What is the social responsibility of business free essay sample

Read the Debate on pp. 194-99 (Putting Customers Ahead of Investors by Jack Mackay, and Put Profits First by T. J. Rodgers). Write a 4-5 page argumentative essay arguing for or against this issue: What is the Social Responsibility of Business? Back up your argument with information from these 2 articles as well as using information from at least 2 other websites you have located. The support in your paper must be documented using in-text citations and a Works Cited page (MLA format). For proper documentation format, you may refer to these links as well as those found in the Webliography link under Research/Documentation. What is the Social Responsibility of Business? After reading these articles, I conclude that the social responsibility of a business is to make a profit. Both Friedman and Mackey were arguing the same thing, just painting the picture in different ways. Like the Rorschach inkblot test, they were both describing the same subject, with the same interpretations using different delivery methods. We will write a custom essay sample on What is the social responsibility of business or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Unfortunately capitalism runs the world. Fact is, our society is built off greed and the true Social Responsibility of any and all businesses is to do the bare minimum to lure in enough consumers to be able to make a profit and grow. When I read Putting Customers Ahead of Investors by John Mackey (Chairman and CEO, Whole Foods Market), I was sure that I agreed with his entire philosophy. I realized that I was just temporarily consumed by his better marketing scheme. As I continued to read the other articles Making Philanthropy out of Obscenity by Milton Friedman and Put Profits First by T. J. Rodgers I realized that they were all saying the same things, had the same ideas, and the same goal; to make a profit. In his article Making Philanthropy Out of Obscenity Friedman says, â€Å"Strip off the camouflage, and it turns out we are in essential agreement (pg1). † talking about he and Mackey’s ideas on the social responsibility of business. This became more relevant as I read along. â€Å"At Whole Foods, we measure our success by how much value we can create for all six of our most important stakeholders: customers, team members (employees), investors, vendors, communities, and the environment. † (Mackey, pg1) All businesses adhere to these same rules. Without any one of these stakeholders, a business wouldn’t succeed. â€Å"It is simply good business for a company to cater to its customers, train and retain its employees, build long-term positive relationships with its suppliers, and become a good citizen in its community, including performing some philanthropic activity. When Milton Friedman says a company should stay within the rules of the game and operate without deception or fraud, he means it should deal with all its various constituencies properly in order to maximize long-term shareholder value. † (Rodgers, pg 3) Both Friedman and Mackey realize that a business cannot operate without each of its respective parts working together to accomplish a common goal. Within a business there are many departments. Each of their day to day operational goals may differ but the overall organizational goals remain the same. This is the same for the stakeholders. Each of them are important because they hold stake in the companies well-being. Every company adheres to their stakeholder rules in some way shape or form. Just like the different departments within an organization the goals that the stakeholders want achieved differ from one another but one common goal remains the same. Everyone wants the company to see profit and growth just as the departments within the organization strive for the same. Just as the cells in the human body do different things they are all a part of something much larger than themselves. Look at companies like BP. They cause one of the largest disasters in history and in return, to redeem their public image, they pour millions of dollars into relief funds. Then they spend millions more on marketing, advertisements and public relations to let their customers and stakeholders know that they are working to fight for what society wants them to do; to protect the environment in which they operate in. But, that’s still just the bare minimum that they have to do as they still continue to drill and put the earth at risk every day. Yet, as long as they make the public â€Å"happy† than they will continue to do business as usual. Not until pockets are hurt by their own actions will something change within an organization. â€Å"While Friedman believes that taking care of customers, employees, and business philanthropy are means to the end of increasing investor profits, I take the exact opposite view: Making high profits is the means to the end of fulfilling Whole Foods core business mission†¦ Just as people cannot live without eating, so a business cannot live without profits. But most people dont live to eat, and neither must a business’s live just to make profits † (Mackey, pg 6). They literally are saying the same things, just in a different way. Either way both have to occur. At the end of the day an organization cannot exist without initial capital. That initial capital is generated by investors not by customers. As much as customers are the heart of companies that pump cash into its bloodstream that heart would be useless without the brain that is the entrepreneur and investors. Because of that fact businesses try to keep a difficult balance between pleasing customers and pleasing investors. Investors care about bottom lines while customers can be wooed with glitz and glamour especially when competition is low within that same industry. â€Å"Toward the end of his critique Friedman says his statement that the social responsibility of business [is] to increase its profits and my statement that the enlightened corporation should try to create value for all of its constituencies are equivalent. He argues that maximizing profits is a private end achieved through social means because it supports a society based on private property and free markets. If our two statements are equivalent, if we really mean the same thing, then I know which statement has the superior marketing power. Mine does. † (Mackey,pg 6) It’s true; Mackey does have the better marketing scheme. He makes it sound like, although profit is still the goal, he puts his customers first, which would definitely lure in more consumers. It is all competition within this capitalist society that we live in. In reality, pure capitalism is based on the philosophies of self-interest and individualism mixed with an unregulated economy and private property. In capitalism, the motive for producing goods and services is to sell them for a profit, not to satisfy peoples needs. â€Å"Production is started not by what consumers are prepared to pay for to satisfy their needs but by what the capitalists calculate can be sold at a profit. Those goods may satisfy human needs but those needs will not be met if people do not have sufficient money. † (http://www. worldsocialism. org/articles/what_is_capitalism. php) It is this profit motive of capitalism that is at the root of most of the worlds problems today, from starvation to war, to alienation and crime. Every aspect of our lives is subordinated to the worst excesses of the drive to make profit. We are a greedy and selfish society. Truth be told, our real needs will only ever come a poor second to the requirements of profit in this capitalist society we live in today.

Black organisations in the USA essays

Black organisations in the USA essays The civil rights movement in the United States of America from 1954 to 1968 is an important element of the nations contemporary history. The event was a turning point in the history of Black Americans as their courage and persistence displayed led to the legislative reform of American society into a more democratic and less prejudiced country. The efforts of these protestors and was co-ordinated by large civil rights organisations, chiefly the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP), the Southern Christian Leadership Committee (SCLC) and the Student Non-Violent Co-ordinating Committee (SNCC). These three organisations and their achievements are the focus of this presentation. It has always been acknowledged that Black Americans, through the civil rights movement successfully achieved equality amongst whites. This assumption has found to be relatively unsubstantial, and while success in terms of government legislation was achieved, whether African Amer icans found social justice and equality in everyday life after the movement is another story. This assignment has now reached the final stages of completion and only requires confirmation of the findings and thus the conclusions that will be made through further thorough research in the future. Few problems have been encountered between the last submission and the current presentation. The focus question has been re-worded only for the needs of using a clearer, more concise question and the need to focus research in a more beneficial direction. This slight adjustment has by no means hindered the progress of research. The events of the civil rights movement in the United States were co-ordinated by various organisations, each using different strategies in an attempt to achieve their aims of social justice for African Americans. The three most predominantly recognised organisations of the time were the NAACP, SCLC and SNCC. These three organ...

