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Managing Human Resources and Diversity •
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
209
CHAPTER 9
MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES AND DIVERSITY
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Are You Ready to Be a Manager?
I. The Strategic Role of HRM is to Drive Organizational Performance
A. The Strategic Approach
B. Building Human Capital to Drive Performance
II. The Impact of Federal Legislation on HRM
III. The Changing Nature of Careers
A. The Changing Social Contract
B. Innovations in HRM
IV. Finding the Right People
A. Human Resource Planning
B. Recruiting
C. Selecting
V. Managing Talent
A. Training and Development
B. Performance Appraisal
VI. Maintaining an Effective Workforce
A. Compensation
B. Benefits
C. Rightsizing the Organization
D. Termination
VII. The Changing Workplace
A. Diversity in the United States
B. Diversity on a Global Scale
VIII. Managing Diversity
A. What is Diversity?
B. Dividends of Workplace Diversity
IX. Factors Shaping Personal Bias
A. Prejudice, Discrimination, and Stereotypes
B. Ethnocentrism
X. Factors Affecting Women’s Careers
A. The Glass Ceiling
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B. The Opt-Out Trend
C. The Female Advantage
XI. Cultural Competence
XII. Diversity Initiatives and Programs
A. Changing Structures and Policies
B. Expanding Recruitment Efforts
C. Establishing Mentor Relationships
D. Accommodating Special Needs
E. Providing Diversity Skills Training
F. Increasing Awareness of Sexual Harassment
XIII. New Diversity Initiatives
A. Multicultural Teams
B. Employee Network Groups
ANNOTATED LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, students should be able to:
1. Explain the strategic role of human resource management.
The term human resource management (HRM) refers to activities undertaken to attract an
effective workforce, develop the workforce to its potential, and maintain the workforce over the
long term. These goals take place within the larger organizational environment including
competitive strategy, federal legislation, and societal trends. The organization’s competitive
strategy may include mergers and acquisitions, downsizing to increase efficiency, international
operations, or the acquisition of automated production technology. These strategic decisions
determine the demand for skills and employees. The human resource strategy, in turn, must
include the correct employee makeup to implement the organization’s strategy.
2. Explain what the changing social contract between organizations and employees means for
workers and human resource managers.
Not since the advent of mass production and modern organizations has a redefinition of work
and career been so profound. Under the emerging social contract, each person must take care of
herself or himself. Particularly in learning organizations, everyone is expected to be a self-
motivated worker who has excellent interpersonal relationships and is continuously acquiring
new skills. Employees take more responsibility and control in their jobs, becoming partners in
business improvement rather than cogs in a machine. Organizations provide challenging work
assignments as well as information and resources to enable workers to continuously learn new
skills. HRM departments can help organizations develop a mix of training, career development
opportunities, compensation packages, and rewards and incentives. They can provide career
information and assessment, combined with career coaching to help employees determine new
career directions.
Managing Human Resources and Diversity •
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211
3. Show how organizations determine their future staffing needs through human resource
planning.
Human resource planning is the forecasting of human resource needs and the projected matching
of individuals with expected vacancies. Human resource planning begins with several questions:
What new technologies are emerging, and how will these affect the work system? What is the
volume of the business likely to be in the next five to ten years? What is the turnover rate, and
how much, if any, is avoidable? By anticipating future HRM needs, the organization can prepare
itself to meet competitive challenges more effectively than organizations that react to problems
only as they arise.
4. Describe how organizations develop an effective workforce through training and
performance appraisal.
Training and development represent a planned effort by an organization to facilitate employees’
learning of job-related behaviors. Some authors use the term “training” to refer to teaching
lower-level or technical employees how to do their present jobs, while development refers to
teaching managers the skills needed for both present and future jobs. For simplicity, we will
refer to both as training. Performance appraisal is another technique for developing an effective
workforce. Performance appraisal comprises the steps of observing and assessing employee
performance, recording the assessment, and providing feedback to the employee. Managers use
performance appraisal to describe and evaluate the employees’ performance.
5. Understand the pervasive demographic changes occurring in the domestic and global
marketplace and how corporations are responding.
The importance of cultural diversity and employee attitudes that welcome cultural differences
will result from the inevitable changes taking place in the workplace, in our society, and in the
economic environment. These changes include globalization and the changing workforce. In the
past, the United States was a place where people of different national origins, ethnicities, races,
and religions came together and blended to resemble one another. Opportunities for
advancement were limited to those workers who fit easily into the mainstream of the larger
culture. Now organizations recognize that everyone is not the same and that the differences
people bring to the workplace are valuable. Companies are learning that these differences enable
them to compete globally and to acquire rich sources of new talent. Most organizations must
undertake conscious efforts to shift from a monoculture perspective to one of pluralism.
Management activities required for a culturally diverse workforce starts with top managers who
can help shape organizational values and employee mindsets about cultural differences. In
addition training programs can promote knowledge and acceptance of diverse cultures and
educate managers on valuing the differences.
6. Recognize the complex attitudes, opinions, and issues that employees bring to the workplace,
including prejudice, discrimination, stereotypes, and ethnocentrism.
Prejudice is the tendency to view people who are different as being deficient. Discrimination
occurs when people act out their prejudicial attitudes toward other people who are targets of their
prejudice. Although blatant discrimination is not as widespread as in the past, bias in the
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workplace often shows up in subtle ways. A stereotype is a rigid, exaggerated, irrational belief
associated with a particular group of people. To be successful managing diversity, managers
need to eliminate harmful stereotypes from their thinking, shedding any biases that negatively
affect the workplace.
Stereotype threat describes the psychological experience of a person who, usually engaged in a
task, is aware of a stereotype about his or her identity group suggesting that he or she will not
perform well on that task. People most affected by stereotype threat are those we consider as
disadvantaged in the workplace due to negative stereotypes–racial and ethnic minorities,
members of lower socioeconomic classes, women, older people, gay and bisexual men, and
people with disabilities.
Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own group and subculture are inherently superior to other
groups and cultures, thus making it difficult to value diversity. The business world tends to
reflect values, behaviors, and assumptions based on the experiences of a homogeneous, white,
middle-class, male workforce. Most management theories presume workers share similar values,
beliefs, motivations, and attitudes about work and life in general.
7. Recognize the factors that affect women’s opportunities, including the glass ceiling, the opt-
out trend, and the female advantage.
The glass ceiling is an invisible barrier that separates women and minorities from top
management positions. They can look up through the ceiling and see top management, but
prevailing attitudes and stereotypes are invisible obstacles to their own advancement. Women
and minorities are often excluded from informal manager networks and don’t get access to the
type of general and line management experience required for moving to the top. Glass walls
serve as invisible barriers to important lateral movement within the organization.
Many women choose to get off the fast track long before they hit the glass ceiling. In this opt-
out trend, highly-educated, professional women are deciding that corporate success isn’t worth
the price in terms of reduced family and personal time. Some are opting out to be stay-at-home
moms, while others want to continue working, but just not in the kind of fast-paced, competitive,
aggressive environment that exists in most corporations. Critics argue that this is just another
way to blame women themselves for the dearth of female managers at higher levels.
Some people think women might actually be better managers, partly because of a more
collaborative, less hierarchical, relationship-oriented approach that is in tune with today’s global
and multicultural environment. As attitudes and values change with changing generations, the
qualities women seem to possess may lead to a gradual role reversal in organizations. Women of
all races and ethnic groups are outpacing men in earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Over
all, women’s participation in both the labor force and civic affairs has steadily increased since
the mid-1950s, while men’s participation has slowly but steadily declined.
8. Explain the five steps in developing cultural competence in the workplace.
A successful diversity plan leads to a workforce that demonstrates cultural competence in the
long run. Cultural competence is the ability to interact effectively with people of different
cultures. There are five steps to implementing a diversity plan.
Managing Human Resources and Diversity •
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213
• Uncover diversity problems in the organization. Organizations can’t assess their progress
toward cultural competence without first investigating where the culture is right now. A
cultural audit is a tool that identifies problems or areas needing improvement in a
corporation’s culture.
• Strengthen top management commitment. The most important component of a successful
diversity strategy is management commitment, leadership, and support.
• Choose solutions to fit a balanced strategy. To be most effective, solutions should be
presented in a balanced strategy and address three factors: education, enforcement, and
exposure.
• Demand results and revisit the goals. Diversity performance should be measured by
numerical goals to ensure solutions are being implemented successfully.
• Maintain momentum to change the culture. Use success in the previous four steps as fuel
to move forward and leverage for more progress.
LECTURE OUTLINE
Are You Ready to Be a Manager?
This questionnaire helps students determine their understanding of human resources practices
and attitudes toward diversity.
INTRODUCTION
The term human resource management (HRM) refers to the design and application of formal
systems in an organization to ensure the effective and efficient use of human talent to accomplish
organizational goals. Over the past decade, human resource management has shed its old
“personnel” image and gained recognition as a vital player in corporate strategy. Increasingly,
large corporations are outsourcing routine HR administrative activities, freeing HRM staff from
time consuming paperwork and enabling them to take on more strategic responsibilities. Human
resources tops Gartner Inc.’s list of the most commonly outsourced business activities. All
managers need to be skilled in the basics of human resource management. Flatter organizations
often require that managers throughout the organization play an active role in recruiting and
selecting the right employees, developing effective training programs, or creating appropriate
performance appraisal systems. HRM professionals act to guide and assist line managers in
managing human resources to achieve the organization’s strategic goals.
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I. THE STRATEGIC ROLE OF HRM IS TO DRIVE ORGANIZATIONAL
PERFORMANCE
INSTRUCTOR’S NOTES_________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________
Exhibit 9.1: Strategic Human Resource Management
A. The Strategic Approach
1. All managers are human resource managers.
2. Employees are viewed as assets. In today’s brutally competitive business
environment, how a company manages its workforce may be the single most
important factor in sustained competitive success.
3. HRM is a matching process, integrating the organization’s strategy and goals with the
correct approach to managing the firm’s human resources.
4. Current strategic issues of concern to managers include:
a. The right people to become more competitive on a global basis.
b. The right people to improve quality, innovation, and customer service.
c. The right people to retain during mergers and acquisitions.
d. The right people to apply new information technology for e-business.
New Manager Self-Test: Getting the Right People on the Bus
Managing Human Resources and Diversity •
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215
As new managers, students must learn to get the right people into their organizations. Most new
managers are shocked at the large amount of time, effort, and skill required to recruit, place, and
retain the right people. The right people can make an organization great; the wrong people can
be catastrophic. This exercise helps students better understand their ability to get the right
people in their organizations.
5. The three broad activities of HRM are as follows:
a. Find the right people.
b. Manage talent so people achieve their potential.
c. Maintain the workforce over the long term.
B. Building Human Capital to Drive Performance
1. Human capital refers to the economic value of the combined knowledge, experience,
skills, and capabilities of employees. To build human capital, HRM develops
strategies for finding the best talent, enhancing their skills and knowledge with
training programs and opportunities for personal and professional development, and
providing compensation and benefits that support the sharing of knowledge and
appropriately reward people for their contributions to the organization.
Exhibit 9.2: The Role and Value of Human-Capital Investments
II. THE IMPACT OF FEDERAL LEGISLATION ON HRM
INSTRUCTOR’S NOTES_________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________
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Several federal laws have been passed to insure equal employment opportunity (EEO). The
purpose of these laws is to stop discriminatory practices that are unfair to specific groups and
define enforcement agencies for these laws. EEO legislation attempts to balance the pay given to
men and women and provide employment opportunities without regard to race, religion, national
origin, sex, age, or disability. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 created the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the major agency involved with employment discrimination.
Discrimination occurs when some applicants are hired or promoted based on criteria that are not
job relevant. When discrimination is found, remedies include back pay and affirmative action.
Affirmative action requires an employer to take positive steps to guarantee equal employment
opportunities for people within protected groups. Failure to comply with equal employment
opportunity legislation can result in substantial fines and penalties for employers.
One issue of concern is sexual harassment, which is a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights
Act. The EEOC guidelines specify that behavior such as unwelcome advances, requests for
sexual favors, and other verbal and physical conduct of a sexual nature becomes sexual
harassment when submission to the conduct is tied to continued employment or advancement, or
when the behavior creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.
Exhibit 9.3: Major Federal Laws Related to Human Resource Management
III.THE CHANGING NATURE OF CAREERS
INSTRUCTOR’S NOTES_________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
A. The Changing Social Contract
1. In the old social contract, the employee contributed ability, education, loyalty, and
commitment in return for the company providing wages and benefits, work,
advancement, and training.
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217
a. Volatile changes in the environment have disrupted this contract.
b. Organizations have downsized and careers no longer necessarily progress up a
vertical hierarchy.
Spotlight on Skills: What Is Your HR Work Orientation?
The HR department typically is responsible for monitoring compliance with federal laws, and it
provides detailed and specific employee procedures and records for an organization. Every new
manager is involved in HR activities for his or her direct reports. This exercise helps students
understand their orientations concerning day-to-day work issues.
Exhibit 9.4: The Changing Social Contract
2. The new social contract is based on the concept of employability rather than lifetime
employment.
a. Individuals manage their own careers; the organization no longer takes care of
them or guarantees them employment.
b. Employees take more responsibility and control in their jobs, becoming partners
in business improvement rather than cogs in a machine.
3. Many employees are not prepared for new levels of cooperation or responsibility on
the job.
a. Employment insecurity is stressful, and it is harder to gain employee
commitment.
b. To be compatible with the new social contract, HRM is revising performance
evaluation, training and career development opportunities, and compensation and
reward practices.
Business Blooper: Walmart
Imagine getting a minimum-wage job at Walmart, and a temporary one at that. It is the day after
Thanksgiving, often the heaviest retail day of the year. You are standing, ready to greet all the
enthusiastic customers. Instead, you get trampled to death. This happened to Jdimytai Damour
at a Walmart on Long Island in 2008. Walmart spent $2 million fighting OSHA’s $7,000 fine,
causing federal employees to spend more than 4,700 hours in legal work. In March 2011, Judge
Covette Rooney upheld the fine. Why did Walmart fight the fine? They said that OSHA wanted
to define “crowd trampling” as an occupational hazard retailers are responsible to prevent.
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B. Innovations in HRM
1. Becoming an Employer of Choice
a. An employer of choice is a company that is highly attractive to employees
because HR practices focus on tangible benefits such as pay and profit sharing.
b. HR practices also focus on intangibles (e.g., work/life balance, a trust-based work
climate, a healthy corporate culture).
2. Using Temporary and Part-Time Employees
a. Contingent workers are becoming a larger part of the workforce both in the
United States and Europe. Contingent workers are people who work for an
organization, but not on a permanent or full-time basis. They do everything from
data entry to becoming the interim CEO.
b. The temporary staffing industry doubled between 2002 and 2007 and is projected
to grow into a $200 billion industry by 2010. Many companies depend on part-
time or temporary employees to maintain flexibility.
3. Promoting Work–Life Balance
a. Telecommuting is one way organizations are helping employees lead more
balanced lives. Telecommuting means using computers and telecommunications
equipment to do work without going to an office.
b. Flexible scheduling for regular employees is also important in today’s workplace,
and 55 percent of HRM professionals say they are willing to negotiate flexible
work arrangements with interviewees and new employees.
c. Work-life initiatives have become a critical retention strategy with benefits such
as on-site gym facilities, arranging child- and eldercare, and paid leaves.
IV.FINDING THE RIGHT PEOPLE
INSTRUCTOR’S NOTES_________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
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219
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________
Exhibit 9.5: Attracting an Effective Workforce
The first goal of HRM is to attract individuals who show signs of becoming valued, productive,
and satisfied employees. The first step in attracting a workforce is planning, predicting the need
for new employees based on the types of vacancies that exist. The second step is to
communicate with potential applicants. The third step is to select those with the best potential.
Finally, the new employee is welcomed to the organization.
In the matching model, the organization and the individual attempt to match the needs, interests,
and values they offer each other. The idea is that people can fulfill deep-seated needs and
interests on the job, which will induce them to stay with the organization.
A. Human Resource Planning
1. Human resource planning is the forecasting of human resource needs and the
projected matching of individuals with expected job vacancies. Human resource
planning begins with several questions.
a. What new technologies are emerging, and how will these affect the work system?
b. What is the volume of business likely to be in the next 5 to 10 years?
c. What is the turnover rate, and how much, if any, is avoidable?
2. The responses to these questions are used to formulate specific HR questions
pertaining to HR activities such as the following.
a. What types of engineers will we need, and how many?
b. How many administrative personnel will we need to support the additional
engineers?
c. Can we use temporary, part-time, or virtual workers to handle some tasks?
B. Recruiting
1. Recruiting, sometimes referred to as talent acquisition, is defined as activities or
practices that define the characteristics of applicants to whom selection procedures
are applied. Internal recruiting is less costly, generates higher employee commitment,
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and offers career advancement. External recruiting gains newcomers from
advertising, state employment services, online recruiting services, private
employment agencies, job fairs, and employee referrals.
2. Assessing Jobs
a. Job analysis is a systematic process of gathering and interpreting information
about the essential duties, tasks, responsibilities, and context of a job.
b. A job description is a clear and concise summary of the specific tasks, duties,
and responsibilities of a job.
c. A job specification outlines the knowledge, skills, education, physical abilities,
and other characteristics needed to adequately perform the job.
Exhibit 9.6: Sara Lee’s Required Skills for Finance Executives
3. Realistic Job Previews
a. A realistic job preview (RJP) gives applicants all pertinent and realistic
information, positive and negative, about the job and the organization.
4. Legal Considerations
a. EEO laws require that recruiting and hiring decisions cannot discriminate on the
basis of race, national origin, religion, and gender.
b. The Americans with Disabilities Act underscored the need for job descriptions
and specifications that reflect the job’s mental and physical specifications to
prevent discrimination against people with disabilities.
c. Affirmative action refers to the use of goals, timetables, or other methods in
recruiting to promote the hiring, development, and retention of protected groups.
Exhibit 9.7: PAIRE’s Recruitment and Hiring Policy
5. E-cruiting
a. Recruiting job applicants online dramatically extends the organization’s reach,
offering access to a wider pool of applicants and saving time and money.
6. Innovations in Recruiting
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221
a. Managers sometimes have to find innovative approaches to recruit the right
people. One highly effective method is getting referrals from current employees,
which is one of the cheapest and most reliable methods of external recruiting.
Other options include hiring former prison inmates, Asian, African, and Eastern
European immigrants fleeing persecution, former welfare recipients, and older
workers.
C. Selecting
1. In the selection process, employers assess applicants’ characteristics to determine the
“fit” between the job and applicant characteristics.
2. The application form collects information about the applicant’s education, previous
job experience, and other background characteristics.
3. The interview serves as a two-way communication channel that allows both the
organization and the applicant to collect information that would otherwise be difficult
to obtain. Employers cannot ask questions that violate EEO guidelines. The
interview is not generally a good predictor of job performance.
Exhibit 9.8: Employment Applications and Interviews: What Can You Ask?
Spotlight on Skills: Top Interview Blunders; Hint: Don’t Bring a Date
Understanding common blunders that tick off interviewers can make you more successful as
both a job candidate and an interviewer. According to CareerBuilder.com, most interview
blunders fall into five key categories:
Communication skills. Managers often cite poor communication skills, such as inappropriate
body language, talking too much or too little, not making eye contact, or using profanity or
street slang.
Performance. Professionalism during the interview plays an important part in the hiring decision
for most managers.
Attitude. People who show arrogance and disrespect toward the interviewer are a huge turn-off.
Appearance. In most cases, people should wear traditional, professional attire for an interview.
Proper grooming, cleanliness, and good manners are also essential.
Honesty. Candidates who lie or give the impression that they are dishonest don’t get a callback.
4. An employment test is a written or computer-based test designed to measure
particular attributes such as intelligence, aptitude, ability, or personality.
5. Assessment centers present simulated managerial situations to groups of applicants
over two- or three-days and have proven to be valid predictors of managerial success.
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6. Online checks. One of the newest ways of gauging whether a candidate is right for
the company is by seeing what the person has to say about him- or herself on social
networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Recruiters say that if an applicant’s
online presentation raises red flags, then the person isn’t likely to even get an
interview.
Exhibit 9.9: Try Your Hand at Some Interview Brain Teasers
V. MANAGING TALENT
INSTRUCTOR’S NOTES_________________________________________________________
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______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
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______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
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A. Training and Development
1. Training and development represents a planned effort by an organization to help
employees learn job-related skills and behaviors.
2. In on-the-job training (OJT), an experienced employee “adopts” a new employee
and teaches job duties. Cross-training places an employee in a new position for as
little as a few hours or as much as a year to develop new skills and give the
organization flexibility.
3. A corporate university is an in-house training and education facility that offers
broad-based learning opportunities.
4. Promotion from within helps companies retain valuable employees.
5. Mentoring and Coaching. Mentoring involves experienced employees guiding and
supporting newcomers or less experienced employees. Coaching is a method of
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directing, instructing, and training a person with the goal to develop specific
management skills.
B. Performance Appraisal
1. Performance appraisal comprises the steps of observing and assessing employee
performance, recording the assessment, and providing feedback to the employee.
a. Performance appraisal can reward high performers with merit pay, recognition,
and other rewards. Recent thinking is that linking performance appraisal to
rewards has unintended consequences, and that it should be ongoing rather than
once a year.
b. HRM professionals concentrate on the accurate assessment of performance and on
training managers to the use the performance appraisal interview effectively.
2. Assessing Performance Accurately
a. The appraisal system should require the rater to assess each relevant performance
dimension.
b. The 360-degree feedback is a process that uses multiple raters, including self-
rating, as a way to increase self-awareness of strengths and weaknesses and guide
employee development.
c. Performance review ranking is a method in which managers evaluate direct
reports relative to one another and categorizes each on a scale.
Exhibit 9.10: Example of a Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale
3. Performance Evaluation Errors
a. Stereotyping occurs when a rater places an employee into a class or category
based on one or a few traits or characteristics.
b. Halo effect refers to giving an employee the same rating on all dimensions of the
job even if performance is good on some dimensions and not good on others.
c. The behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS) is a rating technique that
relates an employee’s performance to specific job-related incidents.
VI.MAINTAINING AN EFFECTIVE WORKFORCE
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A. Compensation
1. Compensation refers to all monetary payments and all goods or commodities used in
lieu of money to reward employees. An effective compensation system is for human
resource management because it helps attract and retain talented workers and affects
strategic performance.
2. Wage and Salary Systems
a. Job-based pay links compensation to the specific tasks that an employee
performs.
b. Skill-based pay systems encourage employees to develop skills and competencies,
making them more valuable to the organization and more employable if they
leave.
Discussion Question #5: As a manager, how would you draw up a telecommuting contract with
a new employee? Include considerations such as job description, compensation and benefits,
performance measures, training, and grounds for dismissal.
3. Compensation Equity
a. Job evaluation determines the worth of jobs in the organization through an
examination of job content with the intent to pay employees fairly.
b. Wage and salary surveys show what other organizations pay in jobs that match a
sample of “key” jobs selected by the organization.
4. Pay for performance
a. Pay-for-performance, also called incentive pay, ties part of the compensation to
employee effort and performance through merit-based pay, bonuses, team
incentives, gainsharing or profit sharing.
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b. Incentives are aligned with the behaviors that help the organization achieve its
strategic goals.
B. Benefits
1. Benefits make up 40 percent of labor costs in the U.S. because of rising health care
costs. Some benefits are required by law such as Social Security, unemployment
compensation, and worker’s compensation. Some firms offer cafeteria-plan benefit
packages that allow employees to select the benefits of greatest value to them.
C. Rightsizing the Organization
1. Rightsizing refers to intentionally reducing the company’s workforce to the point
where the number of employees is deemed to be right for the company’s current
situation.
2. The goal is to make the company stronger and more competitive by aligning the size
of the workforce with the company’s current needs.
3. Unless HRM departments carefully manage downsizing, layoffs can lead to decreased
morale and performance.
