Brief: Women and Minorities as Strategy - Research Paper Example

The other strategic advantage of having a diverse group of board of directors and executive team is that the diverse group can be able to access or assimilate the viewpoints of a huge group of people, thus, facilitating in broadening their business network. Apart from the strategic advantages, there are also certain critical disadvantages of having a diverse board of directors and executive team in a specific workplace of an organization. In this similar concern, one of the critical disadvantages is the emergence of competition instead of teamwork.

The dissimilar viewpoints as well as opinions can create competition amid the diverse board of directors and executive team in order to become superior within an organization rather than generating effective teamwork amid themselves. Another disadvantage is the increment in the training costs. An organization possessing a diverse board of directors and executive team has to generally bear excessive training costs in the form of organizing seminars or lectures for promoting diversity within the organization (DuBrin, 2008). 2. What is the glass ceiling?

Has it been "shattered" for women and minorities? The perception of glass ceiling is fundamentally described as a kind of barrier that restricts the minorities as well as the women towards attaining significant positions within a specific organization irrespective of their high qualifications and superior achievements. The notion of glass ceiling has been identified to reveal certain imperative facts that encompass the existence of lower number of female as well as minority workforce in higher positions of an organization and moreover they are at times less favored or paid quite less as compared to others at the time of promotion (Farley & Haaga, 2005).

Moreover, this particular conception i.e. glass ceiling has also been viewed as a metaphor that describes an absolute barrier especially for the women along with the minorities concerning equal access towards acquiring topmost positions within a specific organization despite the presence of their dynamic educational qualifications as well as attainments (Eagly & Carli, 2008). The recruitment of women and minorities board of directors along with executive team has been noted to be increasing in this modern day context.

This may be owing to the reason that they possess superior as well as enhanced social responsibility and sensibility in comparison with others. In this regard, it has been apparently observed that the women and the minorities tend to become much more sensitive towards enhancing the corporate social performance by a considerable level. Moreover, the other imperative reason for appointing women as well as minorities into the positions of board of directors and executive team is that they bear favorable attitudes and broadly consider the aspects like compassion and empathy among others that eventually results in improving the business as well as operational performances of an organization at large (Bernardi, Bosco, & Vassill, 2006).

Thus, on the basis of the above discussion, it can be stated that the idea of glass ceiling