Deck 14: Managing Diversity

Question 1

Which of the following has NOT contributed to the changing demographics of the contemporary labour market?

A) Broadening of gender roles
B) The higher profile of ethnicity issues
C) The strengthening profile of indigenous people
D) The decreasing population of people with disabilities.

Answer 1

The decreasing population of people with disabilities.

Question 2

People with disabilities now make up more than what percentage of the total Australian workforce?

A) 10 per cent
B) 15 per cent
C) 20 per cent
D) 25 percent

Answer 2

20 per cent

Question 3

Psychological diversity comprises:

A) values, beliefs and knowledge.
B) gender, ethnicity and age.
C) occupational tenure and hierarchical level.
D) values, gender and workplace status.

Answer 3

values, beliefs and knowledge.

Question 4

Demographic diversity considers:

A) gender, ethnicity, and age.
B) values, beliefs, and knowledge.
C) occupation tenure and hierarchical level
D) education, technical ability, and functional background.

Question 5

Ethnocentric managers believe that:

A) 'their way is the only way'.
B) 'their way is the best way'.
C) 'no way is inherently superior to another'.
D) 'the best way is to carefully comply with the relevant legislation'.

Question 6

Programs which organisations undertake to achieve equal opportunity for women and/or members of minority groups are known as:

A) equal employment opportunity.
B) affirmative action.
C) management by diversity.
D) anti-discrimination.

Question 7

The first major piece of federal anti-discrimination legislation in Australia was:

A) Affirmative Action Act.
B) Racial Discrimination Act.
C) Sex Discrimination Act.
D) Age Discrimination Act.

Question 8

The first federal Act to aim to eliminate discrimination involving sexual harassment in the workplace was:

A) Sex Discrimination Act 1984.
B) Affirmative Action Act 1986.
C) Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986.
D) Equal Employment Opportunity (Commonwealth Authorities) Act 1987.

Question 9

The provisions of Australian human rights legislation have four common characteristics. Which of the following is NOT one of those characteristics?

A) Direct and indirect discrimination in employment is prohibited on specific grounds.
B) The unlawfulness of indirect discrimination is based on the recognition of what is reasonable.
C) All jurisdictions prohibit discrimination on the grounds of gender, marital status, pregnancy, parental status, sexual orientation, race, age and physical or mental impairment.
D) The legislation is complaint-based and is managed via district courts.

Question 10

Despite a significant number of Australian organisations being committed to promoting workforce diversity, many senior management teams

A) deliberately ignore anti-discrimination legislation provisions.
B) are dominated by Caucasian males and females.
C) are dominated by Caucasian males.
D) consistently adopt ageist policies in determining who will join the senior ranks.

Question 11

The process where managers promote those who are similar to themselves is known as:

A) direct discrimination.
B) indirect discrimination.
C) the clone effect.
D) cultural matching.

Question 12

Stone contends that which group more often bears the brunt of discrimination?

A) Persons of a non-traditional sexual orientation
B) Those with disabilities
C) Women and non-dominant racial or minority groups
D) Those with child or elder care responsibilities

Question 13

The legislative or legal approach to overcoming discrimination and harassment has been termed:

A) the EEO approach
B) affirmative action
C) multiculturalism
D) diversity management

Question 14

Approximately what percentage of Australian senior executives in the public sector are women?

A) 16 per cent
B) 26 per cent
C) 36 per cent
D) 46 per cent

Question 15

Which Act required private and public sector organisations and higher education institutions with more than 100 employees to identify and eliminate barriers to women's employment opportunities?

A) Sex Discrimination Act 1984
B) Affirmative Action Act 1986
C) Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986
D) Equal Employment Opportunity (Commonwealth Authorities) Act 1987

Question 16

Some researchers criticise the EEO approach for:

A) setting quotas for minority groups in the workplace.
B) focussing too heavily on improving the employment status of women.
C) helping individuals fit into the Caucasian, male, able-bodied norm.
D) neglecting the concept of merit in employment decisions.