D. Termination
1. Terminations are valuable in maintaining an effective workforce in two ways.
a. Employees who are poor performers can be dismissed. Productive employees
often resent disruptive, low-performing employees who are allowed to stay with
the company and receive pay comparable to theirs.
b. Managers can use exit interviews, conducted with departing employees, to learn
about dissatisfaction in the organization.
2. Enlightened companies try to find a smooth transition for departing employees.
3. By showing concern in helping laid-off employees, a company communicates the
value of human resources and helps maintain a positive corporate culture.
Discussion Question #6: What purpose do exit interviews serve for maintaining an effective
workforce?
VII. THE CHANGING WORKPLACE
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A. Managers are learning that the differences people bring to the workplace enable their
companies to compete globally and tap into rich sources of new talent. Moreover, vast
changes are occurring in today’s workplace and consumer base. The average worker is
older now, and many more women, people of color, and immigrants are seeking job and
advancement opportunities.
Spotlight on Skills: CNN en Español
Trying to entice more Hispanic viewers in the United States, CNN’s Spanish-language branch is
adding new programs, new sets, a spiffy new studio in Miami, and a new logo. Though CNN en
Español boasts that it broadcasts from “Alaska to Patagonia,” the new focus will help North
American operations. Some estimates show the Latin population doubling again by mid-century.
New programs include a personal investment show called “CNN Dinero,” a light-night
“Conclusiones” with a news wrap-up, and three hours of news in the morning.
1. Three-generation workforce. Today’s workforce is in a state of flux as a blend of
three generations (Baby Boom, Gen-X, and Gen-Y) present new management
challenges.
2. Aging workers. In 1986, the median age of the U.S. labor force was 35.4 years. It
increased to 40.8 years in 2006 and will increase to 42.1 years in 2016.
3. Growth in Hispanic and Asian workers. The number of Hispanics in the workforce
will increase by 7.3 million between 2008 and 2018, with Hispanics making up 17.6
percent of the workforce by 2018.
4. Women outnumbering men. As of 2010, women outnumbered men in the workplace.
Yet, fewer than 16 percent of top corporate officers are females.
5. Growth in foreign-born population. Almost one in eight people currently living in
the United States was born in another country, the highest percentage since the 1920s.
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Exhibit 9.11: Milestones in the History of Corporate Diversity
B. Diversity on a Global Scale
1. For organizations operating globally, social and cultural differences may create more
difficulties and conflicts than any other sources. Foreign firms doing business in the
United States also face challenges understanding and dealing with diversity issues.
National cultures are intangible, pervasive, and difficult to comprehend. Many
companies have taken this challenge seriously and have experienced growth in the
global marketplace.
VIII. MANAGING DIVERSITY
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A. What is Diversity?
1. Diversity is defined as all the ways in which employees differ. Many companies
once defined diversity in terms of race, age, gender, lifestyle, and disability. Today,
companies are embracing a more inclusive definition of diversity that recognizes a
spectrum of differences that influence how employees approach work, interact with
each other, derive satisfaction from their work, and define who they are as people in
the workplace.
2. Managing diversity, a key management skill in today’s global economy, means
creating a climate in which the potential advantages of diversity for organizational or
group performance are maximized while the potential disadvantages are minimized.
Exhibit 9.12: Traditional Versus Inclusive Models of Diversity
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B. Dividends of Workplace Diversity
1. Corporations that build strong, diverse organizations reap numerous dividends,
including:
a. Better use of employee talent. Companies with the best talent are the ones with
the best competitive advantage.
b. Increased understanding of the marketplace. A diverse workforce is better able
to anticipate and respond to changing consumer needs.
c. Enhanced breadth of understanding in leadership positions. Diverse top
management teams tend to be less myopic in their perspectives.
d. Increased quality of team problem solving. Teams with diverse backgrounds
bring different perspectives to a discussion that result in more creative ideas and
solutions.
e. Reduced costs associated with high turnover, absenteeism, and lawsuits.
Companies that foster a diverse workforce reduce turnover, absenteeism, and the
risk of lawsuits.
IX.FACTORS SHAPING PERSONAL BIAS
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A. Prejudice, Discrimination, and Stereotypes
1. Prejudice is the tendency to view people who are different as being deficient.
Discrimination occurs when people act out their prejudicial attitudes toward other
people who are targets of their prejudice. Although blatant discrimination is not as
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widespread as in the past, bias in the workplace often shows up in subtle ways.
Stereotyping is associating a rigid, exaggerated, irrational belief with a particular
group of people. To be successful managing diversity, managers need to eliminate
harmful stereotypes from their thinking, shedding any biases that negatively affect the
workplace.
2. Stereotype threat describes the psychological experience of a person who, usually
engaged in a task, is aware of a stereotype about his or her identity group suggesting
that he or she will not perform well on that task. People most affected by stereotype
threat are those we consider as disadvantaged in the workplace due to negative
stereotypes–racial and ethnic minorities, members of lower socioeconomic classes,
women, older people, gay and bisexual men, and people with disabilities.
Exhibit 9.13: Difference between Stereotyping and Valuing Cultural Differences
B. Ethnocentrism
1. Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own group and subculture are inherently
superior to other groups and cultures, thus making it difficult to value diversity. The
business world tends to reflect values, behaviors, and assumptions based on the
experiences of a homogeneous, white, middle-class, male workforce. Most
management theories presume workers share similar values, beliefs, motivations,
and attitudes about work and life in general.
Benchmarking: Google
Employees in Google’s corporate headquarters come from all corners of the world, but the feel a
little closer to home when they see familiar foods from their homelands on the cafeteria menu.
With a goal of satisfying a diverse, ethnically varied palate, Google’s first food guru and chef
designed menus that reflected his eclectic tastes yet also met the needs of an increasingly diverse
workforce. He got some of his best ideas from foreign-born employees. For example, a Filipino
accountant offered a recipe for chicken adobo, a popular dish from her native country. Google
believes food can be a tool for supporting an inclusive workplace. Google knows that when
people need a little comfort and familiarity, nothing takes the edge off of working in a foreign
country like eating food that reminds you of home.
X. FACTORS AFFECTING WOMEN’S CAREERS
A. Glass Ceiling
1. The glass ceiling is an invisible barrier that separates women and minorities from top
management positions. They can look up through the ceiling and see top
management, but prevailing attitudes and stereotypes are invisible obstacles to their
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own advancement. Women and minorities are often excluded from informal manager
networks and don’t get access to the type of general and line management experience
required for moving to the top. Glass walls serve as invisible barriers to important
lateral movement within the organization.
2. Homosexuality is another related issue. Many gay and lesbian workers believe they
will not be accepted as they are and risk losing their jobs or chances for advancement.
Gay employees of color may face a double dose of discrimination. Gays and lesbians
often fabricate heterosexual identities to keep their jobs or avoid running into the
glass ceiling they see other employees encounter.
Discussion Question #10: What is the glass ceiling, and why do you think it has proven to be
such a barrier to women and minorities?
Exhibit 9.14: The Wage Gap
3. Establishing Mentor Relationships. The successful advancement of diverse group
members means that organizations must find ways to eliminate the glass ceiling. One
of the most successful structures to accomplish this goal is the mentoring relationship.
A mentor is a higher-ranking organizational member who is committed to providing
upward mobility and support to a protégé’s professional career. Mentoring provides
minorities and women with direct training and inside information on the norms and
expectations of the organization.
B. Opt-Out Trend
1. Many women choose to get off the fast track long before they hit the glass ceiling. In
this opt-out trend, highly-educated, professional women are deciding that corporate
success isn’t worth the price in terms of reduced family and personal time. Some are
opting out to be stay-at-home moms, while others want to continue working, but just
not in the kind of fast-paced, competitive, aggressive environment that exists in most
corporations. Critics argue that this is just another way to blame women themselves
for the dearth of female managers at higher levels.
C. The Female Advantage
1. Some people think women might actually be better managers, partly because of a
more collaborative, less hierarchical, relationship-oriented approach that is in tune
with today’s global and multicultural environment. As attitudes and values change
with changing generations, the qualities women seem to possess may lead to a
gradual role reversal in organizations. Women of all races and ethnic groups are
outpacing men in earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Over all, women’s
participation in both the labor force and civic affairs has steadily increased since the
mid-1950s, while men’s participation has slowly but steadily declined.
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New Manager Self-Test: Are You Tuned into Gender Differences?
This exercise helps students determine how much they know about gender differences in
behavior.
XI.CULTURAL COMPETENCE
A. A successful diversity plan leads to a workforce that demonstrates cultural competence in
the long run. Cultural competence is the ability to interact effectively with people of
different cultures. There are five steps to implementing a diversity plan.
1. Uncover diversity problems in the organization. Organizations can’t assess their
progress toward cultural competence without first investigating where the culture is
right now. A cultural audit is a tool that identifies problems or areas needing
improvement in a corporation’s culture.
2. Strengthen top management commitment. The most important component of a
successful diversity strategy is management commitment, leadership, and support.
3. Choose solutions to fit a balanced strategy. To be most effective, solutions should be
presented in a balanced strategy and address three factors: education, enforcement,
and exposure.
4. Demand results and revisit the goals. Diversity performance should be measured by
numerical goals to ensure solutions are being implemented successfully.
5. Maintain momentum to change the culture. Use success in the previous four steps as
fuel to move forward and leverage for more progress.
Exhibit 9.15: Five Steps to Develop Diversity
XII.DIVERSITY INITIATIVES AND PROGRAMS
A. Changing Structures and Policies
1. Many leading companies are changing structures and policies to facilitate and
support a diverse workforce. A survey found that 85 percent of companies surveyed
have formal policies against racism and sexism, and 76 percent have structured
grievance and complaint processes.
B. Expanding Recruitment Efforts
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1. A new approach to recruitment means making better use of recruiting strategies,
offering internship programs to give people opportunities, and developing creative
ways to draw on previously unused labor markets.
Exhibit 9.16: The Most Common Diversity Initiatives: Percentage of Fortune 1000
Respondents
C. Establishing Mentor Relationships
1. One of the most successful structures for eliminating the glass ceiling is the
mentoring relationship. A mentor is a higher-ranking organizational member who is
committed to providing upward mobility and support to a protégé’s professional
career. Mentoring provides minorities and women with direct training and inside
information on the norms and expectations of the organization.
D. Accommodating Special Needs
1. Many top managers are often unaware of the special needs of employees who are
single parents, are non-English-speaking, or have elderly parents. Alternative work
scheduling may be important for these groups of workers. Another issue is that
racial/ethnic minorities and immigrants have had fewer educational opportunities
than other groups. Some companies work with high schools to provide fundamental
skills in literacy and math, or the provide programs within the company to upgrade
employees to appropriate educational levels.
E. Providing Diversity Skills Training
1. Most of today’s organizations provide special training, called diversity training, to
help people identify their own cultural boundaries, prejudices, and stereotypes and
develop the skills for managing and working in a diverse workplace. Working or
living within a multicultural context requires a person to use interaction skills that
transcend the skills typically effective when dealing with others from one’s own in-
group. The first step is typically diversity awareness training to make employees
aware of the assumptions they make and to increase people’s sensitivity and
openness to those who are different from them. The next step is diversity skills
training to help people learn how to communicate and work effectively in a diverse
environment.
F. Increasing Awareness of Sexual Harassment
1. Sexual harassment creates an unhealthy and unproductive work environment and is
illegal. As a form of sexual discrimination, sexual harassment in the workplace is a
violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Sexual harassment in the classroom is a
violation of the Education Amendment of 1972. The following categories describe
various forms of sexual harassment.
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a. Generalized. This form involves sexual remarks and actions not intended to lead
to sexual activity.
b. Inappropriate/offensive. Though not sexually threatening, it causes discomfort
in a coworker and limits the offended person’s freedom and ability to function at
work.
c. Solicitation with promise of reward. This action treads a fine line as an attempt
to “purchase” sex, with the potential for criminal prosecution.
d. Coercion with threat of punishment. The harasser coerces a coworker into
sexual activity by using the threat of power to jeopardize the victim’s career.
e. Sexual crimes and misdemeanors. These acts, if reported, would be considered
felony crimes and misdemeanors.
2. The Supreme Court has held that same-sex harassment as well as harassment of men
by female co-workers is just as illegal as harassment of women by men. Companies
have been swift to fire employees for circulating pornographic images, surfing
pornographic Web sites, or sending offensive e-mails.
XIII.NEW DIVERSITY INITIATIVES
A. Multicultural Teams
1. Multicultural teams are made up of members from diverse national, racial, ethnic,
and cultural backgrounds. These teams provide even greater potential for enhanced
creativity, innovation, and value in today’s global marketplace. Diverse teams tend
to generate more and better alternatives to problems and produce more creative
solutions than do homogeneous teams.
2. Multicultural teams are more difficult to manage because of the increased potential
for miscommunication and misunderstanding. Multicultural teams typically have
more difficulty learning to communicate and work well together, but with effective
cross-cultural training and good management, the problems seem to dissipate over
time.
B. Employee Network Groups
1. Employee network groups are based on social identity, such as gender or race, and
are organized by employees to focus on concerns of employees from that group.
The idea behind network groups is that minority employees can join together for
mutual support and to extend member influence in the organization. Network
groups pursue a variety of activities, such as meetings to educate top managers,
mentoring programs, networking events, training sessions and skills seminars,
minority intern programs, and community volunteer activities.
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2. Employees, not the organization, form network groups, and membership is
voluntary; however, successful organizations support and encourage network
groups. Although network groups seem to be in direct opposition to the trend
toward multicultural teams, the two mechanisms actually work quite well together.
Answers to Discussion Questions
1. Assume it is the year 2020. In your company, central planning has given way to front-line
decision making, and bureaucracy has given way to teamwork. Shop floor workers use
handheld devices and robots. A labor shortage currently affects many job openings, and the
few applicants you do attract lack skills to work in teams, make their own production
decisions, or use sophisticated technology. As vice president of human resource
management since 2008, what should you have done to prepare for this situation?
This question should get the point across that the field of human resources is always changing.
One of the things that should have been done is human resource planning. You should have kept
in touch with changes that were occurring and projected the human resource needs in advance.
This way you have the right skills and the right mixture of people in your workforce. This would
have to be accomplished through effective recruiting and selection techniques. Another vital
thing you should have done is provided training and development for your people so that they
had the skills to work in teams, make decisions, and use sophisticated technology. Having made
this investment in people, you would also want to have provided the compensation, including
benefits, needed to maintain this effective workforce.
2. Which selection criteria (personal interview, employment test, assessment center) do you
think would be most valuable for predicting effective job performance for a college
professor? For an assembly-line worker in a manufacturing plant? Discuss.
Because college professors must present vast quantities of complex material to students within a
limited time, communication skills are very important. The personal interview is a good
indicator for measuring such skill and for ascertaining the professor’s vision for the class and for
the profession. The pencil-and-paper test would be a weak predictor of effectiveness because
college professors have high intelligence levels, expertise in their particular areas of study, and
an understanding of what is expected as the proper response to personality inventories. In a
modified version of the assessment center, professors may be observed in the classroom situation
and assessed according to their communication and interpersonal skills, both in lecture
presentation and in response to student questions and problems.
The information obtained through personal interview for an assembly-line worker in a
manufacturing plant is practical in the exchange of information regarding the applicant’s
background and expectations and the job requirements. Beyond that point, the personal
interview may fail to accurately assess the potential of the worker as a result of flaws in the
system, such as prejudice on the part of the interviewer, or the individual’s skill in providing
answers the interviewer wants to hear. A performance test in which the skills needed on the
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assembly line are simulated would be the best predictor of actual job performance for an
assembly-line worker. For management personnel, paper-and-pencil tests measuring
intelligence, aptitude, and ability are good indicators of potential within a manufacturing plant,
because answers provide important information on skills and intelligence in crucial areas, such as
mathematical skill in calibrating machinery. Aptitude tests and personality inventories are also
excellent sources of information in putting together strong teams. The assessment center is
probably the most valuable tool in predicting effective job performance. Simulation of line
problems and development of communications and negotiating skills are just an example of the
valuable information that can be acquired through assessment centers.
3. How do you think the growing use of telecommuters, temporary and part-time workers, and
virtual teams affects human resource management? How can managers improve recruiting
and retention of these employees?
Telecommuters perform their jobs in part at the company, as well as in other locations. Human
resource managers must ensure that productivity and quality of work will be preserved in this
type of work arrangement. Temporary and part-time workers are people who work for an
organization, but not on a permanent or full-time basis. This category of workers also includes
contracted professionals and leased employees. One important effect is that companies are not
obligated to pay these employees fringe benefits or other costs associated with permanent
employees. Virtual teams affect human resources management because they are geographically
dispersed throughout the globe. There are advantages and disadvantages to the creation of
virtual teams. Human resources management may indeed perform a balancing of tradeoffs of
increasing costs for recruiting and selection versus the concept of a virtual team and the benefits
derived by members’ contribution.
Managers can improve recruiting and retention of these different types of employees through a
sound and equitable wage structure. Job satisfaction, achieved through redesign of jobs,
stimulating employee behavior, and the creation of work environment that promotes job
satisfaction, all effect human resources management.
4. One human resource manager recently got a thank-you note on her iPhone that said “Thx 4
the Iview! Wud ♥ to wrk 4 u☺.” The manager had like the candidate’s interview, but after
getting the note, she put him in the reject pile. Do you think it was fair for the manager to
automatically reject the candidate? Should “textspeak” be considered acceptable workplace
communication? Discuss.
The answer to this question may depend to some extent on the culture of the company in
question. It is much more likely for this type of communication to be accepted in companies
with younger management, especially the newer Internet companies and personal technology
companies. Companies with older management, or those in more traditional fields or with a
more traditionally professional culture will be less accepting of “textspeak”.
5. As a manager, how would you draw up a telecommuting contract with an employee? Include
considerations such as job description, compensation and benefits, performance measures,
training, and grounds for dismissal.
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The job description for a telecommuter should, in addition to the details of what work is to be
done, include specific language regarding the frequency and amount of time to be spent on site
over a given period, as well as any meetings or other routine activities the employee must attend.
Compensation and benefits should be directly tied to productivity because there is no way to
effectively monitor the amount of time a telecommuter spends on work activities. Performance
measures, like compensation, must be directly tied to productivity. Training requirements should
be explicitly detailed, including the types of training required and the location and dates for the
training, and the potential for future training requirements must be left open. Again, any grounds
for dismissal in addition to standard company policies on the matter should be explicitly stated
and directly tied to productivity.
6. Is it wise for managers to consider a candidate’s postings on social networking sites such as
Facebook as grounds for rejection before even interviewing a promising candidate? Is it
fair? Discuss.
Social networking sites such as Facebook can provide managers with important information
regarding a candidate’s activities. A candidate’s open admission of excessive drinking, drug use,
or sexual exploits raises serious questions about that person’s maturity and judgment. The
overall presentation of Facebook postings gives managers helpful clues about a candidate’s
personality and values, and can help them assess the extent to which a candidate might fit the
organization’s culture. It is certainly fair for managers to consider online information that is in
the public domain; i.e. that is available to anyone who logs on to the website. If managers are
using questionable means to access information that is not available to the general public, then it
may not be fair for them to use that information in assessing a candidate’s fit with the
organization.
7. Explain how a manager’s personal biases and stereotypes may affect an organization’s
success in creating a workplace that is culturally competent.
Prejudice is the tendency to view people who are different as being deficient. Discrimination
occurs when people act out their prejudicial attitudes toward other people who are targets of their
prejudice. A stereotype is a rigid, exaggerated, irrational belief associated with a particular
group of people.
Cultural competence is the ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures.
Managers whose personal biases affect their behavior and decision making will be less adept at
interacting effectively with people of different cultures. To be successful managing diversity,
managers need to eliminate harmful stereotypes from their thinking, shedding any biases that
negatively affect the workplace.
8. Shelley Willingham-Hinton, president of the National Organization for Diversity in Sales and
Marketing, was quoted in the chapters as saying, “Our country’s consumer base is so varied.
I can’t think of how a company can succeed without having that kind of diversity with their
employees.” Why should corporations have workforces that mirror the country’s diverse
consumer base?
Vast changes are occurring in today’s workplace and consumer base. The average worker is
older now, and many more women, people of color, and immigrants are seeking job and
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advancement opportunities. The differences people bring to the workplace enable their
companies to compete globally and to tap into rich sources of new talent. Corporations that truly
value diversity will recognize pay inequality and discrimination in the workplace and make
progress toward eliminating them.
9. Evaluate your own experiences so far with people from other backgrounds. How well do you
think those experiences prepared you to understand the unique needs and dilemmas of a
diverse workforce?
In addressing the question, students should clearly demonstrate their understanding of the unique
needs and dilemmas of a diverse workforce. Answers should include both the needs and
dilemmas of a diverse workforce for which their experience did prepare them and the needs and
dilemmas for which it did not.
10. What is the glass ceiling, and why do you think it has proven to be such a barrier to women
and minorities?
The glass ceiling is an invisible barrier that prevents women and minorities from advancing to
top management positions. As corporations grew, a monoculture developed within the top levels
of management whereby white male managers hired and promoted employees who mirrored
their own looks, actions, thoughts, beliefs, and backgrounds, and with whom they felt
comfortable. The experiences of women and minorities were considered different, incompatible,
and in the eyes of some, inferior. There developed a concern or a firm belief within these
monocultures that these groups would not “fit in” with the dominant culture. As a result, women
and minorities moved to a certain level within the company, but further progress was blocked.
The women’s movement, the Civil Rights movement, and actions by the courts are slowly
forcing cracks in the glass ceiling. Many companies are taking the lead in opening new
opportunities for women and minorities; however, some companies have alternative barriers in
place, simply replacing the glass ceiling with “glass walls,” which bar important lateral
movement necessary for top management preparation.
11. Why do you think a large number of women are opting out of the corporate world? Discuss
whether this trend is likely to continue over the next ten years.
Women are opting out of the corporate world because they see that they must sacrifice their
personal lives with their families, their health, and face a high stress level. They want time with
their children. Women are generally less interested in attaining power and status than men and
find climbing the corporate ladder less appealing. Some women still want to work but prefer
jobs that are less fast-paced and competitive. Another view is that because women are not
getting promoted into top management positions, they simply quit. It is likely that this trend will
continue over the next 10 years, although it may slow down as more single women from a
generation that is waiting longer to marry begin to rise to higher-level positions.
12. How can organizations strike a balance between respecting and meeting the needs of a
diverse workforce and shaping a high-performance corporate culture where shared values
contribute to the accomplishment of strategic goals?
One good way to strike such a balance is by creating multicultural teams in the organization.
• Chapter 9
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238
Multicultural teams are made up of members from diverse national, racial, ethnic, and cultural
backgrounds. These teams provide even greater potential for enhanced creativity, innovation,
and value in today’s global marketplace than traditional cross-functional teams. Multicultural
teams also help to create fairness and equity in the work environment. Multicultural teams
generate more and better alternatives to problems and produce more innovative solutions than
homogeneous teams. A team made up of people with different perspectives, backgrounds, and
cultural values creates a healthy mix of ideas, which sometimes encourages people who have
previously been reluctant to contribute to speak out. This type of diversity can stimulate a
healthy level of conflict that leads to greater creativity and better decisions.
A disadvantage of a multicultural team is that they are more difficult to manage because of the
increased potential for miscommunication and misunderstanding. Multicultural teams typically
have more difficulty learning to communicate and work well together, but with effective cross-
cultural training and good management, the problem seems to dissipate over time.
TEACHING NOTES FOR LEARNING EXERCISES
Self Learning: How Tolerant Are You?
Student survey answers will vary.
Total Score
0–14: If you score 14 or below, you are a very tolerant person and dealing with diversity
comes easily to you.
15–28: You are basically a tolerant person, and others think of you as tolerant. In general,
diversity presents few problems for you; you may be broad-minded in some areas and
have less tolerant ideas in other areas of life, such as attitudes toward older people or
male-female social roles.
