Read: gender&diversity 2: Diversity in Organisations

These notes are about diversity in organisations:

• aspects of making this process of diversity into a success
  • determining what this organisation means by diversity
  • relevant theories about the process of diversity
• characteristics of an organisation which knows how to handle this diversity.

Over the last few years many organisations have opted for target group policy. Steps  have been taken to employ a reasonable percentage of women (also in higher positions), black immigrant workers, handicapped people etc.

Diversity as a characteristic of the organisation goes further: one is only satisfied when not only the numbers are right, but also when everyone's talents, input and assets are used, as a result of which the relevant organisation can serve a wider group of customers and become a stimulating workplace for all employees.

In order to allow such a process to succeed the following is necessary:

Determining what this organisation means by diversity

1. a view on what multicultural co-operation is;
2. an effort from all sides (white and black/immigrant, men and women) in order to allow the co-operation to succeed in practice. Looking for opportunities in order to use the handling of differences as mutual enrichment;
3. a code for handling 'overstepping the mark situations'. This means looking for a good way of reacting to situations of conscious or unconscious racism, of sexism, of exclusion or, more generally, of situations which are going too far. Who reacts, in what way and how to prevent the undesirable 'rescuer's behaviour'.
4. clarifying everyone's motives or self interest in diversity. As people formulate what their interest could be in diversity the chance lessens that diversity is seen as a type of charity towards 'others'.

An organisation which is properly involved in diversity works at solutions in all these areas.

Forming of theories

The following theories assist in the understanding of which processes take place within multicultural co-operation in organisations:

1. Power theories

If there is a situation of established people and outsiders (as far as this organisation is concerned) the dominant or self-evident will be the norm ('this how we do it here') and the minority is often described in negative terms as a deviation from the dominant, so forcing the minority party often to prove that his or her way of working is possibly different but need not necessarily be worse.

The token theory (originally developed by Rosabeth Moss Kanter) also opens up a number of mechanisms which occur when one single individual has to operate within a majority (tokenism). Tokens are people with a symbolic function. They will always be in the spotlight and followed critically. Their reaction to that can be 'not to stand out' but also emphasizing their exceptional position or contrariwise to  behave as a 'super specimen' of the majority.

In any case a token soon ends up in a special role in which there is little room for independent action. This is reinforced by the fact that the token is addressed as the representative. `Do you people like dancing?´ As a representative the token realises that if she fails the next person from that same group will get it a lot tougher.

Another pattern is that the majority starts behaving, consciously or unconsciously, as a group. The differences amongst the members of the majority appear to get smaller by the use of language, jokes, codes, communal experiences etc. The effect on the token can be a feeling of exclusion. A token then has the hard task of choosing to adapt and join in or to remain an appendage.

Moss Kanter did her research amongst women working in male bulwarks. Marlies Ott has done similar research in Holland amongst women police officers and male nurses. This research shows that token effects only occur when a individual is from a group which takes in a lower position in the external world.

2. Cultural differences

Geert Hofstede has done research worldwide in 53 countries into the influence of national cultural characteristics. He found five dimensions in which cultures differ.

1. Individualism/collectivism: the extent to which individual development and self interest are central, or contrariwise the interest of the group is given priority. For people from countries with a collective culture it may be hard to ask for delivery of an individual performance; whereas for those from a more individual culture delivering a group performance might be unsatisfactory.
2. Relinquishment of power: the extent to which people accept that power is distributed unequally. In some countries it is more usual to go along with the person who is leading, while in other countries it is usual that people in leading positions and employees deal with each other on an equal basis.
3. Avoiding uncertainty: the extent to which people wish that their conduct (and that of others) proceeds according to predictable patterns or the extent to which people feel threatened by uncertain or unfamiliar situations. Differences at this point can lead in a group to the fact that some people can work only with clearly defined instructions, while others can handle open  instructions or questions.
4. Masculinity-femininity: if sex roles are clearly separated in a country this country rates highly on the masculine side. A society is feminine when the sex roles overlap; both men and women are considered to be modest and gentle and focussed on the quality of existence. In meetings these differences can for example lead to more or less care for each other, or to more or less dominant personal profiling.
5. Short term against long term bias. In a country which is focussed more on the long term, values are directed more in the future, such as perseverance, status, frugality and sense of shame. In a country which is more focussed on the short term respect for tradition, equilibrium and the observing of duties score higher.

These differences in culture often manifest themselves in the way in which people deal with instructions, arrangements, conflicts and leadership; all aspects which impact upon how smoothly a multicultural organisation runs. Apart from cultural differences  as such there are dimensions which are connected to a class background, or sex of course, which also impacts upon how people experience the interaction between them. Insight into this and respect are ingredients which cannot be neglected.

3. Identity theories

Everyone has  different identities: a sexual identity (man/woman), an ethnic identity (black/ white/immigrant), but also for example a job identity. At which moment is one being addressed in which identity, and foremost: who determines this? Do you do that yourself or does the dominant group do it?

People from minority groups often react from a victims role. To be a victim or to have been a victim is a genuine experience, despite the negative overtones. But this is not the most effective role when changes need to be achieved. People can take up a different position, that of warrior or strategist.

The dominant groups too are often caught in a certain role, and can feel threatened or guilty. Here too it applies that there are developments possible for making alliances: what do we expect from each other and what can each person do from a different position in order to achieve as fertile a working climate as possible.

Characteristics of a multicultural organisation

A multicultural organisation can be recognised by the following characteristics. Diversity as far as background, age, sexual orientation (etc) is concerned must be apparent in:

• the composition of the board and employees (all positions and levels);
• the external availability through which several target groups feel addressed (policy, content and presentation: choice of words, images);
• an internal policy with specific target directed projects (if necessary) and attention to diversity within the regular internal policy;
• the naturalness that black/immigrant employees do not exclusively work within their own target group or on target directed projects;
• a possibility for employees who want to organise themselves on the basis of one aspect of their identity: 1) for interchange amongst themselves and 2) as source for enrichment of methods and mode of operation of the whole institution;
• a style of consultation, communication and advice which is more varied than just verbal or written and in which the person and work are linked;
• a climate in which:
  • etiquette, rules and rituals originate from different backgrounds;
  • respect exists for differences and understanding for agreements linked to a preparedness to allow for mutual influencing;
  • all differences from a society's point of view are loaded with power can be discussed;
  • token patterns and exclusion mechanisms for managing staff and colleagues as a group are recognised and addressed;
  • cultural/ethnic background is considered as one aspect of someone's identity (alongside class/age, sexual preference, professional identity etc.) and therefore is not over emphasized; the point of departure is the individual experience of culture which is subject to change;
  • humour can be expressed from the certainty (on the side of both parties) that the relationship between the majority and minority group is good;

A multicultural organisation 'knows' what the relevance is of the above mentioned characteristics and has the vision to explain this internally and externally. Furthermore people at work are those who have done something themselves concerning their own socialisation/identity. They know their own different positions where dominance/minority is concerned or are prepared to tackle it.