This document discusses diversity and diversity management. It defines diversity as differences between people including visible attributes, underlying attributes, and dimensions of difference. Diversity management aims to ensure equal treatment and access to work while leveraging differences for competitive advantage. Effective diversity management includes assessing diversity, training, and incentive programs. Companies that successfully manage diversity report benefits like improved problem solving, creativity, and customer service.

1. Diversity Competence-
Managing Cultural Diversity and
Diversity Management
Alina Sachapow
Vanessa Günther
Sarah Al-samahiji

2. Outline
1. Importance of Diversity Management
2. Definitions of Diversity and Diversity
Management
3. Strategy and Goals of Diversity Management
4. Negative Example
5. Positive Examples
6. Pros and Cons
7. Discussion
8. Conclusion
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3. Importance of Diversity Management
• Fast developing business world
• More and more companies operate on a worldwide
scale
• Customers getting more individual and satisfaction is
hard to achieve
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4. Definition of Diversity
• Variety, multifariousness, mixture and
difference
• Roosevelt Thomas
– more than only differences between people
– diversity includes differences as well as similarities
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5. Definition of Diversity
• Milliken and Martins
– “Observable or readily detectible attributes”
– “less visible or underlying attributes”
• Litvins
– six fixed dimensions of difference which are
inherent and not changeable
– eight fluid secondary dimensions of difference
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6. Definition of Diversity Management
• US human rights movements (1960)
– To ensure similar treatment between genders
– To faciliate access to work for ethnical minorities
• Voluntary action of a company
• Two different incentives
– ethical drivers
– economic factors
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7. Diversity Management Goals
• Strategic:
– Diversified workforce for different market
challenges
– Different knowlegde levels, cultural backgrounds,
age, gender,…
• Operational:
– Cross-cultural business-relationships
– Behave adequately in a foreign business
environment
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8. Approach to Diversity Management
• Individual structure, culture and goals ->unique
diversity management
• top-down activity
• communicate the goals and reasons to staff
• communication channels:
– workshops, trainings, brochures, the company
newspaper or newsletters
• Long-term process
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9. Diversity Management in practice
• Diversity or Culture Audit
• gather hard (statistical) and soft data by a survey
• Based on the gathered information a Diversity
Management strategy is formed
• Recruitment, trainings, promotions, performance
ratings and payment policies
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10. Diversity Management in practice
• Awareness Rising/ Training
• Skill Building
– integration programs employees / mentoring
programs
– Workshops
– Heterogeneity in decision making committees
• Controlling and evaluation
• Feedback
– discussion forums
– employee networks
• Incentive system
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11. Diversity as a
problem