Question 17

The tendency that people have to retain more detailed and positive information about people who are similar to them than people who are dissimilar, and work harder for those who are similar, is known as:

A) prejudice.
B) direct discrimination.
C) cognitive processing bias.
D) general affective bias.

Question 18

An overt bias towards a person based on characteristics such as gender, race, age or sexual orientation is:

A) direct discrimination.
B) indirect discrimination.
C) structural discrimination.
D) systemic discrimination.

Question 19

When policies, procedures and practices that appear to be neutral (that is non-discriminatory) produce adverse outcomes for people with specific characteristics it is:

A) direct discrimination.
B) indirect discrimination.
C) homosocial reproduction.
D) cultural matching.

Question 20

Systematic discrimination is the product of:

A) policies, procedures and practices that appear neutral but produce adverse outcomes for people with specific characteristics.
B) an overt bias towards a person based on characteristics such as sex, race, age.
C) longstanding direct and indirect discrimination which has become embedded in the system.
D) cultural stereotypes among employees and managers.

Question 21

Behaviour designed to make a person feel unwelcome, offended, humiliated and/or intimidated describes:

A) harassment.
B) discrimination.
C) unfairness.
D) affirmative action.

Question 22

What are the four types of diversity organisations that have been identified?

A) Positive, minimalist, compliant, comprehensive
B) Negative, legalistic, compliant, comprehensive
C) Negative, minimalist, compliant, comprehensive
D) Negative, minimalist, legalistic, comprehensive.

Question 23

Which type of diversity culture is characterised by highly significant differences between individuals which affect group interactions and individual experiences?

A) Integration culture
B) Unitary culture
C) Resistant culture
D) Differentiation culture

Question 24

An organisation that has a narrow orientation to equality and diversity, fulfils legal, and EEO obligations, emphasises 'good practice', and uses HRM consultants to implement policy is known as:

A) a negative organisation.
B) the minimalist organisation.
C) the compliant organisation.
D) the comprehensive, proactive organisation.

Question 25

Power-distance refers to:

A) the degree of deference that one individual gives to another.
B) the number of hierarchical levels in an organisation.
C) the autonomy given to each level in the hierarchy.
D) the extent of collaborative decision making in the organisation.

Question 26

Which type of culture is characterised by obedience to authority, duty, harmony, dependence and 'proper' action?

A) Low-power distance
B) High-power distance
C) Collectivist
D) Individualist

Question 27

Which of the following is NOT one of the six stages of acquiring cultural competence?

A) Maximisation
B) Denial
C) Defence
D) Acceptance

Question 28

An employee from an overseas subsidiary who is working in the home country of an organisation is called a(n):

A) expatriate.
B) inpatriate.
C) home country national.
D) host-country national.

Question 29

Ethnic background, age, and gender are known as:

A) observable attributes.
B) non-observable attributes.
C) functional characteristics.
D) psychological diversity

Question 30

Education, technical ability, functional background, organisational tenure, and personal values are known as:

A) observable attributes.
B) non-observable attributes.
C) functional characteristics.
D) psychological diversity.

Question 31

Legislation designed to consider the right of people, especially the most vulnerable in society, to moral protection is known as:

A) human rights legislation.
B) affirmative action legislation.
C) diversity management legislation.
D) anti-discrimination legislation.

Question 32

In 1998, which piece of legislation was renamed the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999 after it was reviewed and deemed to be ineffective?

A) Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Act
B) Sex Discrimination Act
C) Affirmative Action Act
D) Anti-Discrimination Act

Question 33

Which is not something that the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) mandates that all ASX-listed reporting entities demonstrate?

A) They must establish a policy concerning diversity.
B) They must establish measurable objectives for gender diversity.
C) The must assess annually the objectives set.
D) They must address their objectives for gender diversity at the annual company meeting and the progress towards achievement outlined.

Question 34

Which is NOT a barrier that can be addressed to reduce the elimination of persons from diverse backgrounds during the selection process?

A) Information bias.
B) Personal characteristics.
C) The similarity of selectors and selected.
D) Training and development.

Question 35

Which of the following strategies would be the LEAST effective in modifying existing recruitment practices to promote diversity goals?

