Glossary of Diversity Terms Terms adapted from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Diversity Committee Adverse Impact: A substantially different rate of selection in hiring, promotion, or other employment-related personnel action that works to the disadvantage of a particular race, sex, or ethnic group. Affirmative Action: Proactive measures for remedying the effect of past discrimination and ensuring the implementation of equal employment opportunity. Affirmative action is undertaken only for certain protected groups of individuals: Females, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Americans Indians, people with disabilities, and covered veterans (special disabled veteran, Vietnam-era veteran, or any other veteran who served on active duty during a war or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized). All federal contractors are required to have an affirmative action program consisting of a set of result-oriented procedures to ensure that a representative workforce for the protected groups will be achieved. Diversity: A comprehensive organizational and managerial process for developing an environment that maximizes the potential of all faculty, staff, and students. Diversity is a general term for indicating that many people with many differences are present in an organization. It goes beyond race and gender to value such differences as culture, ethnicity, language, national origin, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, perceived gender and other factors. Diversity Management: The numerous processes within an organization to foster a climate that respects the individuality of each employee and ensures that decisions are the product of diverse input; the process of creating and maintaining a positive environment that enables personnel of all backgrounds to function effectively to achieve organizational goals and missions. Equal Opportunity: A system of practices that guarantees, by law, the same employment opportunity to all individuals regardless of their gender, race, color, religion, national origin, disabilities, or other factors. In effect, equal employment opportunity is a nondiscrimination policy. Ethnicity: A quality assigned to a specific group of people historically connected by a common national origin or language. Ethnic classification is used for identification rather than differentiation. Ethnocentrism: A practice of unconsciously or consciously privileging a certain ethnic group over others. This involves judging other groups by the values of one’s own group. Glass Ceiling: Term for the maximum position and salary some claim minorities and women are allowed to reach without any chances of further promotion or advancement within an employment scenario. Inclusion: The process of engaging all types of people in a team and/or group by recognizing that differences are an asset for achieving high productivity. Organizational Culture: The system of a collaboration of meanings, assumptions, and underlying values in a working environment. An organization’s views of itself and its environment, philosophies for achieving success, and the rules that apply to the employees. Outreach: Outreach is a long-term process to inform the public about the emphasis on building and sustaining a multicultural organization. Racial Profiling: Wrongful and hurtful judgments about an individual or group based solely on their ethnicity or color of their skin; actions based on racial prejudice. Stereotype: To categorize people based on an artificial construction of a certain group designed to impart the "essence" of that group, which homogenizes the group, effacing individuality and difference. Social Constructionism: A perception of an individual, group, or idea that is "constructed" through cultural and social practice but appears to be "natural" or "the way things are." For example, the idea that women "naturally" like to do housework is a social construction because this idea appears "natural" due to its historical repetition, rather than it being "true" in any essential sense. Tolerance: Acceptance and open-mindedness to different practices, attitudes, and cultures; does not necessarily mean agreement with the differences. Under-utilization: Having fewer women or people of color with requisite skills in a particular job category/group than would reasonably be expected by their availability in the labor market for which an organization recruits.