Organizational and Personal Dimensions in Diversity Climate

Abstract

This article reports results from an organizational evaluation examining gender and racial/ethnic differences in the diversity perceptions of 2,686 employees of an electronics company located in a multicultural community. Based on social identity and intergroup theories, the authors explore employees' views of the organizational dimension as well as the personal dimension. A factor analysis of the 16-item diversity perceptions scale uncovered four factors along the two hypothesized dimensions: Fairness and Inclusion factors comprising the organizational dimension and Diversity Value and Personal Comfort factors comprising the personal dimension. The analysis revealed that Caucasian men perceived the organization as more fair and inclusive than did Caucasian women or racial/ethnic minority men and women; Caucasian women and racial/ethnic minority men and women saw more value in, and felt more comfortable with, diversity than did Caucasian men. The article discusses implications for practice and future research.

Modeling Diversity Management Practices in Corporate Ethics: The Spillover Effect

“…Diversity climate represents the aggregate of individual perceptions of employees regarding the diversity environment in their organizations (Gonzalez & Denisi, 2009;Mor Barak, Cherin, & Berkman, 1998). Prior studies indicate that perceptions of a firm's diversity climate varied significantly with membership characteristics such as gender (e.g., Mor Barak et al, 1998), race and culture (e.g., Kossek & Zonia, 1993;McKay et al, 2007), supervisors and subordinates (e.g., McKay, Avery & Morris, 2009), and even work units (Gonzalez & Denisi, 2009). Thus, an organization can have different diversity climates across different departments and groups.…”

“…Thus, an organization can have different diversity climates across different departments and groups. Consequently, the diversity climate construct is generally used in studies that examined employees' perceptions of their workplace diversity programs, and relationships between group memberships and organizational experiences (e.g., Gonzalez & Denisi, 2009;Kossek & Zonia, 1993;McKay et al, 2007;McKay et al, 2009;Mor Barak et al, 1998). Given this dissertation is concerned with investigating organizational outcomes from formalized diversity practices, diversity climate also appears less appropriate for this study's focus on firm level outcomes from formalized organizational diversity practices.…”

“…For example, many studies reported that minority participants found that organizations whose recruitment materials contained diversity statements were more attractive than the organizations with materials that had no information about diversity statements (McNab & Johnston, 2002;Perkins, Thomas, recruitment materials also contributed to making organizations more attractive to nonminority women (Rau & Hyland, 2003;William & Bauer, 1994) but had no impact for non-minority males (Williams & Bauer, 1994). Given that most corporations tend to have relatively low percentages of racial diversity in their workforce (Mor Barak et al, 1998;Olsen & Martins, 2012;Thomas, 1991), diversity recruitment enables greater workforce diversity by making organizations more attractive to larger groups of minorities and women. However, to actualize any potential benefit, diversity must be managed (Kalev, Dobbin & Kelly, 2006;Wright et al, 1995;Yang & Konrad, 2011), which in turn requires dedicated personnel .…”

“…These initiatives include organizational statements that convey the importance of diversity to the workforce, programs that teach all employees cultural awareness and inclusiveness skills, and resources that promote the success of minority employees in environments naturally prone to accommodating homogeneity (Mor Barak et al, 1998;Olsen & Martins, 2012;Pitts, 2006;Thomas, 1991). Valuing diversity initiatives, as the name suggests, are value-driven.…”

Impact of Nationality on Employees’ Perception towards Human Resource Management Policies

“…The issue for organizations was not just to handle the diversity well by implementing better policies and rewarding suitable managerial behavior but also to focus attention on the employee's sense of discrimination (Sense, 2011). This was considered important due to the fact that the employees beliefs irrespective of being consistent with the reality, affected the behavior (Barak, Cherin, and Berkman, 1998;Eisenberger, Fasolo, and Davis-LaMastro, 1990;Stainback et al, 2010).…”