29–42: You are less tolerant than most people and should work on developing greater tolerance
of people different from you. Your low tolerance level could affect your business or
personal relationships.
43–56: You have a very low tolerance for diversity. The only people you are likely to respect
are those with beliefs similar to your own. You reflect a level of intolerance that could
cause difficulties in today’s multicultural business environment.
Group Learning: An Ancient Tale
Students read the Introduction and Case Study presented in the exercise, then form groups to
discuss their answers to six questions asked in the exercise.
Additional Material
The case study or tale has implications regarding the impact of the organization on the
individual, the ability to protect him- or herself in the organization, and how to manage the
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
young Tapworth was there all the time—that one with the pince-nez, and
the ridiculous chin—and he put them into the errand-boy’s basket, and told
him to be sharp about it. So I had no chance of seeing.”
“You might have strolled along behind the boy to see where he went,”
suggested Mr. Altham.
“He went on a bicycle,” said Mrs. Altham, “and it is impossible to stroll
behind a boy on a bicycle and hope to get there in time. But he went up the
High Street. I should not in the least wonder if Mrs. Evans had turned
Suffragette, after that note to me about her not having time to attend the
anti-Suffragette meetings.”
“Especially since there was only one,” said Henry, in the literal mood
that had been forced on him, “and nobody came to that. It would not have
sacrificed very much of her time. Not that I ever heard it was valuable.”
“What she can do with her day I can’t imagine,” said Mrs. Altham, her
mind completely diverted by this new topic. “Her cook told Griffiths that as
often as not she doesn’t go down to the kitchen at all in the morning, and
she’s hardly ever to be seen shopping in the High Street before lunch, and
what with Elsie gone to Dresden, and her husband away on his rounds all
day, she must be glad when it’s bedtime. And she’s a small sleeper, too, for
she told me herself that she considers six hours a good night, though I
expect she sleeps more than she knows, and I daresay has a nap after lunch
as well. Dear me, what were we talking about? Ah, yes, I was saying I
should not wonder if she had turned Suffragette, though I can’t recall what
made me think so.”
“Because Tapworth’s boy went up the High Street on a bicycle,” said Mr.
Altham, who had a great gift of picking out single threads from the tangle
of his wife’s conversation; “though, after all, the High Street leads to other
houses besides Mrs. Evans’. The station, for instance.”
“You seem to want to find fault with everything I say, to-night, Henry. I
don’t know what makes you so contrary. But there it is: I saw eighteen
yards of Suffragette riband being sent out when I happened to be in
Tapworth’s this morning, and I daresay that’s but a tithe of what has been
ordered, though I can’t say as to that, unless you expect me to stand in the
High Street all day and watch. And as to what it all means, I’ll let you
conjecture for yourself, since if I told you what I thought, you would
probably contradict me again.”
It was no wonder that Mrs. Altham was annoyed. She had been thrilled
to the marrow by the parcels of Suffragette riband, and when she
communicated her discovery, Henry, who usually was so sympathetic, had
seen nothing to be thrilled about. But he had not meant to be unsympathetic,
and repaired his error.
“I’m sure, my dear, that you will have formed a very good guess as to
what it means,” he said. “Tell me what you think.”
“Well, if you care to know,” said she, “I think it all points to there being
some demonstration planned, and I for one should not be surprised if I
looked out of the window some morning, and saw Mrs. Ames and Mrs.
Brooks and the rest of them marching down the High Street with ribands
and banners. They’ve been keeping very quiet about it all, at least not a
word of what they’ve been doing has come to my ears, and I consider that’s
a proof that something is going on and that they want to keep it secret.”
Mr. Altham’s legal mind cried out to him to put in the plea that a
complete absence of news does not necessarily constitute a proof that
exciting events are occurring, but he rightly considered that such logic
might be taken to be a sign of continued “contrariness.” So he gave an
illogical assent to his wife’s theory.
“Certainly it is odd that nothing more has been heard of it all,” he said.
“I wonder what they are planning. The election coming on so soon, too!
Can they be planning anything in connection with that?”
Mrs. Altham got up, letting her napkin fall on the floor.
“Henry, I believe you have hit it,” she said. “Now what can it be? Let us
go into the drawing-room, and thresh it out.”
But the best threshing-machines in the world cannot successfully fulfil
their function unless there is some material to work upon; they can but
show by their whirling wheels and rattling gear that they are capable of
threshing should anything be provided for them. The poor Althams were
somewhat in this position, for their rations of gossip were sadly reduced,
their two chief sources being cut off from them. For ever since the
mendacious Mrs. Brooks had appeared as Cleopatra, when she had as good
as promised to be Hermione, chill politeness had taken the place of
intimacy between the two houses, since there was no telling what trick she
might not play next, while the very decided line which Mrs. Altham had
taken when she found she was expected to meet people like tradesmen’s
wives had caused a complete rupture in relations with the Ames’. That
Suffragette meetings were going on was certain, else what sane mind could
account for the fact that only to-day a perfect stream of people, some of
them not even known by sight to Mrs. Altham, and therefore probably of
the very lowest origin, with Mrs. Ames and the wife of the station-master
among them, had been seen coming out of Mr. Turner’s warehouse. It was
ridiculous “to tell me” that they had been all making purchases (nobody had
told her), and such a supposition was thoroughly negatived by the
subsequent discovery that the warehouse in question contained only a
quantity of chairs. All this, however, had been threshed out at tea-time, and
the fly-wheels buzzed emptily. Against the probability of an election-
demonstration was the fact that the Unionist member, to whom these
attentions would naturally be directed, was Mrs. Ames’ cousin, though
“cousin” was a vague word, and Mrs. Altham would not wonder if he was a
very distant sort of cousin indeed. Still, it would be worth while to get
tickets anyhow for the first of Sir James’ meetings, when the President of
the Board of Trade was going to speak, so as to be certain of a good place.
He was not Mrs. Ames’ cousin, so far as Mrs. Altham knew, though she did
not pretend to follow the ramifications of Mrs. Ames’ family.
The fly-wheels were allowed to run on in silence for some little while
after this meagre material had been thoroughly sifted, in case anything
further offered itself; then Mr. Altham proposed another topic.
“You were saying that you wondered how Mrs. Evans got through her
time,” he began.
But there was no need for him to say another word, not any opportunity.
Mrs. Altham stooped like a hawk on the quarry.
“You mean Major Ames,” she said. “I’m sure I never pass the house but
what he’s either going in or coming out, and he does a good deal more of
the going in than of the other, in my opinion.”
Henry penetrated into the meaning of what sounded a rather curious
achievement and corroborated.
“He was there this morning,” he said, “on the doorstep at eleven o’clock,
or it might have been a quarter-past, with a bouquet of chrysanthemums big
enough to do all Mrs. Ames’ decorations at St. Barnabas. What is the
matter, my dear?”
For Mrs. Altham had literally bounced out of her chair, and was pointing
at him a forefinger that trembled with a nameless emotion.
“At a quarter-past one, or a few minutes later,” she said, “that bouquet
was lying in the middle of the road. Let us say twenty minutes past one,
because I came straight home, took off my hat, and was ready for lunch. It
was more like a haystack than a bouquet: I’m sure if I hadn’t stepped over
it, I should have tripped and fallen. And to think that I never mentioned it to
you, Henry! How things piece themselves together, if you give them a
chance! Now did you actually see Major Ames carry it into the house?”
“The door was opened to him, just as I came opposite,” said Henry
firmly, “and in he went, bouquet and all.”
“Then somebody must have thrown it out again,” said Mrs. Altham.
She held up one hand, and ticked off names on its fingers.
“Who was then in the house?” she said. “Mrs. Evans, Dr. Evans, Major
Ames. Otherwise the servants—how they can find work for six servants in
that house I can’t understand—and servants would never have thrown
chrysanthemums into the street. So we needn’t count the servants. Now can
you imagine Mrs. Evans throwing away a bouquet that Major Ames had
brought her? If so, I envy you your power of imagination. Or——”
She paused a moment.
“Or can there have been a quarrel, and did she tell him she had too much
of him and his bouquets? Or——”
“Dr. Evans,” said Henry.
She nodded portentously.
“Turned out of the house, he and his bouquet,” she said. “Dr. Evans is a
powerful man, and Major Ames, for all his size, is mostly fat. I should not
wonder if Dr. Evans knocked him down. Henry, I have a good mind to treat
Mrs. Ames as if she had not been so insulting to me that day (and after all
that is only Christian conduct) and to take round to her after lunch to-
morrow the book she said she wanted to see last July. I am sure I have
forgotten what it was, but any book will do, since she only wants it to be
thought that she reads. After all, I should be sorry to let Mrs. Ames suppose
that anything she can do should have the power of putting me out, and I
should like to see if she still dyes her hair. After the chrysanthemums in the
road I should not be the least surprised to be told that Major Ames is ill.
Then we shall know all. Dear me, it is eleven o’clock already, and I never
felt less inclined to sleep.”
Henry stepped downstairs to drink a mild whisky and soda after all this
conversation and excitement, but while it was still half drunk, he felt
compelled to run upstairs and tap at his wife’s door.
“I am not coming in, dear,” he said, in answer to her impassioned
negative. “But if you find Major Ames is not ill?”
“No one will be more rejoiced than myself, Henry,” said she, in a
disappointed voice.
Henry went gently downstairs again.
Mrs. Ames was at home when the forgiving Mrs. Altham arrived on the
following afternoon, bearing a copy of a book of which there were already
two examples in the house. But she clearly remembered having wanted to
see some book of which they had spoken together, last July, and it was very
kind of Mrs. Altham to have attempted to supply her with it. Beyond doubt
she had ceased to dye her hair, for the usual grey streaks were apparent in it,
a proof (if Mrs. Altham wanted a proof, which she did not) that artificial
means had been resorted to. And even as Mrs. Altham, with her powerful
observation, noticed the difference in Mrs. Ames’ hair, so also she noticed a
difference in Mrs. Ames. She no longer seemed pompous: there was a
kindliness about her which was utterly unlike her usual condescension,
though it manifested itself only in the trivial happenings of an afternoon
call, such as putting a cushion in her chair, and asking if she found the
room, with its prospering fire, too hot. This also led to interesting
information.
“It is scarcely cold enough for a fire to-day,” she said, “but my husband
is laid up with a little attack of lumbago.”
“I am so sorry to hear that,” said Mrs. Altham feverishly. “When did he
catch it?”
“He felt it first last night before dinner. It is disappointing, for he
expected Harrogate to cure him of such tendencies. But it is not very
severe: I have no doubt he will be in here presently for tea.”
Mrs. Altham felt quite convinced he would not, and hastened to glean
further enlightenment.
“You must be very busy thinking of the election,” she said. “I suppose
Sir James is safe to get in. I got tickets for the first of his meetings this
morning.”
“That will be the one at which the President of the Board of Trade
speaks,” said Mrs. Ames. “My cousin and he dine with us first.”
Mrs. Altham determined on more direct questions.
“Really, it must require courage to be a politician nowadays,” she said,
“especially if you are in the Cabinet. Mr. Chilcot has been hardly able to
open his mouth lately without being interrupted by some Suffragette. Dear
me, I hope I have not said the wrong thing! I quite forgot your sympathies.”
“It is certainly a subject that interests me,” said Mrs. Ames, “though as
for saying the wrong thing, dear Mrs. Altham, why, the world would be a
very dull place if we all agreed with each other. But I think it requires just
as much courage for a woman to get up at a meeting and interrupt. I cannot
imagine myself being bold enough. I feel I should be unable to get on my
feet, or utter a word. They must be very much in earnest, and have a great
deal of conviction to nerve them.”
This was not very satisfactory; if anything was to be learned from it, it
was that Mrs. Ames was but a tepid supporter of the cause. But what
followed was still more vexing, for the parlour-maid announced Mrs.
Evans.
“So sorry to hear about Major Ames, dear cousin Amy,” she said.
“Wilfred told me he had been to see him.”
Mrs. Ames made a kissing-pad, so to speak, of her small toad’s face, and
Millie dabbed her cheek on it.
“Dear Millie, how nice of you to call! Parker, tell the Major that tea is
ready and that Mrs. Evans and Mrs. Altham are here.”
But by the time Major Ames arrived Mrs. Altham was there no longer.
She was thoroughly disgusted with the transformation into chaff of all the
beautiful grain that they had taken the trouble to thresh out the night before.
She summed it up succinctly to her husband when he came back from his
golf.
“I don’t believe the Suffragettes are going to do anything at all, Henry,”
she said, “and I shouldn’t wonder if these chrysanthemums had nothing to
do with anybody. The only thing is that her hair is dyed, because it was all
speckled with grey again as thickly as yours, and I declare I left The Safety
of the Race behind me, instead of bringing it back again, as I meant to do.”
Henry, who had won his match at golf, was naturally optimistic.
“Then you didn’t actually see Major Ames?” he asked.
“No, but there was no longer any doubt about it all,” she said. “I do not
think I am unduly credulous, but it was clear there was nothing the matter
with him except a touch of lumbago. And all this Suffragette business
means nothing at all, in spite of the yards of riband. You may take my word
for it.”
“Then there will be no point in going to Sir James’ meeting,” said Henry,
“though the President of the Board of Trade is going to speak.”
“Not unless you want to hear the biggest windbag in the country
buttering up the greatest prig in the county. I should be sorry to waste my
time over it; and he is dining with the Ames’, and so I suppose all there will
be to look at will be the row of them on the platform, all swollen with one
of Mrs. Ames’ biggest dinners. We might have gone to bed at our usual time
last night, for all the use that there has been in our talk. And it was you saw
the chrysanthemums, from which you expected so much and thought it
worth while to tell me about them.”
And Henry felt too much depressed at the utter flatness of all that had
made so fair a promise, to enter any protest against the palpable injustice of
these conclusions.
Major Ames’ lumbago was of the Laodicean sort, neither hot nor cold. It
hung about, occasionally stabbing him shrewdly, at times retreating in the
Parthian mode, so that he was encouraged to drink a glass of port, upon
which it shot at him again, and he had to get back to his stew of sloppy diet
and depressing reflections. Most of all, the relations into which he had
allowed himself to drift with regard to Millie filled him with a timorous yet
exultant agitation, but he almost, if not quite, exaggerated his indisposition,
in order to escape from the responsibility of deciding what should come of
it. Damp and boisterous weather made it prudent for him to keep to the
house, and she came to see him daily. Behind her demure quietness he
divined a mind that was expectant and sure: there was no doubt as to her
view of the situation that had arisen between them. She had played with the
emotions of others once too often, and was caught in the agitation which
she had so often excited without sharing in it. Mrs. Ames was generally
present at these visits, but when it was quite certain that she was not
looking, Millie often raised her eyes to his, and this disconcerting
conviction lurked behind them. Her speech was equally disconcerting, for
she would say, “It will be nice when you are well again,” in a manner that
quite belied the commonplace words. And this force that lay behind
strangely controlled him. Involuntarily, almost, he answered her signals,
gave himself the lover-like privilege of seeming to understand all that was
not said. All the time, too, he perfectly appreciated the bad taste of the affair
—namely, that a woman who was in love with him, and to whom he had
given indications of the most unmistakable kind that he was on her plane of
emotion, should play these unacted scenes in his wife’s house, coming there
to make pass his invalid hours, and that he should take his part in them. It
was common, and he could not but contrast that commonness with the
unconsciousness of his wife. Occasionally he was inclined to think, “Poor
Amy, how little she sees,” but as often it occurred to him that she was too
big to be aware of such smallnesses as he and Milly were guilty of. And, in
reality, the truth lay between these extreme views. She was not too big to be
aware of it; she was quite aware of it, but she was big enough to appear too
big to be aware of it. She watched, and scorned herself for her watching.
She fed herself with suspicions, but was robust enough to spew them forth
again. Also, and this allowed the robuster attitude to flourish, she was
concerned with a nightmare of her own which daily grew more vivid and
unescapable.
A decade of streaming October days passed in this trying atmosphere of
suspicion and uncertainty and apprehension. Of the three of them it was
Major Ames who was most thoroughly ill at ease, for he had no inspiration
which enabled him to bear this sordid martyrdom. He divined that Millie
was evolving some situation in which he would be expected to play a very
prominent part, and such ardour as was his he felt not to be of the adequate
temperature, and he looked back over the peaceful days when his garden
supplied him not only with flowers, but with the most poignant emotions
known to his nature, almost with regret. It had all been so peaceful and
pleasant in that land-locked harbour, and now she, like a steam-tug, was
slowly towing him out past the pier-head into a waste of breakers. Strictly
speaking, it was possible for him at any moment to cast the towing-rope off
and return to his quiet anchorage, but he was afraid he lacked the moral
power to do so. He had let her throw the rope aboard him, he had helped to
attach it to the bollard, thinking, so to speak, that he was the tug and she the
frail little craft. But that frail little craft had developed into an engined
apparatus, and it was his turn to be towed, helpless and at least unwilling,
and wholly uninspired. The others, at any rate, had inspiration to warm their
discomfort: Mrs. Ames the sense of justice and sisterhood which was
leavening her dumpy existence, Mrs. Evans the fire which, however strange
and illicit are its burnings, however common and trivial the material from
which it springs, must still be called love.
It was the evening of Sir James’ first meeting, and Mrs. Ames at six
o’clock was satisfying herself that nothing had been omitted in the
preparations for dinner. The printed menu cards were in place, announcing
all that was most sumptuous; the requisite relays of knives, spoons and
forks were on the sideboard; the plates of opalescent glass for ice were to
hand, and there was no longer anything connected with this terrible feast,
that to her had the horror of a murderer’s breakfast on the last morning of
his life, which could serve to distract her mind any more. Millie was to dine
with them and with them come to the meeting, but just now it did not seem
to matter in the slightest what Millie did. All day Mrs. Ames had been
catching at problematic straws that might save her: it was possible that Mr.
Chilcot would be seized with sudden indisposition, and the meeting be
postponed. But she herself had seen him drive by in Cousin James’ motor,
looking particularly hearty. Or Cousin James might catch influenza: Lady
Westbourne already had it, and it was pleasantly infectious. Or Lyndhurst
might get an attack of really acute lumbago, but instead he felt absolutely
well again to-day, and had even done a little garden-rolling. One by one
these bright possibilities had been extinguished—now no reasonable anchor
remained except that dinner would acutely disagree with her (and that was
hardly likely, since she felt incapable of eating anything) or that the motor
which was to take them to the town hall would break down.
At half-past six she went upstairs to dress; she would thus secure a
quarter of an hour before the actual operation of decking herself began, in
which to be alone and really face what was going to happen. It was no use
trying to face it in one piece: taken all together the coming evening had the
horror and unreality of nightmare brooding over it. She had to take it
moment by moment from the time when she would welcome her guests,
whom, so it seemed to her, she was then going to betray, till the time when,
perhaps four hours from now, she would be back again here in her room,
and everything that had happened had woven itself into the woolly texture
of the past, in place of being in the steely, imminent future. There was
dinner to be gone through; that was only tolerable to think of because of
what was to follow: in itself it would please her to entertain her cousin and
so notable a man as a Cabinet Minister. Clearly, then, she must separate
dinner from the rest, and enjoy it independently. But when she went down
to dinner she must have left here in readiness the little black velvet bag ...
that was not so pleasant to think of. Yet the little black velvet bag had
nothing to do yet. Then there would follow the drive to the town hall: that
would not be unpleasant: in itself she would rather enjoy the stir and pomp
of their arrival. Sir James would doubtless say to the scrutinizing
doorkeeper, “These ladies are with me,” and they would pass on amid
demonstrations of deference. Probably there would be a little procession on
to the platform ... the Mayor would very likely lead the way with her, her
and her little black velvet bag....
And then poor Mrs. Ames suddenly felt that if she thought about it any
more she would have a nervous collapse. And at that thought her
inspiration, so to speak, reached out a cool, firm hand to her. At any cost she
was going through with this nightmare for the sake of that which inspired it.
It was no use saying it was pleasant, nor was it pleasant to have a tooth out.
But any woman with the slightest self-respect, when once convinced that it
was better to have the tooth out, went to the dentist at the appointed hour,
declined gas (Mrs. Ames had very decided opinions about those who made
a fuss over a little pain), opened her mouth, and held the arms of the chair
very firmly. One wanted something to hold on to at these moments. She
wondered what she would find to hold on to this evening. Perhaps the
holding on would be done by somebody else—a policeman, for instance.
There was one more detail to attend to before dressing, and she opened
the little black velvet bag. In it were two chains—light, but of steel: they
had been sold her with the gratifying recommendation that either of them
alone would hold a mastiff, which was more than was required. One was of
such length as to go tightly round her waist: a spring lock with hasp passing
through the last link of it, closing with an internal snap, obviated the
necessity of a key. This she proposed to put on below the light cloak she
wore before they started. The second chain was rather longer but otherwise
similar. It was to be passed through the one already in place on her waist,
and round the object to which she desired to attach herself. Another snap
lock made the necessary connection.
She saw that all was in order and, putting the big Suffragette rosette on
top of the other apparatus, closed the bag: it was useless to try to accustom
herself to it by looking; she might as well inspect the dentist’s forceps,
hoping thus to mollify their grip. Cloak and little velvet bag she would
leave here and come up for them after dinner. And already the quarter of an
hour was over, and it was time to dress.
The daring rose-coloured silk was to be worn on this occasion, and she
hoped that it would not experience any rough treatment. Yet it hardly
mattered: after to-night she would very likely never care to set eyes on it
again, and emphatically Lyndhurst would find it full of disagreeable
associations. And then she felt suddenly and acutely sorry for him and for
the amazement and chagrin that he was about to feel. He could not fail to be
burningly ashamed of her, to choke with rage and mortification. Perhaps it
would bring on another attack of lumbago, which she would intensely
regret. But she did not anticipate feeling in the least degree ashamed of
herself. But she intensely wished it had not got to be.
And now she was ready: the rose-coloured silk glowed softly in the
electric light, the pink satin shoes which “went with it” were on her plump,
pretty little feet, the row of garnets was clasped round her neck. There was a
good deal of colour in her face, and she was pleased to see she looked so
well. The last time she had worn all these fine feathers was on the evening
she returned home with brown hair and softened wrinkles from Overstrand.
That was not a successful evening: it seemed that the rose-coloured silk was
destined to shine on inauspicious scenes. But now she was ready: this was
her last moment alone. And she plumped down on her knees by the bedside,
in a sudden access of despair at what lay before her, and found her lips
involuntarily repeating the words that were used in the hugest and most
holy agony that man’s spirit has ever known, when for one moment He felt
that even He could not face the sacrifice of Himself or to drink of the cup.
But next moment she sprang from her knees again, her face all aflame with
the shame at her paltriness. “You wretched little coward!” she said to
herself. “How dare you?”
Dinner, that long expensive dinner, brought with it trouble unanticipated
by Mrs. Ames. Mr. Chilcot, it appeared, was a teetotaler at all times, and
never ate anything but a couple of poached eggs before he made a speech.
He was also, owing to recent experiences, a little nervous about
Suffragettes, and required reiterated assurances that unaccountable females
had not been seen about.
“It’s true that a week or two ago I received a letter asking me my views,”
said Sir James, “but I wrote a fairly curt reply, and have heard nothing more
about it. My agent’s pretty wide awake. He would have known if there was
likely to be any disturbance. No thanks, Major, one glass of champagne is
all I allow myself before making a speech. Capital wine, I know; I always
say you give one the best glass of wine to be had in Kent. How’s time, by
the way? Ah, we’ve got plenty of time yet.”
“I like to have five minutes’ quiet before going on to the platform,” said
Mr. Chilcot.
“Yes, that will be all right. Perhaps we might have the motor five
minutes earlier, Cousin Amy. No, no sweetbread thanks. Dear me, what a
great dinner you are giving us.”
