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 Contents vii

Chapter 10 Disabilities 249

Essay: Counting on Workers with Disabilities 251
Susan J. Wells
Essay: Selections from The Inclusive Corporation: A Disability
Handbook for Business Professionals 257
Griff Hogan
▶ Case Study: In the Eye of the Perfect Storm: Creating
Accessibility—IBM, GM, and CISCO 262
Kathryn A. Cañas and Harris Sondak

Part 3 Exercises: Developing Three Essential Skills 273

Chapter 11 Analyzing Self 275

Your Pie Chart 275
Taylor Cox and Ruby L. Beale
Diversity Questionnaire 276
William Sonnenschein
Diversity Journal 277
Kathryn A. Cañas
Masculine and Feminine Speaking Styles 278
Kathryn A. Cañas and Harris Sondak
Religion and the Workplace—A Brainstorming Activity­  280
Kathryn A. Cañas

Chapter 12 Understanding Difference 282

Analysis of Mini Diversity Cases 282
Carlos Eduardo de Sousa
Understanding the Multigenerational Workforce 287
Kathryn A. Cañas
Analyzing Bias in Internal Business Communication 288
Cole Holmes
What Constitutes Sexual Harassment? 290
Kathryn A. Cañas, P. Corper James, and Harris Sondak
Analyzing Nike’s Branding and Outreach to the LGBT
Community 291
Kathryn A. Cañas
Religion and Spirituality: What Could be Happening Here? 291
Kathryn A. Cañas and Harris Sondak
The Ten Commandments of Interacting with People with
Disabilities 292
Kathryn A. Cañas and Harris Sondak
viii Contents

Chapter 13 Assessing Organizations 294

Examining Exemplary Leaders in Managing Diversity 294
Kathryn A. Cañas and Harris Sondak
Ten Question Assessment: Does Your Organization Represent an
Equal Workplace for LGBT Employees? 295
Kathryn A. Cañas
Analysis of Diversity Consulting Companies 296
Kathryn A. Cañas and Harris Sondak
Analyzing Diversity Commitment on Web sites 297
Kathryn A. Cañas
Diversity and Sports: An Examination of NFL, NASCAR, NHL, PGA,
and NBA 298
Kathryn A. Cañas and Ruslan Chaplygin
Project: The Diversity Consulting Team 301
Kathryn A. Cañas
Nine Symptoms that May Indicate a Need for Diversity Training 305
Lee Gardenswartz and Anita Rowe
Managing Diversity Questionnaire 305
Lee Gardenswartz and Anita Rowe
Asking Good Questions 307
Lee Gardenswartz and Anita Rowe

Index 310
 Preface

Diversity and the Workplace: Creating a Dialogue

of Opportunity
Teaching diversity management—whether to students or managers—is both challenging and
rewarding. The topic of diversity management is engaging and dynamic as significant develop-
ments emerge daily from well-known organizations such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Nike, the
NFL, Cracker Barrel, Ford Motor Company, Verizon, Kraft Foods, and MasterCard Worldwide.
MasterCard’s diversity management philosophy is represented in the image of the “diver-
sity butterfly” that is featured on the cover of this textbook. Through this symbol, MasterCard
depicts diversity as transformative within their company; just as each butterfly is different, so
is every employee at Mastercard: “When different people come together, it’s not just beauti-
ful, it’s priceless.” MasterCard supports their diversity philosophy with a combination of prac-
tical initiatives: a Global Diversity and Inclusion Council, a Global Diversity Office, eight
Employee Resource Groups, a Supplier Diversity Program, a chief diversity officer position,
and an Executive Women’s Initiative. According to Mastercard’s chief diversity officer, Donna
Johnson, diversity is an essential component of Mastercard’s success as a global company; she
explains that diversity—is at the root of their innovation, enhances their relationship with cus-
tomers and stakeholders, empowers employees by building a culture that values different per-
spectives, and plays a critical role in the achievement of their strategic vision.
As we teach about companies such as MasterCard and others, we emphasize that while di-
versity management is a thought-provoking subject, it also poses some challenges for instructors
because it is a complex and sometimes paradoxical organizational topic that involves conversa-
tions about emotionally charged issues such as racism, sexism, and ageism. Teaching diversity
management is rewarding as the classroom has the potential to become a place in which knowl-
edge is constructed through dialogue—through active student engagement, respectful debate,
and continuous conversations about both historical and current diversity management business
issues and cases. Essential to our purpose is the notion of dialogue as it represents the overarch-
ing pedagogical philosophy that frames our motivation for writing this textbook.
By writing this textbook, we hope to invite and create a dialogue of opportunity about the
topic of workplace diversity with scholars, managers, consultants, and students. With a number
of diversity practitioners and academics who have contributed to this textbook, we engage in
dialogue about the intersection of diversity and the workplace. We believe that the most effec-
tive method for teaching diversity management is to join multiple perspectives, narratives, and
voices that unite to co-create a comprehensive resource about the opportunities and challenges
of managing diversity.

New to This Edition

• New Chapter on Prominent Diversity Business Leaders
• New Corporate Response to Abercrombie & Fitch Case Study
• New Essay on Today's Multigenerational Workforce
• New Case Study on Sports and Diversity (NFL, NASCAR, PGA, NBA)
• New Case Study on AT&T and Age Discrimination
• New Case Study on Nike and LGBT Workplace Issues
ix
x Preface

• New Feature: Diversity Case Updates (Augusta National, Mother’s Work, Inc.)
• New Feature: Diversity Snapshots (Best Employer’s for Workers Over 50, Coming “Out”
at Work, Herb Carnegie)
Having a diverse workplace is indeed a business opportunity, but only when its complexities are
managed successfully, which requires that they are both acknowledged and understood. Without
understanding diversity as a complex phenomenon, it is difficult to gain a comprehensive un-
derstanding of what it means to manage a diverse workforce effectively. In essence, we hope
to contribute a significant and unique perspective to today’s conversation about diversity in the
workplace by encouraging and engaging in open dialogue.
As we discuss diversity as an opportunity, we hope to help our readers become more ef-
fective and responsible organizational members. The underlying argument supported throughout
our discussion is that organizations that manage their diverse workforce effectively will have a
competitive advantage over organizations that do not. That is, we believe that managing diver-
sity well will lead to increased organizational performance. A diverse workforce is more likely
to gain a competitive advantage when diversity is implemented through an integrated approach;
diversity must be understood and valued as an essential component of every aspect of the organi-
zation rather than incorporated sporadically within it. Organizations that are able to accomplish
this will have more opportunity to excel in all areas.
Part 1 In light of our goal to offer a more comprehensive framing of diversity manage-
ment, we have expanded Part 1. Specifically, we have updated both Chapters 1 and 2, and
have added more depth to Chapter 3, “An Integrated Approach to Managing Diversity in
Organizations.” New to this edition is the material in Chapter 4; here we highlight some
of the most prominent diversity management leaders, describe exemplary organizations
in diversity management, and include a comprehensive essay that highlights how IBM’s
former CEO, Lou Gerstner, helped to turn IBM around by implementing an integrated ap-
proach to diversity management.
Part 2 In Part 2 our main goal is to provide examples of businesses that have both
­succeeded and struggled to manage diversity. To accomplish this goal, we include a
new case study that examines the role of diversity in professional sports including NFL,
NASCAR, PGA, and NBA; and we include two new cases: the first describes AT&T’s
mismanagement of older workers; and the second tells the story of Nike’s historical and
current support of LGBT workplace issues. Further, we include two new essays; the first
examines today’s multigenerational workplace and the second grapples with the com-
plex topic of spirituality in the workplace. In addition, we have added two new features:
“Diversity Case Updates” and “Diversity Snapshots.” Finally, we have enthusiastically
incorporated a response to our Abercrombie and Fitch case study written by Abercrombie
executive, senior vice president and global chief diversity officer, Todd Corley. We em-
brace Abercrombie’s desire to communicate its successes as it transforms itself to a top
diversity management organization.
Part 3 Using exercises in the classroom gives students the opportunity to grapple with is-
sues of diversity and diversity management. In this section, we have added the following ex-
ercises: the Diversity Journal, Understanding the Multigenerational Workforce, Analyzing
Bias in Internal Business Communication, Analyzing Nike’s Branding and Outreach to the
LGBT Community, and Ten Question Assessment: Does Your Organization Represent an
Equal Workplace for LGBT Employees?
 Preface xi