Decision-making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Decision-making - Essay Example (Salaman, 2001. p.75) A smooth-decision making process is important for well-running of the organization. Decision-making process is considered to be the most important work the managers are assigned to deal with in an organization. This view is further consolidated by the fact that some people view managing and decision-making has two words with same meaning but different interpretations. There are infinite reasons to consider decision-making to be an integral part of organizations, a theory which has interested most of the theorists and economists. (Salaman, 2001. p.75) Some theorists believe that decision-making provides the door to the so called 'underworld' of an organization. The process involved in making a decision, brings out the political attitude of people involved, resulting in political activities being performed. So, it can be conceived that decision-making brings out two extreme conclusions about an organization. One end shows the strength of an organization in making crucial decisions, showing the solidarity of the management and their power. The other extreme is where the political games are played, where the leads play around the resources to get the decisions to go in their favour. Decisions made in an organization is always power played by people in influential powers and the way each decision shapes after going through these people is not even known to the people involved in it. The end decision always has as a byproduct in terms of disharmony within the organization but it is almost inherent and non deniable. (Salaman, 2001. p.9 7) According to Pettigrew, every decision has the above said political perspective added to it. According to him, an organization is a political playground, with different sub units having different perspective about a decision and each unit opposes the other in terms of their views, their struggle to show majority and finally, ending up in a lot of major implications both for nature and the end-decision. He views this political aspect of decision making to form the crux of any organization in creating the core structural and organizational processes. Several theists say that most of the people involved in decision making view governments as organization but find it reluctant to agree that all organizations are governments. (Salaman, 2001. p.97) They further reason for the neglect of this aspect explaining that people view decision making as part of a formal structure of an organization rather than viewing it as a political structure. Most people tend to work on decision making in psychological terms instead of seeing it in a sociological basis. In short, no person tends to see them as being political and in case if they act so, they justify it by reasoning that they do it for the well being of the organization. There are several features for this political perspective of decision-making that lends support to it. Pettigrew observes these features and explains how important they are to an organization. (Salaman, 2001. p.97) According to him, every organization is a group of several sub organizations. He views it to be a political system that is open for all. These sub-organizations specialize on each work and some of them may have to be dependent on one another to produce the result. In such cases of inter-dependence, a joint decision has to be done in a decision making process. These kinds of processes pave

Piracy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Piracy - Essay Example Practicing piracy may bankrupt a business and may causes human lives thus it should not be supported. Piracy may cause the business go bankrupt. In the study of Gopal and Gupta (p 1946), they stated that piracy had accounted for a yearly $40 billion revenue losses in software products alone. When this practice of piracy continues, time will come the branded software industry may loss its business. People may not patronize the original software products since counterfeited products may be offered at a lesser price. With the worldwide crisis, the presence of counterfeited products may suit the budget of the customers. In a Billboard news report, Tony Fernandez, Chairman of the local music industry in Malaysia gave a warning that the music industry might be destroyed for the next twelve months by piracy. He further noted that major departments in the country had closed as a result. He explained that business is impossible to continue and flourish if they stay to â€Å"bleed† (Pat rick, p 47) as a result of decrease in sale of their legal products. In the sector of online infringement, piracy as a result of file sharing had in turn affected the sale of CD’s to decrease.

International studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

International studies - Essay Example Organizations have now become global and they deal with customers from various regions and these customers speak different languages. Majoring in international studies will help me develop communication skills required to communicate with customers from different regions. It will even help me in developing proficiency in one of the various languages spoken throughout the world and this will enable me to specifically cater to the needs of customers that speak that particular language. Leaders in the organization need to understand their delegates who belong to different parts of the world and who think differently. Majoring in international studies will help me develop leadership skills required to understand my followers (Williams, 2013). This will help me in identifying the issues they are facing and I will be able to eliminate those issues which will positively impact the satisfaction levels of the employees. A satisfied workforce will help in increasing the productivity levels of the organization which will enhance my reputation as well as benefit the

Role of Human Resource Managers in Diversity Management

Role of Human Resource Managers in Diversity Management CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter presents the background of the research on â€Å"How can international human resources managers effectively manage diversity in multinational company?†- Case study Tesco. The company overview of Tesco in UK, background of the research, organisation background, rationale statement, research questions, and purpose of the research conducted the aim and objectives of the research identified by researcher. The structure of the dissertation is described at the end of the chapter. 1.1 Background of the Research 1.1.1 Managing Diversity Managing diversity means maximizing diversitys potential benefits such as greater cultural awareness and broader language skills, while minimizing the potential barriers such as prejudices and bias that can undermine the companys performance. Dessler (2008, p.61) referred to diversity as potentially a double-edged sword. Generally diversity refers to the variety or multiplicity of demographic features that characterize a companys workforce, in terms of race, sex, culture, national origin, age and religion. Many organisations have implemented various types of initiatives within the last few decades in an effort to deal with diversity. A possible missing link between how the human resource managers deal with diversity and its impact on the organisation is a diversity strategy that is executed using a planned approach to systemically manage diversity (Leopold Harris 2009). The increasing diversity and changing demographics of the UK workforce, the expansion of anti-discrimination legislation, legal rights for individuals with caring responsibilities and government policy commitment to the work-life balance have created new challenges for employers across employment sectors. This research explores some of the issues that arise for employers, managers and employees in the development and application of multinational organisational human resourcing policies which are intended to promote equality of treatment and recognize diversity in the workforce. The 2004 WERS survey (Kersley et al., 2006) found that 73 percent of workplaces had a final written equal opportunities policy or a policy on managing diversity compared to 64 percent in 1998. This figure increased to 98 percent in the public sector (97 percent in 1998) with the incidence of formal policy being higher in large workplaces which means that most employees work in establishments with a formal poli cy. This was evident in the 2007 CIPD annual recruitment and retention survey which revealed that only half of the 905 participating organisations had a formal diversity strategy although again the public sector is more proactive with 83 percent reporting a strategic approach to diversity (CIPD, 2007 a). Todays business and service organisations are meeting the challenge which demands systematic efforts, as many of them have come to realize. Whether the multi-cultural character of the organisation arises from its international workforce and its local operations in various countries, from the mixed backgrounds of a workforce in a single location, the organisation must address this diversity if it is to be successful. Groups of people see the world through their own set of assumptions, values, beliefs, customs, traditions and attitudes that are shared by an organisations members. Learn about their culture and how it shaped them, and aim to understand how other culture work that can be an effective global manager. 