An awful and dismal atmosphere descended. Mr. Chilcot, thinking of his
speech, frowned at his poached eggs, and, when they were finished, at the
table-cloth. Cousin James refused dish after dish, Mrs. Ames felt herself
incapable of eating, and Major Ames and Mrs. Evans, who was practically a
vegetarian, were left to do the carousing. Wines went round untouched,
silences grew longer, and an interminable succession of dishes failed to
tempt anybody except Major Ames. At this rate, not one, but a whole series
of luncheon-parties would be necessary to finish up the untouched dainties
of this ill-starred dinner. Outside, a brisk tattoo of rain beat on the windows,
and the wind having got up, the fire began to smoke, and Mr. Chilcot to
cough. A readjustment of door and window mended this matter, but sluiced
Cousin James in a chilly draught. Mr. Chilcot brightened up a little as
coffee came round, but the coffee was the only weak spot in an admirable
repast, being but moderately warm. He put it down. Mrs. Ames tried to
repair this error.
“I’m afraid it is not hot enough,” she said. “Parker, tell them to heat it up
at once.”
Cousin James looked at his watch.
“Really, I think we ought to be off,” he said. “I’m sure they can get a cup
of coffee for Mr. Chilcot from the hotel. We might all go together unless
you have ordered something, Cousin Amy. The motor holds five easily.”
A smart, chill October rain was falling, and they drove through blurred
and disconsolate streets. A few figures under umbrellas went swiftly along
the cheerless pavements, a crowd of the very smallest dimensions, scarce
two deep across the pavement opposite the town hall, watched the arrival of
those who were attending the meeting. There was an insignificant queue of
half-a-dozen carriages awaiting their disembarkments, but as the hands of
the town hall clock indicated that the meeting was not timed to begin for
twenty minutes yet, even Mr. Chilcot could not get agitated about the
possibility of a cup of coffee before his effort. Through the rain-streaked
windows Mrs. Ames could see how meagre, owing no doubt to the
inclement night, was the assembly of the ticket-holders. It was possible, of
course, that crowds might soon begin to arrive, but Riseborough generally
made a point of being in its place in plenty of time, and she anticipated a
sparsely attended room. Mrs. Brooks hurried by in mackintosh and
goloshes, the cheerful Turner family, who were just behind them in a cab,
dived into the wet night, and emerged again under the awning. Mrs. Currie
(wife of the station-master), with her Suffragette rosette in a paper parcel,
had a friendly word with a policeman at the door, and at these sights, since
they indicated a forcible assemblage of the league, she felt a little
encouraged. Then the car moved on and stopped again opposite the awning,
and their party dismounted.
A bustling official demanded their tickets, and was summarily thrust
aside by another, just as bustling but more enlightened, who had recognized
Sir James, and conducted them all to the Mayor’s parlour, where that
dignitary received them. There was coffee already provided, and all anxiety
on that score was removed. Mr. Chilcot effaced himself in a corner with his
cup and his notes, while the others, notably Sir James, behaved with that
mixture of social condescension and official deference which appears to be
the right attitude in dealing with mayors. Then the Mayoress said, “George,
dear, it has gone the half-hour; will you escort Mrs. Ames?”
George asked Mrs. Ames if he might have the honour, and observed—
“We shall have but a thin meeting, I am afraid. Most inclement for
October.”
Mrs. Ames pulled her cloak a little closer round her, in order to hide a
chain that was more significant than the Mayor’s, and felt the little black
velvet bag beating time to her steps against her knee.
They walked through the stark bare passages, with stone floors that
exuded cold moisture in sympathy with the wetness of the evening, and
came out into a sudden blaze of light.
A faint applause from nearly empty benches heralded their appearance,
and they disposed themselves on a row of plush arm-chairs behind a long
oak table. The Mayor sat in the centre, to right and left of him Sir James and
Mr. Chilcot. Just opposite Mrs. Ames was a large table-leg, which had for
her the significance of the execution-shed.
She put her bag conveniently on her knees, and quietly unloosed the
latch that fastened it. There were no more preparations to be made just yet,
since the chain was quite ready, and in a curious irresponsible calm she took
further note of her surroundings. Scarcely a hundred people were there, all
told, and face after face, as she passed her eyes down the seats, was friendly
and familiar. Mrs. Currie bowed, and the Turner family, in a state of the
pleasantest excitement, beamed; Mrs. Brooks gave her an excited hand-
wave. They were all sitting in encouraging vicinity to each other, but she
was alone, as on the inexorable seas, while they were on the pier.... Then the
Mayor cleared his throat.
It had been arranged that the Mayor was to be given an uninterrupted
hearing, for he was the local grocer, and it had, perhaps, been tacitly felt
that he might adopt retaliatory measures in the inferior quality of the
subsequent supplies of sugar. He involved himself in sentences that had no
end, and would probably have gone on for ever, had he not, with
commendable valour, chopped off their tails when their coils threatened to
strangle him, and begun again. The point of it all was that they had the
honour to welcome the President of the Board of Trade and Sir James
Westbourne. Luckily, the posters, with which the town had been placarded
for the last fortnight, corroborated the information, and no reasonable
person could any longer doubt it.
He was rejoiced to see so crowded an assembly met together—this was
not very happy, but the sentence had been carefully thought out, and it was
a pity not to reproduce it—and was convinced that they would all spend a
most interesting and enjoyable evening, which would certainly prove to be
epoch-making. Politics were taken seriously in Riseborough, and it was
pleasant to see the gathering graced by so many members of the fair sex. He
felt he had detained them all quite long enough (no) and he would detain
them no longer (yes), but call on the Right Honourable Mr. Chilcot (cheers).
As Mr. Chilcot rose, Mr. Turner rose also, and said in a clear, cheerful
voice, “Votes for Women.” He had a rosette, pinned a little crookedly,
depending from his shoulder. Immediately his wife and daughter rose too,
and in a sort of Gregorian chant said, “Women’s rights,” and a rattle of
chains made a pleasant light accompaniment. From beneath her seat Mrs.
Currie produced a banner trimmed with the appropriate colours, on which
was embroidered “Votes for Women.” But the folds clung dispiritingly
together: there was never a more dejected banner. Two stalwart porters
whom she had brought with her also got up, wiped their mouths with the
backs of their hands, and said in low, hoarse tones, “Votes for Women.”
This lasted but a few seconds, and there was silence again. It was
impossible to imagine a less impressive demonstration: it seemed the
incarnation of ineffectiveness. Mr. Chilcot had instantly sat down when it
began, and, though he had cause to be shy of Suffragettes, seemed quite
undisturbed; he was smiling good-naturedly, and for a moment consulted
his notes again. And then, suddenly, Mrs. Ames realized that she had taken
no share in it; it had begun so quickly, and so quickly ended, that for the
time she had merely watched. But then her blood and her courage came
back to her: it should not be her fault, in any case, if the proceedings lacked
fire. The Idea, all that had meant so much to her during these last months,
seemed to stand by her, asking her aid. She opened the little black velvet
bag, pinned on her rosette, passed the second chain (strong enough to hold a
mastiff) through the first, and round the leg of the table in front of her,
heard the spring lock click, and rose to her feet, waving her hand.
“Votes for Women!” she cried. “Votes for Women. Hurrah!”
Instantly every one on the platform turned to her: she saw Lyndhurst’s
inflamed and astonished face, with mouth fallen open in incredulous
surprise, like a fish in an aquarium: she saw Cousin James’ frown of
distinguished horror. Mrs. Evans looked as if about to laugh, and the
Mayoress said, “Lor’!” Mr. Chilcot turned round in his seat, and his good-
humored smile faded, leaving an angry fighting face. But all this hostility
and amazement, so far from cowing or silencing her, seemed like a draught
of wine. “Votes for Women!” she cried again.
At that the cry was taken up in earnest: by a desperate effort Mrs. Currie
unfurled her banner, so that it floated free, her porters roared out their
message with the conviction they put into their announcements to a
stopping train that this was Riseborough, the Turner family gleefully
shouted together: Mrs. Brooks, unable to adjust her rosette, madly waved it,
and a solid group of enthusiasts just below the platform emitted loud and
militant cries. All that had been flat and lifeless a moment before was
inspired and vital. And Mrs. Ames had done it. For a moment she had
nothing but glory in her heart.
Mr. Chilcot leaned over the table to her.
“I had no idea,” he said, “when I had the honour of dining with you that
you proposed immediately afterwards to treat me with such gross
discourtesy.”
“Votes for Women!” shouted Mrs. Ames again.
This time the cry was less vehemently taken up, for there was nothing to
interrupt. Mr. Chilcot conferred a moment quietly with Sir James, and Mrs.
Ames saw that Lyndhurst and Mrs. Evans were talking together: the former
was spluttering with rage, and Mrs. Evans had laid her slim, white-gloved
hand on his knee, in the attempt, it appeared, to soothe him. At present the
endeavour did not seem to be meeting with any notable measure of success.
Even in the midst of her excitement, Mrs. Ames thought how ludicrous
Lyndhurst’s face was; she also felt sorry for him. As well, she had the sense
of this being tremendous fun: never in her life had she been so effective,
never had she even for a moment paralysed the plans of other people. But
she was doing that now; Mr. Chilcot had come here to speak, and she was
not permitting him to. And again she cried “Votes for Women!”
An inspector of police had come on to the platform, and after a few
words with Sir James, he vaulted down into the body of the hall. Next
moment, some dozen policemen tramped in from outside, and immediately
afterwards the Turner family, still beaming, were being trundled down the
gangway, and firmly ejected. Sundry high notes and muffled shoutings
came from outside, but after a few seconds they were dumb, as if a tap had
been turned off. There was a little more trouble with Mrs. Currie, but a few
smart tugs brought away the somewhat flimsy wooden rail to which she had
attached herself, and she was taken along in a sort of tripping step, like a
cheerful dancing bear, with her chains jingling round her, after the Turners,
and quietly put out into the night. Then Sir James came across to Mrs.
Ames.
“Cousin Amy,” he said, “you must please give us your word to cause no
more disturbance, or I shall tell a couple of men to take you away.”
“Votes for Women!” shouted Mrs. Ames again. But the excitement
which possessed her was rapidly dying, and from the hall there came no
response except very audible laughter.
“I am very sorry,” said Cousin James.
And then with a sudden overwhelming wave, the futility of the whole
thing struck her. What had she done? She had merely been extremely rude
to her two guests, had seriously annoyed her husband, and had aroused
perfectly justifiable laughter. General Fortescue was sitting a few rows off:
he was looking at her through his pince-nez, and his red, good-humoured
face was all a-chink with smiles. Then two policemen, one of whom had his
beat in St. Barnabas Road, vaulted up on to the platform, and several people
left their places to look on from a more advantageous position.
“Beg your pardon, ma’am,” said the St. Barnabas policeman, touching
his helmet with imperturbable politeness. “She’s chained up too, Bill.”
Bill was a slow, large, fatherly-looking man, and examined Mrs. Ames’
fetters. Then a broad grin broke out over his amiable face.
“It’s only just passed around the table-leg,” he said. “Hitch up the table-
leg, mate, and slip it off.”
It was too true ... patent lock and mastiff-holding chain were slipped
down the table-leg, and Mrs. Ames, with the fatherly-looking policeman
politely carrying her chains and the little velvet bag, was gently and
inevitably propelled through the door which, a quarter of an hour ago, she
had entered escorted by the Mayor, and down the stone passage and out into
the dripping street. The rain fell heavily on to the rose-coloured silk dress,
and the fatherly policeman put her cloak, which had half fallen off, more
shelteringly round her.
“Better have a cab, ma’am, and go home quietly,” he said. “You’ll catch
cold if you stay here, and we can’t let you in again, begging your pardon,
ma’am.”
Mrs. Ames looked round: Mrs. Currie was just crossing the road,
apparently on her way home, and a carriage drove off containing the Turner
family. A sense of utter failure and futility possessed her: it was cold and
wet, and a chilly wind flapped the awning, blowing a shower of dripping
raindrops on to her. The excitement and courage that had possessed her just
now had all oozed away: nothing had been effected, unless to make herself
ridiculous could be counted as an achievement.
“Call a cab for the lady, Bill,” said her policeman soothingly.
This was soon summoned, and Bill touched his helmet as she got in, and
before closing the door pulled up the window for her. The cabman also
knew her, and there was no need to give him her address. The rain pattered
on the windows and on the roof, and the horse splashed briskly along
through the puddles in the roadway.
Parker opened the door to her, surprised at the speediness of her return.
“Why, ma’am!” she exclaimed, “has anything happened?”
“No, nothing, Parker,” said she, feeling that a dreadful truth underlay her
words. “Tell the Major, when he comes in, that I have gone to bed.”
She looked for a moment into the dining-room. So short a time had
passed that the table was not yet cleared: the printed menu-cards had been
collected, but the coffee, which had not been hot enough, still stood
untasted in the cups, and the slices of pineapple, cut, but not eaten, were
ruinously piled together. The thought of all the luncheons that would be
necessary to consume all this expensive food made her feel sick.... These
little things had assumed a ridiculous size to her mind; that which had
seemed so big was pitifully dwindled. She felt desperately tired, and cold
and lonely.
CHAPTER XII
“And what’s to be done now?” said Major Ames, chipping his bacon
high into the air above his plate. “If you didn’t hear me, I said, ‘What’s to
be done now?’ I don’t know how you can look Riseborough in the face
again, and, upon my word, I don’t see how I can. They’ll point at me in the
street, and say, ‘That’s Major Ames, whose wife made a fool of herself.’
That’s what you did, Amy. You made a fool of yourself. And what was the
good of it all? Are you any nearer getting the vote than before, because
you’ve screamed ‘Votes for Women’ a dozen times? You’ve only given a
proof the more of how utterly unfit you are to have anything at all of your
own, let alone a vote. I passed a sleepless night with thinking of your folly,
and I feel infernally unwell this morning.”
This clearly constituted a climax, and Mrs. Ames took advantage of the
rhetorical pause that followed.
“Nonsense, Lyndhurst,” she said; “I heard you snoring.”
“It’s enough to make a man snore,” he said. “Snore, indeed! Why
couldn’t you even have told me that you were going to behave like a silly
lunatic, and if I couldn’t have persuaded you to behave sanely, I could have
stopped away, instead of looking on at such an exhibition? Every one will
suppose I must have known about it, and have countenanced you. I’ve a
good mind to write to the Kent Chronicle and say that I was absolutely
ignorant of what you were going to do. You’ve disgraced us; that’s what
you’ve done.”
He took a gulp of tea, imprudently, for it was much hotter than he
anticipated.
“And now I’ve burned my mouth!” he said.
Mrs. Ames put down her napkin, left her seat, and came and stood by
him.
“I am sorry you are so much vexed,” she said, “but I can’t and I won’t
discuss anything with you if you talk like that. You are thinking about
nothing but yourself, whether you are disgraced, and whether you have had
a bad night.”
“Certainly you don’t seem to have thought about me,” he said.
“As a matter of fact I did,” she said. “I knew you would not like it, and I
was sorry. But do you suppose I liked it? But I thought most about the
reason for which I did it.”
“You did it for notoriety,” said Major Ames, with conviction. “You
wanted to see your name in the papers, as having interrupted a Cabinet
Minister’s speech. You won’t even have that satisfaction, I am glad to say.
Your cousin James, who is a decent sort of fellow after all, spoke to the
reporters last night and asked them to leave out all account of the
disturbance. They consented; they are decent fellows too; they didn’t want
to give publicity to your folly. They were sorry for you, Amy; and how do
you like half-a-dozen reporters at a pound a week being sorry for you? Your
cousin James was equally generous. He bore no malice to me, and shook
hands with me, and said he saw you were unwell when he sat down to
dinner. But when a man of the world, as your Cousin James is, says he
thinks that a woman is unwell, I know what he means. He thought you were
intoxicated. Drunk, in fact. That’s what he thought. He thought you were
drunk. My wife drunk. And it was the kindest interpretation he could have
put upon it. Mad or drunk. He chose drunk. And he hoped I should be able
to come over some day next week and help him to thin out the pheasants.
Very friendly, considering all that had happened.”
Mrs. Ames moved slightly away from him.
“Do you mean to go?” she asked.
“Of course I mean to go. He shows a very generous spirit, and I think I
can account for the highest of his rocketters. He wants to smoothe things
over and be generous, and all that—hold out the olive branch. He
recognizes that I’ve got to live down your folly, and if it’s known that I’ve
been shooting with him, it will help us. Forgive and forget, hey? I shall just
go over there, en garçon, and will patch matters up. I dare say he’ll ask you
over again some time. He doesn’t want to be hard on you. Nor do I, I am
sure. But there are things no man can stand. A man’s got to put his foot
down sometimes, even if he puts it down on his wife. And if I was a bit
rough with you just now, you must realize, Amy, you must realize that I felt
strongly, strongly and rightly. We’ve got to live down what you have done.
Well, I’m by you. We’ll live it down together. I’ll make your peace with
your cousin. You can trust me.”
These magnificent assurances failed to dazzle Mrs. Ames, and she made
no acknowledgement of them. Instead, she went back rather abruptly and
inconveniently to a previous topic.
“You tell me that Cousin James believed I was drunk,” she said. “Now
you knew I was not. But you seem to have let it pass.”
Major Ames felt that more magnanimous assurances might be in place.
“There are some things best passed over,” he said. “Let sleeping dogs lie.
I think the less we talk about last night the better. I hope I am generous
enough not to want to rub it in, Amy, not to make you more uncomfortable
than you are.”
Mrs. Ames sat down in a chair by the fireplace. A huge fire burned there,
altogether disproportionate to the day, and she screened her face from the
blaze with the morning paper. Also she made a mental note to speak to
Parker about it.
“You are making me very uncomfortable indeed, Lyndhurst,” she said;
“by not telling me what I ask you. Did you let it pass, when you saw James
thought I was drunk?”
“Yes; he didn’t say so in so many words. If he had said so, well, I dare
say I should have—have made some sort of answer. And, mind you, it was
no accusation he made against you; he made an excuse for you!”
Mrs. Ames’ small, insignificant face grew suddenly very firm and fixed.
“We do not need to go into that,” she said. “You saw he thought I was
drunk, and said nothing. And after that you mean to go over and shoot his
pheasants. Is that so?”
“Certainly it is. You are making a mountain out of——”
“I am making no mountain out of anything. Personally, I don’t believe
Cousin James thought anything of the kind. What matters is that you let it
pass. What matters is that I should have to tell you that you must apologize
to me, instead of your seeing it for yourself.”
Major Ames got up, pushing his chair violently back.
“Well, here’s a pretty state of things,” he cried; “that you should be
telling me to apologize for last night’s degrading exhibition! I wonder what
you’ll be asking next? A vote of thanks from the Mayor, I shouldn’t wonder,
and an illuminated address. You teaching me what I ought to do! I should
have thought a woman would have been only too glad to trust to her
husband, if he was so kind, as I have been, as to want to get her out of the
consequences of her folly. And now it’s you who must sit there, opposite a
fire fit to roast an ox, and tell me I must apologize. Apologies be damned!
There! It’s not my habit to swear, as you well know, but there are occasions
—— Apologies be damned!”
And a moment later the house shook with the thunder of the slammed
front door.
Mrs. Ames sat for a couple of minutes exactly where she was, still
shielding her face from the fire. She felt all the chilling effects of the
reaction that follows on excitement, whether the excitement is rapturous or
as sickening as last night’s had been, but not for a moment did she regret
her share either in the events of the evening before or in the sequel of this
morning. Last night had ended in utter fiasco, but she had done her best;
this morning’s talk had ended in a pretty sharp quarrel, but again she found
it impossible to reconsider her share in it. Humanly she felt beaten and
ridiculed and sick at heart, but not ashamed. She had passed a sleepless
night, and was horribly tired, with that tiredness that seems to sap all pluck
and power of resistance, and gradually her eyes grew dim, and the difficult
meagre tears of middle age, which are so bitter, began to roll down her
cheeks, and the hard inelastic sobs to rise in her throat.... Yet it was no use
sitting here crying, lunch and dinner had to be ordered whether she felt
unhappy or not; she had to see how extensive was the damage done to her
pink satin shoes by the wet pavements last night; she had to speak about
this ox-roasting fire. Also there was appointed a Suffragette meeting at Mr.
Turner’s house for eleven o’clock, at which past achievements and future
plans would be discussed. She had barely time to wash her face, for it was
unthinkable that Parker or the cook should see she had been crying, and get
through her household duties, before it was time to start.
She dried her eyes and went to the window, through which streamed the
pale saffron-coloured October sunshine. All the stormy trouble of the night
had passed, and the air sparkled with “the clear shining after rain.” But the
frost of a few nights before had blackened the autumn flowers, and the chill
rain had beaten down the glory of her husband’s chrysanthemums, so that
the garden-beds looked withered and dishevelled, like those whose interest
in life is finished, and who no longer care what appearance they present.
The interest of others in them seemed to be finished also; it was not the
gardener’s day here, for he only came twice in the week, and Major Ames,
who should have been assiduous in binding up the broken-stemmed,
encouraging the invalids, and clearing away the havoc wrought by the
storm, had left the house. Perhaps he had gone to the club, perhaps even
now he was trying to make light of it all. She could almost hear him say,
“Women get queer notions into their heads, and the notions run away with
them, bless them. You’ll take a glass of sherry with me, General, won’t
you? Are you by any chance going to Sir James’ shoot next week? I’m
shooting there one day.” Or was he talking it over somewhere else, perhaps
not making light of it? She did not know; all she knew was that she was
alone, and wanted somebody who understood, even if he disagreed. It did
not seem to matter that Lyndhurst utterly disagreed with her, what mattered
was that he had misunderstood her motives so entirely, that the monstrous
implication that she had been intoxicated seemed to him an excuse. And he
was not sorry. What could she do since he was not sorry? It was as difficult
to answer that as it was easy to know what to do the moment he was sorry.
Indeed, then it would be unnecessary to do anything; the reconciliation
would be automatic, and would bring with it something she yearned after,
an opportunity of making him see that she cared, that the woman in her
reached out towards him, in some different fashion now from that in which
she had tried to recapture the semblance of youth and his awakened
admiration. To-day, she looked back on that episode shamefacedly. She had
taken so much trouble with so paltry a purpose. And yet that innocent and
natural coquetry was not quite dead in her; no woman’s heart need be so old
that it no longer cares whether she is pleasing in her husband’s eyes. Only
to-day, it seemed to Mrs. Ames that her pains had been as disproportionate
to her purpose as they had been to its result; now she longed to take pains
for a purpose that was somewhat deeper than that for which she softened
her wrinkles and refreshed the colour of her hair.
She turned from the window and the empty garden, wishing that the rain
would be renewed, so that there would be an excuse for her to go to Mr.
Turner’s in a shut cab. As it was, there was no such excuse, and she felt that
it would require an effort to walk past the club window, and to traverse the
length of the High Street. Female Riseborough, on this warm sunny
morning, she knew would be there in force, popping in and out of shops,
and holding little conversations on the pavement. There would be but one
topic to-day, and for many days yet; it would be long before the autumn
novelty lost anything of its freshness. She wondered how her appearance in
the town would be greeted; would people smile and turn aside as she
approached, and whisper or giggle after she had gone by? What of the
Mayor who, like an honest tradesman, was often to be seen at the door of
his shop, or looking at the “dressing” of his windows? A policeman always
stood at the bottom of the street, controlling the cross-traffic from St.
Barnabas Road. Would he be that one who had helped to further her
movements last night?... She almost felt she ought to thank him.... And then
quite suddenly her pluck returned again, or it was that she realized that she
did not, comparatively speaking, care two straws for any individual
comment or by-play that might take place in the High Street, or for its
accumulated weight. There were other things to care about. For them she
cared immensely.