A) Using advertisements that target the needs of diverse groups
B) Using non-traditional sources of labour
C) Monitoring the diversity of candidates.
D) Implementing an employee referral scheme.

Question 36

People with diverse backgrounds are unlikely to be selected unless:

A) personality tests are utilised in the selection process.
B) an unstructured interview is used with all candidates.
C) the evaluator has a diverse background.
D) aptitude tests are utilised in the selection process.

Question 37

In the context of a diverse workforce, what should managers avoid doing in a performance evaluation?

A) Set specific or stretched goals
B) Give both positive and negative feedback
C) Explore how the employee can grow and develop
D) Make judgements or criticisms of past performance.

Question 38

If female employees are considered for promotion only if they consistently outperform their male counterparts, then this is an example of:

A) the clone effect.
B) affirmative action.
C) double standards.
D) diversity management

Question 39

In the 1970s and 1980s, Australian organisations viewed diversity management in terms of:

A) legal compliance.
B) a strategy to effectively utilise their human resources.
C) affirmative action for women only.
D) a proactive examination of their policies and practices to determine how employee groups with diverse backgrounds may be disadvantaged in the workplace.

Question 40

What would be a hidden cost of a group of employees suffering discrimination or harassment?

A) Legal costs associated with a discrimination case
B) Fines imposed by the relevant anti-discrimination tribunal
C) Lost wages of those managers involved in legal proceedings
D) High turnover of that employee group

Question 41

Workplace diversity and its effective management have been recognised as:

A) assets in the modern economy.
B) ineffective in most circumstances.
C) not adding value to the firm.
D) expensive and time consuming.

Question 42

The EEO paradigm sees difference as a liability, while the management of diversity perceives difference as a(n):

A) challenge.
B) hurdle.
C) asset.
D) disadvantage.

Question 43

Direct discrimination is often the product of:

A) personal dislikes.
B) stereotypes.
C) cultural differences.
D) managing diversity.

Question 44

If a manager makes the assumption that all female employees perform well at detailed work, then this would be a form of:

A) stereotyping.
B) indirect discrimination.
C) general affective bias.
D) the clone effect.

Question 45

An organisation is seeking a new chef. A selection criterion is the requirement to have completed a relevant apprenticeship. This is a form of:

A) non-discriminatory selection.
B) direct discrimination.
C) indirect discrimination.
D) reverse discrimination.

Question 46

An example of structural or systemic discrimination would be:

A) that applicants for the police service fulfil a specified height requirement.
B) where women are crowded into a narrow range of occupational categories.
C) where a decision has been taken to offer redundancy first to those employees with a disability.
D) where only married employees are considered for expatriate appointments.

Question 47

A manager may refuse to hire a female to work as a forklift driver because he believes it is inappropriate for women to do such work. This is an example of which type of discrimination?

A) Systemic
B) Direct
C) Indirect
D) Unequal employment.

Question 48

In culturally diverse work groups, categorisation of individual people into discrete social backgrounds may:

A) enhance team performance.
B) have detrimental effects on team processes.
C) enhance individual identification with the team.
D) engender creativity and innovation.

Question 49

Which of the following organisational classifications has been defined as responding poorly to pressures and interpreting diversity as a threat, problem or crisis?

A) Analyser companies
B) Prospector companies
C) Reactor organisations
D) Defender organisations.

Question 50

What is the key reason that many diversity initiatives in organisations fail to achieve their objectives?

A) No diversity objectives were established.
B) The organisation failed to address cultural and the climate issues.
C) Supervisory employees were resistant to changes.
D) They did not establish benchmarks against best practice organisations.

Question 51

Explain the term 'productive diversity' and how HR managers can apply this concept in the workplace to improve business outcomes.

Question 52

Outline how diversity in working groups may result in interpersonal conflict and how HR managers may best manage this potential conflict.

Question 53

Describe the characteristics of an inclusive workplace.

Question 54

What are the important factors that expatriate or inpatriate employees need to consider whilst operating in different cultural contexts?

Question 55

Examine the cross-cultural implications in each of the four stages of human resource development (HRD).

Question 56

Identify and outline the four types of diversity organisations.