Companies that are able to develop diversity programs can create a competitive advantage by capitalizing on human capital. According to the “Top 50 Companies for Diversity” list by Diversityinc, Verizon, Consolidated Edison CO. of NY, the Coca-Cola Co., Health Care Service Corp and HBO are the top 5 companies for Diversity (Diversityinc). Diversityinc developed their list by asking questions on diversity training, employee-resource groups, mentoring, and multicultural marketing. DiversityInc, researched women- and minority-owned businesses and assessed the CEO’s direct involvement in diversity initiatives. Most companies have developed diversity programs as a part of their overall CSR strategy. For example,
· CIGNA strives to create and support an environment that attracts and retains the most talented, ethical, well-trained, mutually supportive and diverse people. An ethnically and culturally diverse workforce mirrors our customer base, and is important to increasing profitability and building shareholder value in the company.
· At Dupont, More than half of DuPont's new hires for professional and management positions are minorities and women.
· Microsoft has programs in place to acquire talent from the African American community. Those programs include efforts with national organizations, historically black colleges & universities (HBCUs) and those with high African American enrollment, advertising in ethnic media and via Pathways, a newsletter targeted to professionals from diverse cultural backgrounds.
· At Walt Disney, fostering a best place to work environment, attracting top diverse applicants, having minorities and females well represented in key positions and providing more opportunities for flexibility in the workplace are part of the company's employment-related diversity initiatives.
How does your company promote diversity in the workplace?
3 comments:
Although there are clear benefits to a diverse workforce, different organizations manage diversity for different reasons. Some of them do it because it is a social responsibility, moral obligation, or distributive justice. Other organizations manage diversity to meet quotas, or because of Affirmative Action or legal requirements. Yet others do it to portray themselves as concerned about diversity and enhance their public image. Others see the true integrative value diversity brings to their organization.
David A Thomas and Robin J. Ely in an article for the Harvard Business Review establish three diversity paradigms- assimilation, variety, and integration. Only the last realizes the true value of diversity and takes full advantage of its benefits.
1- Assimilation Paradigm- Sometimes referred to as a fairness paradigm, the organization’s goal is to hire the right quantitative proportion of minority groups or groups discriminated against. Success is measured mainly on the organization’s ability to hire the numbers set forth. They carry out training and mentoring programs geared to workforce diversity. Their goal though is not to use the true talents that this diversity brings to the organization, but rather to support diversity in regard to numbers, and assimilate these new hires to the current organizational culture and create a homogenous workforce. There is a prevailing need for harmony and unification.
The benefits that these diverse employees bring to the organization remain unused and the company looses the opportunity to learn new ways to do things, to become more resilient, and more effective and productive. This type of organizational behavior has a negative effect on the diverse employees, which reduces their motivation to bring new ideas, be creative, and strive for growth in the organization. These employees will also be less engaged and have less job satisfaction.
2- Variety Paradigm- In contrast to the assimilation paradigm, the variety paradigm celebrates diversity and sees the benefit of it in specific areas of the organization. The adjustment of diversity is based on the structural changes of the market and opportunity to gain advantage over the competition. Even though there is an economic motivation, it allows for the professional growth of diverse employees, but only is specific areas or segments. For example, if an organization wanted to reach the Hispanic market, they may bring on a Hispanic employee to help reach that market. The employee may have the opportunity to grow professionally, but only as so far as it relates to how the organization is dealing with the Hispanic market. The person in pigeonholed into that market niche and not allowed to grow into other area of the organization. The organization looses the opportunity to have that employee bring their skills and talents to the organization as a whole.
3- Integration Paradigm- The integration paradigm takes full advantage of the true value diversity can bring to an organization. It brings together the positives from assimilation and variety paradigms, and ads the value of diversity to the organization as a whole. Diverse employees are respected for what they bring to the organization and are an integral part of the growth of the organization as a whole. They feel more valued as employees, they feel as important part of the organization, and have higher job satisfaction. This has a direct correlation to the retention of diverse employees.
Diversity is something that my company never has had an issue with (that I know of). However, we do keep records for the EEOC. When we interview candidates for positions, we stress the fact that the organization is so extremely diverse and ask for examples of when they experienced diversity, etc. It does not only end there but with ongoing interviews as well. The organization does not have the tolerance for those coworkers who are not accepting of a person due to a difference of age, religion, ethnicity, sexuality, etc.
Everyone understands that our purpose is to reach a common goal. I feel as though it is in part due to the industry. We always tell people that they will encounter all different walks of life (and it is very much true). Some that would make your hair stand on end. Our coworkers, being the creative thinkers that they are, are usually more open to diversity than many other organizations.
My organization recently formed a committee on diversity. We haven't seen a whole lot of activity from this committee at this point. They did promote certain minority related holidays on our intranet, and have recently invited staff to a viewing of the moving "Milk", but other than that I'm not sure what they are up to. I guess the question is: how effective is this team? what is their purpose? is this a pr related effort?
In all fairness the committee is relatively new, so time will tell what they will have to offer. I get the sense they the organization is trying to connect with concentrations of our minority workforce. I just hope the committee is committed in the long run and this isn't just a fad.
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