Global Diversity Management - Term Paper Example

?Global Diversity Management Most of the big corporations of the world have presence in many nations, thus popularizing the concept of Multi-nationalcorporations. One key challenge that multi-national corporations face is that of global diversity management. Global diversity management is can be defined as the steps or action that help in managing as well capitalizing the diversity in an organization. Global diversity management not only involves managing aspects such as race, gender, age, disability, ethnicity, professional backgrounds, level in the organization and so on, but it also involves managing these aspects at a global level (Ozbilgin & Tatli 2008). Through global diversity management, heterogeneity in organizations can not only be recognized and valued to help the organization strengthen its performance. Often, managing diversity at a global level becomes a challenge for many organizations because of the numerous aspects that are involved. Global diversity management has become an integral process of an organization because mismanagement or lack of adequate management can result in different consequences such as dissatisfaction among the employees, marginalization of certain groups and impact on performance (Gardenswartz, 2003). Therefore, it is necessary to have a strategic plan as well as vision in place for diversity management at a global level that encompasses all the main risk-issues and has plans for redressing each of these issues. Objective The objective of this study is to create a strategic plan that would help in promoting in global diversity in an international organization that is based in the United States but has presence in China, Germany and Nigeria. As with most multi-national organizations, this organization too has a preference to maintain a consistent operating policy across the globe so that there is centralized control, better coordination and a uniform corporate culture. However, these policies would not be rigid, but would be in such a manner that it can be customized according to each particular office in a country. The long-term objective is to make global diversity as a strength for the organization. Composition and Management of Global Teams For any organization that has a high focus on global diversity management, a team of leaders from diverse locations would manage the global organization. This is imperative because this will make sure that the organization is a global organization that provides accurate representation of each of the offices across different geographies. One main aspect that needs to be highlighted in the global diversity management plan is the composition and management of global teams (Govindarajan & Gupta 2001). Even in situations where the office is much smaller when compared to other global offices, it is necessary that this office has a good representation in the global scheme of things. Even though the organization would have its headquarters in the United States, the offices in China, Germany and Nigeria will have an Office head, who would be a part of the Board of Directors so that each of these offices have equal representation and voice in critical decision making meetings. The offices have mostly been divided according the functions. The office in the United States would function as a central fulcrum and would have representation for all the functions of the organization. This is done to ensure business continuity; in the event of any situation, office is not able to function in any particular country. The sales function and marketing team would be based out of the United States because large majorities of the clients are located in the United States. The China office would focus highly on product development, where as the offices in Germany and Nigeria would work on product marketing plans. In addition, they would also participate in client interactions. Each of these functions would have a leader or head, who would report to the global leader of these functions based in the United States. Hence, the employees would get support from their office head as well as function head. This will make sure that each of these global offices have good representation and the opportunity to contribute well in each of the functions handled by them. Talent selection and development One main mistake that many organizations make is to come up with a standard plan for diversity management thinking that ‘one size fits all’ is the right approach. When an organization decides to expand its operations to different nations, a primary goal is to find good talent that can add value to the organization (Mulholland, Ozbilgin, and Wordman, 2006). Talent selection forms an important component of diversity management in today’s organizations. In addition, development of the selected talent has also become equally important. The selection of talent would indeed comply with the basic global guidelines of the organization, but it would also be specific to each of the offices based on the talent pool available in the country. In many cases, a standard recruitment policy that is rigidly implemented across the organization can prove to be disastrous because of the diversity in the talent pool. Hence, it is necessary to empower the regional office heads to customize the recruitment strategy as per the requirements. Through market research, the avenues of talent for the employees can be identified. For example, the exercise of market research revealed that China has a considerable amount of talent who have expertise in product development (Wang and Liu, 2007). Hence, the function of product development was based on the talent pool available. Once recruited, all the employees will undergo training to enhance their skills. This training would be based on a global roadmap but with local customizations. For this, the training and skill enhancement process would not just be in line with the global policies, but also would have a purpose to fill any caveats that are specific to the particular office. This will help in ensuring that after a certain period, each employee would be at par with his or her counterpart in another country in terms of skills and expertise. In addition, within the particular office, specific plans would be implemented for particular groups of individuals depending upon their training needs. Hence, each employee, irrespective of the office they belong to, would become an expert in his or her function and area of