Additional Case 4.1 As the Director of HR, David Is Leading a Management

question 127

Multiple Choice

Additional Case 4.1
As the Director of HR, David is leading a management discussion to plan and implement a diversity management program. David is concerned that management, while tolerant, tends to stereotype minorities and this will eventually lead to difficulties for the firm. The company's top three markets are in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami. All three markets are heavily Latino in make-up. The senior management team is all male. The youngest member is 58 years of age.
Martinez, the VP of Operations, feels that people should blend together and that focusing on differences merely creates divisions. He thinks that you should have a common training program to create a unified "American" company culture. Patrick, VP of Finance, doesn't see the need for a program. He respects that people are different, but he feels that once you get to know a Hispanic, African-American, or Asian-American, you know how to work with any Hispanic, African-American, or Asian-American. Moreover, Patrick doesn't believe the company should get into affirmative action programs. The firm tried it ten years ago, and it created many problems.
-Refer to Additional Case 4.1.Martinez's approach to diversity management:

• A) is most likely based on a perspective that people can control the factors that make them diverse.
• B) assumes that the company does not need to worry about diversity because demographic trends are moving away from it.
• C) expresses the belief that the key to understanding diversity is understanding each individual's group membership.
• D) reflects the growing competition for opportunities among minority groups.

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Definitions:

Free Will

The concept that individuals have the power to make choices and decisions independently, without being predetermined by fate or divine will.

Determinism

The philosophical belief that all events, including human actions, are ultimately determined by causes external to the will.

Cognitive Processes

Mental activities involved in the acquisition, storage, manipulation, and retrieval of knowledge.

Modeling Therapy

A therapeutic technique involving learning through the observation and replication of others.