Diversity Management Programs: California Local Governments’ Approach to Achieving Representative Bureaucracy

Attaining representativeness in a bureaucracy, or the ability for a public organization to mirror the diversity of its constituents, is argued to be a key element to effective and efficient governance. Studies show that implementing diversity management programs can help organizations become more representative and, at the same time, maximize the full potential of their diverse workforce. This study examined the existing and developing diversity management programs in each of the nine Bay Area county organizations and measured the representativeness of each. These programs were analyzed by benchmarking them against the International Personnel Management Association's (IPMA) diversity management best practices list. Representativeness was gauged by comparing the ethnic makeup of each county organization's workforce against the ethnicity of the population it is serving and its available labor market using the most recent census data. Although diversity management has been around for decades, implementing diversity management programs for most nine Bay Area county organizations is either at the beginning stages or is not a top priority. Moreover, data on representation show that though the Black or African American employees are well represented across the nine Bay Area county organizations, underrepresentation is still prevalent, particularly with the Hispanic and Asian employee group, especially at the leadership level. These findings suggest that most county organizations in the Bay Area still need to create a more representative workforce. Developing strategies, such as implementing robust diversity management programs that can help improve the recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce could solve this discrepancy.

Dark traits, social loafing and team member exchange: Who slacks and when?

Purpose This paper aims to examine the workplace team member self-reported social loafing (SL) in relation to the dark triad personality traits of Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy. The moderating effect of team member exchange (TMX), a social contextual factor, on each proposed dark trait-SL relationship was also examined. A person X situation interactionist perspective was adopted. Design/methodology/approach American employees were recruited to complete surveys consisting of previously published, validated and reliable scales. Correlations and hierarchical regressions were used to test the study hypotheses. Findings As hypothesized, all positive dark trait-SL relationships were supported. TMX moderated the Machiavellianism-SL and psychopathy-SL relationships, as hypothesized. Unexpectedly, TMX was not found to moderate the narcissism-SL relationship. Originality/value Findings imply increased managerial monitoring costs when supervising employees with elevated levels of dark traits. This is especially so when workers are assigned to team tasks and SL is a concern. To alleviate loafing tendencies, the nurturing of high-quality TMX relations among employees with elevated levels of traits Machiavellianism and psychopathy likely moderates the positive Machiavellianism- and psychopathy-SL relations. The emerging SL literature that accounts for both personality and situation, the dark trait-deviant workplace behavior literature stream and research evidencing the ability of TMX to remedy problematic characteristic behaviors are all extended by the present research.

Who’s Vaccinated? A Closer Look at Healthcare Workers’ COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy and Demographics

Objective: To compare COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among hospital employees by demographics. Methods: Our institution has offered an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine to all employees since January 2021. We collected data on vaccination rates among hospital employees and looked for differences in demographic groups to determine in which groups vaccine hesitancy is the highest. Those who received at least one dose of vaccine were considered “vaccinated” for this study. Results: There was a 71% vaccination rate among all hospital employees as of March 10, 2021. Age over 50 (odds ratio 1.85, 95% CI 1.53 to 2.24, p<0.01), working in a clinical department (odds ratio 1.19, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.42, p = 0.02), and white race compared to black/African American race (odds ratio 4.55, 95% CI 3.74 to 5.52, p<0.01) were all significant factors for receiving vaccination. Gender (odds ratio 1.12, 95% CI 0.94 to 1.35, p=0.10) was not significant. Conclusions: In a population with equal access to the COVID-19 vaccine, there were significant differences in vaccination rates among different demographic groups. Employees under 50 years of age, non-clinical employees, and black/African American employees were less likely to be vaccinated. This suggests that attitudes towards vaccination, and not simply access to the vaccine, are factors in vaccination rates.

Workplace Hazing: Toward an Organizational Science of a Cryptic Group Practice

The purpose of this paper is to establish a foundation for studying and managing new employee hazing in workgroups. Available empirical evidence indicates 25–75% of American employees encounter workplace hazing, but very little empirical research exists on this phenomenon. Workers are changing jobs more frequently than ever, which increases the cumulative impact and importance of new employee experiences, including hazing, a complex group-based phenomenon. Because hazing is a relatively universal social practice without a strongly established literature in the organizational sciences, we draw from multiple disciplines in reviewing and modeling the practice. The current research offers three major contributions: (a) a relatively exhaustive review of relevant empirical and theoretical work on hazing, (b) an initial, testable model for understanding workplace hazing as a multi-level phenomenon, including individual and group-level antecedents and outcomes, and (c) an outline of the need and support for considering both the dysfunctional and functional consequences of hazing, given the variety of forms it takes and reactions it evokes. Finally, we present actionable guidance for researchers seeking to study workplace hazing and discuss the organizational implications of our work for practitioners.

