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Course INDU1031: Human Resource Strategy Course School/Level BU/PGCoursework Presentation Assessment Weight 10.00%Tutor P McGurk Submission Deadline 10/03/2010

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000577617 Pravin Kumar Mani

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Serial No. Topic

1. Introduction


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2. What Do We Mean by Diversity and DiversityManagement?

3. Business Reasons for Managing Diversity

4.

Diversity management benefits

5 REAL TIME EXAMPLES Management Of Diversity in LeadingINCs

--5.1 Accenture Diversity

--5.2 Google Diversity

--5.3 Infosys Diversity

--5.4 TCS Diversity

--5.5 Wipro Diversity

6. CONCLUSION

7. REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION


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Today, at the beginning of the 21st century, the world is submerged in a widerange of demographic trends which have the potential to radically change thedemographic, cultural and ethical mixture of the population in many countrieswithin just a few decades.

Top managers often say that their company's people are its most importantasset. In a tight job market and a global economy a company that puts peoplefirst - regardless of their race, religion, gender, age, sexual preference, or

physical disability - wins.

Companies, especially big multinational players which have to deal with thesechanges, are growingly forced to react. Employees, once a homogenous groupin many countries, are increasingly diverse and need to be integrated within andinto working environments. Diversity can present an immense source of

opportunities but it can also mean the opposite, a big threat.

Diversity management is a managerial approach in response to these trends andcan help companies to effectively and efficiently manage their personneldiversity, i.e. personnel made up of diverse and multifaceted people. To besuccessful at creating workforce diversity program involves attracting andretaining the highest quality individuals in the talent pool. For the HR

professional it means looking beyond obvious recruitment methods and venuesfor good people, then learning how to manage human potential sensitively. Itrequires an ever-increasing awareness of how people from different

backgrounds deal with authority, communication, overall business etiquette,and relate to their communities of affiliation.

Promoting workforce diversity is a process that takes place in many stages andon many levels. It requires HR professionals first to recruit a competent andqualified staff, then to accommodate individual needs within the context of thework team and the organization.

In today's world of cultural diversity, our business can't thrive unless weimplement a workforce diversity initiative . Besides tapping into the uniqueabilities and talents of people from different backgrounds, we can improve our image in the community by opening up a place of business to anyone regardlessof race, color, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and disability.


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What Do We Mean by Diversity and Diversity Management?

Some companies still use the traditional Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)definition of diversity, which deals with differences in gender, racioethnicity, and age. Othersemploy definitions that are broader and include different physical abilities, qualities, and sexualorientation. Still others focus on the heterogeneity of attitudes, perspectives, and backgroundsamong group members. Finally, some businesses have broadened their definition of diversityeven further to include people from different hierarchical levels, functions, and backgrounds.The Pillsbury Company, for instance, defines diversity as "all the ways in which we differ".Companies competing in today's fast-paced global market tend to favor the broadest definitionsof diversity-ones that encompasse differences in gender, racioethnicity, age, physical abilities,

qualities, and sexual orientation, as well as differences in attitudes, perspectives and background.THE PRESENCE OF MEMBERS OF DIFFERENT AGES, GENDERS, ETHNIC GROUPS,AND/OR EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUNDS IN AN ORGANIZATION

----- FRED LUTHANS

Business Reasons for Managing Diversity

Since the publication of the Workforce 2000 study, cost savings and winning the competition for

talent are frequently cited as strong arguments for the pursuit of diversity initiatives.4 Morerecently, they have been supplemented with a third, even more forceful arguement-theopportunity to drive business growth by leveraging the many facets of diversity. All threereasons surfaced as significant in a recent survey of Fortune 100 company human resourceexecutives.


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Diversity management benefits

General DM benefits1. Cost Argument As organizations become more diverse, the cost of a poor job in integratingworkers will increase. Those who handle this well, will thus create cost advantages over thosewho don't.2. Resource-Acquisition Companies develop reputations on favorability as prospective

Argument employers for women and ethnic minorities. Those with the best reputations for managing diversity will win the competition for the best personnel. As the labor pool shrinks andchanges composition, this edge will become increasingly important.

