Organizational Commitment to Diversity in Non Profit Organizations - Research Paper Example

Commitment to Diversity in American Cancer Society: A Non-Profit Organization AFFILIATION: Table of Contents Commitment to Diversity in American Center Society: A Non-Profit Organization 3 Introduction 3 ACS Commitment to Diversity 4 Board of Directors and Employees of ACS 6 Diversity Issues faced by organization 8 Analysis of ACS Website 8 Relevance of Information to Diversity issues/Content available on Website 9 Issues in internal management that affect diversity prominence 10 Best and Worst Features of the website 11 Conclusion 11 References 12 Commitment to Diversity in American Center Society: A Non-Profit Organization Introduction American Cancer Society (ACS) is among the top ranked Non-Profit Organizations of the country that has been saving lives and creating a world with less cancer patients and more birthdays so that people stay well, help them in getting well, find cures and assist them in fighting back such a distressful disease. It has been rendering its services to people as it is a community-based health organization that is dedicated to eliminate cancer from the society (ACS, 2012). The organization has been performing exceptionally well in addressing the cancer issues and has been addressing all the critical aspects of the disease carefully and properly. Since cancer doesn’t allow any kind of discrimination and has no boundaries, it is important for organization to ensure that it has appropriate mix of employees belonging to various ethnic groups and races so that they can serve every patient well. Every year, more than 1.4 million Americans are diagnosed with cancer and they belong to various culture, ethnic groups, and race and have even conceivable background of cancer. The basic belief of ACS is to promote diversity and inclusion as part of their mission to eradicate the cancer issue as a foremost health problem. ACS Mission Statement “The American Cancer Society is the nationwide, community-based, voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and service.” (ACS, 2012) International Mission Statement “The American Cancer Societys international mission concentrates on capacity building in developing cancer societies and on collaboration with other cancer-related organizations throughout the world in carrying out shared strategic directions.” (ACS, 2012) ACS Commitment to Diversity At ACS, the management team strongly emphasizes the importance of diversity in the workforce as they have patients belonging to various backgrounds. According to Otike, Messah and Mwalekwa (2011), organizations that are in the business of saving lives have to understand and respect differences that exists among people, systems and processes but at the same time leverage the similar points that connect for fighting against diseases and turbulent situations. Krietz (2007) described diversity as the employees’ co-existence in the company that comes from various social and cultural backgrounds. In other terms, diversity comprises of factors like age, ethnicity, color, gender, race, age, physical ability, beliefs, economic status, language, education, lifestyle, culture, national origin, values and religion (Krietz, 2007). It is crucial for the organizations to manage diversity so that the workforce is able to perform at its best by utilizing full potential in the work environment that promotes fair treatment and equitability where no group is superior to other (Neuhauser & Kreps, 2008). Likewise, ACS addresses this diversity problem in its organization and has promoted diversified workforce along with providing a resourceful work environment so that their employees can give best services to their patients. Importance of Website for promoting diversity information Now-a-days, Internet has revolutionized the way in which organizations conduct their business activities and customers use the companies’ websites as the main source for gathering information about their products and services (Swartzberg, VanGeest, & Wang, 2005). In the last couple of years, people have started using online sources such as search engines like Google and social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and etc. to gather information about organizations especially Non-Profit Organizations. Besides providing information about services offered by Non-Profit Organizations, they have to provide access to various articles and research papers about the area that they are serving (Best, Hiatt, & Norman, 2008). For instance, ACS is providing services to cancer patients; hence, it is important that it provides detailed information about cancers and provide access to research papers so that the visitors on the website can learn something from there. Similarly, ACS is promoting workforce diversity in organizations; it has ensured that it has a diverse workforce in its service centres so that it is not criticized for not following what it is telling others to apply in their business organizations. One of their core values is to ensure that diversity and inclusion are woven throughout their lifesaving work. From analysis of ACS Diversity (2012), it has been proven that the organization is committed to diversity and inclusion and for fulfilling its commitment for positioning itself in a better position, it continuously strives to implement the following strategies: 1. Attracting, developing and retaining workforce that comprises of diverse staff and volunteers. 2. Extending its reach globally for fighting against cancer via diverse collaborations worldwide. 3. Strengthening the communities’ relationships to develop better understanding of their needs and then addressing those needs through its services and programs. 4. Using supplier-diversity programs to strengthen various women-owned and minority-based business communities. 