Instruction
Respond to the Main Topics, but prior to doing so, you might check out these clips:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x0l_vkjozc (Civil Rights 3 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JENCxjbARFM (Sowell, 2 min)
Main Topic 2.1: Affirmative Action or Diversity Management?
Culture is generally defined as “the learned beliefs, values, norms, symbols, and traditions common to a group of people.”
Ethnocentrism: the tendency for individuals to place their own group (ethnic, racial, or cultural) at the center of their observations of others and the world. → A tendency to think our own cultural values and ways of doing things are right and natural. [pg. 384]
The ethnic mix in the U.S. has been changing since Columbus arrived in 1492. “Census projections suggest America may become a minority-majority country by the middle of the century,” according to Kenneth Johnson, a sociology professor at the University of New Hampshire. In other words, whites will make up less that 50% of the population.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (1964) prohibits discrimination by covered employers on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. In the United States, Affirmative Action refers to equal opportunity employment measures that Federal contractors and subcontractors are legally required to adopt. These measures are intended to prevent discrimination against employees or applicants for employment, on the basis of "color, religion, sex, or national origin." (Source = Wikipedia. Yes, I know it’s a double standard that students are not allowed to use Wikipedia, but I, as a faculty, am citing it. However, this is not a democracy; it is a benevolent dictatorship)
Question: One train of thought is that “enlightened management” may be leaning toward Diversity Management, a concept which may make Affirmative Action superfluous, redundant, or obsolete. What are your thoughts on this?
Main Topic 2.2: Dimensions of Difference
Hofstede found that national culture explained more of the differences in work-related values and attitudes than did position within the organization, profession, age or gender. In summarizing the most important differences, Hofstede initially found that managers and employees varied on four primary dimensions:” Individualism and Collectivism; Power Distance; Uncertainty Avoidance; Career Success and Quality of Life. Later, Hofstede and his colleagues identified a fifth dimension: Confucian Dynamism.
Question: Where is your culture located on Hofstede’s original four dimensions?