12. Facts
• British manager who is also a geologist.
• Working for a French company for 20 years.
• Can’t understand the behavior of his
coworkers
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13. Observations
• Inability of coworkers to accept criticism.
• Strange looks and frowns when he did not
know the answer to questions.
• Annoyed by him when he admitted that he
has to search the answer.
• Employees were comfortable to admit they
did not know something and needed to ask.
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14. Suggested Solutions
• Better preparation for the meetings.
• Get to know the French working environment.
• Specify to his coworkers that he will be able to
give answers in another time.
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15. Diversity as a
benefit
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16. BASF
• World’s leading chemical company.
• Uses diversity as a way to make the company
stronger and more innovative.
• Openness in the workplace
• employees have the same opportunities,
regardless of their sex, nationality, educational
background or cultural heritage.
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17. "Valuing diversity is not merely recognizing the
legitimacy of differences, but relying on these
differences for a competitive advantage -
developing an environment of cooperation
and communication that encourages
colleagues to value and express differing ideas
and viewpoints. Diversity is not only
important, it is necessary to forming the best
team." BASF CEO
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18. Strategy to manage
diversity
1. Diversity modules
2. Intercultural training
3. Employees groups
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19. Diversity Modules
• Interactive lessons.
• Employees participate using the computer.
• Help and strategies regarding: conflict
resolution, negotiation and communication.
Types:
1. Diversity matters
2. Case for diversity
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20. Intercultural Training
• Aims to strengthen competences and the
capacity to work more efficiency across
boarders .
• Language consulting and training.
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21. Employees groups
• Create an atmosphere of belonging.
• Employees from same interest and
backgrounds.
• Help each other develop personally and
professionally.
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22. Employee Groups
1. Women and Business issues
2. African-American employee group
3. Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual -transgender and
friends.
4. Latin American employee group
5. Emerging professionals and friends.
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23. Diversity as a
benefit II
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24. Facts
• A leading global supplier of technology and
services in various sectors
• Represented in over 60 countries
• Operating with partners in over 150 countries
• Approximately 283 500 employees
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25. Strategy
• Focus on the acquisition of diversity
competencies
• Achieved through a combination of “on the
job learning” and “off the job learning”
• Importance of getting to know yourself in
order to know how to deal with the unkown
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26. On the Job Learning
• Also known as learning from experience
–Transfer of workers into foreign
countries into both directions
–International rotation programs
–Trainee programs with foreign
situations
–International projects
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27. Off the Job Learning
International
Promotion /
Support
Seminars
Intercultural Preparation
Team Seminars for
Trainings going abroad
Intercultural
Stabilization
Reintegration Integration
Workshops Workshops
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28. Strategy continued
• Goal to offer holistic concepts
• Making use of aquired knowledge
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29. Cons of Diversity
• Costly
• Time consuming
• Potential Conflict & Misunderstandings
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30. Pros of Diversity
• Diverse Opinions (Problems can be addressed
from various view points)
• Encouraged creativity (develop other peoples
ideas)
• Customer friendliness due to better adapted
service offering
• Flexibility
• Continous learning from one another
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31. Discussion
In a meeting you feel very insulted because
your business counterpart tells you that
your proposal is insane. What is your
response?
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32. 1. I will not show that they have hurt/insulted me, because that would
be seen as a sign of weakness and would make me more
vulnerable in the future.
2. I will not show that I am hurt because that would spoil our
relationship. This will allow me later to tell the counterpart how
much I was hurt by their comment so they might learn from it. I
rather show my emotions when they have more chance to improve
our business relationship.
3. I will show clearly that I am insulted so that my counterpart
gets the message. I believe clarity of my message will allow
me to be able to control even greater emotional upset in the
future.
4. I will show clearly that I am insulted so that my counterpart
gets the message. If business partners cannot behave
themselves properly they have to bear the consequences
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33. Lets analyze you….
1= you prefer to be neutral and reject affectivity in
response.
2= you support the neutral point of departure in
order to show emotions more effectively in the
future.
3= you take an expressive point of departure in
order to stabilize future emotional interactions.
4= you reflect a preference for emotional outburst
regardless of their sequences.
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34. In your opinion, is diversity
competence an acquired set of skills?
Or is it something that comes
naturally? Why?
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35. Conclusion
• Diversity Management will play important
factor in the future
• Companies who do have an adequate
program in place are more successful
• Unfortunately still underestimated in many
business branches
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36. Thank you for your attention!
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37. Sources
• Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner, Riding the waves of Culture,
Nicholas Brealey Publishing 1997
• Dominik Sandner , Diversity Management – Vielfalt als Resscource
betriebswirtschaftliche Begründungen , VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, 2006
• Jörg Haselier, Mark Thiel, Diversity Management – Unternehmerische Stärke durch
personelle Vielfalt, Bund-Verlag , 2005
• Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rothlauf – Interkulturelles Management, Mit Beispielen aus
Vietnam, China, Japan, Russland und den Golfstaaten, R. Oldenbourg Verlag
München Wien, 2006
• BASF- Corporation, Diversity URL:
http://www2.basf.us/corporate/diversity/index.htm
Accessed on 14.05.2011 at 14:28
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