By Dr. R. Roosevelt Thomas and Albert A. George
As U.S organizations increasingly develop a global footprint, they are finding that diversity, once relegated to the realm of race relations, encompasses many dimensions, is ubiquitous, and offers a potential for both good and ill. Effectively managed, diversity becomes a strategic force that both results from and contributes to organizational success in the global arena. Ignored or mismanaged, diversity can stymie the most ambitious of global aspirations.
As a result, diversity management competencies—the ability to identify and address significant similarities and differences and their accompanying tensions appropriately—are more important than ever. Indeed, organizations that wish to prosper must develop a World Class Diversity Management Capability. What are the requirements for achieving World Class Diversity Management Capability? If diversity is defined as the differences and similarities—and related tensions and complexities—that can characterize any mixture, world class aspirants must have an approach that at a minimum:
• Fosters ease of comparison and discussion across the globe. Diversity means different things to people in different countries. This can be a major barrier in efforts to identify and understand different diversity management philosophies, unless one has a framework language and process that encourages cross-world communications.
• Builds awareness and understanding of the field of diversity and not just its individual dimensions. To be able to understand and address the diverse dimension priorities around the world, knowledge of diversity can prove helpful in a fundamental, practical sense. Without familiarity and competency with diversity, practitioners must develop an expertise for each possible dimension; this may be doable, but it can become onerous. A framework with concepts and transferable principles that apply to all dimensions provides a head start, as opposed to having to start from scratch in each instance.
• Offers a process for addressing any diversity issue. Given the multiplicity of approaches to diversity around the globe, "world class" status requires a process that can be adapted to any approach and used with any mixture.
Roosevelt Thomas Consulting & Training counsels its clients that our Strategic Diversity Management Process (SDMP) is such a process. Its definitions and principles apply to any diversity mixture, and accordingly, can provide a common language for dialogue across countries. Further, it recognizes and acknowledges that multiple approaches to diversity exist and offers a decision-making procedure that can be used across approaches. The SDMP provides an ideal conceptual and directional framework for pursuing "world class" status.
It also allows client organizations to ask some fundamental questions (such as: Does your current approach to diversity align with expressed or desired organizational paradigms?) that will be critical to their organizational success in achieving World Class Diversity Management Capability.
The odds are that most current approaches to diversity will not. For historical reasons, U.S. organizations may begin at a disadvantage in seeking Diversity Management capability. They may, for example, have a more difficult time than others in identifying and addressing the full range of diversity that can impact their effectiveness.
America's experience with race and resulting focus on civil rights has encouraged a narrow focus and non-diverse perspective on the concept of diversity for decades. Black, brown, yellow and white human relations, affirmative action efforts, equal employment opportunity programs, male/female population proportions, acknowledgment of alternative lifestyles and sexual orientation are the areas that spring to mind when the term diversity is used in the context of organizations.
While these may seem to represent varying (or diverse) views of what diversity is all about, they share a common element—a concentration on the physical. Unfortunately, few organizations have taken on and addressed the real challenge of diversity—how to effectively harness and channel the variety of thoughts and human experiences resident in the workforce to best accomplish strategic goals and objectives.
U.S. organizations must overcome another disadvantage. In addition to broadening their perception of the scope of diversity, they must understand that its management is a strategic requirement and must structure their organizations accordingly.
In many organizations, people-related initiatives and programs have failed, regardless of their merit, because they were viewed as driven by the human resources department and not regarded as strategically important to the business. Unfortunately, a large number of companies still view business operations as one side of their organizations and people related programs as another.
In fact, the divide between the business and HR is almost canyon-like in some organizations. Hence the ongoing plea by many HR managers for a "seat at the table" with those running the business; the narrower the perceived divide between the business and HR, the more efficient the organization is likely to be in meeting strategic business objectives that involve people.
In recent years, many organizations have worked to narrow this divide. Organizations that have been the most successful in doing so will often proudly refer to an organization environment in which HR strategies and programs are closely aligned with and support business objectives. In most of these cases HR has that coveted seat at the table. However, even though the business strategy and HR strategy divide may be virtually imperceptible in such organizations, it still exists.
Ultimately, the goal of best performing organizations should be the creation and maintenance of an environment where there isn't a business strategy and an HR strategy that support it. Instead, maximum organizational efficiency will be achieved when there is just an overall business strategy that has HR and diversity management components seamlessly incorporated.
This is particularly important when speed and effectiveness of execution of the business strategy is critical. It would include the vast majority of organizations in these challenging times. As a matter of self-preservation, today's organizations will usually reject or postpone any initiative—HR or Diversity—that does not appear to have strategic importance or criticality. The more "touchy-feely" the initiative, the more likely it will be implemented reluctantly and/or supported half-heartedly. Diversity programs, especially those designed to demonstrate that an organization is fulfilling its "corporate responsibility," are unlikely to bring any real change. World Class Diversity Management Capability requires that diversity-related programs serve the interest of the organization and that individuals at all levels in the organization understand that diversity efforts are in fact business efforts.
World Class Diversity Management Capability
Roosevelt Thomas Consulting & Training's most recent experience with the notion of "world class" occurred with respect to the United States Enrichment Corporation [USEC], a leading supplier of fuel for commercial nuclear power plants. This client organization understands that gaining a competitive advantage in the global economic market landscape will require that it be best in the world in its field. The company, which is launching a state-of-the-art plant, understands further that achieving this goal will require a diversity management capability as state-of-the-art as its technology.
USEC's employees are multicultural, highly educated, experienced, and sought after. Hiring an employee is an arduous affair that requires finding people who have the requisite education and skills and who also can pass the most stringent security clearance screening. The loss of an employee has a greater-than-average impact. Employees who leave take difficult-to-replicate information and cannot be quickly replaced. Clearly, the ability to recruit, motivate and retain these world- class individuals is a strategic issue. A World Class Diversity Management capability is essential.
In pursuit of this capability, USEC managers aspired to identify and understand global best philosophies and practices. They attended seminars on different best-in-class approaches, visited the sites of enterprises that advocate innovative strategies, invited leading practitioners to tour and assess their operations and devoured books on various methodologies. They also initiated some significant pioneering efforts to develop a diversity council, diversity strategic plan, and a site specific diversity action plan to achieve their world class objectives over the last year.
Company leaders demonstrated their belief that Diversity Management is a strategic matter by selecting individuals with proven excellence in organizational development to serve as executive sponsors—Bob Van Namen, chair of USEC's Diversity Council and senior vice president of Uranium Enrichment, and W. Lance Wright, senior vice president of human resources and administration. They also structured the organization so that Diversity Management is integral as opposed to a side bar of operations.
This is not an insignificant innovation. Indeed, it introduces another significant diversity issue as individuals accustomed to unequal status learn to cooperate as equals in a high-powered setting. Company leaders know that this will be complex, but they believe it is essential. Progressive organizations that attempt to create "separate but equal" folders for operations, technology, and human resources have found that the approach doesn't work. Because of past practices and biases, these organizations invariably fall back on operations in times of crisis.
The company's innovations are a work in progress. However, USEC's leaders are pleased with the results. Wright says, "I believe USEC's ability to embrace the Roosevelt Thomas Consulting & Training approach to strategic diversity management is what has allowed us to make extraordinary strides in a short period of time in reaching towards our goal of achieving World Class Diversity Management Capability.
We believe that this capability will be critical to our ability to obtain a competitive advantage within the global marketplace."
Dr. R. Roosevelt Thomas is CEO of Roosevelt Thomas Consulting & Training, a full service diversity strategy consulting & training organization. Albert A. George is vice president-principal consultant with the firm.
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