Three-Tiered Structure for Understanding

Our discussion unfolds in three stages. In our first stage, we provide a theoretical and legal
foundation for understanding diversity management as well as present the integrated approach
as a model of effective diversity management. Second, we provide detailed case studies of US
businesses that have both managed and mismanaged diversity. Third, we incorporate multiple
exercises that help students examine diversity on personal, group, and organizational levels.
In Part 1, “Uncovering the Complexities of Workplace Diversity,” our goal is to help
explain the complexities of workplace diversity from both managerial and legal perspectives.
Managers in today’s dynamic workplace need to understand how these two perspectives inter-
act—specifically, how one informs the other in the context of a complex workplace. In Chapter 1,
we examine diversity from a managerial and pedagogical point of view and discuss the follow-
ing important considerations for understanding diversity in American business: multiple alterna-
tive definitions of diversity and important principles to acknowledge when defining diversity;
four diversity management paradigms; and the strengths and weaknesses of the business case
for diversity. In Chapter 2, P. Corper James outlines the legal aspects of managing diversity in
his explication of the classes of people protected by law, the legal definition of sexual harass-
ment, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act
(ADEA), and so forth. In addition, he offers general legal advice for both managers and employ-
ers on the topic of diversity management. In Chapter 3 we provide a model of the integrated
approach to managing diversity in which diversity is comprehensively incorporated throughout
an organization as a business strategy. In Chapter 4 we highlight eight prominent diversity busi-
ness leaders and ten top-ranked diversity companies. Further, we include an in depth analysis of
IBM’s use of diversity as a competitive advantage.
In Part 2, Managing and Mismanaging: Case Studies on American Businesses, we illus-
trate organizational successes and mistakes of American businesses. This section reflects our
belief that understanding diversity is facilitated through detailed examination of real case stud-
ies. Our collection of comprehensive case studies focuses on how familiar organizations have
grappled with diversity management. Our examples of organizations include Augusta National,
Mothers Work, Abercrombie and Fitch, Texaco, Denny’s, Ford Motor Company, AT&T, Tom’s
of Maine, Cracker Barrel Restaurants, Nike, IBM, General Motors, Cisco, and sports organi-
zations including NFL, NASCAR, PGA, and NBA. In particular, we discuss how these orga­
nizations have managed diversity issues related to gender, race and national origin, age, religion
and spirituality, sexual orientation and gender identity, and disabilities in the workplace.
In Part 3, Developing Three Essential Skills, our goal is to encourage our readers to exam-
ine their own relationship with diversity, assess how organizations manage diversity, and better
understand the intersection of diversity and work. These exercises invite students to engage in
energized, intelligent dialogue on the many intricacies of diversity in the workplace.

Terms and Concepts that Frame Our Discussion

Diversity A primary objective of our textbook is to illuminate the complexities of workforce
diversity. We understand workplace diversity as a constellation of dynamic and interrelated
identity group memberships that operate on both primary and secondary dimensions as they con-
tinuously interact and unite to represent a person in his or her entirety at a particular time in his
or her life. These identity group memberships reflect personal characteristics—both visible (e.g.,
race and gender) and less visible (e.g., religion and marital status)—that differ from whatever is
considered the societal norm or standard; as a member of one of these identity groups, an indi-
vidual is vulnerable to negative employment consequences such as discrimination.
xii Preface

Primary dimensions—those that most profoundly define us—include gender, race and
national origin, age, religion and spirituality, sexual orientation and identity, and disabilities.
Secondary dimensions—often just as important as the primary dimensions but more likely to
change—include military experience, parental status, educational background, and social loca-
tion/economic status. While all dimensions are significant when defining oneself, we choose to
focus mostly on the primary dimensions of diversity, although a number of the secondary dimen-
sions are discussed throughout the articles, essays, cases, and exercises.
In addition to understanding diversity as having two interrelated dimensions, we believe
that the following five principles are critical to understanding the complexities of diversity: (1)
diversity is expansive but not without boundaries, (2) diversity is fluid, (3) diversity is based on
both similarities and differences, (4) diversity is rooted in nonessentialist thought, (5) and diver-
sity is directly related to how one approaches work. In our opening, essay we offer a detailed
explanation of each of these principles in addition to delineating other definitions of diversity by
a variety of diversity scholars.

Affirmative Action, Valuing Diversity, Diversity Management Diversity schol-

ars often articulate three stages to understanding how workplace diversity has changed over
time: affirmative action, valuing diversity, and diversity management (or managing diversity).
The phrase “valuing diversity” is a movement beyond the affirmative action position of amend-
ing wrongs done in the past to those Americans—most specifically African Americans and
women—who have been underrepresented in positions of organizational power. Diversity initia-
tives that represent the second stage, valuing diversity, are, according to scholar and consultant
R. Roosevelt Thomas, “designed to enhance the individual’s awareness, understanding, and ac-
ceptance of differences between people.” And, by contrast to diversity management, “valuing
differences does not involve the changing of corporate culture and systems.”2
Diversity management, however, represents a movement beyond valuing diversity and a
managerial approach in which diversity is viewed as both a competitive advantage and the right
thing to do; diversity is linked to strategic goals and is understood as directly influencing the way
employees approach work. Within this framework, diversity becomes integrated throughout the
organization. Thomas describes this stage as “a holistic approach to creating a corporate environ-
ment that allows all kinds of people to reach their full potential in pursuit of corporate objec-
tives.”3 Further, he explains that diversity management approaches diversity from a management
perspective, that is, how best to manage the company’s human resources given the fact that those
resources are now far more diverse than in earlier times. It is not about leveling the playing field
to give minorities and women an extra advantage; it is about maximizing the contributions of all
employees.4
The focus of our text is primarily on the third stage, managing diversity, because we be-
lieve it is this framework that American businesses should strive toward. We do not ignore the
other stages, however, and we provide discussions of affirmative action and valuing diversity in
the opening essays.

