Diversity Advocate Programmers: Case Study

Case Situation
I am a manager at Diversity Advocate Programmers, a programming company that is currently working on creating an application program for the government that must be completed in two weeks. My team consists of bright individuals: three males of Asian descent, ages 29-34 (majority group) who have all been with the company over five years; two females of younger age, one Palestinian and one Australian (minority group) who have been with the company under two years. Today the majority group complained about the minority group’s lack of performance, yet the complaints were tinged with some culturally derogatory overtones.
It is my responsibility to resolve the existing group tensions, to build teamwork, to create a strong and
cohesive group and to complete the work on-time. Our company’s software allows us to track any progress made to the application and to see who made those contributions. I have known the minority group to be very hard workers and believe that the issue lies with my group being split into two subgroups due to the group faultlines1 that have strengthened within the last 2 months. I have sent a memo stating, that due to time budget concerns I am asking all members to create a time outline of the tasks that they must complete in order to finish the project by our deadline; however, they are to leave an hour opening each day, which will be explained during tomorrow’s meeting.
Case Solution
At the meeting, our goal is to collectively agree on the remaining specified tasks to be completed.
I then inform the group that in order to build teamwork, to gain understanding and to appreciate the contributions of all members within the group, everyone will be working with a different partner for an hour during the next two weeks. They will meet everyone twice, once to learn their job, and once to teach their job (See Schedule 1). Also, being that I know everyone is a video game enthusiast, I have scheduled a team Starcraft competition against one of our competitors, which we will take part in for a half hour at 3pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. In addition, I will be holding weekly games nights at my house (or agreed upon location) and bringing homemade food is appreciated if
possible.
Research Analysis and Resources
We learned that “diversity initiatives are more likely to succeed when employees identify with their teams and the organization” (Jayne & Dipboye, 2004).
By implementing the strategy of online game competition, we are trying to achieve group bonding, make team members more comfortable with each other, and identify themselves with the team as opposed to their subgroups. In addition, this activity also helps release the pressure from the daily work routine (Meyer, 2010). Our actions are aimed at managing diversity effectively through “senior management commitment and accountability” in the form of group bonding nights (Jayne & Dipboye, 2004). “In order to obtain performance benefits, heterogeneous team members must understand the others ' cultures” (Cox & Blake, 1991). By bringing homemade food to the weekly game nights, they have an opportunity to share their culture through food exchange that can spark in further cultural discussions. “The probability of success is likely to depend on situational factors such as the organizational culture, [...] people in the organization and their jobs” (Jayne & Dipboye, 2004). Our plan of action has been tailored specifically to our
organization.
Broader Application of Solution and Conclusion
The ideas that we presented today can be applied broadly to other organizations with minor modifications. Our idea for one-on-one sessions, where employees exchange their knowledge and expertise with one another can be implemented virtually in any organization. Our idea for an online game competition with another company should be modified according to the company’s corporate culture and trade of business.
Our recommendation to general company policy is that, though some activities may seem to be a detraction from work and costly in the short-term, they can manifest into being one of the major factors for creating value, unity and creativity among the employees which can lead to increased productivity in the long-term (Cox & Blake, 1991). Also, investing in outside-of-work activities can help with team cohesion, and discovering common interests that can reinforce work relationship.

Schedule 1

Employee Name
Demographic Attributes
Aki Yang
Japanese male, 34 yrs. old
Botan Wu
Japanese male, 29 yrs. old
Sung Mo Sung
Korean male, 32 yrs. old
Adeela Amari
Palestinian female, 24 yrs. old
Ember Slavina
Australian female, 26 yrs. old

Week 1
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Sung Mo → Aki
Adeela → Aki
Aki → Sung Mo
Adeela → Botan
Aki → Adeela
Botan → Adeela
Ember → Sung Mo
Botan → Ember
Sung Mo → Ember
Ember → Botan

Week 2
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Adeela → Sung Mo
Sung Mo → Botan
Adeela → Ember
Ember → Aki
Aki → Botan
Aki → Ember
Ember → Adeela
Botan → Aki
Botan → Sung Mo
Sung Mo → Adeela

Works Cited

Cox, T. C., & Blake, S. (1991). Managing cultural diversity: implications for organizational competitiveness. Academy of Management Executives, 48 - 50.
Jayne, & Dipboye. (2004). Leveraging diversity to improve business performance: research findings and recommendations for organizations. Human Resource Management, 415.
Lau, & Murnighan. (1998). Demographic diversity and faultlines: the compositional dynamics of organizational groups. Academy of Management Review, 325.
Meyer, Pamela. (2010). From Workplace to Playspace: Innovating, Learning and Changing Through Dynamic Engagement. John Wiley and Sons.