The next challenge: holding people accountable - organizational commitment towards diversity

HR Magazine, Oct, 1998 by Patricia Digh

How do you make diversity goals stick in your organization long after the diversity training is over and the certificates have been handed out?

Many human resource managers are asking this question after having little to show for years of diversity programs. And employers are looking for ways to make diversity an integral part of the organization's culture. The answer for both usually comes down to holding managers accountable for diversity efforts at all levels.

Too often, when diversity training is finished, that's the end of it. There is no follow up, no system put in place to ensure organizational commitment, and no way to hold people accountable for effective diversity management. But employers are starting to realize that you get what you pay for - and that if you pay for performance and hold people accountable for behavioral and business changes in the diversity arena, you will begin to build an organizational culture supportive of diversity. More importantly, you'll build a culture that leverages diversity for competitive advantage.

"Put bluntly, we should get rid of, fix, or not hire leaders who cannot manage diversity," noted Roger Wheeler, chief tax officer at General Motors Corp., at last year's American Bar Association annual meeting. "We need to make diversity management a routine business practice, a pattern of behavior.

"The ability to manage diversity," Wheeler adds, "should be a threshold issue."

Realizing the need for competence and accountability with diversity issues is the easy part - the hard part is figuring out how to do it. As Wheeler says, "Clearly, it may at first be necessary to sponsor specific diversity courses. But eventually, diversity management should be incorporated into normal leadership training or mentoring programs."

Wheeler says that although a company may initially put special accountability measures in place, eventually accountability should be built into the firm's normal appraisal systems. "if a company is managing by results - as most seem to be doing nowadays - it may be advantageous to build diversity management into its mission statement, business objectives and strategies," he says.

TYING BONUSES TO DIVERSITY

According to a study released recently by The Conference Board in New York, not only are more diversity initiatives in place, but accountability is becoming strongly enforced. The survey reveals a variety of sophisticated tools now used to create measurable accountability, the most common of which include:

* Equal employment opportunity and affirmative action metrics.

* Employee attitude surveys.

* Cultural audits.

* Focus groups.

* Customer surveys.

* Management and employee evaluations.

* Accountability and incentive assessments.

* Training and education evaluations.

"Companies want managers who are not only successful with profit margins, but who also create a positive environment that values, respects and leverages all employee talents while providing fair advancement for all employees," explains Michael Wheeler, research associate for human resources and organizational effectiveness at the Conference Board. Findings indicate that meeting diversity objectives now account for 20 percent to 25 percent of all management bonuses and incentives.

The Society for Human Resource Management found different results when it recently polled its members at Fortune 500 companies and at smaller, randomly selected companies. More than half (58 percent) of participants from Fortune 500 companies and 79 percent of respondents from the random sample said they did not tie compensation and performance to diversity efforts. One-quarter of Fortune 500 companies link both compensation and performance to diversity goals, while 10 percent link only performance and 6 percent link only compensation. For the random sample, the share was 10 percent, 5 percent and 1 percent, respectively.

At the Fortune 500 level, slightly more than half (54 percent) measure the impact of their diversity programs, whereas 38 percent do so at the other companies. Of those who do, many measure it by surveying employees and reviewing affirmative action, retention, hiring and promotion statistics.

THE DIVERSITY CONTINUUM

BankBoston Corp., a leader in measuring diversity competence, defines proficiency as "the ability to demonstrate a thorough understanding of how diversity [affects] the organization's success," according to Kim Cromwell, director of workforce effectiveness. The goal is to develop employees who "deal effectively with colleagues and customers from many different backgrounds; seek to learn about and optimize the unique contribution inherent in the culture of each individual; anticipate the impact of cultural biases on business relationships and processes; and seek to remove obstacles to equity and inclusion wherever possible."

Diversity competence is rated "not effective," "moderately effective" or "role model." Each rating is defined in great detail, which gives individuals being measured ample opportunity to improve performance. Someone rated "not effective" may have difficulty dealing with people of different cultures and styles, exhibit disdain toward workplace diversity, exclude people of different cultural backgrounds from personal networks, lack understanding of the impact of diversity on business relationships and discourage people of different styles and cultures from participating in the work environment.