Integrated Approach to Managing Diversity An integrated approach to managing

diversity, as presented in detail in Chapter 3, occurs when diversity is not simply described as an
organizational value but is articulated in relation to the organization’s overall business strategy.
Within this framework, diverse employees and diversity initiatives have the ability to influence
and affect work outcomes. For diversity to become integrated within an organization, seven
diversity management components must be achieved: (1) authentic leadership commitment, (2)
clear organizational communication, (3) inclusive recruitment practices, (4) long-term retention
 Preface xiii

strategies, (5) the incorporation of diversity into the main work of the organization, (6) diversity
management metrics, and (7) expansive external relationships.

Dominant and Nondominant Groups Underlying any discussion of diversity in

American business—whether affirmative action, valuing diversity, or diversity management—
is the recognition that some groups have had and continue to have more power than others.
Those with power represent the dominant group and control the construction and dissemination
of knowledge, make decisions, and allocate burdens and rewards and thus hold the more influen-
tial positions in the workplace. White men have historically held most positions of power in the
workplace and thus typically constitute the dominant group in most organizations. In addition,
there are groups of people, located on the periphery of power, who have historically been disem-
powered or nondominant. These less powerful groups of people include, but are not limited to:
women, people with disabilities, older workers, people of color, people of different ethnicities,
and members of the LGBT community.
Although less powerful, subordinate groups often possess the ability—especially when
working together—to negotiate successfully with the dominant group. And although we focus
largely on the nondominant groups of people in our discussion of diversity, we believe white
men constitute a critically important component of diversity management because, as organi-
zational leaders, they often have the ability to make decisions that directly affect the role of
diversity in the workplace. Moreover, we often forget that white men are themselves a diverse
group—whether, for example, in terms of age, religion, sexual identity, disability, or parental
status. Further, unless both the dominant and nondominant groups work together, it is impossible
for diversity to become a competitive advantage in the workplace.

Prejudice and Discrimination An important objective of this text is to encourage the

readers to reflect on the ways in which diversity affects them. While using this textbook, we hope
that students will gain a better understanding of how they may be prejudiced, often unknow-
ingly, against groups of people they may view as different, seeing them through preconceived
notions as lesser or deficient in some way. In addition, we hope that students will understand,
specifically from the case study section, that discrimination—denying opportunities, resources,
or access to a person because of his or her group identity—is, unfortunately, often a business re-
ality. The case studies that illustrate discrimination represent uniquely helpful resources because
organizations that have made serious management errors can provide powerful lessons.

Stereotyping and Essentializing Other significant, interrelated concepts that encourage

self-reflection include stereotyping and essentializing. We ask our readers the question: What
are the potential effects of stereotyping and essentializing in the workplace? Stereotypes are
particularly powerful, as they are formed when we ascribe exaggerated beliefs or generalizations
to people based on their group identities rather than seeing each person as an individual (e.g.,
a professor might expect all athletes to be irresponsible students). Stereotypes are common and
often arise from incomplete or incorrect information and restricted experience with a particular
group of people.
Just as serious is assuming that a characteristic or set of characteristics is the essence—
the essential nature—of all members of a group (e.g., people might expect that women are, by
nature, better nurturers than men). Although it may be a human tendency to stereotype or es-
sentialize others, it is important to remember both the inaccuracy of doing so and the potentially
devastating effects of these generalizations on individuals’ realities in their daily lives.
xiv Preface

Diversity Paradigms Diversity paradigms, first discussed by Harvard scholar, Dr. David
Thomas, are leadership approaches to managing diversity in the workplace that can serve as
conceptual categories for diagnosing the status and efficacy of organizations in terms of their
approach to managing diversity. The four paradigms include: the resistance paradigm, the dis-
crimination-and-fairness paradigm, the access-and-legitimacy paradigm, and the integration-
and-learning paradigm (see Chapter 1 for definitions of each). The integration-and-learning
paradigm is the most progressive, productive model for managing diversity, and represents, in
essence, the integrated approach to managing diversity.

The Business Case for Diversity The business case for diversity argues that there are per-
suasive business reasons for investing in diversity and diversity management initiatives within
an organization. In short, the business case suggests that a diverse workforce creates a com-
petitive advantage for companies. More specifically, it maintains that diverse organizations and
organizations that manage diversity effectively will realize cost savings, recruit the best talent,
and have high rates of growth. Chapter 1 provides a detailed explication of both the strengths and
weaknesses of the business case.

Instructor’s Manual Because the majority of our textbook is based on teaching diver-
sity through case studies, we have dedicated much of the instructor’s manual to the same. To
enhance students’ learning, each case study is accompanied by a detailed Teaching Note and set
of PowerPoint slides. The instructor’s manual also includes example syllabi, responses to discus-
sion questions, comprehensive exercise instructions, and suggestions for individual and group
assignments.

Acknowledgments
We thank many people for their assistance with this project, which would not have succeeded
if not for their contributions. We would like to acknowledge the Pearson/Prentice Hall edito-
rial, production, and permissions team for their professionalism throughout the project. In addi-
tion, we extend our appreciation to our research assistants: Melissa Paul, MBA; Jacob Bowman,
MBA/MHA; and Sara Saunders, MBA. Our deepest appreciation is extended to our families
and friends; without them, nothing would have been possible or worthwhile. Dr. Cañas thanks
Servando and Carol Cañas, Lance Pearson, Luke Cañas Pearson, Rhea Rose Cañas Pearson, and
Susan Cañas Gregoire. Dr. Sondak especially thanks his parents, Fraser Nelson, and Neah Bois.

About the Authors

Kathryn A. Cañas, PhD
Dr. Kathryn A. Cañas is the director of business communication and associate professor, lec-
turer in the Department of Management at the University of Utah. Her two areas of expertise
are diversity management and business communication. Dr. Cañas developed the Business
Communication Program at the David Eccles School of Business which includes the under-
graduate course, Business and Professional Communication; and the graduate courses, Business
Communication, Advanced Public Speaking for Business, and Advanced Business Writing.
Her teaching currently includes courses on diversity management, business communication,
and pedagogy; she has taught these subjects to executives, PhD candidates, MBA students, and
undergraduates.
 Preface xv

Dr. Cañas’s research investigates diversity management best practices, communication

strategies and models implemented by women in the workforce, and the role of dominant work
metaphors in constituting and influencing women’s experiences in organizations. She has pre-
sented a number of papers at national and regional conferences, and her professional associa-
tion memberships include the Academy of Management, the Management Communication
Association, and the Association for Business Communication.
Dr. Cañas received her BA in English and Communication from Boston College,
her MA in Speech Communication from Indiana University (Bloomington), and her PhD in
Communication from the University of Utah. For more information, please visit her Web site at
www.business.utah.edu/~mgtkc/.
E-mail: [email protected]