1.2 Organisation Background In this research, selected company will be Tesco Metro (Whitton, Branch) London outlet where different cultural people working. Tesco is one of the UKs major retail supermarkets. Tesco is an international retailer where there are working different countries and cross-cultural people. This research is a collection of how the Tesco Company has used diversity to support their business goals and valuable learning and what makes good diversity practice. Tesco is the fastest and largest growing retail chain in UK as well as international arena. Tesco started its journey in 1919 in the East End of London. As a result, Tesco came as a national store across the country in 1970. To beat others and to reach top Tesco brings more innovative idea and implemented those from 1992 to 2004 like slogan â€Å"every little help†, Tesco value, Club card, 24 hours service, Online service and so on (A history of Tesco: The rise of Britains biggest supermarket). Tesco is operating in the UK set its position as a market leader with over  £2 billion of profit with total 3728 stores around the world, where in the UK 2,306 stores and employing over 286,394 staff. It provides online services through its subsidiary, Tesco.com. The UK is the companys largest market where it operates under four banners of Extra, Superstore, Metro and Express. The company sells almost 40,000 food products, including clothing and other non-foods lines. The companys own-label products (50 percent of sales) are at three levels; value, normal and finest. As well as convenience produce many stores have gas stations, becoming one of Britains largest independent petrol retailers (Tesco Annual Report Review, 2009). According to market share Tescos positions in number one in UK and third position around the world. Tesco is the market leader with 30.40% (March, 09) of market share though its lost a bit of market share 0.5% in recent year due to credit crunch. Tesco market s hare is nearly two times higher than other retail shop like Asda (17.5%), Sainsbury (16.1%). (Retail Analysis) Tesco has a very friendly and supporting approach in the routine ways that staffs at Tesco behave towards each other, and towards those outside the company that can make up the ways people do things, where at great place to work. The control systems and measurements are constantly under the management review to monitor the efficiency of the staff and managers decisions. On-going meetings and communication at every level of the companys hierarchy represent a strong internal environment (Tescos Value and Strategy). Cultural web theory application (The cultural web theory is also an effective analysis for management in order to represent the underlying assumptions linked to political, symbolic and structural aspect of the company) is a useful tool in considering the cultural context for Tescos business (Tescos Value and Strategy). Culture generally tends to consist of layers of values, beliefs and taken for-granted actions and ways of doing business within and outside the company. Therefore, the concept of cultural web is the representation of these actions taken for granted for understanding how they connect and influence the strategy (Veliyath and Fitzgerald, 2000; Johnson and Scholes, 2003). It is also useful to understand and characterise both the companys culture and the subcultures in adaptation of future strategies. 1.3 Rationale statement Generally, a self assessment for international human resource managers is to evaluate and improve their global management skills. But it also creates a challenge for individual managers who must manage with working across geographic and cultural areas; understand how issues of managing diversity inform and influence human resource strategies and evaluate the respective responsibilities of international human resource managers for managing diversity policies and practices. The key concept of managing diversity accepts that different cultural workforce consists of a diverse population of people. The diversity management can recognize a wide range of individual differences and benefits to the employment relationship to individual needs which can lead to the organisational competitive advantage. This research explores the key principle of diversity in one of UKs leading super market named Tesco Metro (Whitton Branch) London. The researcher intends that how managers mange working with diversity people in workplace in Tesco, whereas equal opportunity focuses on different ethnic groups. 1.4 Research Questions As human resource manager in a multinational company needs to consider the following major issues: 1. How people manage a group of different culture people? 2. What is the communication within work? 3. How do the managers manage diversity and equal opportunity within the service? 4. How can the manager influence teams performance? 5. How can the manager help people learn and develop? 6. How can the manager help people to manage change? 7. How he is motivating people? 8. How can the manager handle equal opportunity? 9. What strategy managers should apply to get a good result from employees? How a human resource manager can handle all those areas and successfully the organisations mission with different countrys people. 1.5 Purpose of the Research 1.5.1 Research Aim The aim of the dissertation is to analyse the competitive advantage of the organization that are managing people as assets which are fundamental. And to examine diversity, equality and discrimination issues in a multinational company, in the particular way of human resource managers to manage work with different culture people. Tesco has been used as a case study in this dissertation. 1.5.2 Research Objectives 1) An international human resource managers needs to know the way of managing people in the organisation. An overview of what a manager needs to do in relations to managing people in a changing environment which will be include at diversity issues and international human resource management policies. 2) To observe a multicultural company from the perspectives of diverse social peoples. 3) For an organisation to succeed on a global scale, radical shifts in business procedures are required. To become a successful global manager is to develop a global outlook. 4) A global manager needs to know what point an organisation has reached in the globalization process, and where it wants to go. Understand the process and recognize the strategies that will give the organisation a global advantage. 5) Understanding people as individuals and recognizing their differences as well as drawing up some general principles for managing them like motivates them, job satisfaction, and job design. 6) Recruiting, and selecting the right people. This research will disclose some essential factors which help organisations to maintain their diversity effectively within the organisation and make a fair working environment of employees within the organisation. 1.6 Structure of the Dissertation The dissertation report has been structured into the following chapters. Chapter 1: This provides an introduction to the research, where justification of the research is presented and the purpose of the research is explained. Chapter 2: The second chapter is the literature review of this dissertation concerned about, the works of various authors who have discussed relevant existing theories and policy of diversity and the different interpretations of diversity management which is based on secondary data. Those relevant theories and policy will help to find out the appropriate analyse of the following research. Chapter 3: The third chapter will discuss the research methodology. Research method presents the research philosophy, approach and sampling, data collection procedures and shows the right direction to achieve an outcome. This chapter also explains the reasons behind the use of selected research method and the advantages by using the research approach. Chapter 4: This chapter contains the analysis and findings. This part of dissertation informed the research findings quantitatively with the help of constructed research model and research hypotheses. It also shows the data gathered in the company through interview and questionnaire of Tescos managers and employees, and analysis the data to provide a productive meaning of the research finding. Chapter 5: This chapter encloses the conclusion of the dissertation within the research questions and objectives, describe limitation of research and recommends opportunity for further research. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction This chapter discusses the works of various authors and scholars who have highlighted theoretical exploration of the existing knowledge that is relevant to the diversity area. This chapter also focuses on similar and contrasting perspectives that researchers have used to approach this research areas. 2.2 What is Diversity Diversity means relating and working with people who hold different perspectives and views and bringing different qualities to the workplace. According to (Kandola Fullerton 1994, p.19) diversity consists of visible and non-visible differences which will include age, background, race, sex, disability, personality and lifestyle. The concept of diversity means respect and acceptance, means understanding each individual is unique and recognizing our individuals differences. It can be the aspects of race, age, gender, ethnicity, sex, disability, religious beliefs, and political views and so on. It is also exploration of these differences in a safe positive and development organizational environment. As the Wall Street Journal (2005) put about diversity, as companies do more and more business around the world, diversity is simple a matter of doing what is fair or good public relations which is a business imperative but diversity is supposed to enrich an organisations human capital, whereas equal opportunity focuses on various ethnic groups. Brewster (2002) defined that managing diversity tries to build specific skills and to create policies that derive the best from each employee and it is based on the assumption that diverse groups will create new ways of working together and have understanding in that group, profit and productivity will increase in the organisation. Where he found, diversity management is fast becoming a management approach that is being applied effectively within the organizations. 