VALUING DIFFERENCES: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK DEMONSTRATION OF AN EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 20, 1993 158 VALUING DIFFERENCES: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK DEMONSTRATION OF AN EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE Johanna S. Hunsaker ABSTRACT A conceptual framework for organizations interested in developing a diverse workforce is presented. An experiential exercise will be demonstrated. Introduction The vast majority of people are well intended in their approach to dealing with people who are different than themselves. Their motivation is not malicious nor is their intention oppressive. Why then, does individual experience and organizational statistics persistently demonstrate a distribution to attention, rewards and promotions that is disproportionately in favor of a single category of employee? Why is it that exclusion and harassment persists? Why in most organizations in most countries, does one group tend to dominate? The dominant group may differ from country to country, and in some sense, differs from organization to organization. What is common is that in a majority of organizations there is a dominant group: one group that tends to be favored relative to others. Experiential Exercise In this experiential exercise participants will be briefed on the impact of personal prejudice and organizational preference. Organizations and communities create potent, distinct and narrowly defined images of what a successful or worthwhile person is like and then teach and regulate the behavior of it’s members so that they will be as nearly like the image as possible. In this exercise participants will be asked to compare their own core beliefs relative to the organizational preference rewarded in their place of work. Core beliefs are defined in a longitudinal manner and participants will be asked to physically move from one end to the continuum to the other, then move to the place on the continuum that represents what their organizations actually reward. Six core beliefs are identified. This exercise physically demonstrates that valuing differences is a key component in creating an organization that will meet the challenges of an increasingly diverse workforce. When personal prejudice is combined with organizational preference it becomes difficult for a diverse workforce to thrive. The elimination of personal prejudice alone will not alter the status quo, just as by expanding the organizations image of the successful member cannot break the status quo. PERSONAL PREJUDICE: wrongness, dissonance, subordination, rejection, survival, community: PRESERVES SIMILARITY ORGANIZATIONAL PREFERENCE: rightness, domination, attraction, community: preserves similarity Creating an organization which values diversity requires strategies which act simultaneously on these forces. Because the processes acting to preserve the status quo are self-sustaining and potent, changing them requires deliberate strategies, which act at both the personal and systematic level. Five phases of the change process are offered with specific interventions suggested for each phase of the process. Time Needed To Perform Activity 1 hour. Use In Training and Development This exercise serves as a powerful demonstration of how and why organizations need to look at their existing cultures and distribution of rewards. For organizations interested in valuing diversity as well as organizations dealing with international clientele the exercise demonstrates the need to look at the symbolic and nonconscious as well as the rational. I have used the exercise with small and large groups of diverse populations, international groups, professional groups as well as students. I have found the exercise to be a powerful demonstration of the impact of nonconscious, hidden core values on how people feel about organizations. I recommend the exercise as opening exercise for those interested in diversity training and international and cross-cultural implications. Table of Contents Volume 20, 1993 Dominant Personality Types and Total Enterprise Simulation Performance Shelf Wars: A Grocery Channel Simulation Shared Cultural Perspectives: An Experiential Exercise Utilizing International Students to Globalize the Classroom An Instrument for Investigating the Effectiveness of Teaching Methods in the Business Policy and Strategy Formulation Course Providing Better Trained Graduates for Accounting Employers The Ambition Gradient Approach to Evaluation of Computer Simulation Game Team Performance Alphatec: A Negotiation Exercise with Logrolling and Bridging Potential Using the Ideafisher Idea Generation System as a Decision Support System in Marketing Strategy Courses A Dynamic Market Share Allocation Model For Computerized Business Simulations Multi-Cultural Adaptability Using Experiential