Debriefing-Managing Diversity at Cityside- the benefits and challenges of diversity

Some benefits of diversity (ethnic, religious, sexual oreintation):

- larger pool of employees with skills, talents, and experiences
-increased adaptability and flexibility
-global basis of service

More benefits of diversity

- more diverse workers want to be a part of your team
-creativity and innovation
- diversity is a part of american culture

Challenges of diversity

- resis

Is Cityside diversified?

50% of employees are women, 50% middle managers are AA, 25% of executives are AA;

AA can only go up in

retail divison

AA can only go up in

retail divison

Cityside financial is getting none of the value of diversity but

getting all the problems of diversity

Diversity Rationalization

increase profits to gain access to diverse clientele, two tracks (one for whites and one for blacks, external deposits and retail), approach to diversity is rationalized by access to these two communities; market oriented approach to diversifying the sales division that has lead to their problems

Main point

the approach an organization takes to managing its diversity derives primarily from how its leaders view diversity.

When there is diversity at the table,

discussion is richer, decision making process is better, and organization is stronger

two common perspectives on diversity

Discrimination and Fairness Paradigm: We are all the same, difference don't matter

- we are not all the same, and differences do matter; didn't work out

Access and legitimacy paradigm: "We accept and value difference.. int its place"

- didn't work out; like in cityside

Diversity and Fairness

moral imperative (right thing to do), eliminate discrimination, same treatment, recruitment and retention goals (meet quota)

DF Results

pressure to assimilate, differences undiscussible, conflict suppressed, people feel alienated

Access and legitimacy paradigm

use diversity to connect to markets, cultural identity interface between the company and its markets, progress measured by recruitment and retention

AI results

experience of employees is limited, careers limited, people exploited, differences not leveraged

There is another way/ how people think about diversity today:

Integration and learning paradigm

"we work together with our differences, not in spite of them"

I and L

cultural differences are a resource for learning, difference enhance workplace, tap into their experience to make organization better

In IL, progress measured by the power

under-represented groups have to change the organization

Increasing diversity doesn't increase effectiveness but

it matters how an organization harnesses that diversity and whether it's willing to reshape its power structure

IL Results

standard practice not best practice (change needs to occur), differences evaluated, people feel valued, work enhanced by insights into diversity, cultural competencies learned and shared

Preconditions for the Paradigm Shift

the leadership must truly value variety of opinion and insight. Leadership is committed to persevering transition. the culture of expectations of high standards of performance. The culture must encourage learning from mistakes.

Additional thoughts

diversity is about counting people, inclusion is making people count.

global business is about tech and talent transformation;

companies must be responsive to an interconnected global market that represents a diverse demographic. business in an interconnected global and diverse market

Delivering through diversity: McKinsey and Company

executive team; female increased from 2 to 14%, ethnic diversity from 1 to 13% between 2015-2017

highest performing companies

had greater percent of females and diversity

Different market segments prefer to do business with people who are culturally more similar to them?

is demographic matching okay or not a good reason? best employees in right positions

statistically the organization is diverse but it is segregated

two different divisions: external deposits and retail division

Challenges of diversity

-resistance to change (difficult)
-more effort to integrate diversity
-barriers may exist (cultural perception, language
-lost efficiency/how fast (not effectiveness; want more effective; how long you can do something)
-overcome stereotypes, discriminate and harassement