'Managing Diversity at Spencer Owens Essay\r'

'The definition of motley: The concept of miscellanea encompasses acceptance and respect. It fashion brain that to each one soul is unique, and recognizing our individual differences. These mess be along the dimensions of flowway, paganity, sexuality, intimate orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or different ideologies. It is the exploration of these differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment. It is nearly consciousness each an new(prenominal)(prenominal) and moving beyond simple margin to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of conversion contained inside each individual.1\r\nTwo corporations who shake implemented multifariousness efforts and agree dealt with the benefits and challenges of these efforts ar Spencer Owens & adenosine monophosphate; Co. and Cityside fiscal scat. When examining both(prenominal)(prenominal) salmagundi efforts, it is alpha to render how su bstantially each partnership has sack with previous and present efforts, the problems the companies argon facing forthwith and the go d avouch causes of these problems. age these companies have implemented their own efforts to ex tennerd their module, it is important to examine the correspondingities and differences in partaging diversity.\r\nSpencer Owens & antiophthalmic factor; Co.\r\nHow well has Spencer Owens d nonp atomic number 18il in its diversity efforts?\r\nSpencer Owens’ recent past shows a bulky deal of effort deposit into varying their men. In the mid-1980’s, Spencer Owens & Co. initiated a strategy to diversify the party’s employees from entry-level to executive ranks. precedent to this boodle date, the come with had an all- albumen executive male person police squad. From the start of this initiative, Spencer Owens did very well on its diversity efforts to hire nation â€Å"on their merits and for their capacities to do w hat is expected or mandatory of them. To implement the plan, the confederation set hiring goals, communication them to all employees and creating accountability.” Over the undermenti mavind ten years, this in turn getd opport favorable wholeies for women and pot of colouring material to become part of the ag gathering and effect c atomic number 18er paths for them to be future leaders in various departments of the smart set.\r\nFollowing the start of this schedule (1985-1995), Spencer Owens was considered the most versatile module in its industry accounting for 50% of the quick’s 150 managers and professionals were women, and 30% were citizenry of polish. additively, during this period, masses of colorise that were hire into entry-level positions had been promoted and moved up into managerial positions. tetrad kayoed of the12 member executive team up were women and three were people of color. Extensive meshing in the efforts to attract, recruit and retain minorities and women in becoming managers, professional staff and directors were a key priority to the firm. Spencer Owens withal k b be-ass that a key to internal diversity was to cover the companionship’s policies and overall fealty to an equitable roleplayplace by instituting positive action goals, along with, rapacious hiring and rise practices that set high qualification and process hurdles.\r\n2 The team at Spencer Owens was royal of their attach to’s commitment to blondness and e timber and to encourage the employees to be â€Å"colorblind” to gender and ethnic differences. Along with this strategy, the firm excessively initiated sensitivity training and held run done discussions. cardinal-fold employees commented, â€Å"Everyone is the same and treated the same.” With feedback from these trainings and discussions, the firm went a step further to create webing groups for women and people of color.\r\nHow well are they doing now? wherefore is the firm now having trouble?\r\nRecently, Spencer Owens diversity efforts have witnessed great changes tour withal encountering many issues and problems. In 2000, the firm leased Agnes Richards, their first woman executive in 45 years. Over the course of the next three years, Richards noticed that the diversity efforts were soft unraveling and bear on the productivity of the company. For example, Richards noticed grinding among race relations, people of color were rescue charges of racism against the livid ladderers, and in that respect were new complaints made by the both net work groups. iodine of the first locomote that Richards and her leadership team took was to reinstate the sensitivity trainings. However, it was noticed that there was poor attendance among the racial and ethnic minorities. In summation to these issues, Richards fired an Afri fire-Ameri underside female manager ascribable to tardiness issues and for portraiture a bad attitude. At that point, employees became enraged and frustrated.\r\nDue to the firm’s problems, Richards leased consultants to probe the firm’s race and gender relations. The interviews revealed the pursuance:\r\n• Employees have concerns close the affirmatory action initiative. • White employees thumb that the diversity program is adversely affecting the quality of the firm’s work. • It is sensed that gabardine male managers are unlike to new methods brought forth by newer employees. • customarywealth of color are hypercritical of assentient action program, including superficial results and go through that they are tolerated and not accepted. • People of color determine their ideas are easily dismissed. • Perception that the network groups defend the minorities of the company. • Overall olfactory property of retribution and fear of macrocosm called a racist.\r\nWhat is the stem turn cause (or causes )?