3. Marketing Argument For multi-national organizations, the insight and cultural sensitivity thatmembers with roots in other countries bring to the marketing effort should improve these effortsin important ways. The same rationale applies to marketing to subpopulations within domesticoperations.4. Creativity Argument Diversity of perspectives and less emphasis on conformity to norms of

the past (which characterize the modern approach to management of diversity) should improvethe level of creativity.5. Problem-solving Heterogeneity in decision and problem solving groups Argument potentially

produces better decisions through a wider range of perspectives and more thorough criticalanalysis of issues.6. System Flexibility An implication of the multicultural model for managing Argumentdiversity is that the system will become less determinant, less standardized, and therefore morefluid. The increased fluidity should create greater flexibility to react to environmental changes(i.e., reactions should be faster and at less cost).

As we proceed through the article we will deal with the finer points of how Diversitymanagement acts as a value addition to the organization

Creates opportunities for change that fosters the positive human potential of theiremployees.

Populations typically underrepresented in organizations, particularly ethnic minorities andwomen, have become an integral part of the workforce.Leveraging this diversity has important implications for the promotion of positive organizationalchange through its facilitation of both individual and organizational performance (e.g., Brief,2008; Earley & Mosakowski, 2000; Williams & OReilly, 1998).The need to create organizational environments receptive to diversity is therefore greater thanever. It is argued that workforce diversityif approached in a way that maximizes inclusion andminimizes resistancepresents organizations with opportunities to create change that fosters the

positive human potential of their employees.


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Heterogeneity paves synergistic outcomes .

Diversity management programs that encourage employees to value diversity may be the most prevalent in practice and tend to consist of things such as diversity bulletin boards in the office, adiversity newsletter, diversity workshops and team building, or diversity family days. The idea isthat employees will learn more about each other and value their differences, so that thedifferences can be used to the organizations advantage. Theory suggests that a cultural synergycan develop when different cultural backgrounds come together at work, such that the final

product produced by a heterogeneous work group will be better than the sum of the talents of theindividual members (Adler, 1980,1983, 2002). The idea is that diversity gets a group away from

the perils of groupthink and toward more creative and effective solutions. Many employees mayview valuing diversity programs as fluffy and without merit; however, if employee interaction ismanaged appropriately and diversity is permitted to flourish, high levels of heterogeneity canlead to synergistic outcomes.

Organizational benefits from diversity programs are well documented and may enhance acompanys ability to increase market share; compete more effectively ; create better organizational structures and policies; and enhance recruitment, retention, and development efforts (Wheeler, 1996). These programs enhance personal effectiveness and creativity (C.Thomas, 1994), improve interpersonal communication among employees, aid in theresponsiveness to social and demographic changes, help reduce the amount of litigation(Nemetz&Christensen, 1996), speed up the resolution of disputes, and create a climate of fairness and equality (Overmyer-Day,1995). Additional benefits from diversity management

programs include creating attitudes and behaviors consistent with bias reduction (Dovidio,1993), and fostering an appreciation of differences between cultures (Brady, 1996).

******Jayne and Dipboye (2004) identify the following four major gaps between diversity andresearch findings and conclude that a demographically diverse workforce in and of itself does notnecessarily have positive impact on organizational performance, making diversity interventionsessential:

Without effective training and development to support valid selection processes,increased diversity does not necessarily increase the talent pool;

Increased diversity does not necessarily build commitment, improve motivation, or reduce conflict. In fact, there is significant research to show that working with dissimilar others is often associated with negative outcomes;

Many researchers view diversity as a double-edged sword that improves some group processes and disrupts others. Increased group-level diversity in and of itself does notnecessarily lead to higher group performance;

Although there are a large number of studies of the effects of diversity on individual andgroup level performance, there are relatively few that document the relationship of


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diversity to organizational performance. The results of those studies have been mixed,leading the authors to assert that diversity does not necessarily improve organizational

performance (Jayne & Dipboye, 2004, pp. 412-413).