Harris Sondak, PhD

Harris Sondak is professor of business administration at the David Eccles School of
Business. He is a member of the Management Department and a David Eccles Faculty Scholar.
Dr. Sondak is adjunct professor of business at Duke University.
Dr. Sondak's research investigates the psychology of allocation decisions including two-
party and multi-party negotiations and in market contexts, group process and decisions, and
procedural justice and ethics. His teaching includes courses on groups, negotiations, creating
and maintaining business relationships, managing conflict in organizations, competitive strat-
egy, managing diversity, organizational behavior, consulting to non-profits, philosophy of social
science, and business ethics and leadership. He has taught these subjects to executives, PhD
candidates, MBA students, and undergraduates from around the world. Dr. Sondak has received
teaching awards including the University of Utah’s highest teaching honor.
Dr. Sondak received his BA in philosophy from the University of Colorado and his MS
and PhD in organizational behavior from Northwestern University. He was a member of the fac-
ulty of the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University from 1990-1995 and has been a visiting
faculty member at Duke University, the International Institute for Management Development
(IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland, the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, the
Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India, and the Kellogg School of Management at
Northwestern University. For more information, please visit his Web site at www.business.utah.
edu/~mgths/.
E-mail: [email protected]

Notes
1. The concepts of primary and second dimensions of diversity are adapted from Marilyn Loden,
Implementing Diversity (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996).
2. R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr., Beyond Race and Gender: Unleashing the Power of Your Total Work Force
by Managing Diversity (New York: AMACON, 1991), 169.
3. Ibid., 167.
4. Ibid., 168.
This page intentionally left blank
Part
1
Uncovering the
Complexities of
Workplace Diversity
In this part, “Uncovering the Complexities of Workplace Diversity,” our goal is to explore
the complexities of workplace diversity from both managerial and legal perspectives.
In Chapter 1 “Diversity in the Workplace: A Theoretical and Pedagogical Perspective,”
we examine diversity from a managerial point of view and discuss the following
important considerations for understanding diversity in American business: the changing
US demography; multiple alternative definitions of diversity and important principles
to acknowledge when defining diversity; four paradigms or approaches for diversity
management; and the complexities of the business case for diversity.
In Chapter 2, “Diversity in the Workplace: A Legal Perspective,” P. Corper James
outlines the legal aspects of managing diversity in his explication of the classes of
people protected by law, the legal definitions of sexual harassment, the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). In addition,
he offers general legal advice for both managers and employers on the topic of diversity
management.
In Chapter 3, we present, in detail, the integrated approach to diversity management
and explicate its seven diversity components. In Chapter 4, we grapple with the question:
What constitutes effective diversity management? In particular, we highlight prominent
diversity leaders, exemplary organizations for managing diversity, and a case study,
“Diversity as Strategy,” that explicates how IBM manages diversity using an integrated
approach.

1
This page intentionally left blank
Chapter
1
Diversity in the
Workplace
A Theoretical and Pedagogical Perspective

Diversity education is big business. In corporate America and higher education,

diversity training has become a multibillion-dollar industry, with a wide variety
of diversity summits, workshops, toolkits, books, training videos, e-learning pro-
grams, executive coaching sessions, and leadership academies.
With what might seem like an excess of diversity management tools, the im-
portance of managing workplace diversity can easily be reduced to an overhyped
workplace trend. The belief that diversity management is nothing more than a tran-
sitory phenomenon may in fact represent an organizational ideology that educators
are forced to confront when teaching about workplace diversity in both business
and academics. It is this misperception combined with other challenges related to
diversity education that help to underscore the importance of our goal of creating
a pedagogical approach that will allow students and managers to examine more ef-
fectively and therefore understand better the complexities of diversity and manag-
ing diversity in organizations.
In this chapter we examine what it means to teach diversity management,
analyze the opportunities and challenges related to teaching diversity management,
and present an innovative pedagogical approach that we believe will facilitate the
teaching of diversity management. The motivation behind understanding how to
manage workforce diversity is twofold: it is the right and ethical thing to do, and
it can enhance an organization’s competitive advantage. The issue is not whether
the workforce is or is not diverse; diversity is a business reality, is here to stay, and
ought to be embraced. The issue, then, is whether organizations lack the knowl-
edge to unleash the power of their diverse employees through effective diversity
management and, if so, how to correct this problem.
Although we illuminate some of the limitations of diversity management
education, we uphold a prodiversity position, support organizations that invest in
diversity management initiatives as a way to empower employees, and agree that
“[O]rganizations that invest their resources in taking advantage of the opportuni-
ties that diversity offers should outperform those that fail to make such invest-
ments.”1 Our position about diversity in general is that diversity can become an
exciting business opportunity, but only when it is managed effectively at all levels

Dr. Kathryn A. Cañas and Dr. Harris Sondak

3
4 Part 1 • Uncovering the Complexities of Workplace Diversity

of an organization and understood in terms of both its advantages and disadvantages. To explain
this position, we first define what it means to manage diversity.

Diversity Management
Diversity management is an organizational commitment and integrated approach that moves be-
yond compliance with legal requirements and statements that simply express the organization’s
claims to value diversity. We describe effective diversity management as integrated because its
dimensions are incorporated throughout the inner workings of a business and linked to strategic
business goals. As Michàlle Barak suggests, diversity management is “the voluntary organi-
zational actions that are designed to create through deliberate policies and programs greater
inclusion of employees from various backgrounds into the formal and informal organizational
structures.”2 Diversity management is distinct from equal opportunity legislation and affirma-
tive action programs because it “is proactive and aimed at creating an organization in which all
members can contribute and achieve to their full potential.”3 The purpose of such organizational
actions and policies is to incorporate diversity into the main work of the organization so that
diverse perspectives influence processes such as decision making, problem solving, and market-
ing; company image; methods of communication; and product design, as well as have a direct
impact on the organization’s mission, values, and goals.
A required component of an effective diversity management policy is a steadfast commitment
from organizational leadership. Business leaders play a crucial role in how diversity is perceived
and implemented in their organizations, and without authentic commitment from the executive
ranks, diversity will remain a stagnant or even festering organizational issue. Leaders must be able
to express clearly how diversity is defined and what role diversity plays in their corporate culture;
they must commit themselves to recruiting and retaining diverse employees, incorporating diverse
perspectives into the main work of the organization, implementing supplier diversity initiatives,
linking diversity to financial success, and using some type of metrics for measuring the successes
(or failures) of their diversity initiatives. Further, it is also necessary for leaders to understand that
although diversity challenges may arise, they cannot be ignored but rather recognized and resolved.
Because of the comprehensive nature of diversity management, teaching its complexities
is no easy task, and it is not surprising that implementing an effective approach to teaching this
topic poses pedagogical challenges for both educators and students. Diversity management is
not all about difficulties, however, as we describe a few of the opportunities related to teaching
about diversity in organizations.

