Managing Diversity Class - Case Study Example

Case study for managing diversity class. Abstract: Maintaining unity in diversity is a very important fact in the business organizations. Diversity gives a unique feature to the organization. It can present a pool of talent due to the gatherings of different people from different culture and different nations. In this strictly globalized business circumstances the unity in the diversity is the only option to have a successful business environment. The purpose of this study is to find out the optimal solution for the Fogal Inc. to maintain the organizational peace among the employees of different classes and different cultures to sustain the healthy professional atmosphere in the organization. Advanced human resource management is equipped with many ideas to maintain the stable condition in the organization to gain the courage to embark towards the success for the organization. Introduction: This is a case study by which the Fogal Inc find the proper way to maintain the unity in diversity among the employees. In this era of globalization the staffing is being executed through the global pool of talent. Most of the companies are having employees from different cultures and from different nations.The Fogal Inc is a small consulting company in USA which operates is business In North America and in some Asia pacific nations. The employee’s strength of this company is about one hundred. Most of the employees in this organization are male and thirty percent of the employees are from Canada, forty five percent are from India and rest of the employees from the US. So it is very clear to understand that the Fogal Inc is equipped with India and Americans or white males. The future plan of the organization is to double the size of the prospective market. For the promising future plan the organization needs the proper business structure of the organization and they also need the proper solution to maintain the unity in diversity among the employees. It is very important to know how to control the employees of different nationalities and different classes to sustain the gradual growth in the organization. This study shows many aspects of diversity and also explains how to keep the diversity intact with the successful management process. Background: Diversity has become a common character among most of the companies in USA. There are many black people work in many organizations at the same levels, this shows the unity in the diversity is prevailing in most of the organizations. For any business organization such as Fogal Inc it is very important to understand the characteristics of the segment where they are operating. In this specific organization the segment is the consulting industry. Equal employment opportunity is very important in the organization. The Management of the diversity should be backed up with laws. There should be some legal designs are required to bring more women and minorities into the work force. The management of diversity is a management process which creates supportive work environment for the employees in the organization to increase the productivity.(Pynes. 2008). The diversity can be classified into many sections the diverse work culture could have Mixture of culture, language, gender and nationalities. Gender is a big factor in the diverse work culture. It is very wise to maintain the equality among the al employees of the company irrespective of gender but somehow it is very hard to find women in high position as they don’t want to spend all time in business trip of out of the office meetings. However, there are some dignified female who are having a very high positions. Consider the case of FBI. Until 1972 women were not allowed to become agents. But after that FBI recruited two thousand three hundred and seventy three female agents among the twelve thousand six hundred and seventeen agents the strength of the female employees were only nineteen percent. Among the women only one hundred and fifty three were black female. FBI understood the importance of the equality in the gender and later on emphasizes recruiting more female agents. (Pynes. 2008). The different lavels of organization have different levels of protection for their employees from the communal discriminations. The International Labor Organization (ILO) has shown and evaluated the importance of antidiscrimination and diversity- training programs. (Michelle and Barak, 2010. p,239) Proposed programs: The consultancy firms are not same as the other firms, they have different organizational structure and they contain some specific organizational cultures among the organization. And few of the motivational factors are career growth and transferring of the employees to their native nation, provided the company has their office in the specific nation. Diversity is virtue for this organization as they are providing their consulting approaches to the organizations which are basically in North America as well as some countries in Asia Pacific. It is very important Fogal Inc to understand the cultural values of the overseas countries with whom they are dealing. For this specific reason the diversity in the nationality, language and culture is very much important. It is a very wise decision for the Fogal Inc to segment the employees in different nationalities. The majority of the employees are from India. So this would help them to excel in the consultancy business in the Asia Pacific region as Indians are familiar with cultures of the Asia Pacific countries. However, the unity in the diversity is very much important to sustain the professional environment within the organization. The main aim of the diversity program is to lower down the organizational conflicts among the employees due to the diversity. To propose a proper program it is very important to understand the structure of the organization of a small business consulting firm. The Fogal Inc Should emphasizes on employee-focused programs. Fogal Inc should take the initiative to invite a diverse group of employees into the organization to attract, retain and develop the talents of the employees available in the diverse labor market. (Konrad. 