- How would Xerox define diversity? How has its definition changed over the years?
Xerox is one organization which values and respects diversity. It treats diversity as a means to include all strata of people in its organization rather than going by numbers or just concentrating on gender and race. Xerox believes that a diverse workforce facilitates innovation and has incorporate diversity in its workforce policy.
Post the race riots of 1960, the first Chairman of Xerox, Mr. Joseph C. Wilson incorporate a policy which employed a diverse workforce including individuals from minority groups and women. Gradually the diversity policy of Xerox started including a caucus group of lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual workforce and even created partner benefit policies for such people. The initiation of yearly personnel round tables with superiors and senior managers fostered communication with management on Xerox’s weaknesses, strengths and best practices.
- What are the seven reasons why Xerox should be motivated to diversity their workforce? Illustrate how Xerox shows it values workplace diversity.
- A diverse workforce provides opportunities for optimum talent to be tapped
- It fosters a spirit of knowledge sharing and knowledge management
- Diversity helps to augment productivity
- Diversity fosters innovation
- Having a diverse workforce helps in gaining a competitive edge over rival firms
- Diversity helps in reducing the issues caused due to racial discrimination
- Helps to retain employees especially with Xerox as it fosters diversity friendly policies.
Xerox fosters a policy of workforce diversity by providing partner policies for caucus groups like lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual people and the establishment of GALAXe Pride at Work. Also it has provided certain flex policies for women and has established the Balanced Workforce Strategies for unprejudiced inclusion of women and minority personnel in its work functions. The annual diversity personnel round table fostered a spirit of unfiltered and open communication between the management and employees. Through these various efforts, Xerox continues to foster a diversity friendly policy.
- Does Xerox embody or defy the “leaking pipeline” phenomenon? Why?
Xerox is an organization which has from the beginning fostered an atmosphere which facilitates women in the workforce. It has accordingly developed certain policies like “flex time” which recognized that women find it difficult to balance family commitments and workplace and accordingly provided them certain facilities so that they could continue with their job and also maintain high job satisfaction and productivity.
Xerox has previously made women heads of departments and has also incorporated women in responsible positions. The previous Chairman of Xerox Ms. Anne M. Mulcahy is a women and the current Chairman, Ms. Ursula Burns is a women from the minority community. These are solid examples which suggest that Xerox has succeeded in defying the “leaking pipeline” phenomenon and has steadily incorporated and retained the fairer sex.
- Research Question: Compare Xerox to other Fortune 500 companies. How are women and minorities represented at the highest levels of each organization? How can these statistics be improved upon?
Xerox is among the top 20 organizations supporting a diverse workforce. The current Chairman of Xerox, Ms. Ursula Burns hails from a minority community. This company has time and again fostered diversity as the previous Chairman was a women and the current Chairman hails from the minority community and is a women. Xerox has 31.4 percent of women workforce, also 35.5 percent of new employees hail from minority groups and 22.4 percent managers or officers are from the minority community (Xerox, 2012). The above statistics shows that Xerox fosters a spirit of diversity.
On the other hand, rival firms like Dell and IBM also promote diversity programs. However, it does not display diversity statistics like Xerox does. This organization strives to promote its diversity programs by hiring women and minority community individuals in top positions as well as incorporate them into the organization for getting a competitive edge. Xerox Corporation has already started giving women responsible positions and even markets them so as to boost the morale of women and minority workforce (Bernardi, Bosco & Columb, 2009).
These statistics can be further improved by the human resource department taking active participating in not only hiring but also retaining employees from minority groups and women. Even during change management and restructuring process the organization should give priority to promote diversity. Equal representation and equal pay for all individuals including handicapped people should also be fostered by Xerox. This will help in enhancing the diversity statistics of Xerox Corporation.
References:
Bernardi, R.A., Bosco, S.M. & Columb, V.L. (2009). Does female representation on boards of directors associate with the ‘most ethical companies’ list? Corporate Reputation Review, 12(3), 270 – 280.
Xerox (2012). Xerox diversity: Different ideas. Diverse people. Dramatic results. Retrieved November 29, 2012 from