Opportunities TO Teach Diversity Management

The enthusiasm surrounding the issue of diversity in organizations in both business and aca-
demia is palpable. This enthusiasm encourages lively discussion about thought-provoking, pro-
gressive classroom topics as students see familiar businesses embrace diversity and publicly
declare their allegiance to promoting diversity as an organizational strategy.
American Express, for example, maintains that “the connection between the diversity of
our workforce and our overall performance quality is clearly valued.”4 Marriott International
enthusiastically describes its commitment to diversity as “absolute” and asserts that diversity
“is more than a goal...it’s our business. From our global workforce to our suppliers, owners
and franchisees, and customers and communities, we thrive on the differences that give our
company its strength and competitive edge.”5 Boldly claiming that “diversity is who we are,”
Starbucks Coffee Company describes diversity as “a way of life” and “the core of our culture
 Chapter 1 • Diversity in the Workplace 5

and a foundation for the way we conduct business.”6 Verizon boasts that “[W]e have made di-
versity an integral part of our business, from workforce development and supplier relationships
to economic development, marketing, and philanthropy.” 7 Businesses such as these do more
than just post their diversity missions on posters, pamphlets, and Web sites; by contrast, they are
committed to giving diversity a legitimate voice in executive decision-making processes by cre-
ating positions such as chief diversity officer; senior vice president of external affairs and global
diversity officer; and vice president of workplace culture, diversity, and compliance.
Like businesses, many universities value diversity, often promoting it as a critical com-
ponent of their success and identity as an organization. Reflecting this trend, the University of
North Carolina describes diversity as a “key component” in its “academic plan” and its “pursuit
of excellence.”8 In addition to universities at large, business schools are independently commu-
nicating their value of diversity. The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University
highlights specific dimensions of diversity in its diversity philosophy, and it works to solidify
its commitment by offering the graduate elective Managing Workforce Diversity. Similarly,
Rutgers Business School offers the graduate elective Managing Organizational Diversity within
the concentration of Management and Global Business. On an undergraduate level, examples
include the business schools at the University of California, the University of Connecticut, the
University of Illinois, and the University of Utah, which all offer diversity management courses.
Mirroring corporate America, universities are also moving toward implementing executive posi-
tions such as chief diversity officer and associate vice president for diversity.
Student enthusiasm for learning about diversity management comes from their own experi-
ences in relation to the reality of today’s diverse workforce. Leaders of businesses and universi-
ties have realized that although there may be differing opinions about diversity management, one
aspect of diversity cannot be disputed: The American workforce and classroom are becoming
increasingly heterogeneous. In the organizations in which they work, students, many of whom
are taking classes in addition to working in either part-time or full-time jobs, see the emergence
of diversity issues—such as the prevalence of older workers in the workforce, employees who
want to express themselves spiritually during work hours, or the formation of employee resource
groups. Further, students become increasingly engaged as they realize that the dynamic work-
force demographics do not simply represent a more diverse workforce but also highlight some
unexpected realities within these demographic trends.
One demographic that students may be familiar with is the record numbers of women and
minorities entering the US workforce. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, women
now account for 46 percent of all full-time and part-time workers. While this fact may be obvi-
ous to students, not as obvious is the fact that despite their increased numbers in the workforce,
women and minorities still receive a disproportionately low share of the rewards allocated by
US businesses. For example, women occupy only about 8 percent of executive vice president
positions (and above) at Fortune 500 companies.9 In addition, African Americans and Latinos
represent approximately 25 percent of the US population yet hold fewer than 5 percent of senior-
management positions.10 In response to these demographics, we ask our students to grapple with
the following question: Why is the increasing profusion of diverse workers not being matched by
similarly expanded opportunities in the executive suites?
Perhaps more interesting for students to discover is that in some cases efforts to increase
­opportunities have been associated with actual declines. The number of people with disabilities
entering the workforce, for example, seems to have decreased overall in the last decade, despite
the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, which was supposed to pro-
vide better access for them.11 Furthermore, various minority groups continue to suffer discrimina-
tion beyond restricted access to employment or low pay. In the case of gay and lesbian workers,
6 Part 1 • Uncovering the Complexities of Workplace Diversity

nearly two out of five say they consistently face some form of hostility or harassment on the job.12
And despite the fact that 95 percent of Americans say they believe in God, and 48 percent say
they talk about their religious faith at work, the EEOC reports a 29 percent spike since 1992 in
the number of religion-based discrimination charges.13 In light of statistics such as these, we ask
students to contemplate why these workplace inconsistencies occur.
When teaching students about diversity management, the pedagogical opportunities are
based in the students’ own experiences as they are witnesses to diversity’s dominant presence and
dynamic quality in the workplace and classroom. While diversity represents a significant and obvi-
ous component of today’s workforce, diversity management is a somewhat nascent organizational
concept; because of this, teaching about managing diversity can pose pedagogical challenges.

Challenges of Teaching Diversity Management

Although there is a clear movement in corporate America and academia to embrace diversity,
not so clear is the public acknowledgment and dialogue about the challenges associated with di-
versity management education. Students need to realize that diversity management is sometimes
a difficult process with often uncertain results; even skilled managers with the best intentions
can fail to anticipate and resolve the problems that managing diversity presents. The diversity
paradox represents the potential challenges or inconsistencies that diversity may raise. An illus-
tration of such a challenge is that while diversity is a proven source of creativity and innovation
in organizations, it is also a cause of misunderstanding and conflict.14
As students grapple with the idea that sometimes diversity within an organization can be
paradoxical, they begin to understand the complexity of diversity management. An organization
that illuminates a diversity paradox is Xerox. Xerox, a progressive leader in diversity manage-
ment, has won a long string of diversity-related awards and has been rated as one of the top
ten companies in hiring minorities, women, people with disabilities, and gay and lesbian em-
ployees by Fortune, Forbes, Working Mother, Latina Style, and Enable Magazine.15 Xerox’s
approach to managing diversity has been clear and consistent; Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer Anne M. Mulcahy states: “Diversity breeds creativity. Maybe it’s because people with
different backgrounds challenge each other’s underlying assumptions, freeing everybody from
convention and orthodoxy.”16 Nonetheless, diversity management at Xerox has had its prob-
lems. Not only was evidence found that suggested the clear lack of promotional opportunity
and equal pay for African Americans, but Xerox employees “fashioned a workplace display of
African American dolls with nooses around their necks, igniting a lawsuit against the company
in 2002.”17 Although Xerox has been a model of diversity management for over forty years, it
represents a diversity paradox as it recently was charged with blatant, systemic discrimination of
African Americans.
For the diversity management educator, illuminating problematic aspects of diversity is just
as important as illuminating diversity’s strengths. Another challenge facing the diversity educa-
tor is effectively teaching the business case for diversity. Despite the organizational intricacies of
having and managing a diverse workforce, many business leaders and educators unconditionally
embrace the main premise of the business case for diversity: having a diverse workforce will im-
prove financial performance. The business case for diversity is, in effect, “a management- focused,
economic argument to promote corporate investments in workforce diversification. The business
case links investments in organizational diversity initiatives to improvements in productivity and
profitability.”18 The business case for diversity asserts that a diverse workforce creates a competi-
tive advantage by decreasing overall costs while enhancing creativity, problem solving capability,
 Chapter 1 • Diversity in the Workplace 7

