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LECTURE OUTLINE AND LECTURE NOTES The world of work The Taco Barn Melting Pot (Text pages 366-367) Tony attends a unit managers’ meeting and finds the opening discussion about diversity hiring and how this will become a company policy and mandate going forward. Tony has some concerns, especially if he is faced with hiring new staff and has to consider gender and race over skills. 1. Why has diversity become a focus for the Taco Barn Corporation? The concern is that the current management team does not reflect the diverse workforce or the customer population that exists. By creating a culture of diversity that is open to different behavioral styles the company can improve its overall decision making process. 2. Do you agree with Tony’s concerns about the new initiative? Why or why not? Tony sees this as a threat to his own management opportunities and is now a bit unsure where he stands after hearing this edict from the regional manager. Tony now must not only get past this from his own personal viewpoint, but must also begin helping other diverse employees of his own staff. This will involve encouraging them about the new opportunities that will be available. 3. Tony’s mentor, Jerry Smith, was one of the original supporters of the plan. Do you think that will influence Tony’s decision? Why or why not? Tony may want to discuss his own viewpoints with Jerry. However, with the new objectives of the company, he is going to find his concerns viewed more as complaints and problems than as him being an agent for the new change. 4. What do you think Taco Barn should do to increase diversity in the company? Explain your answer. An important element to making this new edict part of the company’s new philosophy is to get the entire organization to embrace the mental change that must occur. The Lewin model can be a great facilitation of this process in which employees go through a series of steps: (1) unfreezing, breaking down the forces supporting or maintaining o