ExamTests with Culture and Diversity at Work at Leiden University

These questions are based on former academic years.

Questions

Question 1: In her article, White discusses the effect of solo status on performance. What is solo status?

a. An individual who was hired because of his or her social category membership

b. An individual with token status

c. An individual who is the only one of his or her social category in a group

d. An employee of minority status

Question 2: Schmitt and colleagues discuss reasons why individuals do not always notice unequal treatment. Which of the following is not correct?

a. Individuals often do not notice unequal treatment because they need to believe that the world is just

b. Individuals often do not notice unequal treatment because they have a need to feel control over what happens to them

c. Individuals often do not notice their own unequal treatment because it is difficult to determine causal explanations for a single incident

d. Individuals often do not notice unequal treatment because they have never been treated unequally themselves

Question 3: Glick and Fiske discuss shifting standards. What are these?

a. Preferential selection policies used by organizations to increase the number of female and ethnic minority individuals in the organization.

b. The use by organizations of increasingly good standards for selection instruments.

c. Organizations increasingly changing their personnel policies to effectively manage diversity.

d. The use of different standards in the assessment of the behavior of members of different groups.

Question 4: Jan de Jong is looking for someone for the administrative department of a large company. Ghassan El Aynaoui is of Moroccan descent and applies for the position. Jan notices in the application materials that Ghassan is of Moroccan descent. He knows that people of Moroccan descent don't always speak Dutch very well, so Jan decides not to invite Ghassan for a job interview. According to the material presented in class, Jan's decision is:

a.Not discrimination

b. Statistical discrimination

c. Consumer discrimination

d. Malicious discrimination

Question 5: Please fill in the blanks.

Irene de Best and Frans Snijders are diversity trainers. They each approach an organization with the goal of setting up a diversity training workshop for managers. In her presentation to the management about the workshop, Irene emphasizes the company’s legal obligations in dealing with diversity. Frans, on the other hand, notes the importance of harmonious relationships between co-workers. According to the material presented in class, while Irene uses _________ arguments, Frans uses ____________ arguments.

Question 6: Wright describes the consequences of allowing one or two members of underrepresented groups into an organization. Are the few who are admitted more, less or equally likely to engage in collective action to help others in their group do the same (compared to before they entered the organization)? And why is this so?

Question 7: According to Kanter’s analysis, how might William’s behavior be explained? Give three explanations and illustrate them by explicitly referring to aspects of the description below.

For the last ten years, William has worked as a shop floor assistant in a women’s department store of which you are the manager. You have noticed that he tends to spend a good deal of his work time chatting and joking with the other, mostly female, shop floor assistants and does not perform up to standard. In order to improve his work attitude, you have considered giving him different responsibilities but he seemed uninterested in the opportunity. Recently, shop floor assistants in training have been complaining about the authoritarian way in which William delegates tasks.

Answers

1. c
2. d
3. d
4. b
5. compliance, synergetic/synergy
6. less likely, they stop identifying with their group after entering the organization
7. according to Kanter’s analysis, William’s behavior can be explained by the opportunity structure, the power structure and the proportional representation of men and women among the employees. Firstly, the position appears to offer William few opportunities for growth and Kanter argues that limited or blocked mobility leads to lowered aspirations, lesser involvement with work and greater concern with peer relations. Secondly, William appears to have no influence beyond his own position and Kanter argues that people with relatively little power use directive-interfering leadership styles. Thirdly, William appears to be one of the only men working there. Kanter argues that people try to limit their visibility when they stand out for their group membership.