September 6th, 2020 
I HAVE ATTACHED TWO DIFFERENT DISCUSSIONS. PLEASE READ AND RESPONSE. DO NOT PUT BOTH DISCUSSION TOGETHER.
DISCUSSION 1
Diversity can be a positive force in the workplace. Katz and Miller suggest that diversity can be both a challenge and an opportunity to human resource managers and organizations as a whole (Guillaume, Dawson, Woods, Sacramento, & West, 2013). Benefits of a diverse workplace are increased productivity, reduced employee turnover, a wider range of skills and improvement on the work culture. Mr. OBrian discusses in his article in CNN Business about the lack of diversity in Facebooks workforce, the growth in representation of people from more diverse groups, working in many different functions across the company is a key driver of our ability to succeed. (OBrien, 2018) It is important for organizations to have a diverse staff. By working towards a more diverse working community, the organization will only thrive. Workplaces that maintain such a focus will have the best opportunities to attract, retain, and develop the deepest pool of talent. (Katz and Miller)
People want to be part of an organization they can trust and have upstanding values. A company that is transparent and trusts their employees will have lower turnover rates and satisfied employees. Hempstead says that responsibility is key to trust. Giving employees responsibility and trusting that they will succeed leads to better products and happier employees. (Hempstead, 2015) When management is transparent with their employees, it creates a safe environment where ideas can flourish from both management and employees. By having a safe working environment and team meetings, collaboration takes place that builds trust between the employees and their managers.
A Forbes article title, The Best and Worse for Women and Minorities uses a point ranking system to rank the best and worst companies and their levels of diversity in the workplace. Ebay only scored 30 points (In comparison, Co-Cola scored 100 points) No women or minority top executives, two women on board of 12. eBay has very little diversity in theri top positions in the company. Creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace starts with recognizing that the best people for a given organization are not limited to certain elite schools, socio-economic backgrounds, or countries of origin. (Katz & Miller, 2018) If eBay were to use a strategy to widen their recruitment pool, it will lead to better employee morale and a more successful business.
DISCUSSION 2
Diversity is not just about ensuring a mix of people from different cultural backgrounds or equality between men and women. Diversity is deeper than that and speaks to the intersectionality of everyones differences whether that is their ethnic heritage, religion, educational background, and all the nuances of what makes us each unique in our own way. There are so many levels to the idea of diversity. Important to a business is diversity of thought. Encouraging people to voice their ideas and to collaborate, from all perspectives, makes for a stronger, more resilient, organization.
The transition from Affirmative Action to the valuation of diverse viewpoints in organizations was a turning point in social justice and innovation in organizations. By focusing on organizational development (OD) methodologies and tools, organizations were able to focus on diverse individuals to fully contribute to their organizations success as opposed to just fulfilling a quota. Back in the early 1970s, a series of workshops focusing on culture-changing, small-group dynamics, achieved an environment where co-workers could trust each other and work together honestly to promote inclusion and diverse viewpoints.
Instead of focusing on minimizing the disruptions caused by the greater diversity produced Affirmative Action programs, these pioneering scholars and consultants focused on the use of the OD methodologies, tools, and techniques to not only increase diversity in organizations but also ensure that their environments, policies, and practices supported the ability of individuals from under-represented (and one down) social identity groups to fully participate in and contribute to the success of their organizations. (Katz, J.H., & Miller, F.A., 2018, p. 18).
Empirical studies show that a range of employee characteristics (e.g. age, education, gender, negative affectivity) influence employee perceptions of voice (Benson & Brown, 2010). (Hatipoglu, B. & Inelmen, 2017, p. 8). Since the early studies of the inclusion of diverse viewpoints, OD practitioners have made tremendous strides in the ability to attract, retain, and develop the deepest pool of talent (Katz, J.H., & Miller, F.A., 2018, p. 18). By simply asking the questions, are these the right people, whose voice is missing, what is the impact on different populations, and how are we creating greater inclusion, organizations are in a better position to create an atmosphere of trust which in turn will ensure that diverse viewpoints are heard in order to enhance the probability of making sound decisions for a positive impact. (Katz, J.H., & Miller, F.A., 2018, p. 20).
Trust and transparency go a long way in productivity and employee engagement. Its really the basis of success because, without it, you really dont have much. However, there also needs to be a balance between transparency, revealing everything, and confidentiality. In David Horsagers Ted Talk (2015) he makes a good point about how trust is a choice. He said that some of the research shows that mistrust more than doubles the cost of doing business (4:29) It makes sense when you think about it because the more you trust someone or something, the more loyal, more engaged, and open to new ideas you are. If you dont have trust, you lose motivation and there is more stress and uncertainty. Trust plays an important role in shaping cooperative behavior and reducing the possibility of conflict, and it is a strong predictor of organizationally important outcome variables, such as commitment and citizenship behavior (Wong, Ngo, & Wong, 2006) (Hatipoglu, B. & Inelmen, 2017, p. 6).
Be sure to include examples from the readings and your personal experiences to illustrate or support your thoughts. Include at least three credible sources to support your discussion.
An article in Business Insider (June 2020), highlighted the fact that many tech companies while touting Black Lives Matter and condemning racism, may actually end up going back to business as usual without making any real, systemic changes to avoid the very bias and racist ideas that have given them a bad name in the face of diversity in the first place. Googles CEO, Sundar Pichai, gave a statement saying, were committed to building a workforce that is more representative of our users and a workplace that creates a sense of belonging for everyone (Chan, Pimentel, et. al., 2020). While this may be well-intended, their diversity statistics are 52% White, 42% Asian, 4% Black, 6% Latinx, and 0.8% Native American. Their leadership statistics are, 66% White, 30% Asian, 3% Black, 4% Latinx, and 0.5% Native American. Men in leadership positions are 73%, while women in leadership positions are 27%.
In their Diversity Report just released in 2020, Melonie Parker, Chief Diversity Officer, states in her introduction that, Google has made progress in several areas of hiring and retaining talented professionals from underrepresented groups. We also continued our work to understand the identities, intersectionalities, and experiences of Googlers worldwide (Parker, 2020). While they claim to align their efforts with the EEOC guidelines and claim to have made progress in areas of diversity since they started collecting data in 2014, based on the statistics noted above, it doesnt appear to me that they have made much progress. Their white and Asian populations remain dominant while their Black, Latinx, and Native American populations are extremely low. They do have several global initiatives, summits, and other inclusion efforts underway, so it remains to be seen if their statistics change in the future.
I think many organizations struggle with finding the best, most effective ways to recruit and retain diverse talent. In my current organization, our leadership has taken a strong stance on diversity and inclusion and has been very active in normalizing the conversation around race and systemic racism. Our talent acquisition team has engaged the Development & Diversity Council (D&D) to review its talent acquisition policy and ensure the language is non-biased and equitable in their ability to recruit and hire new talent. The D&D Council has provided several recommendations for improving the policy and to limit, and ideally eliminate, hiring and interviewing biases. Additionally, we have a new department that was formed in 2019 called the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We are the first Port authority in the country to have a dedicated office of Equity. Since they are so new to the organization, there is a huge push to implement their strategic plan and to permeate the organization with the goal of eradicating systemic racism from our policies, procedures, nomenclature, and general organizational culture. I think we are making tremendous strides in the right direction.
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