Complete Summary, Week 6-11
Week 6, Diversity
Diversity climate enhances work outcomes by Hofuis et. al. (2016)
diversity climate an organizatonal climate characterized by openness towards
and/or appreciaton of individual diferences
o has been shown to positvely afect outcomes on the individual, group, and
organizatonal level
positve diversity outcomes knowledge sharing, fexibility, creatvity and, as a
result, beter team performance
negatve diverse outcomes individuals who appear diferent = categorized as out-
group
aspect of sensemaking! categorizaton helps individuals to predict and give
meaning to their social environment
in sum positve outcomes in terms of fexibility and creatvity—through
elaboraton—as well as negatve outcomes in terms of less fuent social interactons
and reduced team cohesion—through categorizaton
strong diversity climate is characterized by
o the possibility of employees to freely discuss their cultural heritage and
display cultural behaviors in the workplace
o the belief that cultural diferences provide added value to the team or
organizaton, and that diversity is actvely promoted
problem/purpose: very litle is known about how diversity climate relates to
communicaton in diverse workgroups
two main characteristcs of workgroup communicaton
o Trust the willingness of a party to be vulnerable to the actons of another
party (more diversity = more trust?)
o Openness an organizatonal norm which promotes free disclosure of
informaton (more diversity = more openness?)
Findings
study confrms that organizatons which employ people of many cultural backgrounds
within their workgroups would beneft greatly from emphasizing a strong diversity
climate
Study 2 (testng if fndings from frst round can be generalized) diversity climate
displays a positve efect on workgroup identfcaton
o reduces categorizaton into subgroups and may overcome perceived
diferences among colleagues to enhance cohesion mediated by trust
diversity climate, further, enhances knowledge sharing in workgroups mediated
through openness
General Discussion
show that diversity climate is indeed strongly related to both communicaton factors
in highly culturally diverse teams
, diversity climate appears to enhance the degree of trust and openness in workgroup
communicaton to a signifcant extent, even in teams with a limited degree of cultural
diversity
positve efect of diversity climate on knowledge sharing, which indirectly implies an
efect on elaboraton and creatvity within diverse teams
Colorblind or colorful? by Jansen et. al. (2016)
two most commonly described diversity approaches colorblindness and
multculturalism
o colorblind approach people should be treated equally as individuals and
that group diferences should be ignored when making decisions (Individual
accomplishments and qualifcatons s any other factor)
o multcultural approach diferences between cultural groups should be
acknowledged and are benefcial for work processes
majorites show higher levels of endorsement of colorblindness than minorites,
whereas minorites tend to support multculturalism to a greater extent than
majorites
we believe that the degree to which majority and minority members feel included in
the organizaton is a key factor to consider in this context
Inclusion is the degree to which an individual perceives that the group provides him
or her with a sense of belongingness and authentcity
Colorblind
Although group diferences should not mater in this approach, in reality, majority
members are more prototypical of the organizaton than minority members
the norms and values of the majority group may become dominant throughout the
entre organizaton and may be used as criteria for inclusion and exclusion of
employees
associated with stronger racial bias and interpersonal discriminaton among
majorites
Multicultural
majority members may perceive multculturalism to be “only for minoritess
much more difuse aforementoned process of in-group projecton, which is
partcularly detrimental for minority group members, is tackled in the multcultural
approach
perceiving to be socially included satsfes individuals’ needs for belonging and
authentcity improve individual well-being and work satsfacton
as people perceive to be more included, they are more motvated to contribute to
the group
Hypothesis organizaton’s perceived diversity approach afects the extent to which
organizatonal members feel included in the organizaton, which in turn predicts how
satsfed they are with their job and to what extent they perceive their organizaton
to be innovatve
Findings
majority members extent to which they adopted colorblind approach was
positvely related to work outcomes in terms of work satsfacton and perceived
innovaton
, minority members extent to which they perceived their organizaton to adopt
multcultural approach was positvely related to these work outcomes
relatonship between the organizatonal approach toward diversity and work
outcomes was fully mediated by the extent to which they perceived to be included in
the organizaton
Equality in terms of colorblindness seems to include an implicit expectaton of
similarity, which leave litle possibilites for expressing one’s cultural background
equality in a multcultural approach refers to ataching equal value to all contributng
cultural groups within the organizaton
Practical Implications
Paterns between diversity approaches and inclusion suggest that when
organizatons focus on a single approach to deal with diversity, some groups in the
organizaton may perceive to be less included
organizatons should move beyond the colorblindness/multculturalism dichotomy,
and develop a new diversity approach that is inclusive of both groups
organizatons may implement diversity approaches that are more inclusive by
explicitly valuing the contributons of all cultural subgroups in their diversity
communicaton
diversity policies and initatves can be framed as beneftng everyone, as opposed to
just one partcular subgroup
Work Group Diversity and Group Performance by Knippenberg (2004)
Diversity diferences between individuals on any atribute that may lead to the
percepton that another person is diferent from self
most important diferences
o social category diversity diferences in readily detectable atributes such as
sex, age, and ethnicity
o informatonal/functonal diversity diferences in less visible underlying
atributes that are more job-related, such as functonal and educatonal
background
two main traditions in research
social categorizaton perspectve
o similarites and diferences are used as a basis for categorizing self and others
into groups, with ensuing categorizatons distnguishing between one’s own
in-group and one or more out-groups
o work group members are more positvely inclined toward their group and the
people within it if fellow group members are similar
o thus the more homogeneous the work group, the higher member
commitment and group cohesion
o also proposes that the salience of social categorizatons is a functon of three
factors:
comparatve ft the extent to which the categorizaton provides a
good refecton of similarites and diferences between people
normatve ft refects the extent to which the categorizaton makes
sense in relaton to the individual’s cognitve frame of reference
Week 6, Diversity
Diversity climate enhances work outcomes by Hofuis et. al. (2016)
diversity climate an organizatonal climate characterized by openness towards
and/or appreciaton of individual diferences
o has been shown to positvely afect outcomes on the individual, group, and
organizatonal level
positve diversity outcomes knowledge sharing, fexibility, creatvity and, as a
result, beter team performance
negatve diverse outcomes individuals who appear diferent = categorized as out-
group
aspect of sensemaking! categorizaton helps individuals to predict and give
meaning to their social environment
in sum positve outcomes in terms of fexibility and creatvity—through
elaboraton—as well as negatve outcomes in terms of less fuent social interactons
and reduced team cohesion—through categorizaton
strong diversity climate is characterized by
o the possibility of employees to freely discuss their cultural heritage and
display cultural behaviors in the workplace
o the belief that cultural diferences provide added value to the team or
organizaton, and that diversity is actvely promoted
problem/purpose: very litle is known about how diversity climate relates to
communicaton in diverse workgroups
two main characteristcs of workgroup communicaton
o Trust the willingness of a party to be vulnerable to the actons of another
party (more diversity = more trust?)
