Date of Award
1996
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Art
Department
Business
First Advisor
Michael Castro
Second Advisor
Michael Kramer
Third Advisor
Carolyn Scott
Abstract
After more than 30 years of affirmative action programs and a more recent emergence of politically correct thinking, the work force of many of America's corporations and agencies have voluntarily (and some involuntarily) become more culturally diverse . Recently statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor indicate that more than half the American work force is made of people of color and women.
Changes in the racial makeup of companies are forcing managers to realize that when people of different races and genders are added to the corporate mix, their experiences, backgrounds and differences must be considered and integrated into the company's corporate culture . As minorities and people of other ethnic cultures fill the work force, problems will arise. White corporate managers, some mandated to integrate their staffs by company decree, are ill prepared and lost on how to successfully incorporate people of different cultures into their ranks.
As the work force has become more and more diverse and demanding, the old mindset isn't working. New methods of managing diversity are being introduced as a different philosophy of management. Some of the new methods suggested are flex-management, directly confronting problems as they occur, and training to develop sensitivity to language barriers and respect for cultural differences .
Finally, the discussion explores the assessment of management's methods of managing diversity and the personal viewpoints of managers and employees of the results.
The future area of concern for management is developing the appropriate skills for working effectively and productively with an increasingly diverse workforce. There are five basic skills discussed that most managers and employees have agreed upon to build. However, none of the five basic skills will assist corporate managers or employees to learn to adjust to their changing work places if one vital tool is not used-TALKING- Getting out in the open for analysis and reevaluation, the varying attitudes and assumptions we have about one another that create barriers to understanding, respect and teamwork.
Recommended Citation
Dargan-Brown, Jaranne A., "To Meet the Changing Demographics of the American Work Force, New Management Strategies That Are Sensitive to the Needs of a Distinctive Multi-Cultural Population Will Be Needed" (1996). Theses. 622.
https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/theses/622
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