Hello Angela & Class,
I agree that demographic diversity has garnered much attention over the past couple of years. Why are individuals more attracted to those who share their demographic attributes? Demographic traits are part of what makes up surface-level diversity. Surface-level diversity includes traits that are highly visible to us and those around us, such as race, gender, and age. Researchers believe that people pay attention to surface diversity because they are assumed to be
related to deep-level diversity, which includes values, beliefs, and attitudes (Han rt al., 2024). Most individuals want to interact with those who share their values and attitudes, but when individuals meet people for the first time, people have no way of knowing whether they share similar values. As a result, individuals tend to use surface-level diversity to make judgments about deep-level diversity. Research shows that surface-level traits affect our interactions with other people early in our acquaintance with them, but as we get to know people, the influence of surface-level traits is replaced by deep-level traits such as similarity in values and attitudes (DesJardine et al., 2024). Many companies provide employees and managers with training programs relating to diversity. However, not all diversity programs are equally successful. People are more likely to pay attention to aspects of performance that are measured. In successful companies, diversity metrics are carefully tracked. For example, in PepsiCo, during the tenure of former CEO Steve Reinemund, half of all new hires had to be either women or minorities. Bonuses of managers partly depended on whether they had met their diversity-related
goals (Bird et al., 2024). When managers are evaluated and rewarded based on how effective they are in diversity management, they are more likely to show commitment to diversity that in turn affects the diversity climate in the rest of the organization. Demographic traits such as gender, race, age, religion, disabilities, and sexual orientation each face unique challenges. Organizations can manage demographic diversity more effectively by building a culture of respect, making managers accountable for diversity, creating diversity-training programs, reviewing recruitment practices, and under some conditions, utilizing affirmative action programs. So, for additional clarification. What does it mean for a company to manage diversity effectively? How would you know if a company is doing a good job of managing diversity?
References
Byrd, M. Y., & Scott, C. L. (Eds.). (2024). Diversity in the workforce: Current issues and emerging trends.
DesJardine, M. R., Shi, W., & Marti, E. (2024). The corporate opportunity structure for shareholder activism: How activist hedge funds exploit board demographic diversity. Organization Science, 35(2), 644-666.
Han, J., & Tomaskovic-Devey, D. (2024). Inertia, Progress, or Regress? Observing and Explaining Heterogenous Tech Firm Demographic Diversity Trajectories. Work and Occupations, 07308884241252338.
