June, 2002
Class Notes
Change Leaders people involved in creating environment of respect, supporting full potential (organizational and personal goal) and fully capturing power of diversity
Trends in workforce changes
Diversity
· Not affirmative action
· Not a name for minority group members
· Not synonym for EEO
· Not so broad as to encompass any differences
· Not so narrow as limited to gender and race
· Is variation of social and cultural identities or people working in an employment setting
· Creates challenges and opportunities not present in homogeneous work groups
Managing Diversity
· Understanding its effects
· Implementing behaviors, work practices, and policies that respond effectively
Double-edged sword
· Potential performance barrier
o Reduced communication effectiveness and increased conflict
o Harassment and discriminatory behaviors
o Avoidance of diversity issues
· Value-Added Activity
o Managing diversity well can improve orgs performance
o Implementing fairness and respect as values for all (not a platitude)
o Improve problem solving
§ Addl views improve quality of decision-making process
§ Addl views better at critically analyzing decision issues and alternatives
§ Must be managed well, including proper training
o Increase creativity and innovation
§ Most innovative are also diversity tolerant
§ Deliberately create heterogeneous work teams
o Increase organizational flexibility
§ Ways of organizing and responding to information
§ More tolerance for ambiguity
§ Higher levels of cognitive flexibility
§ Reduced standardization & broadening policies- More fluid and adaptable
o Improve quality of personnel better attraction and retention with wider potential workforce
o Improve marketing strategies
§ PR value manages diversity well
§ Gains from multiple insights
§ Helps create customer relations strategies
Past Efforts Reasons for Disappointing Results
· Misdiagnosis of the problem
o Culture toxic to diversity
o Pressure to conform leave or modify thoughts/behavior to fit in
· Wrong solution (lack of systemic approach)
o Wrong approach taking the step (increasing diversity) as the solution rather than one step
o Needs change in other elements of the system org with low tolerance for diversity puts barriers to acceptance and performance/retention/etc.
· Failure to understand learning curve
o Steep learning curve success in months
§ Unrealistic expectations
§ Impatience
§ Remove attention
§ Change stops or reverts
o Flatter learning curve requires years of conscientious effort to achieve high level of proficiency
§ Creating welcoming climate is cultural change
§ Change to organizational culture