2.3 Benefits of Diversity Diversity needs to be seen as an integral part of the business plan, essential to successful products and increased sales. This is especially true in todays global marketplace, as organizations interact with different cultures and people. Kandola Fullerton (1998) identified the possible areas of diversity benefits, these are: a) Creativity increases when people with different ways of solving difficult problems work together towards a common solution and the more ideas can obtain from different people. b) Productivity increases when people are from all cultures pull together towards a single inspiring goal. Increased productivity is an obvious advantage of diversity in the workplace. c) Provide strong leadership they take strong stands on advocating the need for a diverse workforce and can handle effectively different cultural people. d) New attitudes are brought to the business by people from diverse cultures. In most other countries around the world time is for building relationships and an integral part of getting to know that are considering doing business with before starting a transaction. e) Provide diversity training and education are obviously needed in todays increasingly global market and diverse employees often have this ability. Every company needs specific knowledge or language skills where the international job seekers have the advantage. f) New processes when people are with different ideas come together and collaborate. In todays first moving world, employee must bring multiple skills to the working environment and adapt quickly to new situations. (Harris et al. 2003) International human resource manager can make organisations more successful and productive by managing diversity in the work place. Diversity brings real benefits to business environment where employing a diverse workforce enables it to use a wider range of skills and lead to creativity and innovation. 2.4 Human Resource (HR) Policies HR policies provide guidelines on how key aspects of people management should be handled. The aim is to ensure that any HR issues are dealt with the values of the organisation with certain principles. Armstrong (2009) defined the philosophies and values of the organisation on how people should be treated and all organisations have HR policies. HR policies can be expressed formally as overall statements of the values of the organisation or in specific areas. Kandola Fullerton (1994), these values are espoused by many organizations in one form or another. HR policy on managing diversity recognizes that there are differences among employees and properly managed where will enable work to be more effectively. 2.5 Managing Workforce Diversity Legislation and the high profile of equal opportunities in the UK has had both positive and negative effects on the way people view each other, (Barker, 2000). On the one hand, there is now widespread recognition that discrimination at work on the grounds of gender, race or ability alone is unjust, although the practice still continues. However, the grouping of minorities such as women or ethnic or disabled has produced responses. More recent thinking has moved towards ‘managing diversity-recognizing and valuing differences in people and their unique contributions to the workforce. Managing diversity involves creating an environment that allows all employees to contribute to organizational goals and experience personal growth. This requires the company to develop employees that they are comfortable working with others from a variety of ethnic, racial and religious backgrounds. Noe et al. (2003) found that managing diversity may require changing the company culture. It includes the companys standards and how employees are treated, competitiveness, innovation and risk taking. Where management of diversity has been linked to innovation, improved productivity, lower employee turnover and other costs related to human resources, (Cox, 1993, p.24). Price (1997, p.265) noted that the management of diversity goes beyond equal opportunity instead of allowing a greater range of people the opportunity to ‘fit in the concept of diversity embodies the belief that people should be valued for their differences and variety. Diversity perceived to enrich an organisations human capital. Whereas equal opportunity focuses on various disadvantaged groups, the management of diversity is about individuals and model of resourcing aimed at finding flexible employees. According to Harvard Business Review, managing diversity does not mean controlling or containing diversity, it means enabling every member of workforce to perform to their potential and getting from employees; everything right to expect and if it is well then thing they have to give, (Thomas, 2001). The future success of any organisations relies on the ability to manage a diverse of capacity that can bring innovative ideas, perspectives and views to their work. The challenge and problems faced of workplace diversity can be turned into a strategic organisational asset if an organisation is able to make the most of diverse talents. Especially for multinational companies, who have operations on a global scale and employ people of different countries, ethical and cultural backgrounds. Thus, a HR manager needs to be aware and may utilize a Think Global, Act Local approach in most circumstances, (Jackson, 2002). The goals of diversity training are eliminate values and managerial practices that restrain employees personal development and allow employees to contribute to organisational goals within the cultural background, (Jackson Associates, 1992). It is because of equal opportunity employment laws that companies have focused on ensuring equal access to jobs. With a population attempt towards high technology and knowledge-based economy; foreign ability are tempt to share their expertise in these areas. Thus human resource managers have to undergo cultural-based human resource management training to further their abilities to motivate a group of professional that are highly qualified but culturally diverse. 2.6 Achieving Equality and diversity Approach The diversity approaches argue that diverse workgroups generate wealthier ideas and solutions than homogenous groups where benefits of diversity management include a greater concern for socially responsible behavior in organisations and more flexibility in organizational policies, (Wentling Palma-Rivas, 1998, p.237). Ross Schneider (1992, p.49) discussed the fundamental perspective from equality to diversity that employers will find competitive advantage in encouraging diversity at work. Equal opportunities should become internally driven not externally imposed and focused on individuals where the responsibility of all. Fredman (2001) observes that traditionally equality laws have been informed by neutrality, individualism and promotion of autonomy principles. These principles aim to ensure that people are treated in the same way and appear to be the most consideration in the UK anti-discrimination framework which is an approach to workplace equality based on achieving fairness. Walsh (2007) in her analysis of the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey findings points out that womens representation in senior management in UK workplaces had only marginally improved by 2 percent between 1998 and 2004. So diversity is a concept which recognises the benefits to be gained from differences and equal opportunity has traditionally been a concept, which sought to legislate against discrimination. These two concepts have the following characteristics:. Those characteristics suggest that how organisations can move from where most are at present to a situation in which diversity enters the majority. 2.7 How the Diversity Concept has developed Changes in the social and economic landscape led to legislation covering equal pay, sex and racial discrimination in the 1970s, followed by disability laws in the 1990s, (Daniels Macdonald, 2005). More recently discrimination of sexual orientation and religion has been added by the law. By 1990s, it was being recognised that they had limited success in achieving their goals. At around the same time, researchers were also finding that culturally diverse teams were more creative than homogenous teams and contributed more effectively to meeting organisational goals. Three separate commissions have promoted equality and particular aspects of the legislation: the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Commission for Racial Equality and the Disability Rights Commission. From October 2007, a new Equality and Human Rights Commission has been established to cover all equality issues as well as of human rights, from (CIPD, 2007). From the recent survey, unemployment is twice as high among people from ethnic minorities, although in UK relatively more Asian and Black African graduates than white graduates where only 12 percent of white men are in professional occupations. Statistical survey found that 41 percent of white women in employment work part-time but only 7 percent of white men and as opposed to 38 percent of Bangladeshi men, (http://www.cipd.co.uk/surveys). 2.8 Diversity Policy Changing workforce demographics and new organisational forms are increasing the diversity of work teams in general and decision-making teams in particular. The perspectives of diversity policy may lead to a variety of different consequences for decision-making teams in the organisation. 2.8.1 The Business Issues Equal opportunities are often seen as meaning treating everyone in exactly the same way. Kandola (2006) argued that the social justice and business issues for diversity are complementary because unless people are treated fairly at work they will therefore under-perform. But diversity takes equality forward and evidence indicates that organisations that are serious about diversity show better overall financial performance. Diversity policies also help organisations to create an environment in which people from all backgrounds can work together. 2.8.2 People Issues People are aspiring to work for employers with good employment practices and feel valued at work place. Dowling et al. (1999, p.262) states that to be competitive organisations need to derive the best contributions from everyone and need to create an inclusive workplace culture in which everyone feels valued. The HRM aspects are operating different countries as a way of illustrating the situation that may confront multinationals attempting to penetrate developing markets. 