interest. Performance measurements Performance measurement is an area where it is mandatory to have a uniform or a central mechanism in a global organization. If as certain group of employees, feel that they are discriminated in performance measurements form the employees belonging to another office, then it can create environments of mistrust or dissatisfaction. Hence, for any organization that wishes to benefit from global diversity, it is necessary that they have clear performance measurement criteria in place for the employees across geographical locations (Lorbeiecki, 2001). However, while there should be a uniform standard for performance assessment, these should not be very rigid, but should offer the flexibility so that customizations can be made according to the roles or regions. Through processes of normalization as well as calibration, clear guidelines along performance evaluation would be communicated to the employees at a global level. The various criteria that would be applicable for performance assessment would be laid out in clear terms, but each of the office heads would be offered a window of flexibility, where he or she can make the necessary adjustments based on specific scenarios. Similarly, the stakeholders for each particular function would also have a small window to make necessary adjustments. This is necessary to ensure that there is parity as well as fairness in the evaluation process. For example, the office in Nigeria is a new office and it would take some time for the employees to ramp up to the global standards. During the phase of ramping up, their respective function leaders and office heads would decide on the performance evaluation criteria based on their levels. For same roles across different offices, the criteria for performance evaluation would be same. For example, some employees of the offices in Germany and Nigeria would be work on product marketing. The standards of performance evaluation would be the same and the rewards would be at par. However, an element of customization depending on the office would be enforced at the national or regional level. Similarly, if there is cross-office collaboration or functionality, the management would calibrate the performance at a global level. Gender equality When it comes to global diversity management, gender becomes a key discourse that needs to be handled with considerable thought. It is necessary to have a robust mix of both the genders in each organization because of the wide perspectives and different experiences that they are able to bring to the organization (Osland et al, 2000). This would be a value addition to key decision-making process. In addition, having a right balance of gender among the employees also projects a very strong image for the organization in the global industry (Chesterman and Ross-Smith, 2006). To address the issue of gender equality, both long term as well as short term plans need to be implemented. In the short term, the organization would put efforts to remove inequalities by gender and in the long term, the objective would be to transform the organization in such a manner that will make both the structure as well as the culture more egalitarian. Globally, a policy regarding gender equality would be enforced. However, the recruitment process would still be strongly based on merit, and not based on gender. Depending on the gender representation in each of the regional offices outside the United States, each office will have specific policies as well as facilities to encourage gender equality. It was noticed that in Nigeria, the number of women employees were far less than the number of males. This was due to the lack of adequate support for women to manage both their household duties and professional aspirations. Hence, the first task was to provide some additional support to women, such as day care facilities for kids and transportation facilities so that it is easier for them to consider employment in the organization. In addition to having a good gender ratio at work, there would be strict regulations around equality for women in the respective roles across all the offices. The standards for performance measurement, role allocation, opportunities for growth would all remain equal. Hence, a complete support model for women employees would be developed over a period. Organizational communication Organizational communication is an integral aspect of global diversity management in a multinational corporation. Employees belong to different cultures and hence, clear communication becomes very important (Dooley, 2003). In a global organization, it is necessary to have a good cross-office interaction to function as one unit that works towards a common mission (Mounter, 2003). As the operations of the organization span across four countries, each located in different continents, one of the key challenges that is faced is of communication. The main challenge in communication is related to the different time zones and language in each of the four countries. The plan is to schedule and communicate over regular video conferences during the narrow window of time overlap. Language barrier can be another issue that could prove to be an obstacle to effective global communication. English would be the common language for communication and employees from Germany, Nigeria and China would be provided with communicative English training as a part of their induction program. The group of employees who work regularly with other offices would be those individuals who are good in English communication. Apart from that, all the employees across all the offices would be made aware of the cultural and local aspects of communication so that there is easy comprehension and no communication gaps. Proper channels of communication also would be established so that there is good clarity on the way in which the communication flow takes place. In addition, there would be a very high stress on e-mail communication (Huang & Kleiner, 2005). Important company wise decisions would be communicated over email by the global management and the respective office heads would clarify questions. Hence, communication would be spearheaded by the global heads as well as by the heads of each particular office or function, depending upon the need for communication. If any particular office faces communication gaps, then alternative arrangements such as communication through Human resources would be implemented depending on the situation. The presence in