Running head: THE EFFECT OF VARIOUS TYPES OF DIVERSITY 1
THE EFFECT OF VARIOUS TYPES OF DIVERSITY 2
The Effect of Various Types of Diversity on the Workplace
Martha Anderson
Kennesaw State University
The Effect of Various Types of Diversity on the Workplace
Diversity is typically discussed in very broad terms. According to Landy & Conte (2013), it refers to the variety of employees’ demographic characteristics, including those such as age, gender, race, nationality, ideas, values, and experiences. In this paper, three specific employee characteristics will be discussed in relation to diversity and its effect on businesses. These include gender, transphobia, a term related to gender, and language.
Wilton, Sanchez, Unzueta, Kaiser, & Caluori (2019) chose to consider the effect that gender diversity has on company reputation. Specifically, the researchers looked at the effect that advertising gender diversity had on White men’s impression of an organization. A meta-analysis was conducted using data from four studies. According to Landy & Conte (2013), a meta-analysis is a statistical tool that allows the results of multiple studies to be analyzed, producing a general conclusion. Through this analysis, it was found that if an organization stated that they were gender-diverse and showed White women in their advertising, participants expected the company “to have a more broadminded and tolerant climate” (Wilton et al., 2019).
Company reputation is not only important is ensuring that the public has a positive view of the company, it is also key when recruiting. As just one example of how this type of message can impact recruiting, applicants have been found to prefer companies that state they are an equal opportunity employer (Landy & Conte, 2013). Advertising gender diversity could also have an effect on trust. Trust in relation to an organization is defined as the belief about how a company will act in the future based on past interactions with the company (Landy & Conte, 2013). If applicants are told that an organization is gender-diverse, this may impact expectations on things such as how often a specific gender is given promotions compared to the other and how equally the different genders are paid.
Kim, Roberson, Russo, & Briganti (2019) qualitatively analyzed the effect of transphobia on the workplace. Transphobia was defined as a dislike of individuals who do not conform to the gender expectations set by general society (Bandini & Maggi, 2014). Kim et al. (2019) found that those negatively effected by transphobia in the workplace faced barriers in the form of interpersonal as well as systematic relations. Interpersonally, a common finding among participants was the existence of a stigma. In this case, stigma was defined as a feeling of being treated differently because of gender diversity without physical proof of this differing treatment. Problems with policy included things such as barriers to job en...