Learning in a Graduate Course Development of Experiential Applications in HRM: Practicing What Preach and Preaching for Practice Linking Students and Business Leaders Through Portfolios Debriefing International Experiential Learning Exercises: Road Signs for Effectiveness Sales Manager: A Simulation Modeling Interactive Effects in Mathematical Functions for Business Simulations: A Critique of Goosen's Interpolation Reducing the Complexity of Interactive Variable Modeling in Business Simulations Through Interpolation Antecedent Biases of Experiential Learners: Trainee Occupation and Subgroup Diversity Pax in Terra Sancta: Simulating the Middle East Peace Negotiations A Multiple Regression Case In Experiential Learning Changes in Ethnocentric/Geocentric Orientation by Business Students after Exposure to a One Summer Course in International Marketing's A Systematic Approach to the Development and Evaluation of Experiential Exercises Entrepreneurs Evaluate Experiential Education A Linear Programming Approach to Open System Total Enterprise Simulations Reflecting Leader Behavior from the Looking Glass, Inc. Simulation Linking Cognitive Styles, Teaching Methods, Educational Objectives and Assessment: A Decision Tree Approach Restructuring Management Education in Post-Communist Countries: How Western Experts Can Help Managerial and Cultural Pre-Conditions for Superior Performance in a Global Setting: An Experimental Study with the Aid of Business Games Multiple Industries in Computerized Business Gaming Simulations Content or Process? - Content and Process! Some Observations and Reflections About Management Education in Central Europe Out-of-Class Experiences to Promote Volunteerism Enacting the Linguistic Consciousness of the Modern Managerial Mind: Post-Modernism and Experiential Learning Intergrating Experiential Exercises into the College Curriculum: The Case of Internationalizing the Business Curriculum Simulation Marketing Oversights Incorporating Advertising Creative Strategy into Computer-Based Business Simulations The Dynamics of a Partnership Between Business and Education Collaborative Education Done Globally Experiential Systems Analysis CADPLAN: A Simulation for Comparative Advertising A Doctoral Symposium: Preparing Students for Conference Behavior Comparing the Simulation with the Case Approach: Again! Total Quality Management: A Model for Continuous Quality Improvement The Quality Audit: An Experiential Exercise for Business Students Extending the Reach of Simulations: DECIDE Heads for the Inner City Lessons Learned from a Customized Management Development Simulation The Foreign Exchange Spot Trading Simulation Using Lotus 1-2-3 to complete a Triple Play in a Simulated Competition International Business Education: Is Enough Being Done? Matching of Student-Teacher Cognitive Style as a Factor in Student Success in an Introduction to Information Systems Course Breathing (More) Life into the Case Approach Lord of the Flies: A Live Case Approach to Leadership Cooperative Case Studies: Experiential Tools for Teaching Business Problem Solving Tools Strategy Simulations in Context: An Evaluation of Key Dimensions The Distribution Channel Game Evaluation of a Simulation Game as an Education Tool for Utility Professionals The Relationship Between Total Enterprise Simulation Performance and Learning Total Quality Management does not Happen by Magic, but it can be Taught Using a Pedagogical Methodology that Utilizes Magic Effectively Preparing Students for Careers in a Global Environment by Integrating Total Quality Management Thoughout the Business Curriculum An Empirical Investigation of Cognitive and Performance Consistency in a Marketing Simulation Game Environment Using MARSGAP with LAPTOP: (A Marketing Simulation Game Analysis Program) with LAPTOP: A Marketing Simulation Adapting TQM Implementation to Organizational Level An MBA Business Simulation: Executive Interaction Experiential Exercises and Pedagogy Track Workshop: Experiencing Cultural Diversity in the Classroom (and the Hotel Meeting Room) Closing the Gap between Corporate and National Culture The Dynamic Manufacturing Company The Use of Experiential Techniques in Corporate Training The State of Simulation Gaming in Easter European Countries- Principally Russia An Experiential Exercise in Cross-Cultural Training Valuing Differences: A Conceptual Framework Demonstration of an Experiential Exercise Effectively Using Experiential Learning to Impart TQM Concepts in a High Technology Environment The Older Worker Questionnaire: An Exercise Concerning Older Worker Stereotypes and Behaviors The Crime Fighting Task Force: An Exercise in Organizational Politics Welcome to the Party! An Expression of Vocational Preference Experiential Exercise for Imparting Cross-Cultural Appreciation Six Swift Simulations on Globalization Overview of BASF Delegate Program