Manu K. Vora, Ph.D., MBA
"Diversity Management for Organizational Excellence".
Diversity management requires harnessing the energy of individuals from different social, ethnic, and economic backgrounds in order to achieve organizational excellence. In the 21st Century, managing diversity has become a strategic imperative. Let us explore some key points supporting this imperative:
1). Let me share a few quotes about diversity from famous people. Rene Dubos – "Human diversity makes tolerance more than a virtue; it makes it a requirement for survival". Jimmy Carter – "We have become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic of different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes and different dreams".
2). Diversity fosters a safe environment of inclusiveness where everyone in the organization feels welcome, valued, and part of the whole. Thus diversity is a competitive advantage.
3). Diversity management allows an organization to attract and retain top talents, which is essential in order to survive and thrive in the competitive workplace.
4). Organizational excellence demands a diverse group of employees serving their equally diverse customers by managing various processes. This leads to a superior operation and better financial performance.
5). A Gallup study found that successful organizations hire diverse talent, manage their expectations, motivate them using their strengths and find the best fit in the organization for them.
6). To achieve organizational excellence, the leadership team must create an environment where employees are fully engaged. Engagement comes from involvement, motivation and development.
7). Employee involvement requires effectively working in teams, thus offering diverse talents to solve problems. Attending meetings and offering diverse viewpoints fosters effective decision making.
8). Motivation requires on-going, non-monetary recognition for diverse group of employees who serve their customers well and help in achieving organizational goals. It is also important to listen to broad range of employee ideas and suggestions through a simple employee suggestion system.
10). Employee development requires performance management with timely feedback to strengthen employee contributions and help them on their development path. This may require special needs that can be addressed by education and training to improve their skills.
11). There are several role model examples of diversity management such as: Avon Products, Inc., Goldman Sachs Group, Hewlett-Packard Co., New York Life Insurance, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, Prudential, Ryder System, Inc. and Toyota. They manage diversity as a long-term process.
12). We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty, and all are of different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.
In summary, it is the responsibility of the senior leadership team to ensure that the work environment is open and trusting. By doing so, employees will excel in serving their customers by working collaboratively in diverse and effective teams. Let me end with a few quotes. Helen Keller – "Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much" and Mikhail Gorbachev – "Peace is not unity in similarity but unity in diversity, in the comparison and conciliation of differences". Let us celebrate our differences as working assets to achieve organizational excellence.
About the Author:
Dr. Manu Vora is Chairman and President of Business Excellence, Inc., a global quality management consulting firm. He has over 30 years of leadership experience guiding Fortune 500 companies (AT&T Bell Laboratories and Lucent Technologies) with Malcolm Baldrige assessment in the areas of leadership development, customer satisfaction, employee engagement, and continuous process improvement. As an Adjunct Professor, he teaches "Quality Management" and "Supply Chain Management" at Stuart School of Business at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago. He is a Past Vice President of American Society for Quality (ASQ), ASQ Fellow, and Certified Quality Engineer. Dr. Vora served on Affirmative Action Advisory Committee of Switching Systems Business Unit at AT&T Bell Laboratories for number of years in Naperville, Illinois.
Dr. Vora has B.S., M.S. & Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and an MBA with Marketing Management. He served as a Chief Judge at Illinois Team Excellence Award Program from 1993-1999 and as a Judge on the Board of Examiners of the Asia Pacific Quality Award since 2004. He has published a chapter on "Managing Human Capital" in the book "Six Sigma for Transactions and Service" by McGraw-Hill in 2005. He has delivered over 170 presentations on business excellence and Total Quality Management (TQM) topics around the world. Dr. Vora has been recognized with numerous awards from ASQ including ASQ Grant Medal, Lancaster Medal, Testimonial Awards, and ASQ Chicago Section's Joe Lisy & Founder's Award. He received Professional Achievement Award from IIT, Paul Harris Fellow Medal from Rotary International and Distinguished Service Award from Save The Children Federation. He is the Founding Director and President of Blind Foundation for India which has raised over $3.0 million for visually impaired people in India.
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