Role in mergers and acquisitions

Many of the problems encountered when merging two diverse corporate cultures appear inmanaging diversity in the workplace (Jackson & Alvarez, 1992). Diversity management refers tothe practices put in place to encourage the assimilation of different peopledifferent in terms of race, gender, attitudes, and beliefs. The goal of diversity training, according to Noe and Ford(1992), is to eliminate barriers such as values, stereotypes, and managerial practices thatconstrain employee contribution to organizational goals (p. 357). The elimination of barriers thathinder the ability of employees to create value is what an acquiring firms management needs todo to allow the M&A to be successful. Therefore, if an organization is successful in overcoming

the challenges of accepting diversity, this may position them to successfully manage resistance toother types of change. Thus, the management of the acculturation process involving diversitymay be similar to that of the acculturation of merging companies and if an organization issuccessful in overcoming the challenges of accepting diversity, this may position them tosuccessfully manage merging and other forms of partnering.( Larry Bellinger and Amy J.Hillman Business & Society, Sep 2000; vol. 39: pp. 323 - 337.)

Going beyond affirmative actionThe major modality through which culture becomes a form of governance is diversitymanagement. What does diversity management say it is? Diversity management says it will go

beyond affirmative action which, in its view, succeeds in hiring minorities but fails to assuretheir promotion. The principal cause of the failure of affirmative action, according to Thomas, isthat its legalistic framework creates a repressive obligatory environment in which expectations of and demands for assimilation rule. This rule neither values diversity nor manages it and, in theend, blames minority employees for the failure of corporate policies. Thus, affirmative action isan "artificial, transitional and temporary" solution to the problem of creating "a diverse work force and encouraging upward mobility for minorities" (Thomas 1991, 23). Shorn of itsassimilationist tendencies, affirmative action is best viewed as a step on the way to man-agingdiversity.Diversity management is highly invested in distinguishing itself from affirmative action.12Affirmative action is seen as rule-bound while diversity is seen as culture-bound, or boundless.Affirmative action is viewed as social engineering while diversity is viewed as socialrepresentation. Affirmative action is racialized and gendered, diversity is individualized, custom-made. While affirmative action is juridically enforced, a source of obligation and responsibility,diversity is positive, a source of communal pleasure. In short, affirmative action puts thecorporation in the business of "helping people who are disadvantaged," but diversity puts "peoplefrom diverse backgrounds" to work "helping companies to succeed" (Perlman 1992, 15). Further,diversity management assumes that managers do and will value human diversity. It treats assincere the putative post-Civil Rights liberal intolerance for cruder forms of racism and sexism,and presumes that assimilationist demands are a function of the predominant form of Americanantiracism, color blindness. For Thomas, the challenge facing corporate leaders is whether they


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can bring these private sentiments into work and make them work: "Those at the helm of theseorganizations have a choice: they can treat all members as if they were the same (or try to forcethem to become the same), or they can view the diversity as an opportunity, a strategic lever"(Thomas 1991, 3). Even in the absence of strong motivational values at the top, diversitymanagement insists that, in any case, a diverse work force is a pressing business reality.

The positive benefits of managing diversityThe benefits of diversity indicated in the literature that has been reviewed for this report can besummarised in the following three broad statements:

Diversity enhances customer relations and increases market share.

Diversity enhances employee relations and reduces the cost of labour.

Diversity improves workforce quality and performance in terms of diverse skills,creativity, problem-solving and flexibility.

Diversity enhances customer relations and increases market shareResearch findings suggest that having a diverse workforce leads to increased market share andincreased sales to minority-culture groups (Fernandez 1991, Cox and Blake 1991, Cox 1993).This is explained by the preference of many customers to buy from people like themselves andfrom organisations that promote diversity (Morrison 1992). Diversity contributes to increasedmarket share because it enhances an organisations ability to deal more sensitively withmulticultural domestic and foreign customers, thereby increasing customer satisfaction, keepingand gaining market share (Bhadury et al 2000 p144). In his research on managing diversity atIBM, Thomas (2004) exemplifies the benefits of responding to customer diversity. At IBM, oneof the positive business outcomes of successful diversity management has been the increase inrevenue from $10 million in 1998 to $300 million in 2001, just through partnerships with amore diverse group of vendors (Thomas 2004 p98).

