mixed attitude prevailed. The General manager marketing, the manager marketing and the assistant manager marketing were not only well acquainted with each other but had been working in the same organization for over five years. They had a certain level of cohesion. However, a certain level of distrust existed between the assistant manager marketing and the manager marketing maybe because they were almost the same age group, experience level and were on head on competition with each other. A certain perceived conflict existed. The marketing executive was a new recruit unaware of the unsaid culture and norms and this was the first project. As mentioned by Stephen P. Robbins, there was a lot of uncertainty during this stage. Uncertainty of whether the project would be successful, uncertainty whether the new marketing executive would be able to take up the work pressure uncertainty as to what should be the long term and short term goals. Stage II-Storming In this stage, conflict was observed not only within the group but also outside the group. In this stage, the major issue was the hierarchical adherence and delegation. In the usual circumstances, proper hierarchical communication patterns are followed in which the instructions filter down from the general manager level to the manger level to the assistant manager level and then finally to the executive level. However, since the project was due in a very short time, thus the hierarchy boundaries were temporarily loosened up. In this case, conflict arose whereby instructions from all levels were reaching the lower levels and due to over –communication, many activities were being carried out due to which none of the smaller tasks could be achieved with the right results leading to “whose fault is this?” and “BlameGames” conflict. The tendency of the top levels was to assert authority. Stage III- Norming In this stage, the conflicts seen in the initial stages were smoothed out as the General manager marketing himself took charge and authority rested in one hands. The team had a lesser degree of authoritative leadership in which goals were identified, and roles and responsibilities were made clear. A sense of togetherness prevailed in which the group members had a feeling of having a common goal. Stage IV-Performing In this stage, the group members worked together taking on their roles as defined earlier. The work pressure at this stage was higher and the target to be achieved was difficult. Stage V-Adjourning Even though this was a permanent team, even then wrapping up activities can be seen. Post project evaluation, analysis; billing and recovery issues were resolved at this stage. Also, consumer feedback was taken. The sense of urgency and emergency situation imposed before the event seemed to have cooled off. ANSWER 7 Answer 7 B Task Behaviour=low Relationship Behaviour =high Style of leadership=S3 Participating Follower Readiness=R 4 Able and willing In this situation, the follower readiness is high and people are both willing and able to do what is asked of them. This can be seen in their expression of helping in change management. In this case, I would choose the leadership style 3 i.e participating. This is because at this level, less of a directive approach is required and more of relationship management is required to make sure that employees will welcome the change and will be a part of it. ANSWER 7 C Task Behaviour=High Relationship Behaviour =Low Style of leadership=Telling High task and low relationship Follower Readiness= R3 Able and Unwilling The dperment members are capable since they know their job well.However, ,the waythe call other unitmanagers abunch of whiners shows thatthey are in r3readiness stage i.e able but unwilling to chnge.In such a case, highly directive behaviour wih low relationship has to be maintained.In this case, the leadership style I will use is Telling. Answer 7 D Task Behaviour= HighTask Relationship Behaviour=High Relationship Style of leadership=S2 High taskand high relationship Follower Readiness= R2 unable and willing Read More