106 Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofi t Organizations
To manage diversity, employers must first understand and then
manage their organizational cultures. The organizational culture is
defi ned as the values, beliefs, assumptions, expectations, attitudes, and
norms shared by a majority of the organization ’ s members. Wilson (1989)
believes that “ every organization has a culture that is a persistent, pat-
terned way of thinking about the central tasks of and human relationships
within an organization. Culture is to an organization what personality
is to an individual. Like human culture generally, it is passed from one
generation to the next. It changes slowly, if at all ” (p. 91).
Not only do organizations possess a dominant culture, but subcultures
can emerge as well. Subcultures often develop to refl ect common prob-
lems, situations, or experiences that employees face. Wilson (1989) notes
that in the U.S. Navy, different subcultures exist for personnel assigned to
submarines, aircraft carriers, or battleships.
Organizational culture is perceived to be valuable when it helps to
orient new employees to expected job - related behaviors and performance
levels. A strong culture can minimize the need for formal rules and regu-
lations because values, traditions, rituals, heroes and heroines, and the
informal communication network that provides information and interprets
messages sent through the organization serve to reduce ambiguity (Deal &
Kennedy, 1982). Employers must be aware that an entrenched organizational
culture can be a liability when the shared culture will not react to change
or change to strengthen the organization ’ s effectiveness.
As an example, the FBI is having difficulty recruiting female
agents. The FBI has 2,373 female agents among 12,617 agents, or
approximately 19 percent of the total number; only 153, or about
1 percent, are black women. Special agent James J. Knight, in charge
of recruiting new agents, believes that women often do not consider
the FBI because of its history: women were not permitted to become
agents until 1972. However, the FBI recognizes that diversity is
important: “ We ’ re not just working white male cases.... There are
a lot of communities who don ’ t trust the FBI. If they had somebody
from their own community interviewing them, they might be will-
ing to talk more.... The FBI needs more than door kickers and
encourages women to apply because they often have the cognitive skills
needed. Women agents are often adept at finding links among victims
in homicide cases who have similar jobs, ages, physical characteristics,
residences, friends and acquaintances. Women ’ s verbal skills and the
ability to work on teams are strengths. Women are often better able to
calm a situation ” (Johnson, 2007).