Diversity enhances employee relations and reduces the cost of labourSeveral studies indicate that employers who successfully manage diversity are better atattracting and retaining skills and talent because many workers are drawn to companies thatembrace diversity (Woods and Sciarini 1995 p19).

As well as recruiting the best people in the labour market by embracing diversity, suchemployers can also benefit from cost savings by having a more cost-effective recruitment

process. McEnrue (1993) found that the recruitment expenditure of organisations that valuediversity is 40 per cent less than that of those that dont and that they suffer less from high costsof labour turnover, absenteeism and discrimination lawsuits (Fernandez 1991, Cox 1993,Morrison 1992).


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Diversity improves workforce quality and performance in terms of diverse skills,creativity, problem-solving and flexibility

The effects of diversity on organisational outcomes, such as performance, creativity, teamwork and problem-solving, are the areas that attract the interest of researchers most of all. In fact, mostof the diversity research focuses on these aspects, although the findings suggest mixed andconflicting results.Advocates of diversity management argue that an inclusive diversity climate increases the

performance and productivity level of employees through increased job satisfaction andcommitment (Morrison 1992). They also argue that diversity fosters an adaptability toenvironmental change and organisational flexibility

and provides a competitive edge by doing so (Cox 1993, Cox and Blake 1991, Fernandez1991).

Another frequently cited benefit of diversity is improved quality of management due to theeffects of anti-discrimination policies (Cox 1993, Fernandez 1991, Morrison 1992).

Additionally, McEnrue (1993) found that embracing diversity leads to decreased levels of frustration among supervisors who gain the skills to understand and manage groups with diverse

backgrounds.

Similarly, at top management level, several studies indicate that teams composed of diversemembers outperform homogeneous teams and have more capacity for problem-solving anddecision-making (Bantel and Jackson 1989, Hambrick et al 1996, Smith et al 1994).

Theres also evidence that workforce diversity improves organisational effectiveness throughincreased organisational and individual creativity and innovation, and improves decision-makingand problem-solving by providing work teams with different and diverse perspectives (Bhaduryet al 2000, Cox 1993, Fernandez 1991, Cordero et al 1996, Cox and Blake 1991, Kirchmeyer andMcLellan 1991, Hoffman 1978).

Watson et al (1993) examined the effect of cultural diversity on interaction processes and performance in a 17-week experimental study with 173 undergraduate students. They definedcultural diversity on the basis of ethnic and national differences among the group members andfound that in-group diversity has negative impacts on process and performance in newly formed

groups.

However, at the end of the 17-week study, the culturally diverse groups caught up with theculturally homogeneous groups and, although the overall


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REAL TIME EXAMPLES

Diversity and diversity management does not end with class rooms and research papers. Itsapplications have extended its contours to a variety of real life situations helping manyorganizations of different arenas improve their human assets. Here are some organizationswhich have tapped the art of diversity management to their best.

Accenture

Passionate commitment towards developing a diverse workforce and its efficient managementhas been the USP of Accentures HR wing. As the ADP Vice President and Chief DiversityOfficer Clyde Jones rightly quotes We know the markets we serve are growing increasinglydiverse and we are proud of how diversity management has become part of our day-to-day

business practices," said Clyde Jones, ADP Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer . "Toconsistently take our business growth to the next level and beyond, we must do the sameregarding our commitment to diversity. This recognition from Diversity Inc is an importantacknowledgement that we are moving in the right direction

They have even gone one step further in commissioning a study on cross-cultural communication problems it was found that the chief factors causing problems between onshore and offshoreworkers were different communication styles (76 per cent of the times), different approaches tocompleting talks (53 per cent), different attitudes toward conflict (44 per cent) and differentdecision-making styles (44 per cent). About 200 US business executives whose companies haveoutsourced business processes outside the country were interviewed here.

