Assignment paper week 1 - Essay Example

Running head: DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION Diversity and Inclusion in Organizations St. Jude Medical is a leading provider of medical equipment and services; it operates internationally and has its headquarters in the United States. Human resources policies strongly support diversity and inclusion in the workforce, in so far as hiring, placement, recruiting, treatment and compensation are concerned. However, beyond the claims of the policy statements, there is still evidence that in the matter of promotions there is still a significant bias on the part of SJM management in the acceptance of women to executive positions compared to men, with men outnumbering women more than 4-to-1 in these posts.

SJM is a model company in its diversification efforts, but practice will have to catch up with policy in the time that is needed for people’s attitudes and behaviors to gradually adapt to change.Diversity in St. Jude Medical, Inc.St. Jude Medical (SJM) is an American company that develops medical technology products and services, with the objective of advancing the practice of medicine by reducing risk and increasing the chances of success for the patient. Headquartered in St. Paul, Minn.

, the company has 20 international offices and markets its products in more than 100 countries (SJM, 2012). The position of SJM on diversity and inclusion is embodied in its Equal Employment Opportunity Policy, which encompasses all its employees and applicants for employment as far as concerns, the hiring, placement, promotion, demotion, terminations, transfer, recruiting, advertising, treatment during employment, selection for training, and compensation (SJM, 2012). The company presently employs more than 16,000 people in both its U.S. and overseas operations, and as a multinational corporation, it is committed to a program of diversity in its workforce.

Organizational diversity and inclusion is crucial to advancing SJM’s collective knowledge base, as well as creates an environment wherein employees may grow and develop their full potentials (SJM 2011 Annual Report).Diversity in SJM is taken seriously because the company sees it not only as a matter of compliance with affirmative action mandates, but also as a source of creativity, innovation, and other possibilities. SJM is aware that diversity/inclusion efforts do not redound solely to the employee’s benefit, but also to the benefit of the individual.

Thus the firm has set up a Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee in its U.S. Sales Division, and it provides domestic partner benefits to employees in same-sex couple relationships. Furthermore, SJM professes inclusion as a cornerstone HR policy and makes it a point to be engaged with other organizations that share a similar commitment (SJM Careers, 2012).Effectiveness of organization’s current diversity and inclusion initiativesAs sales representative for SJM’s Atrial Fibrillation Division, my perception of the organization’s diversity and inclusion efforts is that there is an earnest and intense effort at the company level to assimilate these principles in the fibre of the corporate culture.

For instance, few organizations allow women into the upper echelons of the corporate ladder, let alone recognize and offer benefits for same-sex couples, which is a pioneering human resource policy anywhere in the industry.My impression, however, is that consistent with any social group, changes in attitudes happen gradually, sometimes more slowly than management would prefer. An example is the gender distribution of executives in the organization. On the page following are charts of the percentage proportion of women to men in the executive levels compared to the executive leadership.

While men only slightly outnumber women among employees, there are more than 4 male executives to each female executive in the company, implying that men are still heavily favoured over women in the matter of promotions.The company is on the right track, but the practice of diversity and inclusion still has a long way to go insofar as changing personal attitudes and behaviours are concerned. Full social transformation may not occur within a single generation, but St. Jude Medical is making a remarkable first effort towards this end.

Consistency in this direction will eventually create a truly diversified and inclusive workforce within the company’s U.S. operations and, eventually, its global operations. Manpower Distribution, St. Jude Medical Sustainability Report 2011, p. 21References:St. Jude Medical 2011 Annual Report. Retrieved from http://www.sjm.com/annual-reports/2011.aspxSt. Jude Medical (2012) “Careers: Diversity and Inclusion”. Retrieved June 12, 2012 from http://www.sjm.com/corporate/careers/life-at-st-jude-medical/diversity-and-inclusion.aspxSt. Jude Medical (2012) Official Company Website.

Retrieved June 12, 2012 from http://www.sjm.com/