This week’s readings made me think about culture and diversity in the workplace which I’ve never really considered, but it’s interesting. The article about why diversity matters made me question how an organization would even achieve diversity in the workplace, do they stop hiring people of certain genders or ethnicities once they reach a set amount? I’m definitely in favor of diversity in the workplace, and it doesn’t surprise me that more diverse companies are financially more productive, but I question how companies become diverse. The article about organizational culture made me think about just how different every organization’s culture is, and how it’s constantly changing because of new employees, locations, and acquisitions. I was curious about the relationship between organizational success/productivity and organizational culture, but the other article suggests that a more diverse organization and, as a result, a more diverse organizational culture typically means more success/productivity.
There are a handful of definitions and explanations in the article about organizational culture that lead to me think about what organizational culture really is and what it means. The definition “Organizational culture [is shaped by] the main culture of the society we live in, albeit with greater emphasis on particular parts of it,” from Elizabeth Skringar isn’t farfetched, but what is the society “we” live in for a multi-national organization operating in the context of many different cultures? The author, Michael Watkins, mentioned that “a company’s history of acquisition also figures importantly in defining its culture and subcultures,” which would also make it difficult for an organization to identify with a specific society or culture. The last definition of an organizational culture where Abdi Osman Jama calls it “living” is close to what I would’ve said. I hadn’t heard of the phrase “organizational culture” until I read the article this week, but I’m fascinated by its ambiguity. I’d definitely be interested in exploring this topic further.
I’ve been working for a Fortune 100 company for over a decade, and can attempt to answer your first question by telling you about what we’re doing. Over the past several years, HR has implemented a program where hiring managers such as myself are free to choose whom to interview, but when a decision is made, we must submit documentation attesting to the diversity of the candidates we interviewed. What constitutes diversity? Well, right now it breaks down into two, admittedly clumsy, categories: caucasian males, and everyone else. The same is true for the interview panel. The decision on whom to hire is still mine, but I must demonstrate that I considered a diverse pool of candidates and that the interview panel was also diverse. HR recognizes this isn’t a perfect system, and they continue work on refining the process.
When reading the articles for this week I also thought about how a company would implement hiring more diverse people. I am not sure what the right strategy would be when trying to become diverse but I believe it might be why so many companies have not yet added it into there work place. Although the stats show how companies benefit from the diversity the fear of not knowing how might be the reason why they don’t.
Reading your first response, I totally agree and loved the perspective you gave. It changed how I responded to he question, now considering when is it that companies pull the plug on hiring a certain gender or race to ensure their company has the “diversity” that is encouraged. Comparing the success rates of company with organizational culture would be rather fascinating, to see if there is a correlation to be found, I would assume that most likely there is. I also felt the exact same about the actual definition of organizational culture after reading that article, because the responses given as to what it means were so all over the place I had no clue as to what “organizational culture” actually meant.
Thanks for chiming in here, Mike–your HR perspective is really helpful.
“Quotas” are really a myth–it’s not legal to hire someone simply because of some particular feature of their identity, and nobody is suggesting that unqualified candidates be given preference because of their gender or their race.
Instead, the goal of diversity programs for hiring is to ensure that a diverse pool of candidates is recruited and considered, and that’s both 1) to ensure fairness (that not only some people get the chance) and 2) to ensure the best possible pool so the company can hire the best possible person. Systematically recruiting a diverse pool ensures that a company’s diversity will systematically (though often not quickly) expand.