The High Street proved to be paved with incident. Turning quickly round
the corner, she nearly ran into Bill, the policeman, off duty at this hour, and
obviously giving a humorous recital of some sort to a small amused circle
outside the public-house. It was abruptly discontinued when she appeared,
and she felt that the interest that his audience developed in the sunny
October sky, which they contemplated with faint grins, would be succeeded
by stifled laughter after she had passed. A few paces further on, controlling
the traffic of market-day, was her other policeman Bill, who smiled in a
pleasant and familiar manner to her, as if there was some capital joke
private to them. Twenty yards further along the street was standing the
Mayor, contemplating his shop-window; he saw her, and urgent business
appeared to demand his presence inside. After that there came General
Fortescue tottering to the club; he crossed the street to meet her, and took
off his hat and shook hands.
“By Jove! Mrs. Ames,” he said, “I never enjoyed a meeting so much, and
my wife’s wild that she didn’t go. What a lark! Made me feel quite young
again. I wanted to shout too, and tell them to give the ladies a vote.
Monstrously amusing! Just going to the club to have a chat about it all.”
And he went on his way, with his fat old body shaking with laughter.
Then, feeling rather ill from this encounter, she heard rapid steps in pursuit
of her, and Mrs. Altham joined her.
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Understanding Management 8th Edition Daft Solutions Manual
Understanding Management 8th Edition Daft Solutions Manual
Understanding Management 8th Edition Daft Solutions Manual
Understanding Management 8th Edition Daft Solutions Manual
Understanding Management 8th Edition Daft Solutions Manual

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Understanding Management 8th Edition Daft Solutions Manual

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  • 5. Managing Human Resources and Diversity • © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 209 CHAPTER 9 MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES AND DIVERSITY CHAPTER OUTLINE Are You Ready to Be a Manager? I. The Strategic Role of HRM is to Drive Organizational Performance A. The Strategic Approach B. Building Human Capital to Drive Performance II. The Impact of Federal Legislation on HRM III. The Changing Nature of Careers A. The Changing Social Contract B. Innovations in HRM IV. Finding the Right People A. Human Resource Planning B. Recruiting C. Selecting V. Managing Talent A. Training and Development B. Performance Appraisal VI. Maintaining an Effective Workforce A. Compensation B. Benefits C. Rightsizing the Organization D. Termination VII. The Changing Workplace A. Diversity in the United States B. Diversity on a Global Scale VIII. Managing Diversity A. What is Diversity? B. Dividends of Workplace Diversity IX. Factors Shaping Personal Bias A. Prejudice, Discrimination, and Stereotypes B. Ethnocentrism X. Factors Affecting Women’s Careers A. The Glass Ceiling
  • 6. • Chapter 9 © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 210 B. The Opt-Out Trend C. The Female Advantage XI. Cultural Competence XII. Diversity Initiatives and Programs A. Changing Structures and Policies B. Expanding Recruitment Efforts C. Establishing Mentor Relationships D. Accommodating Special Needs E. Providing Diversity Skills Training F. Increasing Awareness of Sexual Harassment XIII. New Diversity Initiatives A. Multicultural Teams B. Employee Network Groups ANNOTATED LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this chapter, students should be able to: 1. Explain the strategic role of human resource management. The term human resource management (HRM) refers to activities undertaken to attract an effective workforce, develop the workforce to its potential, and maintain the workforce over the long term. These goals take place within the larger organizational environment including competitive strategy, federal legislation, and societal trends. The organization’s competitive strategy may include mergers and acquisitions, downsizing to increase efficiency, international operations, or the acquisition of automated production technology. These strategic decisions determine the demand for skills and employees. The human resource strategy, in turn, must include the correct employee makeup to implement the organization’s strategy. 2. Explain what the changing social contract between organizations and employees means for workers and human resource managers. Not since the advent of mass production and modern organizations has a redefinition of work and career been so profound. Under the emerging social contract, each person must take care of herself or himself. Particularly in learning organizations, everyone is expected to be a self- motivated worker who has excellent interpersonal relationships and is continuously acquiring new skills. Employees take more responsibility and control in their jobs, becoming partners in business improvement rather than cogs in a machine. Organizations provide challenging work assignments as well as information and resources to enable workers to continuously learn new skills. HRM departments can help organizations develop a mix of training, career development opportunities, compensation packages, and rewards and incentives. They can provide career information and assessment, combined with career coaching to help employees determine new career directions.
  • 7. Managing Human Resources and Diversity • © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 211 3. Show how organizations determine their future staffing needs through human resource planning. Human resource planning is the forecasting of human resource needs and the projected matching of individuals with expected vacancies. Human resource planning begins with several questions: What new technologies are emerging, and how will these affect the work system? What is the volume of the business likely to be in the next five to ten years? What is the turnover rate, and how much, if any, is avoidable? By anticipating future HRM needs, the organization can prepare itself to meet competitive challenges more effectively than organizations that react to problems only as they arise. 4. Describe how organizations develop an effective workforce through training and performance appraisal. Training and development represent a planned effort by an organization to facilitate employees’ learning of job-related behaviors. Some authors use the term “training” to refer to teaching lower-level or technical employees how to do their present jobs, while development refers to teaching managers the skills needed for both present and future jobs. For simplicity, we will refer to both as training. Performance appraisal is another technique for developing an effective workforce. Performance appraisal comprises the steps of observing and assessing employee performance, recording the assessment, and providing feedback to the employee. Managers use performance appraisal to describe and evaluate the employees’ performance. 5. Understand the pervasive demographic changes occurring in the domestic and global marketplace and how corporations are responding. The importance of cultural diversity and employee attitudes that welcome cultural differences will result from the inevitable changes taking place in the workplace, in our society, and in the economic environment. These changes include globalization and the changing workforce. In the past, the United States was a place where people of different national origins, ethnicities, races, and religions came together and blended to resemble one another. Opportunities for advancement were limited to those workers who fit easily into the mainstream of the larger culture. Now organizations recognize that everyone is not the same and that the differences people bring to the workplace are valuable. Companies are learning that these differences enable them to compete globally and to acquire rich sources of new talent. Most organizations must undertake conscious efforts to shift from a monoculture perspective to one of pluralism. Management activities required for a culturally diverse workforce starts with top managers who can help shape organizational values and employee mindsets about cultural differences. In addition training programs can promote knowledge and acceptance of diverse cultures and educate managers on valuing the differences. 6. Recognize the complex attitudes, opinions, and issues that employees bring to the workplace, including prejudice, discrimination, stereotypes, and ethnocentrism. Prejudice is the tendency to view people who are different as being deficient. Discrimination occurs when people act out their prejudicial attitudes toward other people who are targets of their prejudice. Although blatant discrimination is not as widespread as in the past, bias in the
  • 8. • Chapter 9 © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 212 workplace often shows up in subtle ways. A stereotype is a rigid, exaggerated, irrational belief associated with a particular group of people. To be successful managing diversity, managers need to eliminate harmful stereotypes from their thinking, shedding any biases that negatively affect the workplace. Stereotype threat describes the psychological experience of a person who, usually engaged in a task, is aware of a stereotype about his or her identity group suggesting that he or she will not perform well on that task. People most affected by stereotype threat are those we consider as disadvantaged in the workplace due to negative stereotypes–racial and ethnic minorities, members of lower socioeconomic classes, women, older people, gay and bisexual men, and people with disabilities. Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own group and subculture are inherently superior to other groups and cultures, thus making it difficult to value diversity. The business world tends to reflect values, behaviors, and assumptions based on the experiences of a homogeneous, white, middle-class, male workforce. Most management theories presume workers share similar values, beliefs, motivations, and attitudes about work and life in general. 7. Recognize the factors that affect women’s opportunities, including the glass ceiling, the opt- out trend, and the female advantage. The glass ceiling is an invisible barrier that separates women and minorities from top management positions. They can look up through the ceiling and see top management, but prevailing attitudes and stereotypes are invisible obstacles to their own advancement. Women and minorities are often excluded from informal manager networks and don’t get access to the type of general and line management experience required for moving to the top. Glass walls serve as invisible barriers to important lateral movement within the organization. Many women choose to get off the fast track long before they hit the glass ceiling. In this opt- out trend, highly-educated, professional women are deciding that corporate success isn’t worth the price in terms of reduced family and personal time. Some are opting out to be stay-at-home moms, while others want to continue working, but just not in the kind of fast-paced, competitive, aggressive environment that exists in most corporations. Critics argue that this is just another way to blame women themselves for the dearth of female managers at higher levels. Some people think women might actually be better managers, partly because of a more collaborative, less hierarchical, relationship-oriented approach that is in tune with today’s global and multicultural environment. As attitudes and values change with changing generations, the qualities women seem to possess may lead to a gradual role reversal in organizations. Women of all races and ethnic groups are outpacing men in earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Over all, women’s participation in both the labor force and civic affairs has steadily increased since the mid-1950s, while men’s participation has slowly but steadily declined. 8. Explain the five steps in developing cultural competence in the workplace. A successful diversity plan leads to a workforce that demonstrates cultural competence in the long run. Cultural competence is the ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures. There are five steps to implementing a diversity plan.
  • 9. Managing Human Resources and Diversity • © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 213 • Uncover diversity problems in the organization. Organizations can’t assess their progress toward cultural competence without first investigating where the culture is right now. A cultural audit is a tool that identifies problems or areas needing improvement in a corporation’s culture. • Strengthen top management commitment. The most important component of a successful diversity strategy is management commitment, leadership, and support. • Choose solutions to fit a balanced strategy. To be most effective, solutions should be presented in a balanced strategy and address three factors: education, enforcement, and exposure. • Demand results and revisit the goals. Diversity performance should be measured by numerical goals to ensure solutions are being implemented successfully. • Maintain momentum to change the culture. Use success in the previous four steps as fuel to move forward and leverage for more progress. LECTURE OUTLINE Are You Ready to Be a Manager? This questionnaire helps students determine their understanding of human resources practices and attitudes toward diversity. INTRODUCTION The term human resource management (HRM) refers to the design and application of formal systems in an organization to ensure the effective and efficient use of human talent to accomplish organizational goals. Over the past decade, human resource management has shed its old “personnel” image and gained recognition as a vital player in corporate strategy. Increasingly, large corporations are outsourcing routine HR administrative activities, freeing HRM staff from time consuming paperwork and enabling them to take on more strategic responsibilities. Human resources tops Gartner Inc.’s list of the most commonly outsourced business activities. All managers need to be skilled in the basics of human resource management. Flatter organizations often require that managers throughout the organization play an active role in recruiting and selecting the right employees, developing effective training programs, or creating appropriate performance appraisal systems. HRM professionals act to guide and assist line managers in managing human resources to achieve the organization’s strategic goals.
  • 10. • Chapter 9 © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 214 I. THE STRATEGIC ROLE OF HRM IS TO DRIVE ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE INSTRUCTOR’S NOTES_________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________ Exhibit 9.1: Strategic Human Resource Management A. The Strategic Approach 1. All managers are human resource managers. 2. Employees are viewed as assets. In today’s brutally competitive business environment, how a company manages its workforce may be the single most important factor in sustained competitive success. 3. HRM is a matching process, integrating the organization’s strategy and goals with the correct approach to managing the firm’s human resources. 4. Current strategic issues of concern to managers include: a. The right people to become more competitive on a global basis. b. The right people to improve quality, innovation, and customer service. c. The right people to retain during mergers and acquisitions. d. The right people to apply new information technology for e-business. New Manager Self-Test: Getting the Right People on the Bus
  • 11. Managing Human Resources and Diversity • © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 215 As new managers, students must learn to get the right people into their organizations. Most new managers are shocked at the large amount of time, effort, and skill required to recruit, place, and retain the right people. The right people can make an organization great; the wrong people can be catastrophic. This exercise helps students better understand their ability to get the right people in their organizations. 5. The three broad activities of HRM are as follows: a. Find the right people. b. Manage talent so people achieve their potential. c. Maintain the workforce over the long term. B. Building Human Capital to Drive Performance 1. Human capital refers to the economic value of the combined knowledge, experience, skills, and capabilities of employees. To build human capital, HRM develops strategies for finding the best talent, enhancing their skills and knowledge with training programs and opportunities for personal and professional development, and providing compensation and benefits that support the sharing of knowledge and appropriately reward people for their contributions to the organization. Exhibit 9.2: The Role and Value of Human-Capital Investments II. THE IMPACT OF FEDERAL LEGISLATION ON HRM INSTRUCTOR’S NOTES_________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________
  • 12. • Chapter 9 © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 216 Several federal laws have been passed to insure equal employment opportunity (EEO). The purpose of these laws is to stop discriminatory practices that are unfair to specific groups and define enforcement agencies for these laws. EEO legislation attempts to balance the pay given to men and women and provide employment opportunities without regard to race, religion, national origin, sex, age, or disability. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the major agency involved with employment discrimination. Discrimination occurs when some applicants are hired or promoted based on criteria that are not job relevant. When discrimination is found, remedies include back pay and affirmative action. Affirmative action requires an employer to take positive steps to guarantee equal employment opportunities for people within protected groups. Failure to comply with equal employment opportunity legislation can result in substantial fines and penalties for employers. One issue of concern is sexual harassment, which is a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The EEOC guidelines specify that behavior such as unwelcome advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal and physical conduct of a sexual nature becomes sexual harassment when submission to the conduct is tied to continued employment or advancement, or when the behavior creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment. Exhibit 9.3: Major Federal Laws Related to Human Resource Management III.THE CHANGING NATURE OF CAREERS INSTRUCTOR’S NOTES_________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ A. The Changing Social Contract 1. In the old social contract, the employee contributed ability, education, loyalty, and commitment in return for the company providing wages and benefits, work, advancement, and training.
  • 13. Managing Human Resources and Diversity • © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 217 a. Volatile changes in the environment have disrupted this contract. b. Organizations have downsized and careers no longer necessarily progress up a vertical hierarchy. Spotlight on Skills: What Is Your HR Work Orientation? The HR department typically is responsible for monitoring compliance with federal laws, and it provides detailed and specific employee procedures and records for an organization. Every new manager is involved in HR activities for his or her direct reports. This exercise helps students understand their orientations concerning day-to-day work issues. Exhibit 9.4: The Changing Social Contract 2. The new social contract is based on the concept of employability rather than lifetime employment. a. Individuals manage their own careers; the organization no longer takes care of them or guarantees them employment. b. Employees take more responsibility and control in their jobs, becoming partners in business improvement rather than cogs in a machine. 3. Many employees are not prepared for new levels of cooperation or responsibility on the job. a. Employment insecurity is stressful, and it is harder to gain employee commitment. b. To be compatible with the new social contract, HRM is revising performance evaluation, training and career development opportunities, and compensation and reward practices. Business Blooper: Walmart Imagine getting a minimum-wage job at Walmart, and a temporary one at that. It is the day after Thanksgiving, often the heaviest retail day of the year. You are standing, ready to greet all the enthusiastic customers. Instead, you get trampled to death. This happened to Jdimytai Damour at a Walmart on Long Island in 2008. Walmart spent $2 million fighting OSHA’s $7,000 fine, causing federal employees to spend more than 4,700 hours in legal work. In March 2011, Judge Covette Rooney upheld the fine. Why did Walmart fight the fine? They said that OSHA wanted to define “crowd trampling” as an occupational hazard retailers are responsible to prevent.
  • 14. • Chapter 9 © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 218 B. Innovations in HRM 1. Becoming an Employer of Choice a. An employer of choice is a company that is highly attractive to employees because HR practices focus on tangible benefits such as pay and profit sharing. b. HR practices also focus on intangibles (e.g., work/life balance, a trust-based work climate, a healthy corporate culture). 2. Using Temporary and Part-Time Employees a. Contingent workers are becoming a larger part of the workforce both in the United States and Europe. Contingent workers are people who work for an organization, but not on a permanent or full-time basis. They do everything from data entry to becoming the interim CEO. b. The temporary staffing industry doubled between 2002 and 2007 and is projected to grow into a $200 billion industry by 2010. Many companies depend on part- time or temporary employees to maintain flexibility. 3. Promoting Work–Life Balance a. Telecommuting is one way organizations are helping employees lead more balanced lives. Telecommuting means using computers and telecommunications equipment to do work without going to an office. b. Flexible scheduling for regular employees is also important in today’s workplace, and 55 percent of HRM professionals say they are willing to negotiate flexible work arrangements with interviewees and new employees. c. Work-life initiatives have become a critical retention strategy with benefits such as on-site gym facilities, arranging child- and eldercare, and paid leaves. IV.FINDING THE RIGHT PEOPLE INSTRUCTOR’S NOTES_________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________
  • 15. Managing Human Resources and Diversity • © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 219 ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________ Exhibit 9.5: Attracting an Effective Workforce The first goal of HRM is to attract individuals who show signs of becoming valued, productive, and satisfied employees. The first step in attracting a workforce is planning, predicting the need for new employees based on the types of vacancies that exist. The second step is to communicate with potential applicants. The third step is to select those with the best potential. Finally, the new employee is welcomed to the organization. In the matching model, the organization and the individual attempt to match the needs, interests, and values they offer each other. The idea is that people can fulfill deep-seated needs and interests on the job, which will induce them to stay with the organization. A. Human Resource Planning 1. Human resource planning is the forecasting of human resource needs and the projected matching of individuals with expected job vacancies. Human resource planning begins with several questions. a. What new technologies are emerging, and how will these affect the work system? b. What is the volume of business likely to be in the next 5 to 10 years? c. What is the turnover rate, and how much, if any, is avoidable? 2. The responses to these questions are used to formulate specific HR questions pertaining to HR activities such as the following. a. What types of engineers will we need, and how many? b. How many administrative personnel will we need to support the additional engineers? c. Can we use temporary, part-time, or virtual workers to handle some tasks? B. Recruiting 1. Recruiting, sometimes referred to as talent acquisition, is defined as activities or practices that define the characteristics of applicants to whom selection procedures are applied. Internal recruiting is less costly, generates higher employee commitment,
  • 16. • Chapter 9 © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 220 and offers career advancement. External recruiting gains newcomers from advertising, state employment services, online recruiting services, private employment agencies, job fairs, and employee referrals. 2. Assessing Jobs a. Job analysis is a systematic process of gathering and interpreting information about the essential duties, tasks, responsibilities, and context of a job. b. A job description is a clear and concise summary of the specific tasks, duties, and responsibilities of a job. c. A job specification outlines the knowledge, skills, education, physical abilities, and other characteristics needed to adequately perform the job. Exhibit 9.6: Sara Lee’s Required Skills for Finance Executives 3. Realistic Job Previews a. A realistic job preview (RJP) gives applicants all pertinent and realistic information, positive and negative, about the job and the organization. 4. Legal Considerations a. EEO laws require that recruiting and hiring decisions cannot discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, religion, and gender. b. The Americans with Disabilities Act underscored the need for job descriptions and specifications that reflect the job’s mental and physical specifications to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities. c. Affirmative action refers to the use of goals, timetables, or other methods in recruiting to promote the hiring, development, and retention of protected groups. Exhibit 9.7: PAIRE’s Recruitment and Hiring Policy 5. E-cruiting a. Recruiting job applicants online dramatically extends the organization’s reach, offering access to a wider pool of applicants and saving time and money. 6. Innovations in Recruiting
  • 17. Managing Human Resources and Diversity • © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 221 a. Managers sometimes have to find innovative approaches to recruit the right people. One highly effective method is getting referrals from current employees, which is one of the cheapest and most reliable methods of external recruiting. Other options include hiring former prison inmates, Asian, African, and Eastern European immigrants fleeing persecution, former welfare recipients, and older workers. C. Selecting 1. In the selection process, employers assess applicants’ characteristics to determine the “fit” between the job and applicant characteristics. 2. The application form collects information about the applicant’s education, previous job experience, and other background characteristics. 3. The interview serves as a two-way communication channel that allows both the organization and the applicant to collect information that would otherwise be difficult to obtain. Employers cannot ask questions that violate EEO guidelines. The interview is not generally a good predictor of job performance. Exhibit 9.8: Employment Applications and Interviews: What Can You Ask? Spotlight on Skills: Top Interview Blunders; Hint: Don’t Bring a Date Understanding common blunders that tick off interviewers can make you more successful as both a job candidate and an interviewer. According to CareerBuilder.com, most interview blunders fall into five key categories: Communication skills. Managers often cite poor communication skills, such as inappropriate body language, talking too much or too little, not making eye contact, or using profanity or street slang. Performance. Professionalism during the interview plays an important part in the hiring decision for most managers. Attitude. People who show arrogance and disrespect toward the interviewer are a huge turn-off. Appearance. In most cases, people should wear traditional, professional attire for an interview. Proper grooming, cleanliness, and good manners are also essential. Honesty. Candidates who lie or give the impression that they are dishonest don’t get a callback. 4. An employment test is a written or computer-based test designed to measure particular attributes such as intelligence, aptitude, ability, or personality. 5. Assessment centers present simulated managerial situations to groups of applicants over two- or three-days and have proven to be valid predictors of managerial success.
  • 18. • Chapter 9 © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 222 6. Online checks. One of the newest ways of gauging whether a candidate is right for the company is by seeing what the person has to say about him- or herself on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Recruiters say that if an applicant’s online presentation raises red flags, then the person isn’t likely to even get an interview. Exhibit 9.9: Try Your Hand at Some Interview Brain Teasers V. MANAGING TALENT INSTRUCTOR’S NOTES_________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________ A. Training and Development 1. Training and development represents a planned effort by an organization to help employees learn job-related skills and behaviors. 2. In on-the-job training (OJT), an experienced employee “adopts” a new employee and teaches job duties. Cross-training places an employee in a new position for as little as a few hours or as much as a year to develop new skills and give the organization flexibility. 3. A corporate university is an in-house training and education facility that offers broad-based learning opportunities. 4. Promotion from within helps companies retain valuable employees. 5. Mentoring and Coaching. Mentoring involves experienced employees guiding and supporting newcomers or less experienced employees. Coaching is a method of
  • 19. Managing Human Resources and Diversity • © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 223 directing, instructing, and training a person with the goal to develop specific management skills. B. Performance Appraisal 1. Performance appraisal comprises the steps of observing and assessing employee performance, recording the assessment, and providing feedback to the employee. a. Performance appraisal can reward high performers with merit pay, recognition, and other rewards. Recent thinking is that linking performance appraisal to rewards has unintended consequences, and that it should be ongoing rather than once a year. b. HRM professionals concentrate on the accurate assessment of performance and on training managers to the use the performance appraisal interview effectively. 2. Assessing Performance Accurately a. The appraisal system should require the rater to assess each relevant performance dimension. b. The 360-degree feedback is a process that uses multiple raters, including self- rating, as a way to increase self-awareness of strengths and weaknesses and guide employee development. c. Performance review ranking is a method in which managers evaluate direct reports relative to one another and categorizes each on a scale. Exhibit 9.10: Example of a Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale 3. Performance Evaluation Errors a. Stereotyping occurs when a rater places an employee into a class or category based on one or a few traits or characteristics. b. Halo effect refers to giving an employee the same rating on all dimensions of the job even if performance is good on some dimensions and not good on others. c. The behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS) is a rating technique that relates an employee’s performance to specific job-related incidents. VI.MAINTAINING AN EFFECTIVE WORKFORCE INSTRUCTOR’S NOTES_________________________________________________________
  • 20. • Chapter 9 © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 224 ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________ A. Compensation 1. Compensation refers to all monetary payments and all goods or commodities used in lieu of money to reward employees. An effective compensation system is for human resource management because it helps attract and retain talented workers and affects strategic performance. 2. Wage and Salary Systems a. Job-based pay links compensation to the specific tasks that an employee performs. b. Skill-based pay systems encourage employees to develop skills and competencies, making them more valuable to the organization and more employable if they leave. Discussion Question #5: As a manager, how would you draw up a telecommuting contract with a new employee? Include considerations such as job description, compensation and benefits, performance measures, training, and grounds for dismissal. 3. Compensation Equity a. Job evaluation determines the worth of jobs in the organization through an examination of job content with the intent to pay employees fairly. b. Wage and salary surveys show what other organizations pay in jobs that match a sample of “key” jobs selected by the organization. 4. Pay for performance a. Pay-for-performance, also called incentive pay, ties part of the compensation to employee effort and performance through merit-based pay, bonuses, team incentives, gainsharing or profit sharing.