recruitment and marketing strategies, overall productivity, leadership effectiveness, global rela-
tions, and organizational flexibility.19 The business case discourse is powerful and pervasive as
it has spread not only within the United States, but also globally throughout the United Kingdom,
Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, South Africa, and Scandinavia.20
Nonetheless, it is the diversity educator’s responsibility to illuminate that although the
business case argument may well be appealing on an ideological level and represents a popu-
lar position on workforce diversity, it fails to take into account the challenges associated with
a diverse workforce such as the potential of more conflict and misunderstanding because of
people’s differences. While some researchers have discussed the flaws of the business case,21
this cautionary conversation goes mostly unrecognized in diversity training programs and col-
lege courses. Popular books that are used in both training and college courses, for example, often
dedicate very little discussion to the lack of research supporting the business case for diversity.22
We believe that failing to recognize the problematic nature of diversity and taking the business
case for diversity for granted, however, leaves students and managers less well equipped than
necessary to handle the potential challenges, pitfalls, and paradoxes associated with diversity.
We believe that when teaching about diversity management, the pedagogical framework
must take into account real complexities and challenges that diversity may present. We have
developed a three-phase pedagogical framework to help diversity educators navigate diversity’s
complexities and create a more accurate and therefore more useful conversation about diversity
and diversity management. The first phase is to grapple with the definition of diversity. As di-
versity educators and students alike often ask the question, “What is diversity?” educators should
encourage a conversation about definitions that illuminate diversity’s complexities. The second
phase facilitates an understanding of diversity management from an organizational leadership
perspective. In the third phase, diversity educators should present in detail the arguments of the
business case for diversity and encourage an examination of the validity of the assumptions sup-
porting these arguments.
We believe that the pedagogical framework presented here facilitates a method through
which diversity educators can begin a more accurate and helpful conversation about diversity man-
agement in business and academia. The main goal of this three-phase framework is to make teach-
ing more effective—to create a more meaningful, honest, and dynamic dialogue about diversity in
the workplace. We first begin with a detailed explication of phase one: defining diversity.

Defining Diversity
When teaching students and managers about managing diversity, it is important to know what di-
versity means. Diversity educators should explain the various ways in which diversity is defined
by scholars, practitioners, and organizations as a way to illuminate the breadth of interpretations
and then to encourage students to determine what they view as the most representative or useful
definition. In this section, after we present some of these definitions—by examining their weak-
nesses and highlighting their strengths—we present principles that will enhance a more compre-
hensive understanding of diversity.

Society for Human Resource Management

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), a leading professional association, rec-
ognizes that although diversity “is often used to refer to differences based on ethnicity, gender, age,
religion, disability, national origin and sexual orientation,” it also encompasses an “infinite range”
8 Part 1 • Uncovering the Complexities of Workplace Diversity

of “unique characteristics and experiences, including communication styles, physical character

such as height and weight, and speed of learning and comprehension.”23

Marilyn Loden
Marilyn Loden, a nationally recognized organizational change consultant, emphasizes the im-
portance of an all-encompassing definition of diversity, because, as she believes, when any
group—white men, for example—is excluded, managing diversity may create division rather
than inclusion. To “avoid widescale opposition,” corporations should define diversity such that
“everyone’s diversity is valued.”24 Because of this need for widespread endorsement from or-
ganizational members, Loden views diversity as “important human characteristics that impact
individuals’ values, opportunities, and perceptions of self and others at work.”25 Loden’s widely
embraced model of diversity, as represented in Figure 1-1, explicates diversity as having both
primary and secondary dimensions.

Geographic Military
Location Experience

Work
Education
Experience
Age Gender

Work Mental/
Style Sexual Physical
Income
Orientation Abilities and
Characteristics

Family
Ethnic Religion
Status Race
Heritage

First
Communication Language
Style
Organizational
Role and Level

Primary Dimensions Secondary Dimensions

Figure 1-1 The Diversity Wheel

Loden Associates designs innovative models such as the diversity wheel to facilitate understanding of
a broad range of the primary and secondary dimensions of diversity. Source: Figure adapted from
Implementing Diversity: Best Practices for Making Diversity Work in Your Organization by Marilyn
Loden. Copyright © 1996 by Marilyn Loden. Reprinted with permission of McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Another random document with
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 VALUABLE WORK.
There can scarcely be anyone who will question the educational
value of such visits as these. Not only are they of great value
educationally to those privileged to take part in them, but the results
of the investigations carried out, when made available as these were,
in book or pamphlet form, convey much valuable information and
become the means of imparting many new ideas to people to whom
the larger books in which such information is to be found are not
available. If they should have served, in however small a measure, in
penetrating the veneer of complacency with which the average
untravelled and uninformed Co-operator regards his own movement
as in all things the last word in perfection of organisation and
treatment of those employed, they would be worth far more to the
movement than the few pounds which each trip cost.
 THE YEARS OF WAR.
At first the war did not make much difference to the work of the
educational committee or of its agencies, but as more and more of
the younger male employees were called up or joined voluntarily,
there was a perceptible falling off in the membership of the various
agencies. The rowing club had to suspend operations altogether, and
the band was hard put to it to maintain the balance of instruments,
new players having to be brought in to take the places of those who
had joined up. Meantime a senior choir had been formed, and did
much good work, not only by providing concerts in St Mungo Hall,
but by singing at concerts organised in aid of war charities and to
provide entertainment for convalescent soldiers. In work of a semi-
military character, the band also took a full share.
The educational committee also took charge of the funds organised
by the various departments to provide parcels for employees serving
with the Forces, and in this way a constant stream of parcels went
from the Bakery to distant comrades. The provision of lectures by
prominent men and women in the Co-operative and kindred
movements continued to be a feature of the work carried on by the
committee each winter, while it was usually arranged that some
prominent Co-operator should give an address at the quarterly
meeting held under the auspices of the committee, such addresses
being generally on matters of current interest.
The work of an educational committee is usually arduous and
somewhat discouraging. In commercial work the results of a policy
are generally forthcoming immediately, but educational work is
somewhat like scattering bread upon the waters. Doubtless good
results accrue, but time must elapse before they show themselves,
and the intervening period is one of faith and hope. Then, also,
educational work is work in which a departure from stereotyped
methods is necessary occasionally. There is a monotony in doing the
same work year after year, which tends to “grooviness,” and this is a
danger which must be avoided at all hazards, for from “grooviness”
comes staleness and with staleness comes satiety. When an
educational committee breaks new ground, as the Baking Society’s
committee did in 1913 with their deputation to works of prominent
firms in England, interest is stimulated, and even the stereotyped
work takes on a new freshness. In the future we may hope to see the
good work already done by the Baking Society’s educational
committee broadening out in new directions, and acquiring fresh
vigour with new successes. The educational committee has been in
the past a welfare committee in the best meaning of that word, and
without any of the prying, sometimes nicknamed “spying” by the
employees, it has done much to promote the physical and mental
wellbeing of those for whom it works. As the years pass, fresh outlets
in this direction for its energies will also manifest themselves, and
these it will take advantage of as readily as it has done in the past.
 CHAPTER XXI.
MEN WHO WROUGHT.

GABRIEL THOMSON—JAMES BORROWMAN—DAVID SMITH

—ROBERT CRAIG—WILLIAM BARCLAY—THOMAS SLATER
—ANDREW BROWN—ALEXANDER FRASER—JOHN
FERGUSON—DUNCAN M‘CULLOCH—JAMES H. FORSYTH
—JAMES YOUNG—PETER GLASSE—DANIEL H. GERRARD
—JAMBS BAIN—THE BOARD AT THE END OF FIFTY
YEARS.