2006. P, 99). Advanced staffing system which would have the specific percentage of the different nationalities to be hired for the company. It is very important to understand the need of the different nationalities to be hired for the consultancy company. The staffing system of the Fogal Inc can be developed wisely to bring the harmony in the organization. The implementation of the organizational chart is another important factor to be maintained in the small organization like Fogal Inc. This specific chart shows how the work and responsibilities are segregated in a systematic manner. The organizational chart has the implication of the reporting system. Every staff should know whom to report to sustain the professional structure in the organization. (Holihan.2006. P, 46). The small companies can have a great benefit by having proper organizational charts. Fogal should take the racial discrimination among the employees very seriously. Strict action should be taken against any case of racial or any other discriminations. Implications and the justifications: The consultancy firms mainly who are dealing with many nations have a rich cultures which encompass values and norms concerning a vast range of factors including the methods of consulting, commitment to clients, responsibility towards the employees and definitely the rights of the junior and senior consultants within the organization. The code of ethics is very much applicable to Fogal Inc. (Kubr and International Labour Office. 2002. P, 121).Implication of the proper diversity programs which have been stated above, among the employees is very much important. The proper blend of cultural harmony and the business culture is pretty much important. Fogal Should support all the diversity programs with the implication of law. The legal action against any discrimination would lower down the problems in the organization.The aspect of the legal environment is basically to maintain the balance between the cultural harmony, employee satisfaction and the efficiency of the employees. The universal employment law should be applied to all of the employees irrespective of the culture and nationalities. (Budd.2006. P, 71). The ethical approach towards the employees should be maintained. In a multicultural organization there are many cultural rituals which are practiced by the specific employees of different cultures. For an example, Christians, Hindus and Muslims have their own specific rituals related to their religions. These should be entertained to avoid the racial diversity. The above written programs are justified to apply as it has been seen that IBM also give their advertisement in such a way, that shows it is a global recruiter irrespective of being a US Based Company. The productivity of the company comes from the employees of the organization. And if the employees are happy then they can produce more effective achievements Issues related to the industry: It has been seen that for many years the happy-productive worker hypothesis has been taken granted. This specific hypothesis suggests that employees who are happy and satisfied would give more productivity. (Kuballa. 2007. P, 7). However, the structure is changing and due to the global exposure the diversity in the classes is getting higher. It is a great debate to be discussed that employment of overseas citizens are a wise decision or not. The diversity is a god factor but for the future growth but some explicit diversity factors can be a bad sign for the company. There are many researches are there which show the effect of explicit diversity statements on their materials for the recruitment. It has been seen that diversity proactive organizations are more prone to get success. (Brief, 2008.p,273). Most of the management researches show that presenting the diversity statement in the recruitment materials gives a signal to the applicant that the specific company has a great value over the diversity and this bring more good applicant to the organization for the proper recruitment. The balance diversity score card is another tool which are used in the organizations, Fogal Inc should also use these diversity score card to measure the diversity performance of the employees to maintain a good work environment. The diversity score card would help Fogal Inc in maximizing two key factors. One: achieving effective diversity performance and two: implementing a better diversity strategy and measurement process. (Hubbard. 2004 . p,121). The proper practice of the diversity programs would help Fogal Inc to lower down its internal costs. The effective diversity programs and the proper diversity management will help the Fogal to lower the cost of capital by lowering the operating costs, improving productivity and increasing profits. (Hubbard. 2004 . p,122). Policies: The employment policies and the other policies related to the human resources are very much important. The employment and the social inclusion policies have a great impact on the internal affairs of the organization. The different employment laws and different employment policies are taken into consideration in many countries. However, if the company is having multicultural and multinational employees then the policies should be such which can give prospects to all of the employees in a same manner. The civil liberties should be given to the employees no matter whatever the policies are. There are many other policies are related to the diversity. The employment act, women rights, equal pay act, the age discrimination act, the disability discrimination acts. Most of these policies are practiced to maintain the unity in diversity. These are the policies which are enforced by law and in most of the companies these policies are practiced. Fogal should follow all of these policies. It is very vital for Fogal Inc to understand the effects of some new policies related to the diversity. The rubric social cohesion is a policy which provides the main support for the business environment in Canada. (Bennett, 2001.p, 35). The traditional policies are fine but due to the rapid growth of the education system and the exposure of the global companies the diversity has become a very important factor. Focal should apply all the advanced policies to sustain the effective diversity programs. Training: