SEX DISCRIMINATION: DOES THE WOMAN GET THE JOB OR DOES THE BEST ‘MAN’ WIN? Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 17, 1990 205 SEX DISCRIMINATION: DOES THE WOMAN GET THE JOB OR DOES THE BEST ‘MAN’ WIN? Robert J. Oppenheimer, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada Willi Wiesner, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada ABSTRACT This exercise requires students Co make hiring decisions for traditional ‘male jobs” (police officer) and traditional “female jobs” (nurses). In both cases male and female applicants are seeking the one open position. Both hiring organizations have an affirmative action plan. The police force is ninety- percent (90%) male and the hospital’s nursing staff is ninety percent (90%) female. Different conditions are created whereby the gender of the best- qualified applicant is changed. The results for two conditioning, involving one hundred and eighteen (118) students, are provided; and alternative issues for class discussion are identified. EXERCISE AND RESULTS This exercise addresses the question of discrimination by requiring students to decide which of three different applicants for two different jobs they would hire. An indirect approach is taken to make the intent of the exercise less obvious to students and to encourage ‘honest” responses. In the first situation, three applicants for a nurse’s job are considered. Two are female arid one is mare; arid they are told that ninety percent (90%) of the nurses are female, that the hospital has an affirmative action plan and it wants to have a more equally represented workforce. The information provided is designed so that the one male applicant is the second best qualified applicant. A second situation is provided, which is similar, except that it is a police force and ninety percent (90%) are male and the one female applicant is the second best applicant. The students’ decisions are then summarized on the blackboard. In recording their answers, the responses of the male and female students may be shown separately. The exercise, which may be completed within fifteen (15) minutes, provides an excellent basis for discussing the issues of “righting past wrongs’, adhering to espoused organizational policies and reverse discrimination as well as problems associated with the contradictory demands facing managers. That is, should he or she hire the best qualified applicant, which will most help that manager achieve his or her own and the organization’s performance goals, or should the organization’s stated policies and society’s goals of fairness be followed? An analysis of the results of the exercise indicates that although males (3 of 33) are no more likely than females (3 of 32) to choose a male nurse (x2 0.00, p>.95), males (8 of 33) are more likely than females (3 of 32), to select a female police officer, even though the male is most qualified (x2 = 11.03 p<.001). Modifications to this exercise may be used as well. One modification would be to switch male and female names. That is, have a male name accompany the information that is provided for the best qualified nurse, and a female name accompany the information that is provided for the best qualified police officer. The results of the exercise could be used to discuss the idea of sex-role stereotyping. That is, how many (and of which sex) will hire (or refuse to hire) a nurse who is a males given he is the most qualified and will this percentage be different than for the hiring of a female police officer? When this modification was used, nine of fifty-three (9 of 53) people still said they would hire the female for the nurse’s job. However, only two of fifty-three (2 of 53) indicated that they would hire the male for the police job. (Both of these people also selected a female for the nurse’s job.) These results suggest that there may be a greater sex- role stereotyping for traditionally ‘female jobs” than for traditional “male jobs”, particularly on the part of males. That is, males may be more accepting of women entering “male jobs” (e.g. police work), than they are for men to enter ‘female jobs” (e.g. nurse’s job). Further analysis, based upon the data collected from both exercises, indicates a tendency for females to ignore affirmative action directives and to choose the best-qualified candidate, regardless of gender, more often than do males (x2 3.50, p<.075). These results may be because the focus of the educational systems and the media have been on discrimination against women per se rather than gender- based discrimination in general, and thus the messages may have had a more pronounced effect on males. That is, males may feel targeted’ by these messages to a greater degree than do women, possibly because they see themselves as the “offending” party and perceive the burden of redressing past wrongs as most appropriately their own (i.e., male “guile”). Females, however, may not share this burden and thus may be less likely to heed the messages and participate in gender- directed affirmative action programs. This hypothesis remains to be tested in future research. If it is supported, it may mean that educators will need to seek out more effective ways of involving women (as yell as men) in affirmative action pro grains. This exercise may be further modified by having the second best qualified applicant described as a very lose second best. This person could be from either Group, i.e. from the under represented group (male nurse or female police officer), or the reverse. Another modification could delete the stated affirmative action plans of the organization. This could be lone to examine whether students will address the issue of disproportionate representation in the work force when they are not given the “clue’ to do so. Regardless of which modification(s) of this exercise is used, the resulting discussions should provide an interesting basis, and considerable involvement, for examining the issues of affirmative action, discrimination, stereotyping and/or sex- roles in the workplace. Table of Contents Volume 17, 1990 The Impact of Decision Support Systems on the Effectiveness of Small Group Decisions - Revisited The Relationship Between Financial Performance and Other Measures of Learning on a Simulation Exercise Use and Effectiveness of an Analogy-Based Expert System Suggestions for Computerized Business Authors Dealing with Power: An Experiential Exercise Using Movie and Personal Diary Analysis Techniques A Model for Developing Student Skills and Assessing Outcomes Through Outdoor Training Computer-Aided Exercises Versus Workbook Exercises as Learning Facilitator in the Principles