Given the complex set of managerial skills needed to promote diversity, it is obvious that man-agers themselves will need organizational support if the company is to achieve its diversity goals.
One important component of the diversity strategy of a large number of companies is diversity training.34Diversity training is a learning process designed to raise managers’ awareness and develop their competencies to deal with the issues endemic to managing a diverse workforce.
More and more, managers are recognizing that a diverse workforce is critical to the exploration of new ideas and the creation of innovation in organizations, and diversity training is a valuable tool in achieving this diversity.35Figure 4.4 shows the array of diversity training programs that McDonald’s offers its managers.
Basic Themes of Diversity Training Training is the process of developing qualities in human resources that will make those employees more productive and better able to contribute to organizational goal attainment. Some companies develop intensive programs for management and less intensive, more generalized programs for other employees. Such programs are discussed further in Chapter 13 and generally focus on the following five components or themes:
1. Behavioral awareness
2. Acknowledgment of biases and stereotypes 3. Focus on job performance
4. Avoidance of assumptions
5. Modification of policy and procedure manuals
Stages in Managing a Diverse Workforce Donaldson and Scannell, authors of Human Resource Development: The New Trainer’s Guide, have developed a four-stage model to describe how managers progress in managing a diverse workforce.36In the first stage, known as “unconscious incompetence,” managers are unaware of behaviors they engage in that are problematic for members of other groups. In the second stage, “conscious incompetence,” managers go through a learning process in which they become conscious of behaviors that make them incompetent in their interactions with members of diverse groups.
The third stage is one of becoming “consciously competent.” Managers learn how to interact with diverse groups and cultures by deliberately thinking about how to behave. In the last stage, “unconscious competence,” managers have internalized these new behaviors and feel so comfortable relating to others different from themselves that they need to devote little conscious effort to doing so. Managers who have progressed to the “unconscious competence” stage will be the most effective with respect to interacting in a diverse work-force. Effective interaction is key to carrying out the four management functions previously discussed.
Table 4.2 summarizes our discussion of the challenges facing those who manage a diverse workforce. Managers, who are generally responsible for controlling organizational goals and out-comes, are accountable for understanding these diversity challenges and recognizing the dynam-ics described here. In addition to treating employees fairly, they must influence other employees to cooperate with the company’s diversity goals.
Understanding and Influencing Employee Responses Managers cannot rise to the challenge of managing a diverse workforce unless they recognize that many employees have difficulties coping with diversity. Among these difficulties are natural resistance to change, ethnocentrism, and lack of information and outright misinformation about other groups, as well
FIGURE 4.4
Diversity training programs offered to McDonald’s employees
Source: http://www.mcdonalds.
com/corp/values/people/diversity/
education.html.
as prejudices, biases, and stereotypes. Some employees lack the motivation to understand and cope with cultural differences, which requires time, energy, and a willingness to take some emotional risks.
Another problem is that employees often receive no social rewards (e.g., peer support and approval) or concrete rewards (e.g., financial compensation or career opportunities) for cooper-ating with the organization’s diversity policies.
For all these difficulties, managers cannot afford to ignore or mismanage diversity issues because the cost of doing so is interpersonal and causes intergroup conflicts.These conflicts often affect the functioning of the work group by destroying cohesiveness and causing communications problems and employee stress.
Managers who are determined to deal effectively with their diverse workforce can usually obtain organizational support. One primary support is education and training programs designed to help employees work through their difficulties in coping with diversity. Besides recommending such programs to their employees, managers may find it helpful to enroll in available programs themselves.