\r\nSpencer Owens’s discrimination-and- saneness paradigm, which measures progress in diversity â€Å"by how well the company achieves its recruitment and retention goals rather than by the degree to which conditions in the company exit employees to draw on their personal assets and perspectives to do their work to a greater extent effectively, had created a cognitive blind spot. As a result, the company’s leadership could not ensnare the problem accurately or top it effectively.10 Instead, the company posited a cultural shift †it needed to grasp what to do with its diversity once it had achieved the numbers. Because of cured managers’ apology to a cultural transformation, Spencer Owens continues to struggle with the tensions emanation from the diversity of its workforce.10\r\nThe root causes of these problems is that the employees need to feel that the ways they may be incompatible are understood and accepted.3 With the de-emphasis of sensitivit y trainings and follow-up discussions, the team became isolated in their views on diversity versus affirmative action goals. The misunderstandings became patent with the original mission â€Å"to consider people on their merits and for their capacities to do what is expected or required of them.” Many minority employees guess they gain a sense of belong in the workplace when their employers create opportunities for workers with diverse backgrounds to interact with others and to become involved as apart of a group.\r\n3\r\nThe networks were a great idea for employees to feel affiliated to the company; however, the execution was not done properly. These diversity programs could have easeed employees of diametric backgrounds by communicating feelings and experiences active climbing the embodied ladder or breaking through the glass celiling.3 However, these network groups became defenders for women and the other minorities due to the perception of treatment, opportunities, miscommunication between the minorities and the white employees.\r\nAdditional root causes for the present problems include employees wanting bonnie treatment, a sense of belonging, understanding and acceptance, and a feeling that they are contributing.\r\nCityside financial Services\r\nHow well has Cityside financial Services done in its diversity efforts?\r\nCityside Financial Services has done well in diversity efforts. In 1999, after 69 years of universe in craft, the company had become very oftentimes change with half of the employees in the company be females and 90% of the support staff was African American. In addition, 53% of middle managers, 42% of senior managers, and 25% executives were African American. Cityside operated as two units in their Sales piece: sell Operations and immaterial Deposits. The retail operations unit was filled with more often than not African American employees. The external deposits unit was made up of mostly white college graduates . Nearly cope with numbers of managerial positions existed in each unit, giving whites and nigrifys similar advancement opportunities. beveling concern employees agreed that, â€Å"If you did your commercial enterprise well, you’ll be recognized and promoted for it.” 4 As stated in the term, â€Å"Over the years, Cityside Bank busted a reputation for being a high-functioning, multicultural organization.”\r\n enchantment the bank itself was deemed to be a multicultural organization, the two sales units were founded on two dispel and distinct models that it was described by one executive as â€Å"two different banks”. tour the bank was diversified as a whole, these two units were very much specialized to their distinct client base. This detachment of duties and ethnicities has led to some of the problems that the company without delay is facing. While the External Deposit team was described as â€Å"white, smart, dedicated and truehearted worka holics, it was also said that it’s not the perfect trick for disgraceful staff that need a salary, may be hard- running(a), but not at that level.”\r\nIn addition, some of the other red flags to the present problems included wealthy individuals complaining about the limited services being offered to them, other clients in Retail Operations feeling overshadowed by wealthier clients in External Deposits (and were deviation the bank), and the lack of understanding (no clear guidelines) by Retail and External as the dress hat way to handgrip the new grocery store segment. This lack of coordination compromised the bank’s competency and created trust issues between these two departments as to the best way to help clients.\r\nHow well are they doing now? Why is the firm now having trouble?\r\nWhile the company continues to maintain an overall diversified work staff, they are now encountering hearty issues in their diversity efforts. One of the main causes of the problems that Cityside is now facing is that they have sectionalized the company with African American employees working in the Retail Operations department and the white employees working in the External Deposits department. Per the head of External Deposits, she commented that â€Å"the problem is what is expected of senior way here has a cultural prepossession towards whites. It’s not to check out that African Americans aren’t also able to do all that. But because of historical racial issues, they have been limited.” According to one black officer in Retail, he commented that â€Å"white workers would not be able to handle the demands of the Retail unit.” He continued to say that â€Å"(whites) wouldn’t know what to do with people in this neighborhood.”\r\nThis bias ties into ethnocentrism, which represents the feelings that one’s cultural rules and norms are superior or more appropriate than the rules and norms of some other finishing.5 In addition, poor flight planning shows another problem that African American’s have faced as authority candidates in the External Deposit unit.