  • 21. Managing Human Resources and Diversity • © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 225 b. Incentives are aligned with the behaviors that help the organization achieve its strategic goals. B. Benefits 1. Benefits make up 40 percent of labor costs in the U.S. because of rising health care costs. Some benefits are required by law such as Social Security, unemployment compensation, and worker’s compensation. Some firms offer cafeteria-plan benefit packages that allow employees to select the benefits of greatest value to them. C. Rightsizing the Organization 1. Rightsizing refers to intentionally reducing the company’s workforce to the point where the number of employees is deemed to be right for the company’s current situation. 2. The goal is to make the company stronger and more competitive by aligning the size of the workforce with the company’s current needs. 3. Unless HRM departments carefully manage downsizing, layoffs can lead to decreased morale and performance. D. Termination 1. Terminations are valuable in maintaining an effective workforce in two ways. a. Employees who are poor performers can be dismissed. Productive employees often resent disruptive, low-performing employees who are allowed to stay with the company and receive pay comparable to theirs. b. Managers can use exit interviews, conducted with departing employees, to learn about dissatisfaction in the organization. 2. Enlightened companies try to find a smooth transition for departing employees. 3. By showing concern in helping laid-off employees, a company communicates the value of human resources and helps maintain a positive corporate culture. Discussion Question #6: What purpose do exit interviews serve for maintaining an effective workforce? VII. THE CHANGING WORKPLACE INSTRUCTOR’S NOTES_________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________
  • 22. • Chapter 9 © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 226 ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ A. Managers are learning that the differences people bring to the workplace enable their companies to compete globally and tap into rich sources of new talent. Moreover, vast changes are occurring in today’s workplace and consumer base. The average worker is older now, and many more women, people of color, and immigrants are seeking job and advancement opportunities. Spotlight on Skills: CNN en Español Trying to entice more Hispanic viewers in the United States, CNN’s Spanish-language branch is adding new programs, new sets, a spiffy new studio in Miami, and a new logo. Though CNN en Español boasts that it broadcasts from “Alaska to Patagonia,” the new focus will help North American operations. Some estimates show the Latin population doubling again by mid-century. New programs include a personal investment show called “CNN Dinero,” a light-night “Conclusiones” with a news wrap-up, and three hours of news in the morning. 1. Three-generation workforce. Today’s workforce is in a state of flux as a blend of three generations (Baby Boom, Gen-X, and Gen-Y) present new management challenges. 2. Aging workers. In 1986, the median age of the U.S. labor force was 35.4 years. It increased to 40.8 years in 2006 and will increase to 42.1 years in 2016. 3. Growth in Hispanic and Asian workers. The number of Hispanics in the workforce will increase by 7.3 million between 2008 and 2018, with Hispanics making up 17.6 percent of the workforce by 2018. 4. Women outnumbering men. As of 2010, women outnumbered men in the workplace. Yet, fewer than 16 percent of top corporate officers are females. 5. Growth in foreign-born population. Almost one in eight people currently living in the United States was born in another country, the highest percentage since the 1920s.
  • 23. Managing Human Resources and Diversity • © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 227 Exhibit 9.11: Milestones in the History of Corporate Diversity B. Diversity on a Global Scale 1. For organizations operating globally, social and cultural differences may create more difficulties and conflicts than any other sources. Foreign firms doing business in the United States also face challenges understanding and dealing with diversity issues. National cultures are intangible, pervasive, and difficult to comprehend. Many companies have taken this challenge seriously and have experienced growth in the global marketplace. VIII. MANAGING DIVERSITY INSTRUCTOR’S NOTES_________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________ A. What is Diversity? 1. Diversity is defined as all the ways in which employees differ. Many companies once defined diversity in terms of race, age, gender, lifestyle, and disability. Today, companies are embracing a more inclusive definition of diversity that recognizes a spectrum of differences that influence how employees approach work, interact with each other, derive satisfaction from their work, and define who they are as people in the workplace. 2. Managing diversity, a key management skill in today’s global economy, means creating a climate in which the potential advantages of diversity for organizational or group performance are maximized while the potential disadvantages are minimized. Exhibit 9.12: Traditional Versus Inclusive Models of Diversity
  • 24. • Chapter 9 © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 228 B. Dividends of Workplace Diversity 1. Corporations that build strong, diverse organizations reap numerous dividends, including: a. Better use of employee talent. Companies with the best talent are the ones with the best competitive advantage. b. Increased understanding of the marketplace. A diverse workforce is better able to anticipate and respond to changing consumer needs. c. Enhanced breadth of understanding in leadership positions. Diverse top management teams tend to be less myopic in their perspectives. d. Increased quality of team problem solving. Teams with diverse backgrounds bring different perspectives to a discussion that result in more creative ideas and solutions. e. Reduced costs associated with high turnover, absenteeism, and lawsuits. Companies that foster a diverse workforce reduce turnover, absenteeism, and the risk of lawsuits. IX.FACTORS SHAPING PERSONAL BIAS INSTRUCTOR’S NOTES_________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ A. Prejudice, Discrimination, and Stereotypes 1. Prejudice is the tendency to view people who are different as being deficient. Discrimination occurs when people act out their prejudicial attitudes toward other people who are targets of their prejudice. Although blatant discrimination is not as
  • 25. Managing Human Resources and Diversity • © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 229 widespread as in the past, bias in the workplace often shows up in subtle ways. Stereotyping is associating a rigid, exaggerated, irrational belief with a particular group of people. To be successful managing diversity, managers need to eliminate harmful stereotypes from their thinking, shedding any biases that negatively affect the workplace. 2. Stereotype threat describes the psychological experience of a person who, usually engaged in a task, is aware of a stereotype about his or her identity group suggesting that he or she will not perform well on that task. People most affected by stereotype threat are those we consider as disadvantaged in the workplace due to negative stereotypes–racial and ethnic minorities, members of lower socioeconomic classes, women, older people, gay and bisexual men, and people with disabilities. Exhibit 9.13: Difference between Stereotyping and Valuing Cultural Differences B. Ethnocentrism 1. Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own group and subculture are inherently superior to other groups and cultures, thus making it difficult to value diversity. The business world tends to reflect values, behaviors, and assumptions based on the experiences of a homogeneous, white, middle-class, male workforce. Most management theories presume workers share similar values, beliefs, motivations, and attitudes about work and life in general. Benchmarking: Google Employees in Google’s corporate headquarters come from all corners of the world, but the feel a little closer to home when they see familiar foods from their homelands on the cafeteria menu. With a goal of satisfying a diverse, ethnically varied palate, Google’s first food guru and chef designed menus that reflected his eclectic tastes yet also met the needs of an increasingly diverse workforce. He got some of his best ideas from foreign-born employees. For example, a Filipino accountant offered a recipe for chicken adobo, a popular dish from her native country. Google believes food can be a tool for supporting an inclusive workplace. Google knows that when people need a little comfort and familiarity, nothing takes the edge off of working in a foreign country like eating food that reminds you of home. X. FACTORS AFFECTING WOMEN’S CAREERS A. Glass Ceiling 1. The glass ceiling is an invisible barrier that separates women and minorities from top management positions. They can look up through the ceiling and see top management, but prevailing attitudes and stereotypes are invisible obstacles to their
  • 26. • Chapter 9 © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 230 own advancement. Women and minorities are often excluded from informal manager networks and don’t get access to the type of general and line management experience required for moving to the top. Glass walls serve as invisible barriers to important lateral movement within the organization. 2. Homosexuality is another related issue. Many gay and lesbian workers believe they will not be accepted as they are and risk losing their jobs or chances for advancement. Gay employees of color may face a double dose of discrimination. Gays and lesbians often fabricate heterosexual identities to keep their jobs or avoid running into the glass ceiling they see other employees encounter. Discussion Question #10: What is the glass ceiling, and why do you think it has proven to be such a barrier to women and minorities? Exhibit 9.14: The Wage Gap 3. Establishing Mentor Relationships. The successful advancement of diverse group members means that organizations must find ways to eliminate the glass ceiling. One of the most successful structures to accomplish this goal is the mentoring relationship. A mentor is a higher-ranking organizational member who is committed to providing upward mobility and support to a protégé’s professional career. Mentoring provides minorities and women with direct training and inside information on the norms and expectations of the organization. B. Opt-Out Trend 1. Many women choose to get off the fast track long before they hit the glass ceiling. In this opt-out trend, highly-educated, professional women are deciding that corporate success isn’t worth the price in terms of reduced family and personal time. Some are opting out to be stay-at-home moms, while others want to continue working, but just not in the kind of fast-paced, competitive, aggressive environment that exists in most corporations. Critics argue that this is just another way to blame women themselves for the dearth of female managers at higher levels. C. The Female Advantage 1. Some people think women might actually be better managers, partly because of a more collaborative, less hierarchical, relationship-oriented approach that is in tune with today’s global and multicultural environment. As attitudes and values change with changing generations, the qualities women seem to possess may lead to a gradual role reversal in organizations. Women of all races and ethnic groups are outpacing men in earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Over all, women’s participation in both the labor force and civic affairs has steadily increased since the mid-1950s, while men’s participation has slowly but steadily declined.
  • 27. Managing Human Resources and Diversity • © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 231 New Manager Self-Test: Are You Tuned into Gender Differences? This exercise helps students determine how much they know about gender differences in behavior. XI.CULTURAL COMPETENCE A. A successful diversity plan leads to a workforce that demonstrates cultural competence in the long run. Cultural competence is the ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures. There are five steps to implementing a diversity plan. 1. Uncover diversity problems in the organization. Organizations can’t assess their progress toward cultural competence without first investigating where the culture is right now. A cultural audit is a tool that identifies problems or areas needing improvement in a corporation’s culture. 2. Strengthen top management commitment. The most important component of a successful diversity strategy is management commitment, leadership, and support. 3. Choose solutions to fit a balanced strategy. To be most effective, solutions should be presented in a balanced strategy and address three factors: education, enforcement, and exposure. 4. Demand results and revisit the goals. Diversity performance should be measured by numerical goals to ensure solutions are being implemented successfully. 5. Maintain momentum to change the culture. Use success in the previous four steps as fuel to move forward and leverage for more progress. Exhibit 9.15: Five Steps to Develop Diversity XII.DIVERSITY INITIATIVES AND PROGRAMS A. Changing Structures and Policies 1. Many leading companies are changing structures and policies to facilitate and support a diverse workforce. A survey found that 85 percent of companies surveyed have formal policies against racism and sexism, and 76 percent have structured grievance and complaint processes. B. Expanding Recruitment Efforts
  • 28. • Chapter 9 © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 232 1. A new approach to recruitment means making better use of recruiting strategies, offering internship programs to give people opportunities, and developing creative ways to draw on previously unused labor markets. Exhibit 9.16: The Most Common Diversity Initiatives: Percentage of Fortune 1000 Respondents C. Establishing Mentor Relationships 1. One of the most successful structures for eliminating the glass ceiling is the mentoring relationship. A mentor is a higher-ranking organizational member who is committed to providing upward mobility and support to a protégé’s professional career. Mentoring provides minorities and women with direct training and inside information on the norms and expectations of the organization. D. Accommodating Special Needs 1. Many top managers are often unaware of the special needs of employees who are single parents, are non-English-speaking, or have elderly parents. Alternative work scheduling may be important for these groups of workers. Another issue is that racial/ethnic minorities and immigrants have had fewer educational opportunities than other groups. Some companies work with high schools to provide fundamental skills in literacy and math, or the provide programs within the company to upgrade employees to appropriate educational levels. E. Providing Diversity Skills Training 1. Most of today’s organizations provide special training, called diversity training, to help people identify their own cultural boundaries, prejudices, and stereotypes and develop the skills for managing and working in a diverse workplace. Working or living within a multicultural context requires a person to use interaction skills that transcend the skills typically effective when dealing with others from one’s own in- group. The first step is typically diversity awareness training to make employees aware of the assumptions they make and to increase people’s sensitivity and openness to those who are different from them. The next step is diversity skills training to help people learn how to communicate and work effectively in a diverse environment. F. Increasing Awareness of Sexual Harassment 1. Sexual harassment creates an unhealthy and unproductive work environment and is illegal. As a form of sexual discrimination, sexual harassment in the workplace is a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Sexual harassment in the classroom is a violation of the Education Amendment of 1972. The following categories describe various forms of sexual harassment.
  • 29. Managing Human Resources and Diversity • © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 233 a. Generalized. This form involves sexual remarks and actions not intended to lead to sexual activity. b. Inappropriate/offensive. Though not sexually threatening, it causes discomfort in a coworker and limits the offended person’s freedom and ability to function at work. c. Solicitation with promise of reward. This action treads a fine line as an attempt to “purchase” sex, with the potential for criminal prosecution. d. Coercion with threat of punishment. The harasser coerces a coworker into sexual activity by using the threat of power to jeopardize the victim’s career. e. Sexual crimes and misdemeanors. These acts, if reported, would be considered felony crimes and misdemeanors. 2. The Supreme Court has held that same-sex harassment as well as harassment of men by female co-workers is just as illegal as harassment of women by men. Companies have been swift to fire employees for circulating pornographic images, surfing pornographic Web sites, or sending offensive e-mails. XIII.NEW DIVERSITY INITIATIVES A. Multicultural Teams 1. Multicultural teams are made up of members from diverse national, racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. These teams provide even greater potential for enhanced creativity, innovation, and value in today’s global marketplace. Diverse teams tend to generate more and better alternatives to problems and produce more creative solutions than do homogeneous teams. 2. Multicultural teams are more difficult to manage because of the increased potential for miscommunication and misunderstanding. Multicultural teams typically have more difficulty learning to communicate and work well together, but with effective cross-cultural training and good management, the problems seem to dissipate over time. B. Employee Network Groups 1. Employee network groups are based on social identity, such as gender or race, and are organized by employees to focus on concerns of employees from that group. The idea behind network groups is that minority employees can join together for mutual support and to extend member influence in the organization. Network groups pursue a variety of activities, such as meetings to educate top managers, mentoring programs, networking events, training sessions and skills seminars, minority intern programs, and community volunteer activities.
  • 30. • Chapter 9 © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 234 2. Employees, not the organization, form network groups, and membership is voluntary; however, successful organizations support and encourage network groups. Although network groups seem to be in direct opposition to the trend toward multicultural teams, the two mechanisms actually work quite well together. Answers to Discussion Questions 1. Assume it is the year 2020. In your company, central planning has given way to front-line decision making, and bureaucracy has given way to teamwork. Shop floor workers use handheld devices and robots. A labor shortage currently affects many job openings, and the few applicants you do attract lack skills to work in teams, make their own production decisions, or use sophisticated technology. As vice president of human resource management since 2008, what should you have done to prepare for this situation? This question should get the point across that the field of human resources is always changing. One of the things that should have been done is human resource planning. You should have kept in touch with changes that were occurring and projected the human resource needs in advance. This way you have the right skills and the right mixture of people in your workforce. This would have to be accomplished through effective recruiting and selection techniques. Another vital thing you should have done is provided training and development for your people so that they had the skills to work in teams, make decisions, and use sophisticated technology. Having made this investment in people, you would also want to have provided the compensation, including benefits, needed to maintain this effective workforce. 2. Which selection criteria (personal interview, employment test, assessment center) do you think would be most valuable for predicting effective job performance for a college professor? For an assembly-line worker in a manufacturing plant? Discuss. Because college professors must present vast quantities of complex material to students within a limited time, communication skills are very important. The personal interview is a good indicator for measuring such skill and for ascertaining the professor’s vision for the class and for the profession. The pencil-and-paper test would be a weak predictor of effectiveness because college professors have high intelligence levels, expertise in their particular areas of study, and an understanding of what is expected as the proper response to personality inventories. In a modified version of the assessment center, professors may be observed in the classroom situation and assessed according to their communication and interpersonal skills, both in lecture presentation and in response to student questions and problems. The information obtained through personal interview for an assembly-line worker in a manufacturing plant is practical in the exchange of information regarding the applicant’s background and expectations and the job requirements. Beyond that point, the personal interview may fail to accurately assess the potential of the worker as a result of flaws in the system, such as prejudice on the part of the interviewer, or the individual’s skill in providing answers the interviewer wants to hear. A performance test in which the skills needed on the
  • 31. Managing Human Resources and Diversity • © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 235 assembly line are simulated would be the best predictor of actual job performance for an assembly-line worker. For management personnel, paper-and-pencil tests measuring intelligence, aptitude, and ability are good indicators of potential within a manufacturing plant, because answers provide important information on skills and intelligence in crucial areas, such as mathematical skill in calibrating machinery. Aptitude tests and personality inventories are also excellent sources of information in putting together strong teams. The assessment center is probably the most valuable tool in predicting effective job performance. Simulation of line problems and development of communications and negotiating skills are just an example of the valuable information that can be acquired through assessment centers. 3. How do you think the growing use of telecommuters, temporary and part-time workers, and virtual teams affects human resource management? How can managers improve recruiting and retention of these employees? Telecommuters perform their jobs in part at the company, as well as in other locations. Human resource managers must ensure that productivity and quality of work will be preserved in this type of work arrangement. Temporary and part-time workers are people who work for an organization, but not on a permanent or full-time basis. This category of workers also includes contracted professionals and leased employees. One important effect is that companies are not obligated to pay these employees fringe benefits or other costs associated with permanent employees. Virtual teams affect human resources management because they are geographically dispersed throughout the globe. There are advantages and disadvantages to the creation of virtual teams. Human resources management may indeed perform a balancing of tradeoffs of increasing costs for recruiting and selection versus the concept of a virtual team and the benefits derived by members’ contribution. Managers can improve recruiting and retention of these different types of employees through a sound and equitable wage structure. Job satisfaction, achieved through redesign of jobs, stimulating employee behavior, and the creation of work environment that promotes job satisfaction, all effect human resources management. 4. One human resource manager recently got a thank-you note on her iPhone that said “Thx 4 the Iview! Wud ♥ to wrk 4 u☺.” The manager had like the candidate’s interview, but after getting the note, she put him in the reject pile. Do you think it was fair for the manager to automatically reject the candidate? Should “textspeak” be considered acceptable workplace communication? Discuss. The answer to this question may depend to some extent on the culture of the company in question. It is much more likely for this type of communication to be accepted in companies with younger management, especially the newer Internet companies and personal technology companies. Companies with older management, or those in more traditional fields or with a more traditionally professional culture will be less accepting of “textspeak”. 5. As a manager, how would you draw up a telecommuting contract with an employee? Include considerations such as job description, compensation and benefits, performance measures, training, and grounds for dismissal.
  • 32. • Chapter 9 © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 236 The job description for a telecommuter should, in addition to the details of what work is to be done, include specific language regarding the frequency and amount of time to be spent on site over a given period, as well as any meetings or other routine activities the employee must attend. Compensation and benefits should be directly tied to productivity because there is no way to effectively monitor the amount of time a telecommuter spends on work activities. Performance measures, like compensation, must be directly tied to productivity. Training requirements should be explicitly detailed, including the types of training required and the location and dates for the training, and the potential for future training requirements must be left open. Again, any grounds for dismissal in addition to standard company policies on the matter should be explicitly stated and directly tied to productivity. 6. Is it wise for managers to consider a candidate’s postings on social networking sites such as Facebook as grounds for rejection before even interviewing a promising candidate? Is it fair? Discuss. Social networking sites such as Facebook can provide managers with important information regarding a candidate’s activities. A candidate’s open admission of excessive drinking, drug use, or sexual exploits raises serious questions about that person’s maturity and judgment. The overall presentation of Facebook postings gives managers helpful clues about a candidate’s personality and values, and can help them assess the extent to which a candidate might fit the organization’s culture. It is certainly fair for managers to consider online information that is in the public domain; i.e. that is available to anyone who logs on to the website. If managers are using questionable means to access information that is not available to the general public, then it may not be fair for them to use that information in assessing a candidate’s fit with the organization. 7. Explain how a manager’s personal biases and stereotypes may affect an organization’s success in creating a workplace that is culturally competent. Prejudice is the tendency to view people who are different as being deficient. Discrimination occurs when people act out their prejudicial attitudes toward other people who are targets of their prejudice. A stereotype is a rigid, exaggerated, irrational belief associated with a particular group of people. Cultural competence is the ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures. Managers whose personal biases affect their behavior and decision making will be less adept at interacting effectively with people of different cultures. To be successful managing diversity, managers need to eliminate harmful stereotypes from their thinking, shedding any biases that negatively affect the workplace. 8. Shelley Willingham-Hinton, president of the National Organization for Diversity in Sales and Marketing, was quoted in the chapters as saying, “Our country’s consumer base is so varied. I can’t think of how a company can succeed without having that kind of diversity with their employees.” Why should corporations have workforces that mirror the country’s diverse consumer base? Vast changes are occurring in today’s workplace and consumer base. The average worker is older now, and many more women, people of color, and immigrants are seeking job and
  • 33. Managing Human Resources and Diversity • © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 237 advancement opportunities. The differences people bring to the workplace enable their companies to compete globally and to tap into rich sources of new talent. Corporations that truly value diversity will recognize pay inequality and discrimination in the workplace and make progress toward eliminating them. 9. Evaluate your own experiences so far with people from other backgrounds. How well do you think those experiences prepared you to understand the unique needs and dilemmas of a diverse workforce? In addressing the question, students should clearly demonstrate their understanding of the unique needs and dilemmas of a diverse workforce. Answers should include both the needs and dilemmas of a diverse workforce for which their experience did prepare them and the needs and dilemmas for which it did not. 10. What is the glass ceiling, and why do you think it has proven to be such a barrier to women and minorities? The glass ceiling is an invisible barrier that prevents women and minorities from advancing to top management positions. As corporations grew, a monoculture developed within the top levels of management whereby white male managers hired and promoted employees who mirrored their own looks, actions, thoughts, beliefs, and backgrounds, and with whom they felt comfortable. The experiences of women and minorities were considered different, incompatible, and in the eyes of some, inferior. There developed a concern or a firm belief within these monocultures that these groups would not “fit in” with the dominant culture. As a result, women and minorities moved to a certain level within the company, but further progress was blocked. The women’s movement, the Civil Rights movement, and actions by the courts are slowly forcing cracks in the glass ceiling. Many companies are taking the lead in opening new opportunities for women and minorities; however, some companies have alternative barriers in place, simply replacing the glass ceiling with “glass walls,” which bar important lateral movement necessary for top management preparation. 11. Why do you think a large number of women are opting out of the corporate world? Discuss whether this trend is likely to continue over the next ten years. Women are opting out of the corporate world because they see that they must sacrifice their personal lives with their families, their health, and face a high stress level. They want time with their children. Women are generally less interested in attaining power and status than men and find climbing the corporate ladder less appealing. Some women still want to work but prefer jobs that are less fast-paced and competitive. Another view is that because women are not getting promoted into top management positions, they simply quit. It is likely that this trend will continue over the next 10 years, although it may slow down as more single women from a generation that is waiting longer to marry begin to rise to higher-level positions. 12. How can organizations strike a balance between respecting and meeting the needs of a diverse workforce and shaping a high-performance corporate culture where shared values contribute to the accomplishment of strategic goals? One good way to strike such a balance is by creating multicultural teams in the organization.
