At a distribution company, a Latino woman regarded as a high-potential employee announces that she is leaving because she feels stigmatized by the affirmative action program that brought her to the division.
The same week, an excellent male manager accepts a job with the top competitor. In his exit interview, he says that his opportunities with the competitor are greater because “all the good jobs here are going to women and minorities.
The head of Human Resources is puzzled as to how he is supposed to implement the company’s affirmative action goals.
Domestic or global, large or small, public or private, across all industries, and at all levels, companies today face the daunting challenge of managing an increasingly diverse work force. By gender, culture, race or creed, organizations are challenged to acknowledge the differences and make accommodations. When mishandled, serious problems may result. When managed properly, the diverse work force can mean a vibrant and creative organization that stays ahead of the competition.
Most of the writings about diversity have examined it from a legal, moral, or social-responsibility perspective. In the increasingly global business environment, today’s executives recognize that managing diversity is also a key business and managerial issue. A diverse work force is, in fact, a business opportunity. How can top management harness this power? How can the cultural, ethnic and gender mix be leveraged to create greater value?
Initial efforts to deal with diversity have not been particularly successful. Most organizations have tried to create a color-blind, gender-blind, culture-blind environment by assimilating people into the dominant culture. Yet there are continuing problems with efforts to treat everyone as if they are the same.
Managers do not feel free to address the more subtle ways they actually do treat people differently. For example, male executives who are proud of their lack of bias still feel uncomfortable having a woman colleague pick up the check. Men are embarrassed when they blurt out an expletive in front of a “lady” coworker.
The assimilation model is not wrong, but it has its limits. The task of top management is to determine how to make the company work for all employees. What aspects of the corporate culture are valuable and need buy-in from all involved? What aspects are limiting the full and effective involvement of all employees?
The assimilation strategy must be updated to serve modern organizational needs. In fact, a major shift in frame of reference is required. A quick look at the bottom line decreasing costs and increasing productivity shows that a strategy for managing diversity already exists.
It’s called asset management. When you stop thinking of employees as problems and begin viewing each and every one as an asset of the company not a liability the organization becomes richer. Much like the investments in your portfolio, your people assets can be managed to provide the best return. When each individual’s differences are put to work toward the organization’s goals, its mission can be accomplished.
The first step in turning liabilities into assets is choosing the right resources to make into assets. In individual terms, this means that selection of employees is critical.
Companies must hire people for their potential to contribute, not necessarily for their track record. Those making hiring decisions must be able to ascertain what talents and abilities an individual may have, even if a resume contains time gaps, non-mainstream jobs or alternative education.
One must look for potential rather than just traditional past accomplishments.
Another action that companies can take at the individual level is to create developmental plans for each employee. This may require special attention to the non-traditional employee who may need assistance in understanding the corporate culture. It is important that more seasoned managers establish informal coaching and counseling relationships with beginning managers to ensure that all employees have access to this critical assistance.
The organizational components of an asset-management strategy are the most neglected, yet perhaps the most important in managing diversity. Dealing with a diverse work force at the organizational level requires executives to see this as an opportunity for the entire company, not just an issue involving those outside the dominant culture.
It requires a careful examination of how organizations are structured, the way managers do their jobs, and how the company is managed.
Roosevelt Thomas, author of “Beyond Race and Gender,” puts it this way: “It means getting from employees not only everything you have a right to expect, but everything they have to offer.” The aim here is not merely to “help” minorities or women, but to create an organization where all people are effectively managed.
The primary implication of a diverse work force, therefore, is that companies must manage differently. Changing blatant behaviors and complying legally are necessary quick fixes.
However, it can take years to develop a system that will genuinely provide the management that can maximize the development and productivity of all employees. Supervisors and managers need to become more sophisticated in dealing with individual differences including the differences among same-sex, same-race, same-culture employees. The strategy moves beyond special efforts for groups that are ” different” and requires a deeper analysis of the overall managerial quality. The goal is to have a system that works naturally for all employees.
Judith S. Blanton, Ph.D., is the Managing Director of the Los Angeles office of RHR International Company, a firm of management psychologists specializing in executive selection, executive development, and organizational change.
Entrepreneur’s Notebook is a regular column contributed by EC2, The Annenberg Incubator Project, a center for multimedia and electronic communications at the University of Southern California. Contact Dan Rabinovitch at (213) 743-2344 with feedback and topic suggestions.