2.9 The Nature of Diversity in Decision-Making Teams Many organisations use the term diversity to refer only to demographic differences among employees, with gender, ethnicity and age being the dimensions of greatest concern. Changing workforce demographics and new organisational forms are increasing the diversity of work teams in general and decision-making teams in particular. Diversity may lead to a variety of different consequences for decision-making teams. 2.9.1 Gender Diversity Gender diversity in teams may indicate the extent to which team members form same gender relationships outside the team. Studies on social networks suggest that employees form relationships with each other based on their gender. In a study of male and female managers in an advertising firm, Ibarra (1995) found that men and women formed same gender networks that served both social and instrumental goals. 2.9.2 Ethnicity Diversity Social identity and organisational demography suggests that people are preferred to interact with members of their own identity group rather than with members of other groups. Where white males tend to perform in higher positions, (Chow Crawford, 2004) females and ethnic minorities tend to occupy more junior positions. Experiences of racism shared by women and members of different ethnic groups affect their attitudes and behaviours in the workplace. 2.9.3 Age Diversity People within age groups share common experiences, attitudes and values (Lawrence, 1988), a persons age can act as an indication that triggers social categorization processes and promotes communication among group members. Descriptions of workforce demographics usually emphasize the fact that the average age of the work force is increasing but the distribution of ages represented in the workforce is also changing. Following figure showing age distribution where non-white groups are younger: White groups have an older age structure where the mixed group had the youngest age structure 50 percent were under the aged of 16. The Bangladeshi, other Black and Pakistani groups also had young age structures of 38 percent were aged 16. This was almost double the proportion of the White British group, where 20 percent were under the age of 16. 2.10 Managing Diversity is Different from Affirmative Action Managing diversity focuses on maximizing the ability of all employees to contribute to organisational goals. Affirmative action focuses on specific groups because of historical discrimination, such as people of colour and women, (Kravitz Klineberg, 2000). Affirmative action emphasizes legal necessity and social responsibility where managing diversity emphasizes business necessity. So it is much more inclusive and acknowledges that diversity must work for everyone. Affirmative actions having the employer take actions in recruitment, hiring, promotions and compensation to eliminate the present effects of past discrimination. Affirmative action is still a significant workplace issue today. The incidence of major court-mandated affirmative action is down, but courts still use them. Furthermore, many employers must still engage in voluntary programs. For example, executive order 11246 (issued in 1965) requires federal contractors to take affirmative action to improve employment opportunities for groups such as women and racial minorities. EEO 11246 covers about 26 million workers about 22 percent of the US workforce, (Dessler 2008, p.63). 2.11 Organisational Context Managerial approaches to diversity will inevitably be informed by the specific organisational context. Attracting different types of people to an organisation will be determined by peoples perceptions of the industry in which the organisation operates. The image and reputation of the organisation as an employer will affect the types of people attracted to the organisation, (Markwick Fill, 1997). The maternity and children specialist retailer who came 18th in the 2008 Sunday Times 20 Best Big Companies to Work For list attribute their ranking to a number of factors to their employer brand. These include an emphasis on work-life balance, flexible working, better than average maternity pay and leave. These argue helps to attract and retain staff especially female employees, (Leopold Harris, 2009). If an organisation is able to employ a diverse workforce, the extent to which these individual differences are recognised in employment practices will be significantly affected by the size and structure of the organisation. 2.12 Diversity in Multinational Companies As more and more organisations become global and people of different cultures and ethnic backgrounds work together, the need for multicultural understanding becoming obvious to many organisation. Harris et al. (2003, p.25) referred that a multinational team would be much stronger in communication which is vital aspect in business. Most of the multinational company gives priority to work with diversity people as a result they are success in international market. Ansari Jackson (1995, p.12) described, multicultural teams led to more people from different culture and ethnic intermarrying. Globalisation and advances in communication and technology have reduced trade barriers and increased interaction among people. Companies and leaders who recognise the cultural diversity and find the right cultural mixture among the team can achieve comparative advantages. To understand how diversity is managed in multinational company, in that case need to understand the concept of corporate culture which describe the organisational diversity programs and how to minimize conflict between employees. 2.13 Why Culture Counts According to Mattock (1999) organisations have moved on from international to multinational to global. Multicultural teams have become very common in recent years. With cross border mobility becoming much easier the number of people moving from one country to another has grown significantly. As a manager need to successful interaction with others like sharing ideas, their needs and helping to improve performance, where need to consider cultural context. A diverse multi cultural work place enables a company to handle diverse projects. Erlenkamp (2007, p.7) found, in the last decades many scientist tried to define intercultural difference to enhance the communication between different cultures. ‘The most important studies were conducted by Geert Hofstede, Edward Hall and Fons Trompenaars, that shows the importance of multicultural workforce and HRM of many organisations do study these theories to implement it in their employee training. 2.14 Understanding Cross-Cultural Communication Language issues can develop into a source of conflict and inequality within culturally diverse organisations becomes more and more multicultural, (Ansari Jackson 1995). In the international business environment of today and tomorrow communication is a business necessity Role of Human Resource Managers in Diversity Management Role of Human Resource Managers in Diversity Management CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter presents the background of the research on â€Å"How can international human resources managers effectively manage diversity in multinational company?†- Case study Tesco. The company overview of Tesco in UK, background of the research, organisation background, rationale statement, research questions, and purpose of the research conducted the aim and objectives of the research identified by researcher. The structure of the dissertation is described at the end of the chapter. 1.1 Background of the Research 1.1.1 Managing Diversity Managing diversity means maximizing diversitys potential benefits such as greater cultural awareness and broader language skills, while minimizing the potential barriers such as prejudices and bias that can undermine the companys performance. Dessler (2008, p.61) referred to diversity as potentially a double-edged sword. Generally diversity refers to the variety or multiplicity of demographic features that characterize a companys workforce, in terms of race, sex, culture, national origin, age and religion. Many organisations have implemented various types of initiatives within the last few decades in an effort to deal with diversity. A possible missing link between how the human resource managers deal with diversity and its impact on the organisation is a diversity strategy that is executed using a planned approach to systemically manage diversity (Leopold Harris 2009). The increasing diversity and changing demographics of the UK workforce, the expansion of anti-discrimination legislation, legal rights for individuals with caring responsibilities and government policy commitment to the work-life balance have created new challenges for employers across employment sectors. This research explores some of the issues that arise for employers, managers and employees in the development and application of multinational organisational human resourcing policies which are intended to promote equality of treatment and recognize diversity in the workforce. The 2004 WERS survey (Kersley et al., 2006) found that 73 percent of workplaces had a final written equal opportunities policy or a policy on managing diversity compared to 64 percent in 1998. This figure increased to 98 percent in the public sector (97 percent in 1998) with the incidence of formal policy being higher in large workplaces which means that most employees work in establishments with a formal poli cy. This was evident in the 2007 CIPD annual recruitment and retention survey which revealed that only half of the 905 participating organisations had a formal diversity strategy although again the public sector is more proactive with 83 percent reporting a strategic approach to diversity (CIPD, 2007 a). Todays business and service organisations are meeting the challenge which demands systematic efforts, as many of them have come to realize. Whether the multi-cultural character of the organisation arises from its international workforce and its local operations in various countries, from the mixed backgrounds of a workforce in a single location, the organisation must address this diversity if it is to be successful. Groups of people see the world through their own set of assumptions, values, beliefs, customs, traditions and attitudes that are shared by an organisations members. Learn about their culture and how it shaped them, and aim to understand how other culture work that can be an effective global manager. 