Diversity in Organizations

Citation

McKinney, A.P. and Oyler, J.D. (2009), "Diversity in Organizations", Equal Opportunities International, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 204-205. https://doi.org/10.1108/02610150910937934

Diversity in Organizations is a recent addition to diversity texts and is distinct in its approach to address diversity with a wealth of data based on academic research to support recommendations for managing diversity. This text contains 16 chapters divided into three sections: introduction, legislation and theories; examining specific groups and categories; and global vision. In this first edition, the book is unique in addressing appearance and weight discrimination as well as cognitive and physical abilities that are not extensively considered in other diversity texts. Bell draws from various fields including management, psychology and sociology with a target audience of undergraduate and graduate students as well as diversity researchers and organizational practitioners. Each chapter focuses on organizational characteristics and constraints that can influence effective diversity management and contains the following: learning objectives and key facts, an introduction and overview that outlines the content of the chapter, a summary, questions to consider and actions and exercises.

Section I contains three chapters that examine diversity in the US workforce. Chapter 1 highlights and updates previous research from the Workforce 2000 study that focused on changing demographics in the workplace. The richness of chapter 2 is found in the eight legal cases cited and the resulting workplace implications in terms of accountability, policies and procedures and training. The chapter also briefly addresses some state, local and city ordinances and pending legislation and the associated implications for diversity management. Finally, chapter 3 provides a comprehensive definition of minority and addresses many theories that shape diversity research and practices. One of the key contributions of this chapter is the emphasis on utilizing organizational training to reduce the prevalence of stereotypes and to create unified goals.

Section II, chapters 4 through 8, addresses specific racial and ethnic groups in the US workforce with specific chapters devoted to Blacks/African‐Americans, Latinos/Hispanics, Asians/Asian Americans, Whites/European Americans and American Indians/Alaska Natives/Multiracial group members. In each of these chapters, the history of these various groups is chronicled in terms of myths and perceptions associated with each group, relevant US legislation that has been introduced to protect these groups, population demographics, education and employment outcomes, and discrimination in terms of both access and treatment. Each chapter concludes with organizational recommendations for managing and interacting with ethnic minorities for creating an inclusive workplace. Collectively these chapters facilitate discussions to uncover stereotypes and biases against racial and ethnic groups that are extended to both employees and consumers.

The second half of section II includes seven chapters devoted to sex and gender, religion, age, physical and mental ability, work and family, weight and appearance and sexual orientation. Chapter 9 introduces the reader to sex and gender and reviews US legislation specific to gender in the workplace. This chapter also incorporates a detailed overview of gender role socialization and how it leads to gender discrimination with discussions of the glass ceiling and sexual harassment. Chapter 10 examines religion and its intersection with ethnicity for Arab Americans and Muslims in the USA. The issues of racial profiling, women's roles in organized religion, and sexual orientation are examined through the lens of religious expression in the workplace. Chapter 11 focuses on age and addresses issues for all workers and reviews the research on the employment experiences of older and younger workers and provides implications for managing the inevitable clash between generations.

In chapter 12, the author presents a historical analysis on physical and mental ability issues in the workplace by specifically addressing physical disabilities, intellectual disabilities, performance challenges and employment rights for individuals with disabilities. This chapter also introduces the reader to the rationale behind the Americans with Disabilities Act and postulates how organizations can accommodate disabled workers. Chapter 13 examines the historical aspects of work and family issues. This chapter is unique in that it addresses specific job design challenges in response to employees’ caregiver and familial duties and discusses the implications for same‐sex family relationships and males as primary caregivers. Next, chapter 14 addresses the issues of weight and appearance. Specifically, research documents the differential employment outcomes for affected individuals. In chapter 15, an overview of the history of the gay rights movement in the USA is provided followed by an extensive discussion on common issues facing gay men and lesbians. In summary, this section concludes with recommendations for members of majority and minority groups to develop and foster relationships with management mentors and implement equitable benefits for all members.

Section III and chapter 16 conclude the text with a discussion of inclusive diversity practices for the global workplace. We applaud the author for noting that context is one of the most important issues in applying and incorporating inclusive diversity policies and practices. Overall, one of the strengths of this textbook is the richness of data and diversity cases that provide both historical frameworks and current perspectives for managing and understanding diversity. While the text does contain actions and exercises to incorporate into practice, one suggestion for future editions would be to include more experiential exercises for workplace management strategies. Nonetheless, this text is an excellent resource and can readily serve as a standalone textbook for undergraduate, graduate, and executive management programs for understanding and facilitating diversity management issues.