  • 34. • Chapter 9 © 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 238 Multicultural teams are made up of members from diverse national, racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. These teams provide even greater potential for enhanced creativity, innovation, and value in today’s global marketplace than traditional cross-functional teams. Multicultural teams also help to create fairness and equity in the work environment. Multicultural teams generate more and better alternatives to problems and produce more innovative solutions than homogeneous teams. A team made up of people with different perspectives, backgrounds, and cultural values creates a healthy mix of ideas, which sometimes encourages people who have previously been reluctant to contribute to speak out. This type of diversity can stimulate a healthy level of conflict that leads to greater creativity and better decisions. A disadvantage of a multicultural team is that they are more difficult to manage because of the increased potential for miscommunication and misunderstanding. Multicultural teams typically have more difficulty learning to communicate and work well together, but with effective cross- cultural training and good management, the problem seems to dissipate over time. TEACHING NOTES FOR LEARNING EXERCISES Self Learning: How Tolerant Are You? Student survey answers will vary. Total Score 0–14: If you score 14 or below, you are a very tolerant person and dealing with diversity comes easily to you. 15–28: You are basically a tolerant person, and others think of you as tolerant. In general, diversity presents few problems for you; you may be broad-minded in some areas and have less tolerant ideas in other areas of life, such as attitudes toward older people or male-female social roles. 29–42: You are less tolerant than most people and should work on developing greater tolerance of people different from you. Your low tolerance level could affect your business or personal relationships. 43–56: You have a very low tolerance for diversity. The only people you are likely to respect are those with beliefs similar to your own. You reflect a level of intolerance that could cause difficulties in today’s multicultural business environment. Group Learning: An Ancient Tale Students read the Introduction and Case Study presented in the exercise, then form groups to discuss their answers to six questions asked in the exercise. Additional Material The case study or tale has implications regarding the impact of the organization on the individual, the ability to protect him- or herself in the organization, and how to manage the
  • 35. Exploring the Variety of Random Documents with Different Content
  • 36. young Tapworth was there all the time—that one with the pince-nez, and the ridiculous chin—and he put them into the errand-boy’s basket, and told him to be sharp about it. So I had no chance of seeing.” “You might have strolled along behind the boy to see where he went,” suggested Mr. Altham. “He went on a bicycle,” said Mrs. Altham, “and it is impossible to stroll behind a boy on a bicycle and hope to get there in time. But he went up the High Street. I should not in the least wonder if Mrs. Evans had turned Suffragette, after that note to me about her not having time to attend the anti-Suffragette meetings.” “Especially since there was only one,” said Henry, in the literal mood that had been forced on him, “and nobody came to that. It would not have sacrificed very much of her time. Not that I ever heard it was valuable.” “What she can do with her day I can’t imagine,” said Mrs. Altham, her mind completely diverted by this new topic. “Her cook told Griffiths that as often as not she doesn’t go down to the kitchen at all in the morning, and she’s hardly ever to be seen shopping in the High Street before lunch, and what with Elsie gone to Dresden, and her husband away on his rounds all day, she must be glad when it’s bedtime. And she’s a small sleeper, too, for she told me herself that she considers six hours a good night, though I expect she sleeps more than she knows, and I daresay has a nap after lunch as well. Dear me, what were we talking about? Ah, yes, I was saying I should not wonder if she had turned Suffragette, though I can’t recall what made me think so.” “Because Tapworth’s boy went up the High Street on a bicycle,” said Mr. Altham, who had a great gift of picking out single threads from the tangle of his wife’s conversation; “though, after all, the High Street leads to other houses besides Mrs. Evans’. The station, for instance.” “You seem to want to find fault with everything I say, to-night, Henry. I don’t know what makes you so contrary. But there it is: I saw eighteen yards of Suffragette riband being sent out when I happened to be in Tapworth’s this morning, and I daresay that’s but a tithe of what has been ordered, though I can’t say as to that, unless you expect me to stand in the High Street all day and watch. And as to what it all means, I’ll let you conjecture for yourself, since if I told you what I thought, you would probably contradict me again.”
  • 37. It was no wonder that Mrs. Altham was annoyed. She had been thrilled to the marrow by the parcels of Suffragette riband, and when she communicated her discovery, Henry, who usually was so sympathetic, had seen nothing to be thrilled about. But he had not meant to be unsympathetic, and repaired his error. “I’m sure, my dear, that you will have formed a very good guess as to what it means,” he said. “Tell me what you think.” “Well, if you care to know,” said she, “I think it all points to there being some demonstration planned, and I for one should not be surprised if I looked out of the window some morning, and saw Mrs. Ames and Mrs. Brooks and the rest of them marching down the High Street with ribands and banners. They’ve been keeping very quiet about it all, at least not a word of what they’ve been doing has come to my ears, and I consider that’s a proof that something is going on and that they want to keep it secret.” Mr. Altham’s legal mind cried out to him to put in the plea that a complete absence of news does not necessarily constitute a proof that exciting events are occurring, but he rightly considered that such logic might be taken to be a sign of continued “contrariness.” So he gave an illogical assent to his wife’s theory. “Certainly it is odd that nothing more has been heard of it all,” he said. “I wonder what they are planning. The election coming on so soon, too! Can they be planning anything in connection with that?” Mrs. Altham got up, letting her napkin fall on the floor. “Henry, I believe you have hit it,” she said. “Now what can it be? Let us go into the drawing-room, and thresh it out.” But the best threshing-machines in the world cannot successfully fulfil their function unless there is some material to work upon; they can but show by their whirling wheels and rattling gear that they are capable of threshing should anything be provided for them. The poor Althams were somewhat in this position, for their rations of gossip were sadly reduced, their two chief sources being cut off from them. For ever since the mendacious Mrs. Brooks had appeared as Cleopatra, when she had as good as promised to be Hermione, chill politeness had taken the place of intimacy between the two houses, since there was no telling what trick she might not play next, while the very decided line which Mrs. Altham had taken when she found she was expected to meet people like tradesmen’s
  • 38. wives had caused a complete rupture in relations with the Ames’. That Suffragette meetings were going on was certain, else what sane mind could account for the fact that only to-day a perfect stream of people, some of them not even known by sight to Mrs. Altham, and therefore probably of the very lowest origin, with Mrs. Ames and the wife of the station-master among them, had been seen coming out of Mr. Turner’s warehouse. It was ridiculous “to tell me” that they had been all making purchases (nobody had told her), and such a supposition was thoroughly negatived by the subsequent discovery that the warehouse in question contained only a quantity of chairs. All this, however, had been threshed out at tea-time, and the fly-wheels buzzed emptily. Against the probability of an election- demonstration was the fact that the Unionist member, to whom these attentions would naturally be directed, was Mrs. Ames’ cousin, though “cousin” was a vague word, and Mrs. Altham would not wonder if he was a very distant sort of cousin indeed. Still, it would be worth while to get tickets anyhow for the first of Sir James’ meetings, when the President of the Board of Trade was going to speak, so as to be certain of a good place. He was not Mrs. Ames’ cousin, so far as Mrs. Altham knew, though she did not pretend to follow the ramifications of Mrs. Ames’ family. The fly-wheels were allowed to run on in silence for some little while after this meagre material had been thoroughly sifted, in case anything further offered itself; then Mr. Altham proposed another topic. “You were saying that you wondered how Mrs. Evans got through her time,” he began. But there was no need for him to say another word, not any opportunity. Mrs. Altham stooped like a hawk on the quarry. “You mean Major Ames,” she said. “I’m sure I never pass the house but what he’s either going in or coming out, and he does a good deal more of the going in than of the other, in my opinion.” Henry penetrated into the meaning of what sounded a rather curious achievement and corroborated. “He was there this morning,” he said, “on the doorstep at eleven o’clock, or it might have been a quarter-past, with a bouquet of chrysanthemums big enough to do all Mrs. Ames’ decorations at St. Barnabas. What is the matter, my dear?”
  • 39. For Mrs. Altham had literally bounced out of her chair, and was pointing at him a forefinger that trembled with a nameless emotion. “At a quarter-past one, or a few minutes later,” she said, “that bouquet was lying in the middle of the road. Let us say twenty minutes past one, because I came straight home, took off my hat, and was ready for lunch. It was more like a haystack than a bouquet: I’m sure if I hadn’t stepped over it, I should have tripped and fallen. And to think that I never mentioned it to you, Henry! How things piece themselves together, if you give them a chance! Now did you actually see Major Ames carry it into the house?” “The door was opened to him, just as I came opposite,” said Henry firmly, “and in he went, bouquet and all.” “Then somebody must have thrown it out again,” said Mrs. Altham. She held up one hand, and ticked off names on its fingers. “Who was then in the house?” she said. “Mrs. Evans, Dr. Evans, Major Ames. Otherwise the servants—how they can find work for six servants in that house I can’t understand—and servants would never have thrown chrysanthemums into the street. So we needn’t count the servants. Now can you imagine Mrs. Evans throwing away a bouquet that Major Ames had brought her? If so, I envy you your power of imagination. Or——” She paused a moment. “Or can there have been a quarrel, and did she tell him she had too much of him and his bouquets? Or——” “Dr. Evans,” said Henry. She nodded portentously. “Turned out of the house, he and his bouquet,” she said. “Dr. Evans is a powerful man, and Major Ames, for all his size, is mostly fat. I should not wonder if Dr. Evans knocked him down. Henry, I have a good mind to treat Mrs. Ames as if she had not been so insulting to me that day (and after all that is only Christian conduct) and to take round to her after lunch to- morrow the book she said she wanted to see last July. I am sure I have forgotten what it was, but any book will do, since she only wants it to be thought that she reads. After all, I should be sorry to let Mrs. Ames suppose that anything she can do should have the power of putting me out, and I should like to see if she still dyes her hair. After the chrysanthemums in the road I should not be the least surprised to be told that Major Ames is ill.
  • 40. Then we shall know all. Dear me, it is eleven o’clock already, and I never felt less inclined to sleep.” Henry stepped downstairs to drink a mild whisky and soda after all this conversation and excitement, but while it was still half drunk, he felt compelled to run upstairs and tap at his wife’s door. “I am not coming in, dear,” he said, in answer to her impassioned negative. “But if you find Major Ames is not ill?” “No one will be more rejoiced than myself, Henry,” said she, in a disappointed voice. Henry went gently downstairs again. Mrs. Ames was at home when the forgiving Mrs. Altham arrived on the following afternoon, bearing a copy of a book of which there were already two examples in the house. But she clearly remembered having wanted to see some book of which they had spoken together, last July, and it was very kind of Mrs. Altham to have attempted to supply her with it. Beyond doubt she had ceased to dye her hair, for the usual grey streaks were apparent in it, a proof (if Mrs. Altham wanted a proof, which she did not) that artificial means had been resorted to. And even as Mrs. Altham, with her powerful observation, noticed the difference in Mrs. Ames’ hair, so also she noticed a difference in Mrs. Ames. She no longer seemed pompous: there was a kindliness about her which was utterly unlike her usual condescension, though it manifested itself only in the trivial happenings of an afternoon call, such as putting a cushion in her chair, and asking if she found the room, with its prospering fire, too hot. This also led to interesting information. “It is scarcely cold enough for a fire to-day,” she said, “but my husband is laid up with a little attack of lumbago.” “I am so sorry to hear that,” said Mrs. Altham feverishly. “When did he catch it?” “He felt it first last night before dinner. It is disappointing, for he expected Harrogate to cure him of such tendencies. But it is not very severe: I have no doubt he will be in here presently for tea.” Mrs. Altham felt quite convinced he would not, and hastened to glean further enlightenment.
  • 41. “You must be very busy thinking of the election,” she said. “I suppose Sir James is safe to get in. I got tickets for the first of his meetings this morning.” “That will be the one at which the President of the Board of Trade speaks,” said Mrs. Ames. “My cousin and he dine with us first.” Mrs. Altham determined on more direct questions. “Really, it must require courage to be a politician nowadays,” she said, “especially if you are in the Cabinet. Mr. Chilcot has been hardly able to open his mouth lately without being interrupted by some Suffragette. Dear me, I hope I have not said the wrong thing! I quite forgot your sympathies.” “It is certainly a subject that interests me,” said Mrs. Ames, “though as for saying the wrong thing, dear Mrs. Altham, why, the world would be a very dull place if we all agreed with each other. But I think it requires just as much courage for a woman to get up at a meeting and interrupt. I cannot imagine myself being bold enough. I feel I should be unable to get on my feet, or utter a word. They must be very much in earnest, and have a great deal of conviction to nerve them.” This was not very satisfactory; if anything was to be learned from it, it was that Mrs. Ames was but a tepid supporter of the cause. But what followed was still more vexing, for the parlour-maid announced Mrs. Evans. “So sorry to hear about Major Ames, dear cousin Amy,” she said. “Wilfred told me he had been to see him.” Mrs. Ames made a kissing-pad, so to speak, of her small toad’s face, and Millie dabbed her cheek on it. “Dear Millie, how nice of you to call! Parker, tell the Major that tea is ready and that Mrs. Evans and Mrs. Altham are here.” But by the time Major Ames arrived Mrs. Altham was there no longer. She was thoroughly disgusted with the transformation into chaff of all the beautiful grain that they had taken the trouble to thresh out the night before. She summed it up succinctly to her husband when he came back from his golf. “I don’t believe the Suffragettes are going to do anything at all, Henry,” she said, “and I shouldn’t wonder if these chrysanthemums had nothing to do with anybody. The only thing is that her hair is dyed, because it was all
  • 42. speckled with grey again as thickly as yours, and I declare I left The Safety of the Race behind me, instead of bringing it back again, as I meant to do.” Henry, who had won his match at golf, was naturally optimistic. “Then you didn’t actually see Major Ames?” he asked. “No, but there was no longer any doubt about it all,” she said. “I do not think I am unduly credulous, but it was clear there was nothing the matter with him except a touch of lumbago. And all this Suffragette business means nothing at all, in spite of the yards of riband. You may take my word for it.” “Then there will be no point in going to Sir James’ meeting,” said Henry, “though the President of the Board of Trade is going to speak.” “Not unless you want to hear the biggest windbag in the country buttering up the greatest prig in the county. I should be sorry to waste my time over it; and he is dining with the Ames’, and so I suppose all there will be to look at will be the row of them on the platform, all swollen with one of Mrs. Ames’ biggest dinners. We might have gone to bed at our usual time last night, for all the use that there has been in our talk. And it was you saw the chrysanthemums, from which you expected so much and thought it worth while to tell me about them.” And Henry felt too much depressed at the utter flatness of all that had made so fair a promise, to enter any protest against the palpable injustice of these conclusions. Major Ames’ lumbago was of the Laodicean sort, neither hot nor cold. It hung about, occasionally stabbing him shrewdly, at times retreating in the Parthian mode, so that he was encouraged to drink a glass of port, upon which it shot at him again, and he had to get back to his stew of sloppy diet and depressing reflections. Most of all, the relations into which he had allowed himself to drift with regard to Millie filled him with a timorous yet exultant agitation, but he almost, if not quite, exaggerated his indisposition, in order to escape from the responsibility of deciding what should come of it. Damp and boisterous weather made it prudent for him to keep to the house, and she came to see him daily. Behind her demure quietness he divined a mind that was expectant and sure: there was no doubt as to her view of the situation that had arisen between them. She had played with the emotions of others once too often, and was caught in the agitation which
  • 43. she had so often excited without sharing in it. Mrs. Ames was generally present at these visits, but when it was quite certain that she was not looking, Millie often raised her eyes to his, and this disconcerting conviction lurked behind them. Her speech was equally disconcerting, for she would say, “It will be nice when you are well again,” in a manner that quite belied the commonplace words. And this force that lay behind strangely controlled him. Involuntarily, almost, he answered her signals, gave himself the lover-like privilege of seeming to understand all that was not said. All the time, too, he perfectly appreciated the bad taste of the affair —namely, that a woman who was in love with him, and to whom he had given indications of the most unmistakable kind that he was on her plane of emotion, should play these unacted scenes in his wife’s house, coming there to make pass his invalid hours, and that he should take his part in them. It was common, and he could not but contrast that commonness with the unconsciousness of his wife. Occasionally he was inclined to think, “Poor Amy, how little she sees,” but as often it occurred to him that she was too big to be aware of such smallnesses as he and Milly were guilty of. And, in reality, the truth lay between these extreme views. She was not too big to be aware of it; she was quite aware of it, but she was big enough to appear too big to be aware of it. She watched, and scorned herself for her watching. She fed herself with suspicions, but was robust enough to spew them forth again. Also, and this allowed the robuster attitude to flourish, she was concerned with a nightmare of her own which daily grew more vivid and unescapable. A decade of streaming October days passed in this trying atmosphere of suspicion and uncertainty and apprehension. Of the three of them it was Major Ames who was most thoroughly ill at ease, for he had no inspiration which enabled him to bear this sordid martyrdom. He divined that Millie was evolving some situation in which he would be expected to play a very prominent part, and such ardour as was his he felt not to be of the adequate temperature, and he looked back over the peaceful days when his garden supplied him not only with flowers, but with the most poignant emotions known to his nature, almost with regret. It had all been so peaceful and pleasant in that land-locked harbour, and now she, like a steam-tug, was slowly towing him out past the pier-head into a waste of breakers. Strictly speaking, it was possible for him at any moment to cast the towing-rope off and return to his quiet anchorage, but he was afraid he lacked the moral
  • 44. power to do so. He had let her throw the rope aboard him, he had helped to attach it to the bollard, thinking, so to speak, that he was the tug and she the frail little craft. But that frail little craft had developed into an engined apparatus, and it was his turn to be towed, helpless and at least unwilling, and wholly uninspired. The others, at any rate, had inspiration to warm their discomfort: Mrs. Ames the sense of justice and sisterhood which was leavening her dumpy existence, Mrs. Evans the fire which, however strange and illicit are its burnings, however common and trivial the material from which it springs, must still be called love. It was the evening of Sir James’ first meeting, and Mrs. Ames at six o’clock was satisfying herself that nothing had been omitted in the preparations for dinner. The printed menu cards were in place, announcing all that was most sumptuous; the requisite relays of knives, spoons and forks were on the sideboard; the plates of opalescent glass for ice were to hand, and there was no longer anything connected with this terrible feast, that to her had the horror of a murderer’s breakfast on the last morning of his life, which could serve to distract her mind any more. Millie was to dine with them and with them come to the meeting, but just now it did not seem to matter in the slightest what Millie did. All day Mrs. Ames had been catching at problematic straws that might save her: it was possible that Mr. Chilcot would be seized with sudden indisposition, and the meeting be postponed. But she herself had seen him drive by in Cousin James’ motor, looking particularly hearty. Or Cousin James might catch influenza: Lady Westbourne already had it, and it was pleasantly infectious. Or Lyndhurst might get an attack of really acute lumbago, but instead he felt absolutely well again to-day, and had even done a little garden-rolling. One by one these bright possibilities had been extinguished—now no reasonable anchor remained except that dinner would acutely disagree with her (and that was hardly likely, since she felt incapable of eating anything) or that the motor which was to take them to the town hall would break down. At half-past six she went upstairs to dress; she would thus secure a quarter of an hour before the actual operation of decking herself began, in which to be alone and really face what was going to happen. It was no use trying to face it in one piece: taken all together the coming evening had the horror and unreality of nightmare brooding over it. She had to take it moment by moment from the time when she would welcome her guests,
  • 45. whom, so it seemed to her, she was then going to betray, till the time when, perhaps four hours from now, she would be back again here in her room, and everything that had happened had woven itself into the woolly texture of the past, in place of being in the steely, imminent future. There was dinner to be gone through; that was only tolerable to think of because of what was to follow: in itself it would please her to entertain her cousin and so notable a man as a Cabinet Minister. Clearly, then, she must separate dinner from the rest, and enjoy it independently. But when she went down to dinner she must have left here in readiness the little black velvet bag ... that was not so pleasant to think of. Yet the little black velvet bag had nothing to do yet. Then there would follow the drive to the town hall: that would not be unpleasant: in itself she would rather enjoy the stir and pomp of their arrival. Sir James would doubtless say to the scrutinizing doorkeeper, “These ladies are with me,” and they would pass on amid demonstrations of deference. Probably there would be a little procession on to the platform ... the Mayor would very likely lead the way with her, her and her little black velvet bag.... And then poor Mrs. Ames suddenly felt that if she thought about it any more she would have a nervous collapse. And at that thought her inspiration, so to speak, reached out a cool, firm hand to her. At any cost she was going through with this nightmare for the sake of that which inspired it. It was no use saying it was pleasant, nor was it pleasant to have a tooth out. But any woman with the slightest self-respect, when once convinced that it was better to have the tooth out, went to the dentist at the appointed hour, declined gas (Mrs. Ames had very decided opinions about those who made a fuss over a little pain), opened her mouth, and held the arms of the chair very firmly. One wanted something to hold on to at these moments. She wondered what she would find to hold on to this evening. Perhaps the holding on would be done by somebody else—a policeman, for instance. There was one more detail to attend to before dressing, and she opened the little black velvet bag. In it were two chains—light, but of steel: they had been sold her with the gratifying recommendation that either of them alone would hold a mastiff, which was more than was required. One was of such length as to go tightly round her waist: a spring lock with hasp passing through the last link of it, closing with an internal snap, obviated the necessity of a key. This she proposed to put on below the light cloak she
  • 46. wore before they started. The second chain was rather longer but otherwise similar. It was to be passed through the one already in place on her waist, and round the object to which she desired to attach herself. Another snap lock made the necessary connection. She saw that all was in order and, putting the big Suffragette rosette on top of the other apparatus, closed the bag: it was useless to try to accustom herself to it by looking; she might as well inspect the dentist’s forceps, hoping thus to mollify their grip. Cloak and little velvet bag she would leave here and come up for them after dinner. And already the quarter of an hour was over, and it was time to dress. The daring rose-coloured silk was to be worn on this occasion, and she hoped that it would not experience any rough treatment. Yet it hardly mattered: after to-night she would very likely never care to set eyes on it again, and emphatically Lyndhurst would find it full of disagreeable associations. And then she felt suddenly and acutely sorry for him and for the amazement and chagrin that he was about to feel. He could not fail to be burningly ashamed of her, to choke with rage and mortification. Perhaps it would bring on another attack of lumbago, which she would intensely regret. But she did not anticipate feeling in the least degree ashamed of herself. But she intensely wished it had not got to be. And now she was ready: the rose-coloured silk glowed softly in the electric light, the pink satin shoes which “went with it” were on her plump, pretty little feet, the row of garnets was clasped round her neck. There was a good deal of colour in her face, and she was pleased to see she looked so well. The last time she had worn all these fine feathers was on the evening she returned home with brown hair and softened wrinkles from Overstrand. That was not a successful evening: it seemed that the rose-coloured silk was destined to shine on inauspicious scenes. But now she was ready: this was her last moment alone. And she plumped down on her knees by the bedside, in a sudden access of despair at what lay before her, and found her lips involuntarily repeating the words that were used in the hugest and most holy agony that man’s spirit has ever known, when for one moment He felt that even He could not face the sacrifice of Himself or to drink of the cup. But next moment she sprang from her knees again, her face all aflame with the shame at her paltriness. “You wretched little coward!” she said to herself. “How dare you?”
  • 47. Dinner, that long expensive dinner, brought with it trouble unanticipated by Mrs. Ames. Mr. Chilcot, it appeared, was a teetotaler at all times, and never ate anything but a couple of poached eggs before he made a speech. He was also, owing to recent experiences, a little nervous about Suffragettes, and required reiterated assurances that unaccountable females had not been seen about. “It’s true that a week or two ago I received a letter asking me my views,” said Sir James, “but I wrote a fairly curt reply, and have heard nothing more about it. My agent’s pretty wide awake. He would have known if there was likely to be any disturbance. No thanks, Major, one glass of champagne is all I allow myself before making a speech. Capital wine, I know; I always say you give one the best glass of wine to be had in Kent. How’s time, by the way? Ah, we’ve got plenty of time yet.” “I like to have five minutes’ quiet before going on to the platform,” said Mr. Chilcot. “Yes, that will be all right. Perhaps we might have the motor five minutes earlier, Cousin Amy. No, no sweetbread thanks. Dear me, what a great dinner you are giving us.” An awful and dismal atmosphere descended. Mr. Chilcot, thinking of his speech, frowned at his poached eggs, and, when they were finished, at the table-cloth. Cousin James refused dish after dish, Mrs. Ames felt herself incapable of eating, and Major Ames and Mrs. Evans, who was practically a vegetarian, were left to do the carousing. Wines went round untouched, silences grew longer, and an interminable succession of dishes failed to tempt anybody except Major Ames. At this rate, not one, but a whole series of luncheon-parties would be necessary to finish up the untouched dainties of this ill-starred dinner. Outside, a brisk tattoo of rain beat on the windows, and the wind having got up, the fire began to smoke, and Mr. Chilcot to cough. A readjustment of door and window mended this matter, but sluiced Cousin James in a chilly draught. Mr. Chilcot brightened up a little as coffee came round, but the coffee was the only weak spot in an admirable repast, being but moderately warm. He put it down. Mrs. Ames tried to repair this error. “I’m afraid it is not hot enough,” she said. “Parker, tell them to heat it up at once.” Cousin James looked at his watch.