The Co-operative movement has ever been rich in men and women
who have given to it devoted, whole-hearted, and able service. There
have always been men with sufficient faith in the principles on which
the movement is based to spend themselves, their energies and their
money, in furthering it, from the days when Robert Owen, working
to better the conditions of the miserable creatures who were helping
to pile up wealth for himself and his partners, discovered that it was
through striving to help others that man could best help himself, and
devoted his wealth and the remainder of his life to the promulgation
of this doctrine. In men whose faith in this principle was great and
whose work for its enthronement in the councils of the world was
arduous the United Co-operative Baking Society has been rich. They
have all of them been men who believed that Co-operation was the
true principle of progress, and in their own way and time each one
did his best to further the cause he had at heart.
 GABRIEL THOMSON.
It is peculiar that of the man who played perhaps the most
prominent part in the work of establishing the United Baking Society
little has been placed on record. Mr Gabriel Thomson was a man in
late middle life when the proposal to establish the S.C.W.S. was
being discussed. He was a representative of St Rollox Society at the
meeting at which it was finally decided that a Scottish Wholesale
Society should be established, and moved the resolution to that
effect. When the committee was being formed he was appointed
treasurer, and when the proposal for a federated bread baking
society was being discussed he read a paper on the subject which
went far to decide the delegates in favour of the proposal to establish
the United Baking Society, there also moving the resolution in favour
of its formation. He was appointed first chairman of the Society, thus
acting as chairman of the U.C.B.S. and treasurer of the S.C.W.S. at
the one time; but he only remained at the head of affairs for the first
year, and his official connection with the Society then severed. He
died in the Townhead district about the end of the century.
 JAMES BORROWMAN.
Those who knew James Borrowman have described him as one of
the most effective Co-operative propagandists and platform men that
the movement in Scotland has produced. He was a man of boundless
energy and enthusiasm, and was filled with a lofty idealism which
caused him to look ever ahead beyond the petty difficulties of the
moment. Unfortunately, his abounding faith in the possibilities of
Co-operation caused him to overlook sometimes the immediate and
practical difficulties in the way and, reversing the position of the men
who are unable to see the wood for the trees, his gaze was fixed so
firmly on the beautiful vista ahead that he failed to observe the rocks
in the pathway on which he trod until he had stumbled over them.
Mr Borrowman was one of the pioneers of Crosshouse Society, but at
the time when the Baking Society was being discussed he had just
been appointed manager of the newly formed Wholesale Society and
had joined the Anderston Society. He worked faithfully as secretary
of the Baking Society until pressure of work for the S.C.W.S. caused
him to resign, and but a few years later his unquenchable optimism
caused him to make the mistake of allowing the Ironworks Society to
overdraw largely on the Wholesale Society. This finished his
outstanding work for the cause of Co-operation.
 DAVID SMITH.
When Mr Borrowman resigned the secretaryship of the Baking
Society he was succeeded by Mr David Smith, who had been acting as
assistant secretary for some months before the resignation took
place. Mr Smith was a representative of St Rollox Society on the
board of the U.C.B.S., making his first appearance as a representative
from that society at the committee meeting which was held on 15th
March 1872. On the resignation, in the summer of 1875, of Mr Robert
Craig from the management of the Society, Mr Smith was appointed
manager, and continued to act in that capacity until the end of 1889,
when he resigned in order to start in business as a baker in Maryhill.
Unfortunately, he did not succeed, and shortly afterwards went to
South Africa. Evidently he did not find things to his liking there, for
in a year or two he was back in Scotland again, and was acting as
master of works in connection with the reconstruction work of the
Drapery and Furnishing Society. He died almost exactly seven years
after severing his connection with the Baking Society.
 ROBERT CRAIG.
Mr Robert Craig was only a short time—two and a half years—in
the service of the Society, but during that short period he did such
good work as to cause a general regret on the part of those who knew
him when ill-health caused him to sever his connection with it. In a
vain effort to restore his health he went to Spain, but, finding that he
was not benefiting by the change, he returned to Glasgow again,
where he died in 1877. Mr Craig was a native of Barrhead, and before
taking up his duties as cashier to the Baking Society he acted as
bookkeeper with the Wholesale Society. He seems to have been of a
most lovable disposition, beloved by all who came into contact with
him.
 WILLIAM BARCLAY.
The name of William Barclay will always be associated with the
Scottish Co-operative Convalescent Homes Association, which he
helped to found, and for which he worked earnestly and
enthusiastically. In the early days of the U.C.B.S. he was associated
with St Rollox Society, and it was as a member of that society that he
was appointed to the chair of the Baking Society in 1870. He
continued to act as chairman for fifteen months only, and then
severed his connection with the committee. In his later years he was
associated with Kinning Park Society, and it was as a member of that
society that he did his work in connection with the Homes
Association.
 THOMAS SLATER.
When Mr David Smith resigned the secretaryship of the Society to
take up its management he was succeeded by Mr Thomas Slater, who
represented London Road Society on the board, and Mr Slater
continued to act as secretary until the end of 1887. During his term
of office Mr Slater had proven himself a most efficient and
painstaking secretary, and it was due to his initiative that the ground
annual of the St James Street property was purchased by the Society.
After ceasing his official connection with the Society he continued to
take a keen interest in its affairs and at times even to criticise the
policy of the directors through the columns of the press.
 ANDREW BROWN.
It is probable that it was to the wise guidance of Mr Andrew Brown
more than to the work of any other man that the Baking Society was
able to overcome the difficulties of its early days. He was appointed
to the chair in 1872, and continued to act as president during all the
strenuous days when the proposals for building a branch bakery
farther west were being discussed with vigour. When he became
president the Society had many difficulties to contend with, not the
least of which were inefficient workmen, while shortage of money
retarded its operations to a very great extent. Mr Brown continued to
act as chairman until his society—Paisley Provident—withdrew from
membership at the end of 1880. All those who had the pleasure of
knowing him speak of him as a cautious leader, shrewd and clear-
sighted, who always took a business view of the proposals which
came before the committee. Thus he was able to steer clear of the
many pitfalls which lined the pathway of his Society.
 ALEXANDER FRASER.
Mr Alexander Fraser succeeded Mr Brown in the chair. At the time
of his appointment to the chair he had been continuously a member
of the board of the Society from March 1873, as the representative of
Busby Society, and he continued to perform the duties of president of
the Society until the quarterly meeting which was held in December
1887. Mr Fraser had thus an unbroken connection with the
committee of the Society for the long period of fourteen years, until
then the longest period during which any member had filled a seat
on the board. During his term of office he had seen the Society grow
wondrously. He had seen it become too big for its home at St James
Street, and had steered it safely to its new home, erected specially for
its occupation, at M‘Neil Street, and he felt that, that task
accomplished, he did well to lay aside his task. He was a worthy
successor to Mr Brown and a worthy predecessor of the men who
followed him.
 JOHN FERGUSON.
Mr Fraser was succeeded by Mr John Ferguson, of Glasgow
Eastern Society. Before Mr Ferguson came to the Baking Society’s
board he had filled many positions of responsibility in the Eastern
Society. He was member of the committee for a number of years, a
member of the first educational committee of the society when it was
formed in 1876, and was also president of the society for a number of
years. In his own society and in the Baking Society he did good work
for Co-operation, and was much respected by all who came into
contact with him. He, too, joined the great majority a number of
