Bonus question: Dr. Eoin Higgins conference about Virtual Teams

Do you consider managing diversity a key success factor in the performance of virtual teams?

First of all it is important to clarify what are Virtual Teams. VTs are groups of people working together in different locations, communicating themselves by using technology. There can be cases in which the groups are relating with different firms in the same country, the same firm in different countries (i.e. subsidiaries), or different firms in different countries. Due to the difference of locations (even if they are in the same country they are in different locations) there are always different cultures interacting, in higher or lower degree. We must take into account that there may be incompatibility between the cultures working together and that’s why it is important to develop a good diversity management strategy in order to avoid problems and find successful results.

Dr. Higgins emphasized the importance of the trust between the teams as a key element for the good performance and development of the process. I think that diversity management plays a fundamental role in order to achieve this trust. Taking advantage of the cultural diversity existing between the teams could be a very important tool instead of being an obstacle if it is well managed (and we have seen for example in IBM how a good diversity management led to many benefits). Expertise variety for example has as consequence the complementation between the different capabilities and finally resulting in more creative outputs.

Nevertheless there is a negative factor that may pose some difficulties when taking management decisions. Normally, virtual teams are conformed for a short period of time, and we have seen that it is very important to implement diversity management strategies in long periods of time in order to see good results. In this case the main actions could be done in order to create a tolerant image of the other cultures which the work will be done with so problems such as stereotyping could be avoided.

http://blog.atlassoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/virtual_team1.jpg
http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/assets/images/Alum05Jun_VTeams.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl2FwkWW1vF3FgKMWf1PqtKE7nnErmLPbYKysr2fLpDBDo6IRHXeULxV-0Ui6QNJSzKd9r3jqXhEvjwuUIMph_3F9ZW79Af4ieLDvrF1hg4gWVpBVnKipp2Z0e3am8WDhwIt6hJ_eGv58/s320/faryetnear.jpg

Module 4: Managing diversity (questions)

According to the compulsory readings for this module, answer 2 of the following questions:

1. Is diversity management at IBM a source of competitive advantage? Why?

I agree completely with the diversity management in IBM as a source of competitive advantage. What IBM has done is exactly what diversity management is about, rather than attempt to eliminate discrimination by deliberately ignoring differences among employees, IBM created eight task forces, each focused on a different group such as Asians, gays and lesbians, and women. The goal of the initiative was to uncover and understand differences among the groups and find ways to appeal to a broader set of employees and customers. As mentioned in the summary of this module, we can see how the efficient diversity management of IBM has led them to take advantages of the opportunities presented in the market. "We made diversity a market-based issue....It's about understanding our markets, which are diverse and multicultural." –Lou Gerstner. A perfect example is the increase from $10 million in 1998 to $300 million in 2001 based on a recommendation from the people with disabilities task force, in October 2001 IBM launched an initiative focused on making all of its products more broadly accessible to take advantage of new legislation-an amendment to the federal Rehabilitation Act requiring that government agencies make accessibility a criterion for awarding federal contracts.

2. Do you think the IBM case reflects a strong organizational commitment to diversity? Why?

According to all this, we can say that IBM does reflect a strong organizational commitment to diversity. They broke the system of “equal opportunities” they had in the 90’s. They started by recognizing diversity and since then they have inserted that concept in the company which has led to many successful experiences. By doing so they have made the organizational culture of the company a culture where all the differences are assimilated and accepted. It wasn’t an immediate process, by contrary it took many time and effort from the whole company (which shows that an organizational culture can be changed but it needs to be done with a large process), working with task forces representing each demographic constituency (Asian, blacks, GLBT (gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender), Hispanic, white men, native Americans, people with disabilities and women. This work gave its fruits and has made IBM a real example of successful diversity management and, as it demonstrated the real interest of IBM in becoming into a real multicultural company, it showed its commitment to diversity.

References:

Thomas, David A. Diversity as strategy
http://www.opm.gov/img/comstock/diversity.jpg
http://newyork.corante.com/archives/IBM%20building.jpg
http://techfreep.com/images/ibm.jpg

Module 4: Managing diversity (summary)

As we have seen in the previous blog (exploring diversity), diversity is very important and we can see that it is present in many aspects in our life. We have seen the different kind of diversities that we can find (gender, age, religion, etc).

Now we are going to study how these differences can affect our work and how can we manage them in order to obtain benefits instead of problems. Since we will focus on the diversities at work we will have to recognize that there are other kinds of differences that we can find. We will see workforce diversity (diversity in the recruitment, development, etc), workplace diversity (organizational insights, work/life integration, council and affinity groups, etc), and marketplace diversity (industry partnerships, supplier diversity, franchise diversity, etc).

We should not mix the concept of management diversity with trying to give equal opportunities to everybody. The latter can bring problems that could even reinforce the differences. Managing diversity is about recognizing that there are differences but positively dealing with them.
An effective management of the diversity can be a very important source of competitive advantages in aspects such as costs, resources acquisition, marketing, creativity and problem solving, flexibility and change management. These advantages would lead to benefits like higher creativity in the decision making process, better understanding and serving of customers, more satisfied workforce, lower litigation expenses (due to lower legal problems), leading finally to an overall higher company performance.

