Respond to 2 classmates post for Business Capstone Course

RESPOND WITH AT LEAST 150 WORDS…WRITE AS IF YOU ARE SPEAKING TO THE STUDENT…CITE ANY REFERENCES USED

POST 1:

Class,

The first company that appeared in my search for successful diversity and multiculturism practices is Allstate. Allstate was honored by “DiversityInc’s annual Top 50 Companies list which recognizes companies for diversity and inclusion. Companies on the list excel in areas like hiring, retaining and promoting women, minorities, LGBT people, veterans and people with disabilities” (Smith, 2018, para. 1). Allstate is no stranger to the being recognized as a leader in diversity efforts as evidenced by being selected as one of the top 50 recipients for 13 consecutive years, Vice President of Human Resources and Inclusive Diversity stated “We know that actively seeking out and leveraging the collective mixture of individual differences and similarities improves business outcomes for our workforce, the marketplace and our communities.” (Smith, 2018, para. 3).

A company that was recognized on Diversity Best Practices (DBP), a division of Working Mother Media’s second annual inclusion index is Bank of America. One of the categories companies that are graded on is “Adherence to best practices for fostering diversity and inclusion in recruitment, retention and advancement of people from under-represented groups—women, racial/ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ people” (Diversity Best Practices, 2018, para. 4). The Working Mother Research Institute determined that companies who scored 65 percent and above should be identified on their index for their best practices in diversity and inclusion work. Bank of America was also recognized by a second threshold at 81 percent to recognize 31 companies for superior achievement (Working Mother, 2018, para. 3).

Very surprisingly Google showed a widespread appearance in my search for companies struggling with diversity and multiculturism. Interestingly enough, Google is being sued by former employees from both ends of the spectrum. Some former employees believe that the company has gone too far in their efforts of trying to correct a lack of diversity. According to Wakabayashi (2018), “A former recruiter for YouTube sued Google because, he said, he was fired for resisting a mandate to hire only diverse female or black and Latino candidates” (para. 6). From the other end of the spectrum, “another former Google employee said he was fired because he was too outspoken in advocating diversity and for spending too much time on “social activism.” (Wakabayashi, 2018, para. 7). It appears that although Google is making conscious efforts to remedy a self-acknowledged problem with diversity, they still have cultural issues within the company.

Nike was the next company that appeared in a search for companies struggling with diversity within their structure. Nike’s Head of Diversity and Inclusion, Antoine Andrews, exited the company and his resignation according to Zhao (2018), “comes as the company is trying to change its workplace culture. Earlier this month, Nike’s human resources chief Monique Matheson sent a memo to employees about how the sportswear giant “has failed to gain traction” in hiring and promoting more women and minorities to senior-level positions” (para. 5). This is not a singular incident at Nike either. Multiple upper-level executives are leaving the company and according to Creswell and Draper (2018), “A sweeping investigation into workplace behavior at Nike has resulted in the departures of five more top-level executives, raising to 11 the number of senior managers to leave the company as it continues to overhaul its upper ranks amid widespread allegations of harassment and discrimination against female employees” (para. 1). Large widespread resignations seemingly show an aggressive stance from Nike CEO, Mark Parker, to correct a cultural problem throughout his company specifically stating the efforts are an attempt to “improve the diversity of its workforce and its progress toward meeting equal pay goals” (Creswell and Draper, 2018, para. 9).

References

Creswell, J. & Draper, K. (2018, May 8). 5 more Nike executives are out amid inquiry into harassment allegations. NY Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/business/nike-h…

Diversity Best Practices. (2018, July 23). Diversity Best Practices Reveals the Inclusion Index. Retrieved from https://www.diversitybestpractices.com/diversity-b…

Smith, R. (2018, May 4). Allstate recognized for diversity efforts. Insurancebusinessmag.com. Retrieved from https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/break…

Wakabayashi, D. (2018, March 9). Google is trying too hard (or not hard enough) to diversify. NY Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/09/technology/goog…

Working Mother. (2018, July 19). Meet the 2018 Diversity Best Practices Inclusion Index Organizations. Retrieved by https://www.workingmother.com/diversity-best-pract…

Zhao, H. (2018, April 16). Nike’s VP of diversity leaves amid efforts to reform workplace culture. CNBC. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/16/nikes-head-of-dive…

POST 2:

Cultural diversity is something that has existed within the ranks of the military for the entirety of my 20 plus year Army career and it has broadened my experience and knowledge of other cultures and my experience as a whole. I have searched the internet for examples from other organizations and their experience with cultural diversity.

“Many companies invest in diversity efforts and appoint chief diversity officers, yet are disappointed with the meager results. Over the last 30 years there has been progress, but most agree the full opportunity has not been realized. Thousands have made the business case for why diversity matters, and shown how it drives revenue, motivates employees, and fosters innovation” (Fortune, 2016). However some companies have excelled and in this article they discuss the Top 100 Companies for Diversity. “This year’s winners include companies such as Texas Health Resources (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., No. 1 on the list for Best Workplaces for Diversity and No. 2 for Best Workplaces for African-Americans. The Arlington, Texas, hospital system has a workforce that’s 77% women and 41% minorities, offers ESL classes, provides benefits to same-sex partners, and hosts 32 events a year to connect employees with peers from different backgrounds” (Fortune, 2016).

The Army is also a leader in this area employing a diverse microcosm of society and offering same sex benefits, months and programs dedicated to inclusion and cultural awareness and working to foster and environment where achievement is based off achievement.

However there are always areas for improvement as we have identified in our SWOT even the best organizations have blind spots and weaknesses. As mentioned above even companies that have hired diversity managers and dedicated departments do not always achieve the mission or make things within a company more culturally diverse or aware.

Giovanni Ford

Fortune. (2016). How the Best Companies Do Diversity RIght. Retrieved from: http://fortune.com/2016/12/05/diversity-inclusion-…