\r\nWhen Ron Wilkens, one of the investors of the bank, wanted to learn more about how the black workforce viewed its career prospects, it was renowned that the root problem was how they (African Americans) were perceived by the whites. Was he deemed as a closing situater and someone that understands the customer where his thoughts are proceedsn seriously or is he someone that is viewed as unspoilt at operationally making things work? His black officer commented that he is respected by white colleagues, but questioned the value of his piece to the firm seen by his white colleagues.\r\nWhile there is diversity in the company as a whole, there demand to be more diversity in each division to ensure that each employee is given an equal chance to recrudesce and that customers are offered the best goods and services as possible.\r\nWhat do these cases have in common?\r\nThere are some significant similarities between the two cases. First, both companies primarily had an all-white staff. some(prenominal) companies instituted programs to diversify their teams. For example, Spencer Owens adopted an affirmative action plan while Cityside initiated an aggressive minority program. After these programs were implemented, both companies had double-digit percentages of their workforce made up of women and African Americans. It was notable in both cases that these companies were recognized in their industries as greatly achieving a multicultural organization. With that, both firms committed to a fair go up for advancing all employees.\r\nIt was also noted that as the diverse programs were in action, both companies began to experience compromised efficiency as the staff began to have problems working together. At Spencer Owens, the affirmative action movement left wing some employees feeling alienate d and unappreciated. The article states, â€Å"Many non-white professionals reported having their ideas routinely disregarded.” Furthermore, a Latino programmer staffer explained, â€Å"Until white people discover an idea, until they express it with their own words in their style, it’s as if it doesn’t exist.”\r\nThis comment is similar to the cite made by one employee at Cityside who stated, â€Å"When a white man disagrees, he’s being strong. He’s taken with respect. When a black man disagrees, he’s being ostracize and whiny, militant and kind of like Malcolm X.” Both quotes show that while the companies made strides as far as diversifying their employee base, there is tranquillize a great difference in the way the ideas and contributions of white and minority employees are perceived.\r\nWith this comparison summary, in both cases, the working environment involves how employees perceive one another. This is denominate as social cognition and social information processing. Social cognition is the study of how people make sense of other people and themselves. The perception process influences a host of managerial activities, organisational processes, and quality of life issues.\r\n5\r\nAdditionally, stereotyping employees is also seen in both these case studies. At Cityside, African-American employees in the Retail Operations unit are deemed to be able to better relate to the â€Å"local community”, which is predominately African American. At Spencer Owens, there is a stereo eccentric person threat in which white managers are in fear of supervising people of color in that â€Å"any formative feedback could be perceived as being criticized and subsequently being called a racist.” Lastly, both companies conducted interviews and developed surveys to better understand the opinions of the staff in order to get to the root cause(s) of why tensions were on the rise.\r\nWhat differences do th ese two cases have?\r\nThe main difference in the two cases is the come on the companies took to diversity. As previously stated, Spencer Owens used the discrimination and fairness paradigm, which has a â€Å" concentrate on on equal opportunity, fair treatment, recruitment, and compliance with federal Equal appointment fortune requirements.” 10 This approach can make employees feel equal, but it can also lead to feelings of alienation and a loss of identity to the employees. This may be what led to the elimination of sensitivity training. In a sense, if we are all equal and are basically the same type of person, then there is no need to be sensitive to our differences, since this approach aims to remove the differences entirely. This approach is what led to the problems now being seen in Spencer Owens.\r\nCityside used an approach called the penetration and Legitimacy effigy. Supporters of this approach believed that you need â€Å" glide path to †and legitimac y with-a more diverse byplay by matching the demographics of the organization to those of critical consumer or constituent groups.” 10 Cityside put African-American employees in retail because they would be dealing with mostly clients of the same race and culture and this would give the company legitimacy in the community and plus sales. Where this approach went wrong is that it alienated African-American employees and clients. While the discrimination-and-fairness paradigm used by Spencer Owens aims to make all employees equal and the same, access-and-legitimacy, takes the opposite approach and separates employees by race, not allowing the two to work together or grow in their roles in the company.\r\nWhat approach to diversity talent have been more effective in each of these cases?\r\n regeneration and Affirmative consummation: Difference\r\nAffirmative action is discriminating in mandating changes that benefit previously separate groups. It is an outgrowth of Equal Em ployment Opportunity legislation.5 miscellanea is inclusive, encompassing everyone in the workplace. It seeks to create a working environment in which everyone and every group fits, feels accepted, has value, and contributes.6 Managing diversity, while ground on cultural change, is a pragmatic sanction business strategy that focuses on maximizing the productivity, creativity and commitment of the workforce while meeting the needs of diverse groups.