Employee Compensation Strategy as Sustainable Competitive Advantage for HR Education Practitioners

By building on compensation literature, the current study explored and identified the ties between workers’ competencies, corporate cultures, and compensation schemes. These schemes were typically the subject of literature on the factors dealing with the implementation of incentive systems for pay for performance (PFP) or problems that can lead to a PFP system’s failure. Unfortunately, when it comes to research that HR education practitioners may do, the literature has been scarce. It shows which organizational elements might be necessary to examine when deciding whether a PFP or an alternative compensation program is acceptable. This study aimed to add insight into this gap in research. The findings of this study showed from the use of data from 385 American employees in the manufacturing industry that there are significant relationships statistically between employee competencies and organizational cultures and those findings can be corroborated with existing researches, suggesting compensation schemes were related to multiple types of competence organizations and different organization cultures, thus adding meaningfully to the current literature.

Contractors in Iraq: Exploited Class or Exclusive Club?

Corporate privatization of security has generated a neoliberal iteration of an old profession: the private military contractor. This development has revolutionized security policies across the globe while reviving old patterns of inequality. Following neoliberal logic, outsourcing fosters two types of employment: the exploitative and the exclusive. The first refers to low-status individuals hired en masse to perform menial labor; the second refers to experts who perform functions central to the employer’s mission. We contribute to this discussion by focusing on the qualifications of a different subsample of this industry: American contractors who died while performing military and security functions in Iraq. We assert that such American employees directly engaged in mission-essential combat and security functions better fit the employment category of an exclusive, expert sector at the core of the private military industry.

Cultural Expats and the Trojan Horse of Language

This chapter follows the native English speakers through their first phase, when euphoria reigned because they (incorrectly, as it turned out) assumed that Englishnization was solely about language. It also follows them through the second phase, about two years into Englishnization. By this time, they found it nearly as difficult to accept the changes wrought in their day-to-day workplace as did the native Japanese speakers. While the Japanese employees had to change to adopt a foreign language, the American employees had to change to adopt the Rakuten organizational culture that had been mostly suppressed by the language barrier. Employees in both groups had to adjust their perception of themselves and their place in the company—in this respect, the groups were mirror images of one another.

Dual Expats’ Global Work Orientation

This chapter is about the linguistic-cultural expats. These refer to a third group of employees who worked at Rakuten's subsidiary offices in Asia, Europe, and South America. Like the Japanese employees, after the Englishnization mandate they too were required to communicate in a lingua franca that was different from their native tongue. Like the American employees, they too had to adapt to the many workplace changes that made up the Rakuten organizational culture. Because this group worked in both a language and a culture that was not their own, the chapter refers to them as the linguistic-cultural expats or, alternatively, dual expats. Here, the process of living in and learning a foreign culture, although challenging for many individuals in the first two groups, emerged as freeing for the dual expat employees and allowed them entry to more adaptive attitudes and behaviors.

Organizational culture, perceived societal and organizational discrimination

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to fill the gap in the literature by exploring the perceived societal discrimination as an antecedent of perceived organizational discrimination, and investigating the impact of organizational culture (i.e. constructive, passive-defensive and aggressive-defensive culture norms) on perceptions of discrimination in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach A total of 176 American employees completed three surveys assessing perceived societal discrimination, perceived organizational discrimination and organizational culture online through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression method. Findings Results suggest individuals’ perceptions of discrimination in the workplace are influenced by both perceived discrimination in society and perceptions of behavioral norms related to organizational culture. Findings in the current study indicated individuals’ attitudes and beliefs manifested in the societal context were carried into, and reflected in, the workplace. Additionally, beliefs related to organizational discrimination were found to be amplified or minimized depending on organizational culture; specifically, organizations dominated by culture norms reflecting behaviors related to individual security needs predicted higher levels, and culture norms reflecting behaviors related to meeting employee satisfaction needs predicted lower levels of perceived organizational discrimination. Originality/value This paper tested theoretical frameworks debated in the literature by exploring beyond institutional boundaries in the study of perceived discrimination by exploring perceived societal discrimination as an antecedent to perceived organizational discrimination. This project also is the first study (to authors’ knowledge) to investigate the impact of organizational culture on perceived organizational discrimination.