Managing a Diverse Workforce 89
spirituality (Denhardt & Leland, 2003; Milliken & Martins, 1996). Loden
(1996) defi nes diversity as the important human characteristics that affect
individuals ’ values, opportunities, and perceptions of self and others at
work. She identifi es age, ethnicity, gender, mental and physical abilities
and characteristics, race, and sexual orientation as core dimensions of
diversity. Secondary dimensions of diversity include communication style,
education, family status, military experience, organizational role and level,
religion, fi rst language, geographical location, income, work experience,
and work style.
Page (2007) believes that two people possess diversity perspectives
if they mentally represent the “ set of the possible ” differently (p. 7). He
provides an example how one person might organize a collection of books
by the author ’ s last name, and another might do so by color of book
binding and size. Because of the different perspectives, two people
will test different potential improvements and increase the probability of
innovation, believing that individuals with diverse perspectives are good
for organizations.
Konrad, Prasad, and Pringle (2006) advocate a defi nition of diversity
that emphasizes intergroup interaction and is inclusive of power differ-
ences rather than focusing on individual differences. This means explicitly
acknowledging the role played by past discrimination and oppression in
producing socially marginal groups today. Related to the belief in systemic
discrimination, Roberson and Kulik (2007) discuss how understanding
stereotype threat, defi ned as the fear of being judged according to a nega-
tive stereotype, can help managers create positive environments for diverse
employees. Pitts (2006), in acknowledging three distinct areas of research
commonly found in the diversity literature — integration and inclusion, management
programs , and diversity efforts — notes a void in the research as to whether
diversity efforts lead to improved organization outcomes.
Employers must understand diversity and capitalize on each member ’ s
contributions to the organization ’ s effectiveness. Fairness in recruitment,
selection, promotion, performance evaluation, training and development,
and compensation and benefi ts are just some of the challenges that strate-
gic human resources management (HRM) faces. The focus of this chapter
is on understanding some of the management challenges that diversity
brings into the workplace. As an example of the extent of diversity, the
2006 class of New York City police cadets consisted of 284 immi-
grants. New York City has police officers from Afghanistan, Albania,
Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Bosnia,
Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Columbia, Dominican Republic,