Diversity Management - Essay Example

Diversity Management All around the world multinational corporations are instituting programs and policies that enhance promotion, compensation, recruitment, hiring, training, transfers, retention, and inclusion of employees different from the society’s privileged echelons to respond to the consistent growing and changing diversity of the workforce. As argued by scholars, workforce diversity is an issue among people, which focuses mainly on the similarities and differences brought by people in the organization. Therefore, success of organization and workforce diversity are inseparable. Despite the role played by affirmative action policies and equal rights legislations in assisting marginalized groups to access various employment opportunities previously closed to them, the exclusion of such employees from influential work organization circles hinders them from fully benefiting and contributing to the overall objective of the organization. Diversity management programs and policies create an embracing environment for these groups that lacked access to employment, and particularly to jobs that are more lucrative (Thomas, 2004:20). One of the multinational corporations that value diversity is International Business Machines (IBM) and Google. Workforce diversity at IBM has been in existence even before the equal employment opportunity and affirmative action policies became legal. Implementation of this has seen IBM record a notable positive progress for many years (Young, 2003:43). In support to this argument, the provision of information technology during this time when technology is ever evolving has challenged many and big organizations. Therefore, it is arguable that IBM’s ability to understand and implement workforce diversity is the core factor behind the large market share won by the company over competitors (Young, 2003:21). For instance, the organization employed its first female worker in 1899, long before women suffrage movements in the US. Moreover, the organization also hired a disabled employee in 1914, some 76 years before enactment of the disabilities act in the US (Thomas, 2004:20). Moreover, the organization had black employees nearly two decades even before the Civil Right Act came into play. Currently, IBM administration and design of benefit plans comply with all local, state, and federal laws on equal employment opportunity and affirmative action, as well as accommodating reasonable religious observances. Managers and executives in the company are responsible for ensuring that the working environment is free from harassment and discrimination of all forms. The company also carries out outreach and human resource programs to ensure opportunity and compensation for development and growth. Moreover, it adheres to the amended 1974 Veterans Readjustment Act (Thomas, 2004:20). IBM ranks workforce diversity among the top strategic objectives of the company. The current diversity policies were set rolling by Tom Watson Jr. during his tenure at the company. He sought to lead the company by his personal values and beliefs, acknowledging that an organization has to change all things except the basic beliefs in the corporate world if it seeks to meet and overcome the challenges of the changing business environment. He identified three basic beliefs that remain as the pillars of the company’s business and diversity management approaches, which include respect for individuals, service to customer, and excellence as a way of life. Today, these values form the three tenets of diversity at IBM: equal employment, affirmative action, and work/life. The most prominent among the three is equal opportunity, which offers access to the harassment-free workplace that provides the tools for eliminating disadvantages and that appreciates the work/ life balance, enabling employees to be productive (Thomas, 2004:20). The current policies of IMB on diversity management were the result of eight tasks forces commissioned by CEO Sam Palmisano to understand the different groups of employees, such as gays, lesbians, women, Asians, transgender, and others. Today, IBM applies the three A’s principle (that is accessibility, accommodation, and attitude) in managing diversity. A future oriented journey in diversity of the company is with the diversity 3.0 plans, which seeks to leverage differences for collaboration, innovation, and client success (Thomas, 2004:20). Diversity at IBM has enabled the organization to venture into diverse markets globally. The organization diversity management has enabled it to expand its marketplace, serve the customers better, and gain a significant demand opportunity share. Internally, the company has experienced growth in terms of gender, female executives increasing by 370%, ethnic minorities by 233%, and gay, transgender, and lesbian by 733%. Additionally, the company grew from 370 million dollars in 1995 to 1.3 billion dollars in 2003 in the US, and about 263 million dollars outside the US (Thomas, 2004:20). The perception of IBM’s employees on inclusion highlights sentiments on issues of respect, understanding, and appreciating cultural and human difference, enabling the employees to focus on their uniqueness rather than the differences. This enables them to work together in creating a successful business empire. Another