5. Undertaking extensive research on the populations that are underserved and have multicultural health behaviors so that cancer cases can be reduced. One additional policy is to decrease inequalities in cancer treatment and cultivate community-based programs that promote cancer-related changes in behavior. The above mentioned points highlight organization’s commitment to managing diversity and ensuring that everyone in the community can get benefited from the organization’s business activities. It is evident so far that ACS is trying its best to eradicate unfair treatment among employees, customers and suppliers and is completely supporting them by creating an environment that will work best for everyone. Board of Directors and Employees of ACS ACS Board of Directors comprises of eleven officers, twenty-four directors i.e. twelve medical professionals and twelve lay persons along with eight directors at-large i.e. four lay persons and four medical experts. In order to make sure that it has people from diverse background on its management team, it has ensured that people from various backgrounds are hired as directors. The list of directors is given on the organization’s website and review of it shows that ACS has fulfilled its commitment to promote diversity within the organization. During the year, Board meets up regularly to set policies, establish goals of long-tem, monitor status of operations in general, develop and approve strategic plan, approval of Division charter agreements along with requirements for Charter are done and any by law changes and changes in funds policy are approved and incorporated as well. Below are the exiting directors’ lists who are currently working as part of ACS’s Board of Directors: Source: ACS Board (2012) ACS also appreciates the dedication and commitment of its diverse workforce and in order to boost their performance, it provides ample opportunities for growth to them. In order to attract more volunteers and staff to its amenity, it has developed its slogan as “Save lives, fulfill yours”. The main aim behind this slogan is to encourage people from diverse backgrounds to become part of ACS team who are saving people’ lives and take advantage of the employment benefits provided to them. In its handbook, it has provided complete details about work environment that is provided to the employees along with brief snapshot of the policies that ensure that there is just and fair treatment with every individual working in ACS. The handbook is easily accessible from ACS’s website. When the word diversity is typed in its search engine, the link to its handbook along with governance body that comprise of Board of Directors is given that provides in-depth information about its commitment to diversity. Diversity Issues faced by organization Some issues related to gender, race and religion are found in many organizations as they have some difficulty in fulfilling their commitment to managing diversity among their workforce (Krietz, 2007). According to ACS (2012) and Cancer NYNJ News (2011), there have been no severe diversity issues faced by the organization as it has addressed all the potential problems carefully so that it doesn’t encounter any problems in the long-run. Initially, during its start-up phase, some issues had emerged by employees who felt that they were being treated unfairly because of their association with a particular group. Later, ACS developed policies that addressed all diversity related issues so that everyone in the organization was given equal treatment. The way the organization is handling all diversity related matters are given in its “A Collaboration Guidebook” that is available on its website. Analysis of ACS Website ACS website is designed in consensus with its mission, vision and core values. On its site, it has provided access to various articles and papers on managing diversity within the organization. There is a separate section on the webpage in which complete details about how the organization is managing diversity is properly explained. The study of Third Sector New England (2010) has provided detailed information about organizational commitment to managing diversity and it is appropriately applied in ACS. ACS is managing diversity on all levels from suppliers to employees to top management team to customers. It has even provided detailed information about the way diversity needs to be managed in every part of the organization i.e. within and outside. Within the organization, workforce needs to be developed in a way that it incorporates people from every background, national origin, culture, race and even those who fall in the category of disable people. ACS has set aside Employment Opportunities section in which it has mentioned in detail how it supports having a diverse workforce within its business operations and what benefits are offered to them so that they consider them to be fairly treated. Since ACS is a non-profit organization, it is supporting community-based suppliers such as women and minority groups so that they are given equal business opportunities provided by the organization. Although complete details about the suppliers are not provided that how it is supporting them but it has touched important points such as the ways in which they are supported and what programs are they offered. Relevance of Information to Diversity issues/Content available on Website All the content provided on organization’s website is related to diversity and all latest articles, guidelines and happenings of the organization are posted on its website. All the information provided on the site is updated till year 2012, code of conduct is updated as of 2000 (no updating is done afterwards) and everything is well-integrated on the website. When in the search section, ‘diversity’ word is typed, links to various pages are given; some of them are on ACS website, while, others are on some external sources. However, first ten links are related to Employment Opportunities, Mission Statement, Diversity and Inclusion at American Cancer Society and Enrolling a