o Openness an organizatonal norm which promotes free disclosure of
informaton (more diversity = more openness?)
Findings
study confrms that organizatons which employ people of many cultural backgrounds
within their workgroups would beneft greatly from emphasizing a strong diversity
climate
Study 2 (testng if fndings from frst round can be generalized) diversity climate
displays a positve efect on workgroup identfcaton
o reduces categorizaton into subgroups and may overcome perceived
diferences among colleagues to enhance cohesion mediated by trust
diversity climate, further, enhances knowledge sharing in workgroups mediated
through openness
General Discussion
show that diversity climate is indeed strongly related to both communicaton factors
in highly culturally diverse teams
, diversity climate appears to enhance the degree of trust and openness in workgroup
communicaton to a signifcant extent, even in teams with a limited degree of cultural
diversity
positve efect of diversity climate on knowledge sharing, which indirectly implies an
efect on elaboraton and creatvity within diverse teams
Colorblind or colorful? by Jansen et. al. (2016)
two most commonly described diversity approaches colorblindness and
multculturalism
o colorblind approach people should be treated equally as individuals and
that group diferences should be ignored when making decisions (Individual
accomplishments and qualifcatons s any other factor)
o multcultural approach diferences between cultural groups should be
acknowledged and are benefcial for work processes
majorites show higher levels of endorsement of colorblindness than minorites,
whereas minorites tend to support multculturalism to a greater extent than
majorites
we believe that the degree to which majority and minority members feel included in
the organizaton is a key factor to consider in this context
Inclusion is the degree to which an individual perceives that the group provides him
or her with a sense of belongingness and authentcity
Colorblind
Although group diferences should not mater in this approach, in reality, majority
members are more prototypical of the organizaton than minority members
the norms and values of the majority group may become dominant throughout the
entre organizaton and may be used as criteria for inclusion and exclusion of
employees
associated with stronger racial bias and interpersonal discriminaton among
majorites
Multicultural
majority members may perceive multculturalism to be “only for minoritess
much more difuse aforementoned process of in-group projecton, which is
partcularly detrimental for minority group members, is tackled in the multcultural
approach
perceiving to be socially included satsfes individuals’ needs for belonging and
authentcity improve individual well-being and work satsfacton
as people perceive to be more included, they are more motvated to contribute to
the group
Hypothesis organizaton’s perceived diversity approach afects the extent to which
organizatonal members feel included in the organizaton, which in turn predicts how
satsfed they are with their job and to what extent they perceive their organizaton
to be innovatve
Findings
majority members extent to which they adopted colorblind approach was
positvely related to work outcomes in terms of work satsfacton and perceived
innovaton
, minority members extent to which they perceived their organizaton to adopt
multcultural approach was positvely related to these work outcomes
relatonship between the organizatonal approach toward diversity and work
outcomes was fully mediated by the extent to which they perceived to be included in
the organizaton
Equality in terms of colorblindness seems to include an implicit expectaton of
similarity, which leave litle possibilites for expressing one’s cultural background
equality in a multcultural approach refers to ataching equal value to all contributng
cultural groups within the organizaton
Practical Implications
Paterns between diversity approaches and inclusion suggest that when
organizatons focus on a single approach to deal with diversity, some groups in the
organizaton may perceive to be less included
organizatons should move beyond the colorblindness/multculturalism dichotomy,
and develop a new diversity approach that is inclusive of both groups
organizatons may implement diversity approaches that are more inclusive by
explicitly valuing the contributons of all cultural subgroups in their diversity
communicaton
diversity policies and initatves can be framed as beneftng everyone, as opposed to
just one partcular subgroup
Work Group Diversity and Group Performance by Knippenberg (2004)
Diversity diferences between individuals on any atribute that may lead to the
percepton that another person is diferent from self
most important diferences
o social category diversity diferences in readily detectable atributes such as
sex, age, and ethnicity
o informatonal/functonal diversity diferences in less visible underlying
atributes that are more job-related, such as functonal and educatonal
background
two main traditions in research
social categorizaton perspectve
o similarites and diferences are used as a basis for categorizing self and others
into groups, with ensuing categorizatons distnguishing between one’s own
in-group and one or more out-groups
o work group members are more positvely inclined toward their group and the
people within it if fellow group members are similar
o thus the more homogeneous the work group, the higher member
commitment and group cohesion
o also proposes that the salience of social categorizatons is a functon of three
factors:
comparatve ft the extent to which the categorizaton provides a
good refecton of similarites and diferences between people
normatve ft refects the extent to which the categorizaton makes
sense in relaton to the individual’s cognitve frame of reference