1.2 Organisation Background In this research, selected company will be Tesco Metro (Whitton, Branch) London outlet where different cultural people working. Tesco is one of the UKs major retail supermarkets. Tesco is an international retailer where there are working different countries and cross-cultural people. This research is a collection of how the Tesco Company has used diversity to support their business goals and valuable learning and what makes good diversity practice. Tesco is the fastest and largest growing retail chain in UK as well as international arena. Tesco started its journey in 1919 in the East End of London. As a result, Tesco came as a national store across the country in 1970. To beat others and to reach top Tesco brings more innovative idea and implemented those from 1992 to 2004 like slogan â€Å"every little help†, Tesco value, Club card, 24 hours service, Online service and so on (A history of Tesco: The rise of Britains biggest supermarket). Tesco is operating in the UK set its position as a market leader with over  £2 billion of profit with total 3728 stores around the world, where in the UK 2,306 stores and employing over 286,394 staff. It provides online services through its subsidiary, Tesco.com. The UK is the companys largest market where it operates under four banners of Extra, Superstore, Metro and Express. The company sells almost 40,000 food products, including clothing and other non-foods lines. The companys own-label products (50 percent of sales) are at three levels; value, normal and finest. As well as convenience produce many stores have gas stations, becoming one of Britains largest independent petrol retailers (Tesco Annual Report Review, 2009). According to market share Tescos positions in number one in UK and third position around the world. Tesco is the market leader with 30.40% (March, 09) of market share though its lost a bit of market share 0.5% in recent year due to credit crunch. Tesco market s hare is nearly two times higher than other retail shop like Asda (17.5%), Sainsbury (16.1%). (Retail Analysis) Tesco has a very friendly and supporting approach in the routine ways that staffs at Tesco behave towards each other, and towards those outside the company that can make up the ways people do things, where at great place to work. The control systems and measurements are constantly under the management review to monitor the efficiency of the staff and managers decisions. On-going meetings and communication at every level of the companys hierarchy represent a strong internal environment (Tescos Value and Strategy). Cultural web theory application (The cultural web theory is also an effective analysis for management in order to represent the underlying assumptions linked to political, symbolic and structural aspect of the company) is a useful tool in considering the cultural context for Tescos business (Tescos Value and Strategy). Culture generally tends to consist of layers of values, beliefs and taken for-granted actions and ways of doing business within and outside the company. Therefore, the concept of cultural web is the representation of these actions taken for granted for understanding how they connect and influence the strategy (Veliyath and Fitzgerald, 2000; Johnson and Scholes, 2003). It is also useful to understand and characterise both the companys culture and the subcultures in adaptation of future strategies. 1.3 Rationale statement Generally, a self assessment for international human resource managers is to evaluate and improve their global management skills. But it also creates a challenge for individual managers who must manage with working across geographic and cultural areas; understand how issues of managing diversity inform and influence human resource strategies and evaluate the respective responsibilities of international human resource managers for managing diversity policies and practices. The key concept of managing diversity accepts that different cultural workforce consists of a diverse population of people. The diversity management can recognize a wide range of individual differences and benefits to the employment relationship to individual needs which can lead to the organisational competitive advantage. This research explores the key principle of diversity in one of UKs leading super market named Tesco Metro (Whitton Branch) London. The researcher intends that how managers mange working with diversity people in workplace in Tesco, whereas equal opportunity focuses on different ethnic groups. 1.4 Research Questions As human resource manager in a multinational company needs to consider the following major issues: 1. How people manage a group of different culture people? 2. What is the communication within work? 3. How do the managers manage diversity and equal opportunity within the service? 4. How can the manager influence teams performance? 5. How can the manager help people learn and develop? 6. How can the manager help people to manage change? 7. How he is motivating people? 8. How can the manager handle equal opportunity? 9. What strategy managers should apply to get a good result from employees? How a human resource manager can handle all those areas and successfully the organisations mission with different countrys people. 1.5 Purpose of the Research 1.5.1 Research Aim The aim of the dissertation is to analyse the competitive advantage of the organization that are managing people as assets which are fundamental. And to examine diversity, equality and discrimination issues in a multinational company, in the particular way of human resource managers to manage work with different culture people. Tesco has been used as a case study in this dissertation. 1.5.2 Research Objectives 1) An international human resource managers needs to know the way of managing people in the organisation. An overview of what a manager needs to do in relations to managing people in a changing environment which will be include at diversity issues and international human resource management policies. 2) To observe a multicultural company from the perspectives of diverse social peoples. 3) For an organisation to succeed on a global scale, radical shifts in business procedures are required. To become a successful global manager is to develop a global outlook. 4) A global manager needs to know what point an organisation has reached in the globalization process, and where it wants to go. Understand the process and recognize the strategies that will give the organisation a global advantage. 5) Understanding people as individuals and recognizing their differences as well as drawing up some general principles for managing them like motivates them, job satisfaction, and job design. 6) Recruiting, and selecting the right people. This research will disclose some essential factors which help organisations to maintain their diversity effectively within the organisation and make a fair working environment of employees within the organisation. 1.6 Structure of the Dissertation The dissertation report has been structured into the following chapters. Chapter 1: This provides an introduction to the research, where justification of the research is presented and the purpose of the research is explained. Chapter 2: The second chapter is the literature review of this dissertation concerned about, the works of various authors who have discussed relevant existing theories and policy of diversity and the different interpretations of diversity management which is based on secondary data. Those relevant theories and policy will help to find out the appropriate analyse of the following research. Chapter 3: The third chapter will discuss the research methodology. Research method presents the research philosophy, approach and sampling, data collection procedures and shows the right direction to achieve an outcome. This chapter also explains the reasons behind the use of selected research method and the advantages by using the research approach. Chapter 4: This chapter contains the analysis and findings. This part of dissertation informed the research findings quantitatively with the help of constructed research model and research hypotheses. It also shows the data gathered in the company through interview and questionnaire of Tescos managers and employees, and analysis the data to provide a productive meaning of the research finding. Chapter 5: This chapter encloses the conclusion of the dissertation within the research questions and objectives, describe limitation of research and recommends opportunity for further research. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction This chapter discusses the works of various authors and scholars who have highlighted theoretical exploration of the existing knowledge that is relevant to the diversity area. This chapter also focuses on similar and contrasting perspectives that researchers have used to approach this research areas. 2.2 What is Diversity Diversity means relating and working with people who hold different perspectives and views and bringing different qualities to the workplace. According to (Kandola Fullerton 1994, p.19) diversity consists of visible and non-visible differences which will include age, background, race, sex, disability, personality and lifestyle. The concept of diversity means respect and acceptance, means understanding each individual is unique and recognizing our individuals differences. It can be the aspects of race, age, gender, ethnicity, sex, disability, religious beliefs, and political views and so on. It is also exploration of these differences in a safe positive and development organizational environment. As the Wall Street Journal (2005) put about diversity, as companies do more and more business around the world, diversity is simple a matter of doing what is fair or good public relations which is a business imperative but diversity is supposed to enrich an organisations human capital, whereas equal opportunity focuses on various ethnic groups. Brewster (2002) defined that managing diversity tries to build specific skills and to create policies that derive the best from each employee and it is based on the assumption that diverse groups will create new ways of working together and have understanding in that group, profit and productivity will increase in the organisation. Where he found, diversity management is fast becoming a management approach that is being applied effectively within the organizations. 