Diversity Management Trends and Challenges in the Multinational Organizations (MNCs)
Paper Due Date
Introduction
The global business environment is subject to several influences, resulting from globalization, internationalization of organizational supply chains and ever increasing international mobility of individuals that constitute employment and customer base of modern businesses. Business landscape in the United States has been evolving for several decades, when large companies expanded abroad and found cost-effective solutions in outsourcing, postponement strategies, building on virtual e-commerce environments and took other steps to increase their reach, responsiveness, and resilience on the global business arena. The fact is that growth brings diversity (Syed and Ozbilgin, 34-65). This gender, cultural and professional diversity can make a tremendous positive contribution to the organizations, once they recognize the benefits of it and address internal diversity as a major strategic asset. Unfortunately, not all the companies have a diversity-driven approach and the US corporations are not exceptions. The purpose of this document is to look at six companies, ranked high (Delta Airlines and Marriott Hotels), medium (Target Group and IBM) and low (Simon Property Group and Berkshire Hathaway) in the Diversity in Organization List in the country (Adams, 1, Smyth and Gould, 1; Fortune, 1). The choice is based upon three ranking lists, including such reliable sources as Business Insider, Fortune and Forbes. This examination will allow understanding how the bottom-ranked companies can improve by learning from early adopters.
Analysis of the Companies
Top Two Companies
Delta Airlines and Marriott Hotel are the two companies which are ranked among top MNCs in the US in terms of employee diversity. The companies are focused on promoting equal employment opportunities and build on equal ratio among female and male employees. The basis of the ranking is the statistics, published by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Statistics, which illustrates the black people employment, women in management roles and minorities in the workforce. These companies have 41% more black and 46% more women and 17% more minority employees than other organizations. Some of the critical steps that these companies have taken include equal pay, global diversity training and international rotation (Smyth and Goud, 1). The equal pay, equal employment opportunities, and training ensure that the company takes a step beyond understanding and managing diversity and builds on effective work environment driven by personal and professional differences (Harvey and Allard, 101-146). Such programs as Supplier Diversity, Community Education, and Investment in Sustainable Entrepreneurship locally are major differentials of these companies (Delta Airlines, 1; Marriot, 1). The above-outlined actions, along with Global Leadership development, including national and international rotations, cross-functional training of employees and innovation laboratories inside the organization demonstrate the how these organizations approach diversity management as pioneers and radical innovators (Marriot, 1; Glassdoor, 1).
Two Middle Ranked Companies
Target Group and IBM are in the middle of the ranking, which indicates a strong focus on diversity management. Per the US EEOS, these companies demonstrate 20% more black and Asian employees, 13% more women and 7% more minority employees in the organization. This statistic supports the argument for placing these companies in the list of Top Diversity-focused organizations in the list, and, at the same time, outlines the areas, where they still could improve, relative to the leaders. Both companies, Target and IBM position themselves as the companies, which build their competitive advantage through diverse teams, talent management, and community engagement, building on local employment and inclusion (Harvey and Allard, 100-115). Moreover, these companies have internal educational and training programs, which help individuals grow personally and professionally and achieve higher positions within the company under flexible work arrangements. This flexibility makes companies more attractive for working mothers and minority employees, as it offers flexibility in terms of benefits, work environment and working hours (Leighton and Gregory, 3-8).
Two Low Ranked Companies
There are two companies that are often mentioned as the worst MNCs in the US in terms of internal diversity - Simon Property Group and Berkshire Hathaway. To understand the reasons for this judgment, it is important to consider that Simon Property Group is one of the world´s largest real estate companies, while Berkshire Hathaway is the US conglomerate holding company, fully owning GEICO, Lubrizol, and Flight Safety International and other large companies (Berkshire Hathaway, 1). Some of the distinguishing statistics include the fact that companies have 2 and 1 women on the Boards of 12 and 10 members accordingly. Both organizations have no women in top management positions and no evidence of diversity management programs in place.
Comparison and Contrasting
The insight gained into Diversity and Inclusion perception and practices of the six companies allow driving several conclusions and observation. Equal Employment opportunity and pay, involving organizational strive to increase several women in power and minority and ethnically diverse employees in a workforce are central to the diversity and company´s positive ranking in the US Diversity List. At the same time, the top performers differ from the second-line adopters, taking diversity further to upstream supplier relationship and community projects, which build on local employment and education systems (Erbe, 45-68). It is evident that both companies, ranked as low in the diversity list are far from performing well in any of the above indicators. To ensure that these organizations go up in diversity rankings in the country, they should focus on the basics, build on diversity management program and set the goals for women, LSBT and minority employment in the organizations (Syed and Ozbilgin, 57-87). Companies, who are performing well, but are in the middle of the list, should expand their diversity effort by fostering Diversity-driven thinking across their international supply chain to their upstream partners.
Works Cited
Delta Airlines. Supplier Diversity. Delta Airlines Corporate Website. Web 1 January 2016, http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/about-delta/partnering-with-delta/supplier-diversity.html
Erbe, Nancy. Approaches to Managing Organizational Diversity and Innovation. New York: Business Science Reference Publishing. 2014. Print.
Forbes. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Forbes [Online]. Web 1 May 2016, http://www.forbes.com/companies/berkshire-hathaway/
Fortune. Fortune’s Annual List of Companies in the U.S. Doing the Most to Create Inclusive Cultures for Minorities, LGBT Employees, and Women. Fortune. 2 May 2016. Web 3 June 2015, http://fortune.com/best-workplaces-for-diversity/
Glassdoor. Delta Airlines Employee Diversity Program. Web 21 July 2014, https://www.glassdoor.com/Benefits/Delta-Air-Lines-Diversity-Program-US-BNFT123_E197_N1.htm
Harvey, Carol. and Allard June., M. Understanding and Managing Diversity: Readings, Cases, and Exercises. Boston: Pearson Publishing. 2015. Print.
IBM. Diversity and Inclusion. IBM Corporate Website. Web 1 February 2017 http://www-03.ibm.com/employment/us/diverse/
Leighton, Dan, and Gregory, Thomas. Reinventing the Workforce. Demos Publishing. Web 2 November 2011, http://www.flexibility.co.uk/downloads/Demos-2011-Reinventing_the_Workplace_-_web.pdf
Marriot. About Marriot. Diversity and Inclusion. Marriot Corporate Website. Web 1 January 2016, http://www.marriott.com/diversity/diversity-and-inclusion.mi
Smyth, Jacquelyn, and Gould, Skye. The 25 Best Companies for Diversity in the US. Business Insider. Web 14 May 2015, http://www.businessinsider.com/most-diverse-companies-in-the-us-2015-5
Syed, Jawad, and Ozbilgin, Mustafa. Managing Diversity and Inclusion: An International Perspective. Los Angeles: Sage Publications. 2015. Print.
Target. Diversity and Inclusion. Target Corporate Website. Web 1 February 2017 http://www-03.ibm.com/employment/us/diverse/
