Global Diversity Management at Ericsson
Introduction
In response to the growing diversity in the workforce around the world, many companies have instituted specific policies and programs to enhance recruitment, inclusion, promotion, and retention of employees who are different from the privileged echelons of society. The privileged groups may vary from one country to the next. The workforce of the world is a dynamic environment, and in order for this dynamism to be put to use for the benefit of organizations, they must develop an effective strategy for managing diversity. Global Diversity Management refers to the voluntary organizational actions that are designed to create greater inclusion of employees from various backgrounds into the formal and informal organizational structures through deliberate policies and programs. Diversity Management is proactive and aimed at promoting a diverse and heterogeneous workforce. The goal of Diversity Management is to transform the organizational culture from a majority-oriented to a heterogeneous-pluralistic culture in which different value systems are heard and thus equally affect the work environment.
Global Diversity management is entirely voluntary; self-initiated by the companies, it uses a broad and open definition of diversity which make diversity programs inclusive and reduce potential objectives from members of the majority group, it also aims at providing tangible benefits to the company; Diversity Management is seen as a business strategy aimed at tapping into the full potential of all employees in the company in order to give the company a competitive advantage. A global telecommunications company, Ericsson is studied in an extended business case by Mustapha Ozbilgin and Ferhan Karabacakoglu , as a company which has had huge success in promoting diversity in order to achieve bottom line benefits and performance improvement. The key arguments of the case study examines the benefits of Global Diversity Management for all at Ericsson, local and global
In response to the growing diversity in the workforce around the world, many companies have instituted specific policies and programs to enhance recruitment, inclusion, promotion, and retention of employees who are different from the privileged echelons of society. The privileged groups may vary from one country to the next. The workforce of the world is a dynamic environment, and in order for this dynamism to be put to use for the benefit of organizations, they must develop an effective strategy for managing diversity. Global Diversity Management refers to the voluntary organizational actions that are designed to create greater inclusion of employees from various backgrounds into the formal and informal organizational structures through deliberate policies and programs. Diversity Management is proactive and aimed at promoting a diverse and heterogeneous workforce. The goal of Diversity Management is to transform the organizational culture from a majority-oriented to a heterogeneous-pluralistic culture in which different value systems are heard and thus equally affect the work environment.
Global Diversity management is entirely voluntary; self-initiated by the companies, it uses a broad and open definition of diversity which make diversity programs inclusive and reduce potential objectives from members of the majority group, it also aims at providing tangible benefits to the company; Diversity Management is seen as a business strategy aimed at tapping into the full potential of all employees in the company in order to give the company a competitive advantage. A global telecommunications company, Ericsson is studied in an extended business case by Mustapha Ozbilgin and Ferhan Karabacakoglu , as a company which has had huge success in promoting diversity in order to achieve bottom line benefits and performance improvement. The key arguments of the case study examines the benefits of Global Diversity Management for all at Ericsson, local and global
References: Karabacakoglu, F., Ozbilgin, M. (2007). “Global Diversity Management at Ericsson: the Business case”. PP. 79-91 Ericssons’s Website and the Company’s Internal Sources Managing a Diverse Workforce in a Global Context www.sagepub.com/upm-data/35190_Chapter10.pdf. Accessed on 02 December 2012 Forbes Insight (2012). “Diversity and Inclusion: Unlocking Global Potential