Leading Diversity: A Comparative Analysis
Foundations for diversity
Building successful, diverse, and dynamic learning organizations involves developing processes to ensure employee, customer, and community differences are taken into account. Diversity management is an active process that requires an investment in time and resources. It is a paradigm shift from intentional exclusion to intentional full utilization of resources. Valuing and managing diversity requires policies, relationships, procedures and practices that guarantee fairness and equity.
It means more than raising awareness, but also changing the system to support differences for the benefit of all. This comparative analysis compares the diversity strategy of the Monitor Company and IBM. It identifies how individuals are motivated to become change agents for diversity by assessing how individuals in each case defined diversity and discerning the conflicts that arise from the different definitions. Finally, I describe how the Monitor and IBM cases accommodate various learning styles.
Organizational Dimensions of Diversity
Diversity is a simple word that contains many human variables. As simple as it is, it represents the distinctions that exist between individuals that sometimes include culture, race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomics, age, physical and mental abilities, sexual orientation, religion, language, appearance, personality, learning and thinking styles, communication and conflict styles, family status, geography, military status, education, life and work experiences, functional responsibility in a given organization. Diversity management in organizations involves understanding and taking advantage of the similarities and differences of all the people involved in fulfilling the organization’s mission. Individuals at both the Monitor Company and IBM defined diversity in terms of their differences and uniqueness. According to Lieberman (2003), “diversity looks at the differences that shape people’s thinking and behavior.” (p. 24).
Jonathan Rotenberg, who happens to be a Jewish consultant at Monitor, began to realize that he “had a strategic educational position bridging the gap between the often misunderstood gay world and the corporate world.” Nick Basden, an African-American consultant for the Monitor, said: “I feel black [at Monitor]. I feel different because I’m black.” (Gentile and Gant, p. 3-4). The initiative created by IBM was designed to improve understanding of differences. “Instead of trying to eliminate discrimination by deliberately ignoring differences among employees , IBM created eight working groups, each focused on different groups such as Asians, gays and lesbians, and women” (Thomas, 2004, p. 1).
The learning organization
Although the individual reasons for diversity were similar, the organizational motivations driving the change were slightly different. The Monitor Company was concerned with how inclusion affected an individual’s growth, development, and quality of life. Monitor wanted to know how the company could be different “if the workforce were more diverse, and what barriers might exist to success for non-white and female consultants.” (Gentile and Gant, 1994, p. 2). IBM’s driving force behind its diversity initiative was an extension of Monitor’s inclusion for individual growth. IBM, according to Thomas (2004), believed that “…greater diversity in the workplace could help IBM attract a more diverse set of customers.” (p. 4).
Whereas Monitor was concerned with the human factor and IBM was concerned with the bottom line. It is possible that diversity influences both. Many organizations have realized that diversity is a resource that must be harnessed to increase performance and improve human relations. Lieberman (2003) identified three diversity capital resources that every company must successfully manage: financial capital, human capital, and physical capital. Financial capital, profit, “sustains an organization’s existence, motivates its stakeholders, and enables it to invest in its future.” Human capital, people, “makes an organization live and function, no matter how technical or automated. People are our managers, our employees, our customers, and our communities.” Material capital, physical resources, “provides the energy and resources to produce goods and services.” (p. 3). Diversity management is a process that enables groups of people to maximize productivity, creativity, and enjoyment to reach their full potential.
Accommodate Diversity Styles
Monitor’s and IBM’s cultures and value systems can accommodate diverse styles without sacrificing their distinctive identity. Values drive beliefs, attitudes, actions, and are culturally derived. Therefore, a leader who understands the cultural background of others is better able to understand why those people act, think, and speak the way they do, and is better able to predict how those people will react to their own words. and actions. “Understanding diversity means moving all these ideas and those that others make you aware of into the box, so that you start to think of diversity as many differences, not just the most apparent ones.” (Lieberman, 2003. p25). When working with people from different cultures, leaders are “able to apply common sense and willingness to act and respond accordingly when they understand the forces that drive behavior.” (Scarborough, 1998, p. 11). In both cases, the diversity initiative was more than just education or awareness, but rather an understanding of stakeholder differences.
The impact of culture
High-performing organizations consciously create their desired corporate culture, rather than simply letting it develop. Unfortunately, organizational culture change efforts often attempt to “abolish” differences by imposing a predefined culture while ignoring existing values, beliefs, views, and behaviors. Diversity management is the process of creating a culture that is flexible enough to promote, support, respect and value the multiple differences that exist in the organization as an asset to value and seek. “The impact of culture is pervasive; it has both a conscious and unconscious influence on human behavior.” (Zachary, 2005, p. 15). It is recognized that the intelligence and performance of the group are greater when there are systems and skills that create an environment of inclusion, trust, collaboration and respect, and the ability for everyone to reach their full potential.
leading diversity
Diversity is rapidly gaining ground as an asset for companies as a means to expand their market. This dramatic shift toward a highly diverse workforce is part of organizations’ efforts to understand, accept, and capitalize on differences. “Demand for new customer-focused products, the desire to reach global markets, and the need to leverage a diverse workforce for talented employees drives this trend.” (Lieberman, 2003, p. 13). However, the main objective of diversity is to unify the entire organization and deepen cultural change within the institution so that processes, communication, and actions align with institutional beliefs, values, and priorities. In his letter to the Colossians, the Apostle Paul reminds us that the distinctions that separate us are no longer meaningful. “Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian nor Scythian, slave nor free…” (Colossians 3:11). Organizations that want to reach their full potential must transcend all barriers and involve all people, of all cultures, races, and backgrounds.
References
Gentile, Mary and Gant, Sara B. (1994). Monitor Co.: Personal Leadership in Diversity. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press Case 395049.
Liebermann, Simma. (2003). Putting diversity to work: How to successfully lead a diverse workforce. Menlo Park, CA: Crisp Technology Course.
Scarborough, Jack. (1998). Origins of cultural differences and their impact on management. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, Incorporated.
Thomas, David A. (2004). Diversity as a strategy. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review.
Zachary, Lois J. (2005). Creating a Mentoring Culture: The Organizational Guide. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