Google

Alan Eustace - Google SVP, Engineering & Research affirms that diversity plays a large role indeveloping the organization worldwide. They are building a worldwide network and have a

balanced representation of employees from all nationalities which is buttressed by their opinionthat different perspectives and views leads to their continuous improvement and global presenceand reduces the chances of obsolescence

Infosys

As in many other corporate innovations Infosys has had a pioneering effort in diversitymanagement also. It takes the credit of being the first Indian company to establish a separateoffice for dealing with all company initiatives dealing with diversity and inclusion. As a resultthey have employees from over 70 countries and their workforce consists of 32% women.
http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/execs.html#alanhttp://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/execs.html#alanhttp://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/execs.html#alan


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Infosys announced an intake of 300 graduates from universities in the US in 2006 and about 25from universities in the UK in 2007 as part of its commitment to create a diversified workforce.The new employees will develop their engineering skills at Infosys Development Centers acrossIndia for six months before returning to Infosys offices in the US.

One of the other initiatives by Infosys is Infosys Women Inclusivity Network (IWIN) which promotes a gender-sensitive work environment. IWIN recognizes the unique aspirations andneeds of women. It provides avenues for vocational, personal and psychological counsel toenable professional and personal development

Infosys by taking a diverse workforce has a versatile employee pool which helps them establishtheir global presence and cater to the needs of their global customers. And by helping womenand the disabled they have been able to leverage their social presence and have been eyed as oneof the actively involved CSR companies. Infosys has also won many accolades for this. It haswon the first NASSCOM-India Today corporate award for excellence in gender inclusivity in

2007. Infosys actively seeks to hire and train persons with disabilities . In 2006 and 2007, InfosysBPO received the Helen Keller award for the best employer from the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP).

Tata consultancy services (TCS)

Tata also joins the array of DM centric companies with its announcement of its plans to recruit4000 employees from around the world. They have a different perspective towards Diversitymanagement which rightly says Diversity management is not about being melting pots but about

being salad bowls. They argue that their office is nothing less than a global workplace.

Comprising of employees from all possible nationalities TCS takes the credit of sharing thesimilarities and leveraging the differences of its diversified workforce.

TCS reemphasizes the fact that a diverse organization is shaped or influenced by the basiccorporate culture, which comes from the vision and mission of the founder-promoter. Thenthere's the influence of the geographical culture. The company is largely influenced by the

personal culture of the people at the mid-management and senior management levels.

So this is what many organizations feel about Diversity management. To sum it up I would quoteMr.Kalyanaraman of HCL. Outlining some of the challenges for companies opting for anincreasingly diverse and global workforce, Kalyanaraman said that as workers are increasinglyrelocating and migration is on the rise, organizations need to devise retention strategies with "a

passionate focus on individual, team and geo-wise expectation charts." He recommends thatcompanies should conduct a deep study of issues such as worldwide compensation and aspiration

benchmarks. and also policies have to be diverse enough to accommodate all demographic andsocial fabrics.
http://www.infosys.com/about/awards/gender-inclusive-practices.asphttp://www.infosys.com/beyond-business/differently-abled-employees.asphttp://www.infosys.com/about/awards/gender-inclusive-practices.asphttp://www.infosys.com/beyond-business/differently-abled-employees.asp


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Conclusion

The bottom-line focus of today's business environment requires that diversity initiatives betreated like any other business investment, e.g., technology or advertising. This requires humanresources executives to create a clear, compelling business case for diversity linked to thecompany's strategic business objectives. By providing top management with a better understanding of the expected return on investment, HR executives can more successfullycompete for the company's scarce resources, resulting in better funded and supported diversityinitiatives.