2.3 Benefits of Diversity Diversity needs to be seen as an integral part of the business plan, essential to successful products and increased sales. This is especially true in todays global marketplace, as organizations interact with different cultures and people. Kandola Fullerton (1998) identified the possible areas of diversity benefits, these are: a) Creativity increases when people with different ways of solving difficult problems work together towards a common solution and the more ideas can obtain from different people. b) Productivity increases when people are from all cultures pull together towards a single inspiring goal. Increased productivity is an obvious advantage of diversity in the workplace. c) Provide strong leadership they take strong stands on advocating the need for a diverse workforce and can handle effectively different cultural people. d) New attitudes are brought to the business by people from diverse cultures. In most other countries around the world time is for building relationships and an integral part of getting to know that are considering doing business with before starting a transaction. e) Provide diversity training and education are obviously needed in todays increasingly global market and diverse employees often have this ability. Every company needs specific knowledge or language skills where the international job seekers have the advantage. f) New processes when people are with different ideas come together and collaborate. In todays first moving world, employee must bring multiple skills to the working environment and adapt quickly to new situations. (Harris et al. 2003) International human resource manager can make organisations more successful and productive by managing diversity in the work place. Diversity brings real benefits to business environment where employing a diverse workforce enables it to use a wider range of skills and lead to creativity and innovation. 2.4 Human Resource (HR) Policies HR policies provide guidelines on how key aspects of people management should be handled. The aim is to ensure that any HR issues are dealt with the values of the organisation with certain principles. Armstrong (2009) defined the philosophies and values of the organisation on how people should be treated and all organisations have HR policies. HR policies can be expressed formally as overall statements of the values of the organisation or in specific areas. Kandola Fullerton (1994), these values are espoused by many organizations in one form or another. HR policy on managing diversity recognizes that there are differences among employees and properly managed where will enable work to be more effectively. 2.5 Managing Workforce Diversity Legislation and the high profile of equal opportunities in the UK has had both positive and negative effects on the way people view each other, (Barker, 2000). On the one hand, there is now widespread recognition that discrimination at work on the grounds of gender, race or ability alone is unjust, although the practice still continues. However, the grouping of minorities such as women or ethnic or disabled has produced responses. More recent thinking has moved towards ‘managing diversity-recognizing and valuing differences in people and their unique contributions to the workforce. Managing diversity involves creating an environment that allows all employees to contribute to organizational goals and experience personal growth. This requires the company to develop employees that they are comfortable working with others from a variety of ethnic, racial and religious backgrounds. Noe et al. (2003) found that managing diversity may require changing the company culture. It includes the companys standards and how employees are treated, competitiveness, innovation and risk taking. Where management of diversity has been linked to innovation, improved productivity, lower employee turnover and other costs related to human resources, (Cox, 1993, p.24). Price (1997, p.265) noted that the management of diversity goes beyond equal opportunity instead of allowing a greater range of people the opportunity to ‘fit in the concept of diversity embodies the belief that people should be valued for their differences and variety. Diversity perceived to enrich an organisations human capital. Whereas equal opportunity focuses on various disadvantaged groups, the management of diversity is about individuals and model of resourcing aimed at finding flexible employees. According to Harvard Business Review, managing diversity does not mean controlling or containing diversity, it means enabling every member of workforce to perform to their potential and getting from employees; everything right to expect and if it is well then thing they have to give, (Thomas, 2001). The future success of any organisations relies on the ability to manage a diverse of capacity that can bring innovative ideas, perspectives and views to their work. The challenge and problems faced of workplace diversity can be turned into a strategic organisational asset if an organisation is able to make the most of diverse talents. Especially for multinational companies, who have operations on a global scale and employ people of different countries, ethical and cultural backgrounds. Thus, a HR manager needs to be aware and may utilize a Think Global, Act Local approach in most circumstances, (Jackson, 2002). The goals of diversity training are eliminate values and managerial practices that restrain employees personal development and allow employees to contribute to organisational goals within the cultural background, (Jackson Associates, 1992). It is because of equal opportunity employment laws that companies have focused on ensuring equal access to jobs. With a population attempt towards high technology and knowledge-based economy; foreign ability are tempt to share their expertise in these areas. Thus human resource managers have to undergo cultural-based human resource management training to further their abilities to motivate a group of professional that are highly qualified but culturally diverse. 2.6 Achieving Equality and diversity Approach The diversity approaches argue that diverse workgroups generate wealthier ideas and solutions than homogenous groups where benefits of diversity management include a greater concern for socially responsible behavior in organisations and more flexibility in organizational policies, (Wentling Palma-Rivas, 1998, p.237). Ross Schneider (1992, p.49) discussed the fundamental perspective from equality to diversity that employers will find competitive advantage in encouraging diversity at work. Equal opportunities should become internally driven not externally imposed and focused on individuals where the responsibility of all. Fredman (2001) observes that traditionally equality laws have been informed by neutrality, individualism and promotion of autonomy principles. These principles aim to ensure that people are treated in the same way and appear to be the most consideration in the UK anti-discrimination framework which is an approach to workplace equality based on achieving fairness. Walsh (2007) in her analysis of the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey findings points out that womens representation in senior management in UK workplaces had only marginally improved by 2 percent between 1998 and 2004. So diversity is a concept which recognises the benefits to be gained from differences and equal opportunity has traditionally been a concept, which sought to legislate against discrimination. These two concepts have the following characteristics:. Those characteristics suggest that how organisations can move from where most are at present to a situation in which diversity enters the majority. 2.7 How the Diversity Concept has developed Changes in the social and economic landscape led to legislation covering equal pay, sex and racial discrimination in the 1970s, followed by disability laws in the 1990s, (Daniels Macdonald, 2005). More recently discrimination of sexual orientation and religion has been added by the law. By 1990s, it was being recognised that they had limited success in achieving their goals. At around the same time, researchers were also finding that culturally diverse teams were more creative than homogenous teams and contributed more effectively to meeting organisational goals. Three separate commissions have promoted equality and particular aspects of the legislation: the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Commission for Racial Equality and the Disability Rights Commission. From October 2007, a new Equality and Human Rights Commission has been established to cover all equality issues as well as of human rights, from (CIPD, 2007). From the recent survey, unemployment is twice as high among people from ethnic minorities, although in UK relatively more Asian and Black African graduates than white graduates where only 12 percent of white men are in professional occupations. Statistical survey found that 41 percent of white women in employment work part-time but only 7 percent of white men and as opposed to 38 percent of Bangladeshi men, (http://www.cipd.co.uk/surveys). 2.8 Diversity Policy Changing workforce demographics and new organisational forms are increasing the diversity of work teams in general and decision-making teams in particular. The perspectives of diversity policy may lead to a variety of different consequences for decision-making teams in the organisation. 2.8.1 The Business Issues Equal opportunities are often seen as meaning treating everyone in exactly the same way. Kandola (2006) argued that the social justice and business issues for diversity are complementary because unless people are treated fairly at work they will therefore under-perform. But diversity takes equality forward and evidence indicates that organisations that are serious about diversity show better overall financial performance. Diversity policies also help organisations to create an environment in which people from all backgrounds can work together. 