  • 48. “Really, I think we ought to be off,” he said. “I’m sure they can get a cup of coffee for Mr. Chilcot from the hotel. We might all go together unless you have ordered something, Cousin Amy. The motor holds five easily.” A smart, chill October rain was falling, and they drove through blurred and disconsolate streets. A few figures under umbrellas went swiftly along the cheerless pavements, a crowd of the very smallest dimensions, scarce two deep across the pavement opposite the town hall, watched the arrival of those who were attending the meeting. There was an insignificant queue of half-a-dozen carriages awaiting their disembarkments, but as the hands of the town hall clock indicated that the meeting was not timed to begin for twenty minutes yet, even Mr. Chilcot could not get agitated about the possibility of a cup of coffee before his effort. Through the rain-streaked windows Mrs. Ames could see how meagre, owing no doubt to the inclement night, was the assembly of the ticket-holders. It was possible, of course, that crowds might soon begin to arrive, but Riseborough generally made a point of being in its place in plenty of time, and she anticipated a sparsely attended room. Mrs. Brooks hurried by in mackintosh and goloshes, the cheerful Turner family, who were just behind them in a cab, dived into the wet night, and emerged again under the awning. Mrs. Currie (wife of the station-master), with her Suffragette rosette in a paper parcel, had a friendly word with a policeman at the door, and at these sights, since they indicated a forcible assemblage of the league, she felt a little encouraged. Then the car moved on and stopped again opposite the awning, and their party dismounted. A bustling official demanded their tickets, and was summarily thrust aside by another, just as bustling but more enlightened, who had recognized Sir James, and conducted them all to the Mayor’s parlour, where that dignitary received them. There was coffee already provided, and all anxiety on that score was removed. Mr. Chilcot effaced himself in a corner with his cup and his notes, while the others, notably Sir James, behaved with that mixture of social condescension and official deference which appears to be the right attitude in dealing with mayors. Then the Mayoress said, “George, dear, it has gone the half-hour; will you escort Mrs. Ames?” George asked Mrs. Ames if he might have the honour, and observed—
  • 49. “We shall have but a thin meeting, I am afraid. Most inclement for October.” Mrs. Ames pulled her cloak a little closer round her, in order to hide a chain that was more significant than the Mayor’s, and felt the little black velvet bag beating time to her steps against her knee. They walked through the stark bare passages, with stone floors that exuded cold moisture in sympathy with the wetness of the evening, and came out into a sudden blaze of light. A faint applause from nearly empty benches heralded their appearance, and they disposed themselves on a row of plush arm-chairs behind a long oak table. The Mayor sat in the centre, to right and left of him Sir James and Mr. Chilcot. Just opposite Mrs. Ames was a large table-leg, which had for her the significance of the execution-shed. She put her bag conveniently on her knees, and quietly unloosed the latch that fastened it. There were no more preparations to be made just yet, since the chain was quite ready, and in a curious irresponsible calm she took further note of her surroundings. Scarcely a hundred people were there, all told, and face after face, as she passed her eyes down the seats, was friendly and familiar. Mrs. Currie bowed, and the Turner family, in a state of the pleasantest excitement, beamed; Mrs. Brooks gave her an excited hand- wave. They were all sitting in encouraging vicinity to each other, but she was alone, as on the inexorable seas, while they were on the pier.... Then the Mayor cleared his throat. It had been arranged that the Mayor was to be given an uninterrupted hearing, for he was the local grocer, and it had, perhaps, been tacitly felt that he might adopt retaliatory measures in the inferior quality of the subsequent supplies of sugar. He involved himself in sentences that had no end, and would probably have gone on for ever, had he not, with commendable valour, chopped off their tails when their coils threatened to strangle him, and begun again. The point of it all was that they had the honour to welcome the President of the Board of Trade and Sir James Westbourne. Luckily, the posters, with which the town had been placarded for the last fortnight, corroborated the information, and no reasonable person could any longer doubt it.
  • 50. He was rejoiced to see so crowded an assembly met together—this was not very happy, but the sentence had been carefully thought out, and it was a pity not to reproduce it—and was convinced that they would all spend a most interesting and enjoyable evening, which would certainly prove to be epoch-making. Politics were taken seriously in Riseborough, and it was pleasant to see the gathering graced by so many members of the fair sex. He felt he had detained them all quite long enough (no) and he would detain them no longer (yes), but call on the Right Honourable Mr. Chilcot (cheers). As Mr. Chilcot rose, Mr. Turner rose also, and said in a clear, cheerful voice, “Votes for Women.” He had a rosette, pinned a little crookedly, depending from his shoulder. Immediately his wife and daughter rose too, and in a sort of Gregorian chant said, “Women’s rights,” and a rattle of chains made a pleasant light accompaniment. From beneath her seat Mrs. Currie produced a banner trimmed with the appropriate colours, on which was embroidered “Votes for Women.” But the folds clung dispiritingly together: there was never a more dejected banner. Two stalwart porters whom she had brought with her also got up, wiped their mouths with the backs of their hands, and said in low, hoarse tones, “Votes for Women.” This lasted but a few seconds, and there was silence again. It was impossible to imagine a less impressive demonstration: it seemed the incarnation of ineffectiveness. Mr. Chilcot had instantly sat down when it began, and, though he had cause to be shy of Suffragettes, seemed quite undisturbed; he was smiling good-naturedly, and for a moment consulted his notes again. And then, suddenly, Mrs. Ames realized that she had taken no share in it; it had begun so quickly, and so quickly ended, that for the time she had merely watched. But then her blood and her courage came back to her: it should not be her fault, in any case, if the proceedings lacked fire. The Idea, all that had meant so much to her during these last months, seemed to stand by her, asking her aid. She opened the little black velvet bag, pinned on her rosette, passed the second chain (strong enough to hold a mastiff) through the first, and round the leg of the table in front of her, heard the spring lock click, and rose to her feet, waving her hand. “Votes for Women!” she cried. “Votes for Women. Hurrah!” Instantly every one on the platform turned to her: she saw Lyndhurst’s inflamed and astonished face, with mouth fallen open in incredulous surprise, like a fish in an aquarium: she saw Cousin James’ frown of
  • 51. distinguished horror. Mrs. Evans looked as if about to laugh, and the Mayoress said, “Lor’!” Mr. Chilcot turned round in his seat, and his good- humored smile faded, leaving an angry fighting face. But all this hostility and amazement, so far from cowing or silencing her, seemed like a draught of wine. “Votes for Women!” she cried again. At that the cry was taken up in earnest: by a desperate effort Mrs. Currie unfurled her banner, so that it floated free, her porters roared out their message with the conviction they put into their announcements to a stopping train that this was Riseborough, the Turner family gleefully shouted together: Mrs. Brooks, unable to adjust her rosette, madly waved it, and a solid group of enthusiasts just below the platform emitted loud and militant cries. All that had been flat and lifeless a moment before was inspired and vital. And Mrs. Ames had done it. For a moment she had nothing but glory in her heart. Mr. Chilcot leaned over the table to her. “I had no idea,” he said, “when I had the honour of dining with you that you proposed immediately afterwards to treat me with such gross discourtesy.” “Votes for Women!” shouted Mrs. Ames again. This time the cry was less vehemently taken up, for there was nothing to interrupt. Mr. Chilcot conferred a moment quietly with Sir James, and Mrs. Ames saw that Lyndhurst and Mrs. Evans were talking together: the former was spluttering with rage, and Mrs. Evans had laid her slim, white-gloved hand on his knee, in the attempt, it appeared, to soothe him. At present the endeavour did not seem to be meeting with any notable measure of success. Even in the midst of her excitement, Mrs. Ames thought how ludicrous Lyndhurst’s face was; she also felt sorry for him. As well, she had the sense of this being tremendous fun: never in her life had she been so effective, never had she even for a moment paralysed the plans of other people. But she was doing that now; Mr. Chilcot had come here to speak, and she was not permitting him to. And again she cried “Votes for Women!” An inspector of police had come on to the platform, and after a few words with Sir James, he vaulted down into the body of the hall. Next moment, some dozen policemen tramped in from outside, and immediately afterwards the Turner family, still beaming, were being trundled down the gangway, and firmly ejected. Sundry high notes and muffled shoutings
  • 52. came from outside, but after a few seconds they were dumb, as if a tap had been turned off. There was a little more trouble with Mrs. Currie, but a few smart tugs brought away the somewhat flimsy wooden rail to which she had attached herself, and she was taken along in a sort of tripping step, like a cheerful dancing bear, with her chains jingling round her, after the Turners, and quietly put out into the night. Then Sir James came across to Mrs. Ames. “Cousin Amy,” he said, “you must please give us your word to cause no more disturbance, or I shall tell a couple of men to take you away.” “Votes for Women!” shouted Mrs. Ames again. But the excitement which possessed her was rapidly dying, and from the hall there came no response except very audible laughter. “I am very sorry,” said Cousin James. And then with a sudden overwhelming wave, the futility of the whole thing struck her. What had she done? She had merely been extremely rude to her two guests, had seriously annoyed her husband, and had aroused perfectly justifiable laughter. General Fortescue was sitting a few rows off: he was looking at her through his pince-nez, and his red, good-humoured face was all a-chink with smiles. Then two policemen, one of whom had his beat in St. Barnabas Road, vaulted up on to the platform, and several people left their places to look on from a more advantageous position. “Beg your pardon, ma’am,” said the St. Barnabas policeman, touching his helmet with imperturbable politeness. “She’s chained up too, Bill.” Bill was a slow, large, fatherly-looking man, and examined Mrs. Ames’ fetters. Then a broad grin broke out over his amiable face. “It’s only just passed around the table-leg,” he said. “Hitch up the table- leg, mate, and slip it off.” It was too true ... patent lock and mastiff-holding chain were slipped down the table-leg, and Mrs. Ames, with the fatherly-looking policeman politely carrying her chains and the little velvet bag, was gently and inevitably propelled through the door which, a quarter of an hour ago, she had entered escorted by the Mayor, and down the stone passage and out into the dripping street. The rain fell heavily on to the rose-coloured silk dress, and the fatherly policeman put her cloak, which had half fallen off, more shelteringly round her.
  • 53. “Better have a cab, ma’am, and go home quietly,” he said. “You’ll catch cold if you stay here, and we can’t let you in again, begging your pardon, ma’am.” Mrs. Ames looked round: Mrs. Currie was just crossing the road, apparently on her way home, and a carriage drove off containing the Turner family. A sense of utter failure and futility possessed her: it was cold and wet, and a chilly wind flapped the awning, blowing a shower of dripping raindrops on to her. The excitement and courage that had possessed her just now had all oozed away: nothing had been effected, unless to make herself ridiculous could be counted as an achievement. “Call a cab for the lady, Bill,” said her policeman soothingly. This was soon summoned, and Bill touched his helmet as she got in, and before closing the door pulled up the window for her. The cabman also knew her, and there was no need to give him her address. The rain pattered on the windows and on the roof, and the horse splashed briskly along through the puddles in the roadway. Parker opened the door to her, surprised at the speediness of her return. “Why, ma’am!” she exclaimed, “has anything happened?” “No, nothing, Parker,” said she, feeling that a dreadful truth underlay her words. “Tell the Major, when he comes in, that I have gone to bed.” She looked for a moment into the dining-room. So short a time had passed that the table was not yet cleared: the printed menu-cards had been collected, but the coffee, which had not been hot enough, still stood untasted in the cups, and the slices of pineapple, cut, but not eaten, were ruinously piled together. The thought of all the luncheons that would be necessary to consume all this expensive food made her feel sick.... These little things had assumed a ridiculous size to her mind; that which had seemed so big was pitifully dwindled. She felt desperately tired, and cold and lonely.
  • 54. CHAPTER XII “And what’s to be done now?” said Major Ames, chipping his bacon high into the air above his plate. “If you didn’t hear me, I said, ‘What’s to be done now?’ I don’t know how you can look Riseborough in the face again, and, upon my word, I don’t see how I can. They’ll point at me in the street, and say, ‘That’s Major Ames, whose wife made a fool of herself.’ That’s what you did, Amy. You made a fool of yourself. And what was the good of it all? Are you any nearer getting the vote than before, because you’ve screamed ‘Votes for Women’ a dozen times? You’ve only given a proof the more of how utterly unfit you are to have anything at all of your own, let alone a vote. I passed a sleepless night with thinking of your folly, and I feel infernally unwell this morning.” This clearly constituted a climax, and Mrs. Ames took advantage of the rhetorical pause that followed. “Nonsense, Lyndhurst,” she said; “I heard you snoring.” “It’s enough to make a man snore,” he said. “Snore, indeed! Why couldn’t you even have told me that you were going to behave like a silly lunatic, and if I couldn’t have persuaded you to behave sanely, I could have stopped away, instead of looking on at such an exhibition? Every one will suppose I must have known about it, and have countenanced you. I’ve a good mind to write to the Kent Chronicle and say that I was absolutely ignorant of what you were going to do. You’ve disgraced us; that’s what you’ve done.” He took a gulp of tea, imprudently, for it was much hotter than he anticipated. “And now I’ve burned my mouth!” he said. Mrs. Ames put down her napkin, left her seat, and came and stood by him. “I am sorry you are so much vexed,” she said, “but I can’t and I won’t discuss anything with you if you talk like that. You are thinking about nothing but yourself, whether you are disgraced, and whether you have had a bad night.” “Certainly you don’t seem to have thought about me,” he said.
  • 55. “As a matter of fact I did,” she said. “I knew you would not like it, and I was sorry. But do you suppose I liked it? But I thought most about the reason for which I did it.” “You did it for notoriety,” said Major Ames, with conviction. “You wanted to see your name in the papers, as having interrupted a Cabinet Minister’s speech. You won’t even have that satisfaction, I am glad to say. Your cousin James, who is a decent sort of fellow after all, spoke to the reporters last night and asked them to leave out all account of the disturbance. They consented; they are decent fellows too; they didn’t want to give publicity to your folly. They were sorry for you, Amy; and how do you like half-a-dozen reporters at a pound a week being sorry for you? Your cousin James was equally generous. He bore no malice to me, and shook hands with me, and said he saw you were unwell when he sat down to dinner. But when a man of the world, as your Cousin James is, says he thinks that a woman is unwell, I know what he means. He thought you were intoxicated. Drunk, in fact. That’s what he thought. He thought you were drunk. My wife drunk. And it was the kindest interpretation he could have put upon it. Mad or drunk. He chose drunk. And he hoped I should be able to come over some day next week and help him to thin out the pheasants. Very friendly, considering all that had happened.” Mrs. Ames moved slightly away from him. “Do you mean to go?” she asked. “Of course I mean to go. He shows a very generous spirit, and I think I can account for the highest of his rocketters. He wants to smoothe things over and be generous, and all that—hold out the olive branch. He recognizes that I’ve got to live down your folly, and if it’s known that I’ve been shooting with him, it will help us. Forgive and forget, hey? I shall just go over there, en garçon, and will patch matters up. I dare say he’ll ask you over again some time. He doesn’t want to be hard on you. Nor do I, I am sure. But there are things no man can stand. A man’s got to put his foot down sometimes, even if he puts it down on his wife. And if I was a bit rough with you just now, you must realize, Amy, you must realize that I felt strongly, strongly and rightly. We’ve got to live down what you have done. Well, I’m by you. We’ll live it down together. I’ll make your peace with your cousin. You can trust me.”
  • 56. These magnificent assurances failed to dazzle Mrs. Ames, and she made no acknowledgement of them. Instead, she went back rather abruptly and inconveniently to a previous topic. “You tell me that Cousin James believed I was drunk,” she said. “Now you knew I was not. But you seem to have let it pass.” Major Ames felt that more magnanimous assurances might be in place. “There are some things best passed over,” he said. “Let sleeping dogs lie. I think the less we talk about last night the better. I hope I am generous enough not to want to rub it in, Amy, not to make you more uncomfortable than you are.” Mrs. Ames sat down in a chair by the fireplace. A huge fire burned there, altogether disproportionate to the day, and she screened her face from the blaze with the morning paper. Also she made a mental note to speak to Parker about it. “You are making me very uncomfortable indeed, Lyndhurst,” she said; “by not telling me what I ask you. Did you let it pass, when you saw James thought I was drunk?” “Yes; he didn’t say so in so many words. If he had said so, well, I dare say I should have—have made some sort of answer. And, mind you, it was no accusation he made against you; he made an excuse for you!” Mrs. Ames’ small, insignificant face grew suddenly very firm and fixed. “We do not need to go into that,” she said. “You saw he thought I was drunk, and said nothing. And after that you mean to go over and shoot his pheasants. Is that so?” “Certainly it is. You are making a mountain out of——” “I am making no mountain out of anything. Personally, I don’t believe Cousin James thought anything of the kind. What matters is that you let it pass. What matters is that I should have to tell you that you must apologize to me, instead of your seeing it for yourself.” Major Ames got up, pushing his chair violently back. “Well, here’s a pretty state of things,” he cried; “that you should be telling me to apologize for last night’s degrading exhibition! I wonder what you’ll be asking next? A vote of thanks from the Mayor, I shouldn’t wonder, and an illuminated address. You teaching me what I ought to do! I should have thought a woman would have been only too glad to trust to her
  • 57. husband, if he was so kind, as I have been, as to want to get her out of the consequences of her folly. And now it’s you who must sit there, opposite a fire fit to roast an ox, and tell me I must apologize. Apologies be damned! There! It’s not my habit to swear, as you well know, but there are occasions —— Apologies be damned!” And a moment later the house shook with the thunder of the slammed front door. Mrs. Ames sat for a couple of minutes exactly where she was, still shielding her face from the fire. She felt all the chilling effects of the reaction that follows on excitement, whether the excitement is rapturous or as sickening as last night’s had been, but not for a moment did she regret her share either in the events of the evening before or in the sequel of this morning. Last night had ended in utter fiasco, but she had done her best; this morning’s talk had ended in a pretty sharp quarrel, but again she found it impossible to reconsider her share in it. Humanly she felt beaten and ridiculed and sick at heart, but not ashamed. She had passed a sleepless night, and was horribly tired, with that tiredness that seems to sap all pluck and power of resistance, and gradually her eyes grew dim, and the difficult meagre tears of middle age, which are so bitter, began to roll down her cheeks, and the hard inelastic sobs to rise in her throat.... Yet it was no use sitting here crying, lunch and dinner had to be ordered whether she felt unhappy or not; she had to see how extensive was the damage done to her pink satin shoes by the wet pavements last night; she had to speak about this ox-roasting fire. Also there was appointed a Suffragette meeting at Mr. Turner’s house for eleven o’clock, at which past achievements and future plans would be discussed. She had barely time to wash her face, for it was unthinkable that Parker or the cook should see she had been crying, and get through her household duties, before it was time to start. She dried her eyes and went to the window, through which streamed the pale saffron-coloured October sunshine. All the stormy trouble of the night had passed, and the air sparkled with “the clear shining after rain.” But the frost of a few nights before had blackened the autumn flowers, and the chill rain had beaten down the glory of her husband’s chrysanthemums, so that the garden-beds looked withered and dishevelled, like those whose interest in life is finished, and who no longer care what appearance they present.
  • 58. The interest of others in them seemed to be finished also; it was not the gardener’s day here, for he only came twice in the week, and Major Ames, who should have been assiduous in binding up the broken-stemmed, encouraging the invalids, and clearing away the havoc wrought by the storm, had left the house. Perhaps he had gone to the club, perhaps even now he was trying to make light of it all. She could almost hear him say, “Women get queer notions into their heads, and the notions run away with them, bless them. You’ll take a glass of sherry with me, General, won’t you? Are you by any chance going to Sir James’ shoot next week? I’m shooting there one day.” Or was he talking it over somewhere else, perhaps not making light of it? She did not know; all she knew was that she was alone, and wanted somebody who understood, even if he disagreed. It did not seem to matter that Lyndhurst utterly disagreed with her, what mattered was that he had misunderstood her motives so entirely, that the monstrous implication that she had been intoxicated seemed to him an excuse. And he was not sorry. What could she do since he was not sorry? It was as difficult to answer that as it was easy to know what to do the moment he was sorry. Indeed, then it would be unnecessary to do anything; the reconciliation would be automatic, and would bring with it something she yearned after, an opportunity of making him see that she cared, that the woman in her reached out towards him, in some different fashion now from that in which she had tried to recapture the semblance of youth and his awakened admiration. To-day, she looked back on that episode shamefacedly. She had taken so much trouble with so paltry a purpose. And yet that innocent and natural coquetry was not quite dead in her; no woman’s heart need be so old that it no longer cares whether she is pleasing in her husband’s eyes. Only to-day, it seemed to Mrs. Ames that her pains had been as disproportionate to her purpose as they had been to its result; now she longed to take pains for a purpose that was somewhat deeper than that for which she softened her wrinkles and refreshed the colour of her hair. She turned from the window and the empty garden, wishing that the rain would be renewed, so that there would be an excuse for her to go to Mr. Turner’s in a shut cab. As it was, there was no such excuse, and she felt that it would require an effort to walk past the club window, and to traverse the length of the High Street. Female Riseborough, on this warm sunny morning, she knew would be there in force, popping in and out of shops, and holding little conversations on the pavement. There would be but one
  • 59. topic to-day, and for many days yet; it would be long before the autumn novelty lost anything of its freshness. She wondered how her appearance in the town would be greeted; would people smile and turn aside as she approached, and whisper or giggle after she had gone by? What of the Mayor who, like an honest tradesman, was often to be seen at the door of his shop, or looking at the “dressing” of his windows? A policeman always stood at the bottom of the street, controlling the cross-traffic from St. Barnabas Road. Would he be that one who had helped to further her movements last night?... She almost felt she ought to thank him.... And then quite suddenly her pluck returned again, or it was that she realized that she did not, comparatively speaking, care two straws for any individual comment or by-play that might take place in the High Street, or for its accumulated weight. There were other things to care about. For them she cared immensely. The High Street proved to be paved with incident. Turning quickly round the corner, she nearly ran into Bill, the policeman, off duty at this hour, and obviously giving a humorous recital of some sort to a small amused circle outside the public-house. It was abruptly discontinued when she appeared, and she felt that the interest that his audience developed in the sunny October sky, which they contemplated with faint grins, would be succeeded by stifled laughter after she had passed. A few paces further on, controlling the traffic of market-day, was her other policeman Bill, who smiled in a pleasant and familiar manner to her, as if there was some capital joke private to them. Twenty yards further along the street was standing the Mayor, contemplating his shop-window; he saw her, and urgent business appeared to demand his presence inside. After that there came General Fortescue tottering to the club; he crossed the street to meet her, and took off his hat and shook hands. “By Jove! Mrs. Ames,” he said, “I never enjoyed a meeting so much, and my wife’s wild that she didn’t go. What a lark! Made me feel quite young again. I wanted to shout too, and tell them to give the ladies a vote. Monstrously amusing! Just going to the club to have a chat about it all.” And he went on his way, with his fat old body shaking with laughter. Then, feeling rather ill from this encounter, she heard rapid steps in pursuit of her, and Mrs. Altham joined her.
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