transnational organization that displays diversity at the workplace is Google. Google is a household name, often synonymous to searching the web. Google is the global leader in the search engine industry, having over one hundred and fifty domains for its users. The company’s search engine is the fastest, giving search results in a matter of milliseconds and with an acceptable precision. The nature of Google’s business makes diversity a necessity. Actually, the company thrives on both internal and external diversity. The company has numerous offices around the place, employing people of diverse beliefs, religion, and orientation among others. As a competitive search engine, Google has managed to connect people worldwide. This success in comparison to competitors is well pronounced. The current Google policy on diversity is that the company thrives on it, rather than just accepting differences of its employees. Google employees come from numerous communities, all unique. The company incorporates hundreds of internal groups, many of which support diversity initiatives in the community and at Google. Among the groups, include Asian Google Network, the Black Googlers Network, the Hispanic Googlers Network, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community, Google Women Engineers Network, and Google’s Veteran network. Through these groups, Google advocates for the equal employment opportunity as well as the affirmative action policies in the organization. Google has an aggressive inclusion policy, which supports culture and diversity. The main success of the company comes from the free expression of its search engine users, and the company encourages this strongly in its workforce. Information being the foundation of the organization, Google employs diverse individuals with unique and diverse backgrounds and knowledge. Passionate perspectives and intellectual curiosity are the forces behind the company’s policies, profits, rewards, and working environment. Google has dozens of contacts, encouraging cultural norm diversity at the company. The diversity at Google has championed the company’s expansion strategies, translating their search engine results into dozens of languages all over the world. This has expanded its market base and its business globally. In addition, the diverse nature of its employees and services enhance the innovation and advancement of the company’s products and services beyond imaginable lengths. Because of its diversification in both the workforce and its range of services and products, Google was voted as the IDEAL Diversity Employer in 2006. Just like any other big and growing company, Google faces both challenges and benefits from its diversity management. However, these challenges have not been a stumbling block to the progress. Among the benefits are a large consumer innovation and network. This results from its global service to its users. The diversity of its employees and customers, maintained by the organization, adds the cultural awareness and knowledge of the company. The other benefit is that the diversity provides a common platform for both the company and the customers. However, the level of diversity at the company is soc complex that it brings along some challenges. Among the most common are respect and conflict management recognition and organization of the uncountable diversities. As such, this requires extensive research, awareness, and training, which translates to financial commitments. Moreover, accuracy of information is important, thus, all information requires analysis and research. IBM and Google have similar policies on diversity of the workforce. They both acknowledge and appreciate such groups like the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender groups within the working environment. Additionally, the two organizations regard the workforce as the backbone of the organizations. Both companies also comply with the equal employment opportunity and the affirmative action laws of local, state, and federal authorities in their different areas of jurisdiction around the world. Most importantly, both the companies have initiated diversity groups within their workforce to support disadvantaged and marginalized groups. They both also have strong policies within the organizational objectives that regard diversity (Thomas, 2004:20). However, the two companies have different histories as regards EEO and affirmative actions. With IBM, it has a rich and long history of observing diversity in its workplace, while Google is a relatively young company. Moreover, IBM still leads the global market in workforce diversity. In addition, IBM uses numerous methods of preparation to counter challenges of diversity in comparison to Google. An opportunity to work with either of the companies would be wonderful, but IBM would be the company of choice. Its long history of employees’ welfare and diversity provides a sense of job security, as well as the harassment and discrimination free environment. Bibliography Thomas, D. A., 2004. Diversity as Strategy. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved on Feb 20, 2012, from http://www.tedchilds.com/files/HBRDiversityStrategy04.pdf Young, C. 2003. Exploring IBM E-Business Software: Become an Instant Insider on IBM's Internet Business Tools. Florida: Maximum Press. Read More