Additional Case 4.3 Your Retail Company Has 80% of Its Stores Located in Stores

question 66

Multiple Choice

Additional Case 4.3
Your retail company has 80% of its stores located in downtown metropolitan areas. Your biggest stores are in communities where minorities represent 60% of your customers. Your middle-management team has been changing over time so that 50% of your managers are women and about 30% are ethnic minorities. A significant number of your hourly employees, about 35%, have served over 20 years in their respective stores and many are over 40 years of age. Top management feels that African-Americans are under-represented in the hourly workforce and in middle management. They want HR to initiate an aggressive recruitment process to address the situation.
Hispanics are the biggest minority group, besides women, in your workforce. In a discussion about where the company should target its diversity program, the CEO explains she wants to implement a training program for managers to raise their sensitivity to minorities, especially Hispanics. She also notes that there are no disabled persons in the workforce and very few Asian-Americans. Carlos, the VP of facilities, notes that he has accommodated all the Asian-American employees he can in his MIS and facility support services. He also argues that he only has about $10,000 in his budget for reorganizing display space in the stores to accommodate disabled employees and that this amount probably isn't sufficient to accommodate a disabled employee.
-Refer to Additional Case 4.3.Which of the following would most likely help women at the firm advance their careers?

• A) Affirmative action quotas to increase available positions
• B) Education programs to raise their technical skills
• C) Senior mentors to provide strategic guidance
• D) Communication policies to minimize offenses

---

Definitions:

Authority Compliance Leadership

A leadership style focused on strict adherence to rules and authority, emphasizing efficiency and task completion over personal relationships.

Team Leadership

The process of influencing and guiding members of a group towards achieving common goals, often involving coordination, motivation, and support.

Impoverished Leadership

A leadership style characterized by low concern for people and tasks, often resulting in disengaged and unmotivated teams.

Task Behaviors

Actions focused on achieving goals, including planning, organizing, and directing activities related to task completion.