of Marketing Course An Exposition of Guilford's Si Model as a Means of Diagnosing and Generating Pedagogical Strategies in Collegiate Business Education Formal Planning and Simulation Team Performance: A Cross Sectional Approach Cases: Real Organizations in Real Time in the Classroom An Empirical Investigation of the Internal Validity of Marketing Simulation Game An Empirical Evaluation of the Pedagogical Value of Playing a Simulation Game in a Principles of Marketing Course Factors Affecting Effective Teaching of Strategic Planning: Some Preliminary Evidence An Experiential Exercise for Learning About the Relationship Between Organizational Form & the Project Management Process Accounting Communication Skills can be Taught in the Auditing Course Modeling Cost Functions in Computerized Business Simulation: An Application of Duality Theory and Sheppard's Lemma A Life Cycle Analysis of Decision Making for a Strategic Management Team What's the Problem? A Dynamic Model for Teaching Problem Solving Skills Experientially International Currency Fluctuations: Money$im, A Simulation Superstores: A Specialized Retailing Simulation Within a Specialized Marketing Curriculum Factors Affecting Student Perceptions of Learning in a Business Policy Game VC + EL = VL The Name Game: An Experiential Exercise in Intergroup Relations The Effects of Experiential Accounting Work Experience on Student Performance in Intermediate Accounting Courses The Results of Using the Experiential Activity Group Performance Evaluation in a Business Policy Setting Using a Legal Database to Describe the Legal Environment of Marketing (and Business) Matching Environmental Uncertainty and Organizational Configuration An Instructional Computer Simulation of Tampering in QC Executive Evaluation of Student Learning in the Looking Glass Simulation Group Personality Composition and Total Enterprise Simulation Performance An Expert System for Selecting Analytical Techniques for Analyzing Marketing Research Data Effects of Cognitive Styles on Responses in an In-Basket Simulation A Psychometric Analysis of Kolb's Revised Learning Style-Inventory Selecting and Developing Experiential Exercises Using Movies Application of a Real-World Strategic Management Model in the Classroom Demand Equations which Include Product Attributes Consumption as the Objective in Computer-Scored Total Enterprise Simulations The Effects of Decision Format and Evaluation on Simulation Performance, Decision Time, and Team Cohesion The Effects of Computer Related Assignments on Student Performance in Business Administration The Money Game: A Dynamic Simulation Including Random Shocks for Money and Banking Courses Methods for Evaluating Performance on Business Simulations: A Survey The Effects of Synergogy on the Policy Course: Significant Improvements in Student Learning and Teacher Evaluation Conditions and Outcomes of Trust in a Two-Person Bargaining Exercise Bankgame Enhancing Computer Business Simulation with the Use of VGA Graphics An Experiential Approach to Entrepreneurship An Advanced Simulation Method (ASM) for Multiple Objective Problems The Influence of Experiential learning Techniques on Student Recognition of Non-Primary Learning Styles Negotiating Mergers and Acquisitions: A Cocktail Napkin Approach Identification of Unintended Effects in Experiential Laboratory Exercises An Experimental Comparison of Paper and Pencil and Computer Aided Decision Support Tools Porting a Simulation from the IBM World to the Macintosh World A Transaction Cost Analysis of Experiential Learning The Development of Experiential Exercises for Courses in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management The Assessment Center as and Experiential Classroom Exercise Pricing Strategy Algorithms for Playing Business Simulations Organizational Structures for International Operations: An Experiential Activity Simulation Emphasis in the Business School Capstone Course An Integrated Approach to Computerizing the Business Curriculum Cross-Cultural Business Negotiations Exercise Organizational Socialization and Gender Differences in Students at Work Understanding Student Work Experience: A Content-Analytic Approach Introducing Executive MBA Programs with Management Games An Analysis of Improvement in Business Decision Outcome with Sequential Use of Two Simulation Games Teaching Business Policy Utilizing Mass Lecture and Individual Case Labs Potholes Along the Road to Evaluating Learning Outcomes: The Case of Outdoor Management Training Experiential Learning for Interior Design Students: Using CADD, Lotus 1-2-3, and Wordperfect Cognitive Learning Using a Computer-Based, Qualitative Interactive Business Simulation Sex Discrimination: Does the Woman get the Job or Does the Best Man Win? A Search for Visual Aids to Support Experiential Learning Through the 1990's An Experimental Analysis fo the Effectiveness of Student Role-Playing in Sales Training How to Have Students Learn from their Term Projects Self-Evaluation Exercise (SEE): An Assessment of Class Contribution A Study of the Influence of Team Formation on Attitudes and Performance in Management Games A Hardware Based CIM Simulation Laboratory Model Test Substance Abuse in Organizations Micro Computer Training Models Teaching Forecasting, Cash Budgeting and Inventory Model Building Using SBTools A Comparison of the Effects of Experiential Learning Activities and Traditional Lecture Classes An Adjunct Writing Instruction Assistant, The Computer; With an Illustration Classroom Software for ABC Analysis Utilizing Information Processing Technology to Enhance the Business Policy Simulation Experience Progressive Cases Realistic Job Previews Vs. Traditional Job Previews: Experiencing the Differences and Understanding the Consequences Investment Analysis Using the Pragmatic Multiplier Approach A Computer Simulation Interface for Competitive and Firm Analysis Self-Assessment of Ethical Decision Making Predispositions Preparing Managers for Overseas Assignments An Inquiry into Japanese Marketing: Workshop on Teaching Japanese Marketing The Performance Appraisal Feedback Interview: A Role Play for Human Resources Management Teaching Counselor Selling techniques Using Experiential Techniques to Teach International Topics International Management Simulation Gaming: Current Status and Future Developments A Realism Comparison of Simulation Technologies/Methodologies A Time-Efficient Game to Illustrate Concepts Taught in Management Courses and Management Development Programs Teaching the Management of Technology The Concept of Face and the Applicability of Experiential Exercises in an Oriental Culture's