The business case for diversity needs modification, with a clear link yet to be established between diversity interventions and organizational performance. As Kochan et al. (2003, p. 17)

explain, we lack evidence to support the simple assertion that demographic diversity is good or bad for business. Consequently, there needs to be a more nuanced view focused on theconditions that can leverage the benefits or mitigate the negative effects from diversity, and thenshift organizational thinking beyond the business case to diversity as a labor marketimperative and a societal expectation and value(Kochan et al., 2003, p. 18).


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Avery Gordon. Social Text , No. 44 (Autumn - Winter, 1995).The Work of Corporate Culture:Diversity Management.Duke University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/466904

pp. 3-30.

David W. Pitts. Review of Public Personnel Administration 2006. Modeling the Impact of Diversity Management.URL: http://www.sagepublications.com . pp. 26,245.

Ellen Foster Curtis and Janice L. Dreachslin. Human Resource Development Review 2008.Integrative Literature Review: Diversity Management Interventions and OrganizationalPerformance:A Synthesis of Current Literature URL: http://www.sagepublications.com . pp. 7,107.

Flannery G. Stevens, Victoria C. Plaut and Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks. Journal of Applied Behavioral

Science 2008. Unlocking the Benefits of Diversity: All-Inclusive Multiculturalism and PositiveOrganizational Change.URL: http://www.sagepublications.com . pp. 44 ,116.

Larry Bellinger and Amy J. Hillman. Business Society 2000. Does Tolerance Lead to Better Partnering?: The Relationship between Diversity Management and M&A. URL:http://www.sagepublications.com pp. 39, 323.

Pamela Weaver, LaChelle Wilborn, Ken McCleary and Apichoke Lekagul. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research 2003. Diversity Training Management Initiatives in theLodging Industry: An Exploratory Analysis of Underlying Dimensions.URL:http://www.sagepublications.com. pp.27, 237.

Peter Wright, Stephen P. Ferris, Janine S. Hiller, Mark Kroll. The Academy of Management Journa l, Vol. 38, No. 1 (Feb., 1995). Competitiveness through Management of Diversity: Effectson Stock Price Valuation. Academy of Management Stable URL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/256736. pp. 272-287.

Taylor H. Cox and Stacy Blake. The Executive , Vol. 5, No. 3 (Aug 1991).Managing CulturalDiversity: Implications for Organizational Competitiveness. Academy of Management StableURL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4165021 . pp. 45-56.

Viktorija Kalonaityte. Organization 2010. The Case of Vanishing Borders: Theorizing DiversityManagement as Internal Border Control. URL:http://www.sagepublications.com

pp. 17; 31.

Rice, F. 1994. How to make diversity pay. Fortune, August 8, 79-86.

Cox, T.H. & Blake, S. 1991. Managing cultural diversity: Implications for organizational competitiveness.Academy of Management Executive, 3, 45-56.
http://www.sagepublications.com/http://www.sagepublications.com/http://www.sagepublications.com/http://www.sagepublications.com/http://www.sagepublications.com/http://www.sagepublications.com/http://www.jstor.org/stable/4165021http://www.sagepublications.com/http://www.sagepublications.com/http://www.sagepublications.com/http://www.sagepublications.com/http://www.sagepublications.com/http://www.jstor.org/stable/4165021


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Hayles, R. & Russell, A. 1997. The Diversity Directive. Chicago: Irwin Publishing. See Chapter 2 for more definitions of how companies are currently defining diversity. See Chapter 6 for more detailsrelative to identifying the nature of actions to take in both focused and comprehensive initiatives.

'Johnston, W.B., & Packer, A.E. 1987. Workforce 2000: Work and Workers for the Twenty-FirstCentury. Indianapolis, IN: Hudson Institute.

Dechant, K. 1995. HR executives cite business reasons for diversity. Unpublished manuscript, Universityof Connecticut.

Cipd, MANAGING DIVERSITYMEASURING SUCCESS., change agenda.www.the-dp.co.uk/ CIPD %20 Change %20 Agenda .pdf

European commision THE COSTS AND BENEFITS OF DIVERSITYhttp://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/fundamental_rights/prog/studies_en.htm

www.accenture.com

www.tcs.com

www.wipro.com

www.wordpress.com
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