Getting Top-Down Support Another important source of support for managers dealing with diversity issues is top management. Organizations that provide top-down support are more likely to boast the following features:
1. Managers skilled at working with a diverse workforce 2. Effective education and diversity training programs
3. An organizational climate that promotes diversity and fosters peer support for exploring diversity issues
4. Open communication between employees and managers about diversity issues 5. Recognition for employees’ development of diversity skills and competencies 6. Recognition for employee contributions to diversity goals
7. Organizational rewards for managers’ implementation of organizational diversity goals and objectives
TABLE 4.2 Organizational Challenges and Supports Related to Managing a Diverse Workforce
Organizational Challenges Organizational Supports
Employee’s Difficulties in Coping with Cultural Diversity
Resistance to change Ethnocentrism
Lack of information and misinformation Prejudices, biases, and stereotypes Reasons Employees Are Unmotivated to Understand Cultural Differences
Lack of time and energy and unwillingness to assume the emotional risk necessary to explore issues of diversity
Absence of social or concrete rewards for investing in diversity work
Interpersonal and intergroup conflicts arising when diversity issues are either ignored or mismanaged Work Group Problems
Lack of cohesiveness Communication problems Employee stress
Educational Programs and Training to Assist Employees in Working Through Difficulties Top-Down Management Support for Diversity Managers who have diversity skills and competence
Education and training Awareness raising Peer support
Organizational climate that supports diversity Open communication with manager about diversity issues
Recognition for employee development of diversity skills and competencies
Recognition for employee contributions to diversity goals
Organizational rewards for managers’ implemen-tation of organizational diversity goals and objectives
CHALLENGE CASE SUMMARY
A
n organization such as Siemens that uses the diverse talents of a multicultural workforce can reap many rewards. Some experts believe that one of the best ways for a company such as Siemens to capture a diverse customer base is to make sure that its decision makers are a diverse group. Promoting a diverse group of deci-sion makers will ensure sensitivity to such issues, giving Siemens a better chance of establishing restaurants char-acterized by such diversity. In the United States, the Siemens diversity infrastructure resembles a matrix: a Diversity Board links all local diversity activities horizon-tally, across its U.S. operating companies. The board also links diversity activities vertically, from their respective local diversity councils all the way up to the President’s council. Not only does this type of arrangement enable Siemens to be nimble and responsive, it also permits the sharing of best practices throughout the enterpriseDiversity activity takes many forms at Siemens oper-ating companies in the United States. Its Siemens Teacher Scholarships encourage minority students to consider sci-ence as a teaching career—an area where minorities are traditionally underrepresented. It recently gifted a num-ber of historically African American colleges with software worth $1.2 million. Siemens supports the Carnegie Mellon Summer Academy, a program that gives minority students “a leg up.” In Chicago, Siemens encourages graduates of public high schools to go to college by help-ing them visit historically black colleges and universities to get a sense of academic life.
The progress of a company such as Siemens in its diversity program will enhance the productivity of its diverse workforce. An organization’s diversity programs will help a diverse workforce feel valued and at ease in their work setting, thereby performing better than workers who feel their organization has little respect for them as people. As a result of its required diversity training, Siemens can retain employees, thereby lowering person-nel costs related to recruiting and training.
Legislation and government involvement cannot provide complete direction for building diversity in organizations. Siemens management understands that organizations should not wait for laws and government to provide guidelines for building a diverse organization.
Instead, management should recreate the company to reflect the markets in which it operates. For example,
given demographics reflecting population trends, Siemens will probably be recruiting and hiring a greater proportion of Asian and Hispanic employees.
If an organization such as Siemens increases the proportion of Asian and Hispanic employees, company diversity training programs should be modified to include sensitivity toward factors relevant to the Asian and Hispanic cultures. This training should emphasize factors such as religion, values, and behavioral norms specific to these two groups. Such modification of diversity training at Siemens would be aimed at eliminating ethnocentrism within the company relating to these two demographic groups.
When management is committed to diversity, diver-sity programs are normally successful. In turn, by virtue of its financial investment in global diversity, Siemens demonstrates its commitment to building a world-class organization—a fact that is not lost on current and future employees. A reputation for diversity makes Siemens more attractive as an employer—and enables Siemens to attract and retain high-performing employees. In turn, top performers are typically best at innovation and pro-ductivity—areas where Siemens needs to excel if it is to hold competitive advantage in the marketplace.
In terms of the organizational diversity continuum, Siemens’ commitment to diversity seems broad based.
This broad-based commitment is reflected in company-wide practices related to recruiting, hiring, and training a diverse workforce. The broad-based commitment is also evident through Siemens’ building of minority rep-resentation within influential company groups such as the board of directors. Consistent with diversity initia-tives in most organizations, Siemens managers are given extensive diversity training. Managers in a company such as Siemens who know how to interact with people of different cultures will be the most successful in build-ing productive multicultural teams in organizations.
Overall, diversity training for managers at Siemens is aimed to help managers become more sensitive to other cultures and thereby more capable of using planning, organizing, influencing, and controlling skills to help organizations meet diversity goals.
In addition to managers, nonmanagers within organi-zations can be a focus of specially designed diversity training.
MANAGEMENT SKILL ACTIVITIES
This section is specially designed to help you develop diversity skill. An individual’s diversity skill is based on an understanding of diver-sity concepts and the ability to apply those concepts in management situations. The following activities are designed to both heighten your understanding of diversity concepts and to develop the ability to apply those concepts in a variety of management situations.