these countries means that the operations of the organizations would run round the clock. Guidelines for resolving differences due to global diversity Even with a proper strategic plan in place, sometimes situations related to conflicts arise and resolution of this conflict becomes extremely important. Many different types of conflicts can arise from a global perspective (Broome et al, 2002). Some could be due to the fact that an entire office feels that it is not an integral part of the organization due to different reasons, where as sometimes, some particular sections of the organization think that there are differences. The approach to resolving any differences amount the organizations would be purely based on the basic root cause of the issue. The first step would be at a local or regional level to identify and understand the matter. Through methods of appreciative enquiry as well as asking questions, the perspective of the employee or the group of employees can be understood in a better manner. The process of understanding the reason behind the differences is very important because that can help in arriving at solutions that are in-line with the problem. This would be done at a local level and if it is needed, then it can be escalated to the office wide level or the global level depending on the gravity of the situation. An important strategy to prevent or resolve any difference or conflicts is the establishment of a diversity council in each of the offices. This council will have representation from the senior management as well as employees. This will act as a forum for the employees to go and discuss any issues that they may have. The goal of the diversity council is the resolution of any conflicts that may have arisen due to the global diversity in the organization. In addition, they would also take proactive steps to minimize these conflicts as much as possible so that situations of conflicts do not arise in the future. This policy would be applicable to all the four countries – the United States, Nigeria, China and Germany. Code of Ethics Implementing a standard code of ethics is a great way to move ahead in the direction of global diversity management. When it comes to management of global diversity, the key tenets of any good code of ethics would be non-discrimination as well as equality among all the employees irrespective of their diverse backgrounds (Loriaux, 2008). The organization already has a code of ethics in place that highlights the importance of equality and non-discrimination and this code has to be followed across all the locations. The compensation, hours of work and logistical procedures would be the same for the employees depending on the role and the level. There would be some level of normalization based on the economy of the country, but largely, there would be a set standard regarding equality However, to ensure that there is no kind of discrimination in the organization, it is necessary to have some additional clauses in the code of ethics for some specific locations. The office head of each particular country would be responsible for implementing these. For example, in a country like Nigeria and the United States, special efforts have been taken to make sure that there is absolutely no distinction between employees based on the color of the employee. It has also been decided that the organization would have regulations on those employees who do not follow the set code of ethics. It is not just the responsibility of the leaders to make sure that there is no discrimination, but the entire organization should work towards it. Hence, any employee who discriminates and breaches the code of ethics would have to face the repercussions associated with it. Leadership Practices Any good and strategic plan to ensure global diversity management would be incomplete without the key roles that the leaders of the organization would have to play. A leadership team that understands the value of global diversity would be able to transform it to an advantage for the particular organization (Raatikainen, 2002). Even though the strong leadership at the global level can provide guidelines, it is necessary for the regional and local leaders to take up the reign. Hence, the regional and local stakeholders in the United States, China, Nigeria and Germany would have a much critical role to play. The first and foremost step is to create a robust leadership that values diversity and is able to resolve any obstacles that come in diversity management. The leadership should be strongly convinced about the power of diversity. For this, a global leadership-training program has been designed which will help the leadership to get a better perspective on how to build on global diversity and how to iron out any conflicts that may arise. From there, the managers would be key stakeholders to manage diversity in their respective work groups. The key task before them would be to identify the strength that their respective group has because of the diversity. Additionally, the managers or leaders also have to be extremely cautious when it comes to ensuring that they do not discriminate any employee because of the diversity factors. For example, if in a particular office, a certain woman employee does not perform up to the expectations, then feedback should be delivered totally on the performance and not from the perspective that the performance was not up to the mark because the employee was a woman. Developing this sensitivity is one of the tasks ahead of the management of the organizations globally (Fisher-Yoshida & Geller 2008). Conclusion Through the detailed and strategic plan, it would be possible to ensure global diversity management for the organization, where the diversity would become strength for the organization because of the variety of perspectives, ideas, visions and experiences of its employees. The strategic plan is focused on the principles of inclusion and hence, would prove to be successful if implemented correctly. References Broome, B., DeTurk, S., Kristjansdottir, E., Kanata, T., & Ganesan, P. (2002). Giving voice to diversity: An interactive approach to conflict management and decision making in culturally diverse work environments. Journal of Business and Management, 8(3), 239-264. (ProQuest Document ID: 239554341). Chesterman and Ross-Smith (2006), Not tokens: reaching a “critical mass” of senior women managers. Employee Relations, 28 (6): 540-552. 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