Diverse Population are provided. All the information on these links is updated and provides detailed information about the way in which diversity is being promoted by the organization. When other pages are reviewed, it is found that the links to various research papers and articles published by organization’s researchers are provided so that readers can understand how it is contributing by doing research in the field of diversity. All the information provided about diversity has a lot of relevance to the customers, employees and suppliers as it gives information about the ways in which ACS is trying to support diversity within the organization so that it is beneficial for the community as a whole. In order to make valuable contributions, it keeps on adding more researches exploring various other areas to determine the role of diversity in providing best treatment to the patients. Images and pictures uploaded on the website are limited; although it is showing how it is managing diversity among its patients but there are few selected pictures related to staff and volunteers that how is it ensuring that diversity is properly managed. Since it has employees, suppliers and customers from various ethnic backgrounds who have separate cultures, linguistics, beliefs and etc., it has especially designed booklets, leaflets and brochures for them so that they can get answers of their queries according to their preference level. For instance, there are different materials for Hispanics, African Americans, Spanish, Italians, Mexicans and etc.; in them, the pictures and images are relevant to each constituent so that they can develop some relation with the information provided and have an association with ACS. Issues in internal management that affect diversity prominence On the website, information that is provided needs to be displayed after the consensus of management. Since ACS management has people from diverse backgrounds, there are chances that some internal management issues can arise such as conflict of interest among various members of Board, availability of limited research papers to cut down the research cost, updating the information on website is done internally rather than letting the professionals do the updating on the site and using limited Internet sources for doing online promotion. In order to provide information on diversity, top management support is needed so that it can continuously endorse itself as a Non-Profit organization that is committed to promoting diversity so that everyone in the community is given just, equal and fair treatment. Best and Worst Features of the website In order to evaluate the features that enhances the accessibility on website, two websites i.e. National Cancer Institute (NCI) http://www.Cancer.gov and Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) i.e. http://www.LLS.org are being reviewed along with ACS website. The worst features of the website is that it comprises of too much information on homepage, technically advanced animation and bright colors, font size of content is small and cannot be read clearly, limited access to articles and research papers and information provided is not relevant to the organization’s mission. The best features of these websites are that they aim to improve prevention of cancer; detecting, treating and enhancing quality life of patient by disseminating information that is reliable and useful; promoting diversity within the organization’s business activities so that Non-Profit Organizations support the community of the country; provide opportunities related to training and education while supporting cancer research activities; increased presence on social media to reach audiences that are targeted and promote their mission of curing cancer with a diverse workforce that has talented staff and volunteers. Conclusion Since websites are the main source of communication between the Non-profit organizations and its stakeholders, it is crucial that all the information about how it is managing diversity issues in organizations and fulfilling its commitment to managing it within the organization so that organizations can perform at their best. References ACS (2012). Who we are. Retrieved August 5, 2012 from http://www.cancer.org/AboutUs/WhoWeAre/index ACS Board (2012). Who we are. Retrieved August 5, 2012 from http://www.cancer.org/AboutUs/WhoWeAre/Governance/acs-board-of-directors ACS Diversity (2012). Who we are. Retrieved August 5, 2012 from http://www.cancer.org/AboutUs/WhoWeAre/diversity-and-inclusion-at-the-american-cancer-society Best, A., Hiatt, R.A., & Norman, C. (2008). Knowledge integration: Conceptualizing communications in cancer control. Patient Education and Counseling, 71(3), 319-327. CancerNYNJ News (2011, January 17). Facing Disparities. CancerNYNJ Newsroom. Retrieved August 5, 2012 from http://www.cancer.org/MyACS/Eastern/AreaHighlights/cancernynj-news-mlk-facing-disparities Krietz, P.A. (2007). Best Practices for Managing Organizational Diversity. Retrieved August 5, 2012 from http://www.slac.stanford.edu/cgi-wrap/getdoc/slac-pub-12499.pdf Neuhauser, L. & Kreps, G.L. (2008).Online cancer communication: Meeting the literacy, cultural and linguistic needs of diverse audiences. Patient Education and Counseling, 71(3), 365-377. Otike, F.W., Messah, O.B. & Mwalekwa, F.T. (2011). Effects of Workplace Diversity Management on Organizational Effectiveness: a case study. Retrieved August 5, 2012 from www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/EJBM/article/download/161/45 Swartzberg, J.G., VanGeest, J.B., & Wang, C.C. (2005). Understanding health literacy: implications of medicine and public health.  Chicago: American Medical Association Press. Third Sector New England (2010). Step-by-step: A guide to achieving diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Retrieved August 5, 2012 from http://www.tsne.org/atf/cf/%7BD1930FAD-18A8-4D53-BBA2-A2971E3DEE1A%7D/FINStepByStep_june10%20for%20Web.pdf Read More