years ago.
 DUNCAN M‘CULLOCH.
Mr Duncan M‘Culloch was born in the little village of Carfin in
Lanarkshire. After serving his apprenticeship as a joiner in Wishaw,
he came to Glasgow, and on marrying became connected with
Kinning Park Society. In 1887 he was made president of the society,
and afterwards a member of the then newly formed educational
committee. He took a prominent part in the formation of the first
branch of the Scottish Co-operative Women’s Guild—Kinning Park
Central branch—and came to be known amongst the ladies of the
guild as “The Father of the Guild,” a title of which he was justly
proud. After having been for a short time a member of the committee
of the Baking Society, he was elected chairman in 1889, and
continued to occupy that honourable position for the long period of
fifteen years. During these years the Baking Society entered on a
period of expansion which raised it from the position of a moderately
sized bakery, doing a trade of 700 sacks a week, to that of the largest
institution of its kind, with a trade of almost 4,000 sacks weekly. He
saw the biscuit factory started, and during his term of office the
Clydebank branch was opened and the Belfast branch was
commenced. Mr M‘Culloch also took a warm interest in the affairs of
the Convalescent Homes Association, and he served for many years,
until his death in the summer of 1915, as a director of this, “the
brightest jewel in the Co-operative crown,” as the chairman of the
Homes Association sometimes describes it. Mr M‘Culloch became
again a president of Kinning Park Society, and there, as in the work
of the Baking Society, he displayed enterprise, acumen, and
firmness. He was a man of strong will and dominant personality, and
his work on the various boards of the Co-operative movement with
which he was associated was always marked by strong common
sense. On the Co-operative Defence Committee and on the Scottish
Sectional Board he was also a tower of strength; never favouring
schemes or policies which were far in advance of the times, but never
holding back when he thought action was for the benefit of the
movement to which he had devoted the leisure moments of his life.
For some time in 1915 he had been laid aside with illness, and as the
Congress of that year met for its first session the news of his death
arrived and cast a gloom over the minds of the Scotsmen present,
who felt that one who had been all a man had gone from them.
 JAMES H. FORSYTH.
The genial cashier of the Baking Society is one of the best known
and most highly respected business men in the Co-operative
movement. His balance-sheets are models of lucidity, and this
feature is often commented on in the columns of the financial press.
Mr Forsyth has had a lifelong acquaintance with Co-operative
accounting. As a lad he entered the office of the Wholesale Society,
and waited there until, as he himself has put it, he began to
understand what double entry bookkeeping really was. Then a desire
to see other lands possessed him for a time, and he voyaged to the
great Republic of the West. He had been there for only two years,
however, when the homing instinct possessed him, and returning to
Glasgow, after a short interval, entered the office of the Baking
Society as bookkeeper. Here he had been for some four years when
Mr David Smith retired from the management of the Society, and the
board, deciding that they were going to try and work the Society for a
time at least without a manager, appointed Mr Forsyth cashier and
bookkeeper, and cashier and bookkeeper he has been ever since. Mr
Forsyth is one of those officials who treat the business for which they
work as if it was their own. He is indefatigable in his efforts to
maintain and even to improve the wellbeing and to accelerate the
progress of the Baking Society, and during the strenuous years of the
war, when the demands of the War Office were depleting his staff,
nevertheless he “carried on” in a manner which won the approval of
management and delegates alike. He is one of those careful,
painstaking officials who are assets of great value to the societies
fortunate enough to possess them.
 JAMES YOUNG.
Mr James Young, the widely respected manager of the Baking
Society, is an idealist turned business man. He has the vision of the
poet, and is ever looking forward from the sordid to-day to the
brighter and better to-morrow; but he is none the less a business
man. He served on the board of the Baking Society as a
representative of Uddingston Society for some three years before he
was appointed, in 1899, manager of the Society. Since then he has
conducted the business of the Society wisely and well, and his advice
is eagerly sought after in matters connected with the trade. He is very
popular with all with whom business brings him into contact, for he
is recognised by all to be a man of high principle, who is incapable of
stooping to anything mean. To this aspect of his character is
probably due the remarkably good terms which have always existed
between the Society and the employees, for he is kind and
considerate to those whom fortune has placed under his charge.
Unfortunately, in these latter years his health has not been quite as
robust as his friends would like, but one and all hope that many years
of service yet remain to him.
 PETER GLASSE.
Mr Peter Glasse succeeded Mr Slater as secretary. He was the
representative of St George on the board of the Baking Society at the
time of Mr Slater’s resignation, and was for many years one of the
most active Co-operators in the West of Scotland. He took a very
active part in all the strenuous work which fell to the lot of good
platform men during and after the boycott of 1896–97. On several
occasions he served with distinction in the chair of his own society,
and was for many years a member of the board of the Wholesale
Society. He demitted office as secretary of the Baking Society in the
spring of 1895. From 1896 until the merging of the West of Scotland
Co-operative Defence Committee in the National Co-operative
Defence Association, Mr Glasse acted as chairman of the committee,
and then as chairman of the National Association until its work was
merged in that of the Scottish Sectional Board. He died early in 1917
after a life which had been full of service to Co-operation.
 D. H. GERRARD, J.P.
Mr Daniel H. Gerrard, J.P., is one of the best known figures in the
Co-operative movement, and it is a matter for sincere regret to his
many friends that he is not able to go out and in amongst them as of
yore, and doubly regrettable that illness should have stricken him
down two months before the Society for which he had worked so
hard completed its fiftieth year of existence. Mr Gerrard is a
Southerner, but he has lived so long in Scotland that he has become
acclimatised. His first connection with Co-operation was with the
second Maryhill Society, in the formation of which he took an active
part, and of which he was president for many years. When that
society amalgamated with St George he threw himself with equal
vigour and success into the work of his new society, and ere long was
appointed to the presidency. Then fifteen years ago he was elected to
the chair of the Baking Society, and continued to act in that capacity
until he was compelled by the orders of his medical man to give it up.
He was an able and earnest advocate of Co-operation, and took an
active part in the strenuous work of the boycott days as well as in Co-
operative missionary work in Ireland and elsewhere. It is the earnest
wish of all friends that in his retirement he will be long spared to
look back with complacency over his many fights for the cause he
loved.
 JAMES BAIN.
Mr James Bain, the genial secretary of the Baking Society, has had
a long and active connection with the cause of Co-operation in
Glasgow. He succeeded Mr John Ferguson as chairman of Glasgow
Eastern Society, and was chairman of that society when the
Dalmarnock Road premises were opened in 1893. He was also
treasurer of the society for a number of years. In the spring of 1895
he was elected secretary of the Baking Society in succession to Mr
Glasse, and that position he continues to fill with honour to himself
and profit to the Society. Nor, although the secretaryship of the
Baking Society would seem to be enough spare-time work for any
man, does he rest content with that. Ever since its formation he has
acted as president of that beneficent Co-operative institution, the Co-
operative Veterans Association. In his work for the Bakery he has
always been conscientious and clear, and has also done much work
which lies outside his special work as secretary. For example, he read
a paper a number of years ago at a conference of representatives of
the Glasgow societies, in which he advocated strongly the desirability
of establishing a system of bread baking which would enable the
bakers to begin their work at a reasonable hour. He is getting on in
years now, but his minutes are as clearly written as ever, and his
many friends hope that it will be long ere he has to lay down his
secretarial pen.