Training is one of the primary factors for any organization. It has been seen that the training incur a huge cost. And most unwanted reality is, most of the time the trainings are not successful. However, systematic training programs would fetch satisfactory results for Fogal Inc. In-house training is good to have but that would cost a lot and as a small company that would affect the performance of the company. The training should be in batch wise, it should be remembered that the performance of the company should not be affected for the training program. The managers should take the initiatives to train the new comers. Practical training is the most important factor in this scenario. The new comer should feel the policies and the work culture of the Fogal from inside. The training process should not be a spoon feeding process. It is recommended that Fogal should have external consultants to train the new comers as the internal training facility would cost a lot. The recruitment and training are closely associated with each other. Training is one of the main aspects of the company to upgrade the performance of the employees. it should be portrait to the newcomers that training is not only about the job responsibility and how to win the customer mind, it also about how to maintain the cultural harmony within the organization. Trainings are one of the expensive affairs in the organization. Most of the trainings are given to the new comers, but sometimes some training are specifically for the non performers and the underperformers. And the new trend is to train the employees to sustain the harmony among the different cultures within the organization. Fogal should increase its strength by 10 percent every half yearly to increase the talent base. However the unnecessary recruitment is a big problem and that gives a bad effect to the training process. Fogal should hire people who are trainable irrespective gender, culture, race. Organizational changes: Organizations are changing in a fast manner. Fogal should keep pace with the changing environment. Few decades back the employment of women were not taken seriously but now men and women are given same preferences in the professional environment. Fogal’s managers should understand the changing minds of the new generation employees. It is very important to understand the employee’s culture which might be different from the prevailing culture of the prospective mangers. (Smith and Flarey. 1999 . P, 179). Current trend is to prevail a peaceful working environment among the office. The uniti in diversity is must for Fogal for the future growth. Most of the companies are multi-cultured organization where people from different religions work together. The recent trend would be to take the survey of all the employees about their opinion about the diversity among the organization. Each and every religion and culture among the employees should be respected. Racial discrimination should be handled by the HR and it should be handled strictly. Success formulas: Success and failures prevails within the organization. The awareness of the diversity is one of the main factors to be remembered. The proper awareness of the cultural harmony can give a better outcome to the work culture. (Cox and Beale. 1997. P, 3). One of the other success formulas is to arrange cultural gathering where each and every employees would understand the importance and the essence of the different culture of different nations. Cultural fest and parties are the main binding factors among the different cultures. The success formula is on advertising wisely about the recruitment. The female candidate can be taken from many other resources like social clubs, malls and many other places where female go. The interactive website is must as Fogal should have a great image in the internet world. Most of the people go to the websites first before they physically visit the place. The interactive website should have the information about the level of diversity and the policies related to the diversity. The 360 degree approach is required to have a successful achievement. Conclusion: With the help of the thorough study it can be concluded that, cultural harmony is one of the main factor the up gradation of the organization. Fogal should follow all the traditional and advanced policies to sustain the unity in diversity. The proper training process is must to have talented employees for the betterment of the organization. With this informative case study it is very obvious that Fogal should have the multicultural approach towards the diversity programs. References Bennett Tony. (2001). “Cultural policy and cultural diversity: mapping the policy domain”. Paris: Council of Europe Brief,Arthur P (2008). “Diversity at work”. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Budd John W. (2006). “Employment with a Human Face: Balancing Efficiency, Equity, and Voice”. New York: Cornell University Press. Cox Taylor and Beale Ruby L. (1997). “Developing competency to manage diversity: reading, cases & activities”. California: Berrett-Koehler Publishers Holihan Mary B. (2006). “365 answers about human resources for the small business owner: what every manager needs to know about workplace law, Volumes 978- 910678”. Florida: Atlantic Publishing Company Hubbard. Edward E (2004). “The diversity scorecard: evaluating the impact of diversity on organizational performance”. Massachusetts: Butterworth-Heinemann. Konrad Alison M. (2006). “Case in gender and diversity in organizations”. New York: Sage. Kuballa Juliane. (2007).”Employee Satisfaction - A Precondition for Economical Success of Service Companies?”. Munich: GRIN Verlag. Kubr Milan and International Labour Office. (2002). “Management consulting: a guide to the profession”. Genève: International Labour Organization. Michelle and Barak, (2010). “Managing Diversity: Toward a Globally Inclusive Workplace”. New York: Sage. Pynes. John E. (2008). “Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Strategic Approach”. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Smith Suzanne P and Flarey Dominick L. (1999). “Process-centered health care organizations”. Massachusetts: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Read More