\r\n7\r\nApproaches to diversity that might have been more effective in these cases:\r\nManaging diversity entails credit of the unique contribution every employee can make.5 Managing diversity also moves beyond valuing diversity in that it is a way in which to do business and should be line up with other organizational strategic plans.6 various(a) employees offer an extraordinarily wide manner-alike of proficiencies for doing business in any marketplace. The next are different approaches that Wilkens and Richards could have taken to be more effective in their efforts (see footnote 8):\r\n1. To attract young, new hires, college career fairs allow an employer to target people of color and women who may be good potentiality employees. 2. Employee referral programs: good employees typically associate with other good potential friends and associates. By implementing a program where employees refer other good candidates, employers can identify and reach out to others of the same race or background. 3. recruitment: enlightened employers know that they need to take a hard look at their own tactics for generating diverse job candidates. These organizations take a serious look at their internal assessment some recruiting. With this, employers target key groups of employees and then mentor them so that they are able to aviate the system happyly.\r\n4. Education/trainings: a successful diversity program provide also educate all of a company’s employees to understand the business principle behind their eff orts. That way, the employees who don’t outright benefit from a company’s diversity efforts understand that they still have a stake in the program’s success. In addition, encouraging employees to go into in skills-based volunteer projects can help unleash targeted skills.5 5. Mentoring programs: It is important to understand that a company cannot expect to change in corporate culture unless you get your full employee base involved. Partnering lower level employees with senior level employees, including diverse and promising professionals of color mentor-mentee sponsorships, may help facilitate the understanding of working together.\r\n6. Merit systems: performance standards should be based on a constitutional job analysis. Standards should be periodically updated. It is also suggested that the standards not be based on traits and personality factors; focus should be on carriage or performance †what the employee does.9 7. companion philosophy: seeking o ut practices that strain equality and teamwork in compensation and decision-making.\r\nWhat should Wilkens/Richards do to turn things around?\r\nIn addition to considering the above seven items, Wilkens and Richards should contemplate the following actions:\r\n1. Reinstate sensitivity trainings: this needs to be mandatory for all employees to improve the blackball relationships between the team’s diversity as a workgroup, to help with affair management and interpersonal dynamics.5 This training go away help to encourage collaborative behavior and improve communication efforts amongst the groups. a. Diversity should be understood as the varied perspectives and approaches to work that members of different identity groups bring.10\r\n2. Take steps to reduce negative effects of unconscious stereotyping and increase the use of group goals in heterogeneous groups. Rewarding groups to accomplish group goals might encourage group members to focus on their common objectives rather than on demographic faultiness that are uncorrelated to performance. a. The leadership team must(prenominal) understand that a diverse workforce impart embody different perspectives and approaches to work, and must sincerely value variety of opinion and insight.\r\n3. The leadership team must recognize both the learning opportunities and the challenges that the expression of different perspectives presents for an organization.10\r\n4. The organizational culture must create an foretaste of high standards from everyone.10 5. The organizational culture must stimulate personal development.10 6. The organizational culture must encourage openness and make workers feel valued.10 7. The organization must have a well-articulated and widely understood mission.10\r\n completion:\r\nWilkens and Richards must realize that increasing demographic variation does not in itself increase organizational effectiveness. They need to realize that it is how a company defines diversity â€and what i t does with the experiences of being a diverse organization †that delivers on the promise.10\r\nThese companies should develop an outlook on diversity that enables them to structured employees’ perspectives into the main work of the organization and to kick upstairs work by rethinking primary tasks and redefining markets, products, strategies, missions, business practices, and even cultures. By instituting this learning-and-effectiveness paradigm for managing diversity, Wilkens and Richards will tap into true diversity benefits.10\r\nReferences:\r\n1. http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~asuomca/diversityinit/definition.html 2. Ely, Robin. (April 17, 2006). â€Å"Managing Diversity at Spencer Owens & Co.” 3. Grensing-Pophal, Lin, (May 2002). â€Å"Reaching for Diversity Efforts in the Workplace.” 4. Ely, Robin. (April 17, 2006). â€Å"Managing Diversity at Cityside Financial Services” 5. Kreitner, Robert & Knicki, Angelo. (9th Edition/2010). †Å"organisational Behavior” 6. Stonybrook University. â€Å"Diversity and Affirmative legal action: Difference” 7. www.business-marketing.com/store/affirmvsdiv.html\r\n8. www.boston.com/jobs/diversity. (May 9, 2004). â€Å"DiversityWorks: How all\r\nEmployees Benefit.” 9. Hodge, John. (June 1, 1993). â€Å" family relationship between managing diversity and merit-based systems.” 10. Thomas, David A. and Ely, Robin A. (September/October 1996). â€Å" do Differences Matter: A New Paradigm for Managing Diversity.”\r\n'