2.8.2 People Issues People are aspiring to work for employers with good employment practices and feel valued at work place. Dowling et al. (1999, p.262) states that to be competitive organisations need to derive the best contributions from everyone and need to create an inclusive workplace culture in which everyone feels valued. The HRM aspects are operating different countries as a way of illustrating the situation that may confront multinationals attempting to penetrate developing markets. 2.9 The Nature of Diversity in Decision-Making Teams Many organisations use the term diversity to refer only to demographic differences among employees, with gender, ethnicity and age being the dimensions of greatest concern. Changing workforce demographics and new organisational forms are increasing the diversity of work teams in general and decision-making teams in particular. Diversity may lead to a variety of different consequences for decision-making teams. 2.9.1 Gender Diversity Gender diversity in teams may indicate the extent to which team members form same gender relationships outside the team. Studies on social networks suggest that employees form relationships with each other based on their gender. In a study of male and female managers in an advertising firm, Ibarra (1995) found that men and women formed same gender networks that served both social and instrumental goals. 2.9.2 Ethnicity Diversity Social identity and organisational demography suggests that people are preferred to interact with members of their own identity group rather than with members of other groups. Where white males tend to perform in higher positions, (Chow Crawford, 2004) females and ethnic minorities tend to occupy more junior positions. Experiences of racism shared by women and members of different ethnic groups affect their attitudes and behaviours in the workplace. 2.9.3 Age Diversity People within age groups share common experiences, attitudes and values (Lawrence, 1988), a persons age can act as an indication that triggers social categorization processes and promotes communication among group members. Descriptions of workforce demographics usually emphasize the fact that the average age of the work force is increasing but the distribution of ages represented in the workforce is also changing. Following figure showing age distribution where non-white groups are younger: White groups have an older age structure where the mixed group had the youngest age structure 50 percent were under the aged of 16. The Bangladeshi, other Black and Pakistani groups also had young age structures of 38 percent were aged 16. This was almost double the proportion of the White British group, where 20 percent were under the age of 16. 2.10 Managing Diversity is Different from Affirmative Action Managing diversity focuses on maximizing the ability of all employees to contribute to organisational goals. Affirmative action focuses on specific groups because of historical discrimination, such as people of colour and women, (Kravitz Klineberg, 2000). Affirmative action emphasizes legal necessity and social responsibility where managing diversity emphasizes business necessity. So it is much more inclusive and acknowledges that diversity must work for everyone. Affirmative actions having the employer take actions in recruitment, hiring, promotions and compensation to eliminate the present effects of past discrimination. Affirmative action is still a significant workplace issue today. The incidence of major court-mandated affirmative action is down, but courts still use them. Furthermore, many employers must still engage in voluntary programs. For example, executive order 11246 (issued in 1965) requires federal contractors to take affirmative action to improve employment opportunities for groups such as women and racial minorities. EEO 11246 covers about 26 million workers about 22 percent of the US workforce, (Dessler 2008, p.63). 2.11 Organisational Context Managerial approaches to diversity will inevitably be informed by the specific organisational context. Attracting different types of people to an organisation will be determined by peoples perceptions of the industry in which the organisation operates. The image and reputation of the organisation as an employer will affect the types of people attracted to the organisation, (Markwick Fill, 1997). The maternity and children specialist retailer who came 18th in the 2008 Sunday Times 20 Best Big Companies to Work For list attribute their ranking to a number of factors to their employer brand. These include an emphasis on work-life balance, flexible working, better than average maternity pay and leave. These argue helps to attract and retain staff especially female employees, (Leopold Harris, 2009). If an organisation is able to employ a diverse workforce, the extent to which these individual differences are recognised in employment practices will be significantly affected by the size and structure of the organisation. 2.12 Diversity in Multinational Companies As more and more organisations become global and people of different cultures and ethnic backgrounds work together, the need for multicultural understanding becoming obvious to many organisation. Harris et al. (2003, p.25) referred that a multinational team would be much stronger in communication which is vital aspect in business. Most of the multinational company gives priority to work with diversity people as a result they are success in international market. Ansari Jackson (1995, p.12) described, multicultural teams led to more people from different culture and ethnic intermarrying. Globalisation and advances in communication and technology have reduced trade barriers and increased interaction among people. Companies and leaders who recognise the cultural diversity and find the right cultural mixture among the team can achieve comparative advantages. To understand how diversity is managed in multinational company, in that case need to understand the concept of corporate culture which describe the organisational diversity programs and how to minimize conflict between employees. 2.13 Why Culture Counts According to Mattock (1999) organisations have moved on from international to multinational to global. Multicultural teams have become very common in recent years. With cross border mobility becoming much easier the number of people moving from one country to another has grown significantly. As a manager need to successful interaction with others like sharing ideas, their needs and helping to improve performance, where need to consider cultural context. A diverse multi cultural work place enables a company to handle diverse projects. Erlenkamp (2007, p.7) found, in the last decades many scientist tried to define intercultural difference to enhance the communication between different cultures. ‘The most important studies were conducted by Geert Hofstede, Edward Hall and Fons Trompenaars, that shows the importance of multicultural workforce and HRM of many organisations do study these theories to implement it in their employee training. 2.14 Understanding Cross-Cultural Communication Language issues can develop into a source of conflict and inequality within culturally diverse organisations becomes more and more multicultural, (Ansari Jackson 1995). In the international business environment of today and tomorrow communication is a business necessity

Free College Essays - Ideal Distraction in Knowles A Separate Peace :: A Separate Peace Essays

A Separate Peace  Ã‚   Ideal Distraction    A Separate Peace  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"It wasn’t the cider which made me surpass myself, it was this liberation we had torn from the gray encroachments of 1943, the escape we had concocted, this afternoon of momentary, illusory, special and a separate peace,† (128) reflects Gene Forrester after his carefree outing at the winter carnival. John Knowles in a Separate Peace uses an unusual plot to give the reader an illusionary sense of peace and security, found only at Devon, during a time of great war, through isolating specific idealistic moments from the sin and evil that encompasses them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The author stresses certain events or moments in the story to deepen the illusion of peace and tranquility taking the reader further away from the real truth. Knowles uses Finny’s superior leadership skills to invent a summer game called Blitzball and conduct the winter carnival. Both of which were tools describing ideal moments used to distract the reader from reality that there is a battle being fought.   Another idyllic event Knowles uses to his advantage was when Gene found his rhythm, †Buoyed up, I forgot my usual feeling of routine self-pity when working out, I lost myself, oppresses mind along with aching body; all entanglements were shed, I broke into the clear.† (112) Utilizing this the author was able to divert the reader’s attention to the 1944 Olympic games and fool the audience into a false sense about the war.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Not only actions mislead the audience but the feelings of the students as well. Mainly because of the inseparable bond between Gene and Finny,† I hope your having a pretty good time here. I know I kind of dragged you away at the point of the gun, but after all you can’t come    2    by yourself, and in this teen-age period in life the proper person is your best pal.† (40) From this Finny formed an idealistic bond between him and Gene.   Using this high to present a low, Knowles hides the evil truth going through Gene’s mind about his friend, thus enabling him to jounce Phineas from the tree without thinking.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The author illustrated his theme by placing certain words strategically in the novel to convince the reader that there was still peace. For instance Knowles uses the word Eden to give the audience a false picturesque landscape that resembled the watery shores.