Diversity Problems In Silicon Valley

Nicole Barde, a network manager for Intel Corporation, says, “We view diversity as one of our major competitive advantage, It allows us to understand global markets and the need of our customers.” (Shaw & Barry, 2013, pg. 557). Today, four-fifths of those entering the workforce are either a minority or immigrants. Affirmative action allows corporations to benefit from a diverse pool of talent that they can recruit from. With the number of minorities in this country increasing, with the globalization of our corporate environment, it stands to reason that the future of Corporate America will be a diverse one.

Regardless of how diversity is defined, it is an issue that is sweeping the nation. By the 21st century, racial and ethnic minorities will constitute 25% of the U.S. population, affecting the makeup of the U.S. labor force (7). By the year 2000, women will constitute 47% of the total workforce and the average age of the workforce is expected to increase from 36 in 1986 to age 39 (7). If the corporate society does not address the issue by learning how to manage diversity, they will fail.

From Hollywood to the the social sector, diversity, rather the lack thereof, has been a topic of conversation. Although many organizations have begun to advocate for diversity, more work must be done. Across the social sector,women and people of color remain severely underrepresented in leadership positions. Organizations must become intentional about creating a diverse workforce and implementing inclusive policies that foster positive work environments. When employees feel represented and included they are happier and more likely to contribute to fulfilling the organization's mission.

This study found that minorities were less likely to get hired, only 54% as likely as their white counterparts. The study also found that they were also paid less when hired by 12 percent. The last study in the article is a study that looked at the attitudes/behaviors of employers. Most employers stated they don’t look at race when they are reading applications. When the same employers were asked to describe the differences between employees in the work place they made prejudiced statements about employees based on their race. Racism still exists in the job market today and is affecting the ability for people of color to find jobs and to get the same pay rates as their white counterparts. The long term effects of this are detrimental.

Workforce diversity is increasing. There are more women, minority men and immigrants entering the workforce.

This raises more problems than it solves because people are being hired for who they are rather than the skills that they possess. In this type of situation people who are more qualified for a job may be pushed aside in order to hire someone who meets the company’s diversity needs. Instead of following this Noah’s Ark model

This week’s topic of California becoming such a diverse powerhouse in the U.S and also how California being such a diverse state plays an important role in the U.S. government”. California is a hybrid democracy which means there are two types of democracies within California’s government. Representative means that we elect of political officials that best represents our interests. This also happens on a federal level which is why we have various elections throughout the years that allows us to vote for who we want in Congress, also on who we want to be our president. Direct Democracy gives power to the people in California allowing us to have a voice in how we want to see our state government run California (The Basics, 3:33). These two democracies

The article details what it calls “barriers” in the career lifecycle that result in the impediment of either hiring or the promotion of a diverse workforce. These barriers can occur at recruitment, hiring, and promotion stages in the career lifecycle. (Matthies 1) Recruitment barriers include the low numbers of diverse applicants due to the lack of outreach programs designed to bring awareness of the employment availability to minorities and women. Hiring barriers include failure to meet standards

First, the possible causes for this lack of diversity must be shown as to expose this structure of privilege here at Southwestern. One factor that plays a major role in the hiring of racial minorities especially at positions thought of as very professional, which professors fall under is how society defines professionalism. The way we visual the word professional in American society is very stigmatized and obviously benefits the dominant group. Most of the time we picture a white male body in a suit with short, straight hair and is well groomed. None of these indicators point to a minority body as being professional. This becomes a form of colorblind racism where the inequality of racial minorities is contributed to things that are not racial

The topic of minorities in the workforce and how the struggle to accomplish equal treatment in today’s workforce is nothing new to our society. For centuries we have been concerned that by bringing together our different backgrounds, skills, and experiences, as well as the many businesses of this great

The United States is one of the most diverse nations on the earth, originally conceived so, and often described as a great melting pot, as “all nations are melted into a new race of man, whose labours and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world” (St. John de Crèvecoeur, 1782). Yet, despite the country’s diverse population, the workplace remains a place of inequality as women and minorities continue to earn less than their white male counterparts (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2011; U.S. Census Bureau, 2009) and advance less in managerial and professional positions (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2008). The question of workplace diversity is a polarizing debate with proponents of diversity measures arguing the business benefit of

However, I do feel that some minorities can experience psychological and emotional workplace challenges that can impede their performance. Therefore, while organizations should not lower standards but provide organizational resources to help employees from the minority group deal with any social, emotional, or bias stigma factors that can impede their performance. For example, as a minority, I have experienced people not wanting to work with me because of my ethnicity, so they securitized my performance more. At the other end of the spectrum, there were other occurrences where I felt more pressure to perform at an even higher standard than required not to as one mentor advised me “make them right.” These are just some of the examples, where minority employees social and psychological experiences can be a factor in a performance that is not experienced by nonminority colleagues. As an African-American woman, I have held several positions where I was the only minority on the team. If a co-worker made a similar assertion applying the organization's intentions for hiring me was not about performance but based on my ethnicity, I would likely challenge my colleague to share his experiences. I would then use this information to evaluate the work culture and the behaviors of management. However, I would not allow the comment to influence me downplaying my contributions or performance. Although I cannot recall having any direct experience with co-workers or employees who have voiced a negative regard for AA hiring, I do believe that there are some work environments where employees whose perception of AA being quota drive guides their behaviors and attitudes toward minority

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that out of the 600,000 people working as computer and information technology managers, 27 percent are female, 5 percent are African-American and 5 percent are Latino. Although 15 percent of the American labor market is Latino and 11 percent is African-American, only 6 percent of Latinos and seven percent of African-Americans employed in America are involved in computer and mathematical jobs and occupations. These numbers illustrate how

Most people assume that workplace diversity is about increasing racial, national, gender, or class representation -- in other words, recruiting and retaining more people from traditionally underrepresented "identity groups." Taking this commonly held assumption as a starting point, we set out six years ago to investigate its link to organizational effectiveness. We soon found that thinking of diversity simply in terms of identity-group representation inhibited effectiveness. Organizations usually take one of two paths in managing diversity. In the name of equality and fairness, they encourage (and expect) women and people of color to blend in. Or they set them apart in jobs that relate specifically to their backgrounds, assigning them, for example, to areas that require them to interface with clients or customers of the same identity group. African American M.B.A. 's often find themselves marketing products to innercity communities; Hispanics frequently market to Hispanics or work for Latin American subsidiaries. In those kinds of cases, companies are operating on the assumption that the main virtue identity groups have to offer is a knowledge of their own people. This assumption is limited -- and limiting -- and detrimental to diversity efforts. What we suggest here is that diversity goes beyond increasing the number of different identity-group affiliations on the payroll to recognizing that such an effort is merely the first step in managing a diverse workforce for the

In today’s society there are many culturally diverse people in the workforce. Most organizations can no longer make the assumption that every employee has similar beliefs or expectations. When entering into the global marketplace, people are considered one of the most valuable resources to an organization’s success. A well-managed culturally diverse workforce has the potential to thrive if managed correctly; or if mismanaged, there can be devastating negative attributes. With great expectations, culturally diverse employees can foster positive outcomes in the workplace. A company’s acknowledgement to embrace diversity and change, and implement the value of management techniques are