Let’s think for example in a marketing group composed by a diverse group of four people, two men and two women form different ages and cultural background. They can think in several different options for promoting a product and in this way the campaign would attract a bigger share of the market than another campaign directed by a homogeneous group. Nevertheless this case would be successful only with an efficient management of diversity (if not the result could be just the fights and differences of opinions between the group).

But it is not easy to achieve this good management level. It has to go through some difficult challenges. Similarity attraction phenomenon for example is very common. It is the tendency of getting related with those who are similar. This phenomenon can lead to several problem making a group of those with similarities and maybe excluding the different people, it can prevents highly qualified individuals that are different to enter the organization or to feel comfortable in it. Faultlines (an attribute that divides the group into subgroups) is another challenge that can reduce the cohesion of a team. Finally another big challenge to face are the well known stereotypes, that can conclude in hostile relations or the inexistence of those relations due to prejudices for a specific person with specific values or traditions.

It is not easy but is extremely important to surpass these challenges in order to obtain all the benefits mentioned above. So if understanding the differences of a diverse world is important, it is equally important to know how to manage them in order to take all the advantages that it can bring us.

References:

Class presentation

http://www.diversityworking.com/employerZone/about.php

http://www.alvanleygroup.com/

Module 3: Exploring diversity (Question)

¿Do you think the entry and integration of new members to the European Union are processes that promote diversity? Or, on the contrary, strive to homogenize the European Society?

“Preserving and promoting cultural diversity are among the [European] Community’s founding principles”

Before giving any answer to this question is important to highlight the diverse nature of the European Union. We can find many different countries with a lot of variations in terms of languages (almost each country has its own language), traditions, religions, historical backgrounds and different behaviors. We also have to realize that the original process that has taken place in the integration of the EU hasn’t affected these diversities nor has threatened any particular culture of the member states.

Now, this could lead us to think that the entry of new member wouldn’t dramatically affect this and that it would promote even more diversity. Actually it does, in a certain way. I think it wouldn’t be correct to affirm that any process in the EU would lead to a “homogenization” of the European society because of their historical differences and their own values and cultures. We have seen that there is no complete homogenization, or at least is very difficult to achieve (even more when we talk about homogenization of more than 27 countries with different cultures).
Nevertheless I also think that the EU members can start generating a situation in which diversities can be compromised and limited to a certain point. What I mean is that it is true that there are a lot of diversities among EU States and most of them will keep existing, and we can also assume that the level of acceptance and tolerance between these differences is going to be very high, but the existence of a closed circle in which the diversities are already given and there is not a big chance for others to come in can generate a certain kind of “regionalism” that could be very dangerous in cultural terms.

In this hypothetical case, the EU would be very “limited” in terms of diversity. We can also notice that sometimes “the degree of that [cultural] diversity […] depends to a significant degree on the kind of immigration policy implemented” by the state (cultural diversity is more than just the migratory policies). So as a conclusion, I think that the entrance of new members dos promote diversity but they have to be very careful and take some additional measures in order to avoid becoming into a regional fortress where the diversities exist and are a lot but won’t be more that the ones that already are in.

References:


Toggenburg, Gabriel N. Who is managing ethnic and cultural diversity in the European condominium? The moments of entry, integration and preservation.
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/06/500&format=HTML&aged=1&language=EN&guiLanguage=fr
http://mensa-barbie.com/bloggerimages/UNESCO_diversity_conventio%20copy.JPG
http://www.twocircles.net/2009oct09/lisbon_treaty_referendum_european_union_example_islamic_world.html

Module 3: Exploring diversity (Summary)

Diversity is each time more and more present in our life. We cannot assume that diversity is only having people from different countries and cultures in our workplace, diversity is much more than that and in most of the cases we cannot notice that. First of all we have to understand this diversity, and it means understanding both differences and similarities between yourself and each people around you. Doing so we will be able to see that diversity is present all the time (in higher or lower degree) because diversity takes as many aspects as:

— Gender
— Race
— Age
— Religion
— Physical abilities
— Sexual orientation
— Education
— Functional background
— Experience
— Status

After knowing this it would be easier to identify diversity surrounding us. We must know that not all the aspects are easy to notice, there are dimensions of diversity that we can easily see (race, gender, age, physical attributes, etc.) but there are also some invisible aspects (education, skills, work and life experiences, status, etc) that we would have to identify after knowing the person, and finally there are core aspects (character of personality, work style, sexual orientation and personal truths) that we would only know after establishing some kind of relationship with the other person or that we won’t even know.

Nevertheless, it is extremely important to identify, explore and understand the diversity in the world, not only in the workplace but also in our daily life in order to avoid making common mistakes that can be really problematic.

Not recognizing the diversity can bring us a lot of problems that we see every day. The most common of these problems is the discrimination (gender discrimination, race discrimination, age discrimination, religious discrimination, etc). Having a deep understanding of the diversity can help to avoid these problems in which you can also be the victim.

This can lead you to acquire cultural intelligence, which is the ability to operate in a variety of situations crossing through meta-cognitive intelligence (knowledge about culture); cognitive intelligence (knowledge about the environment); motivational intelligence (desire to learn about cultural differences); and behavioral intelligence (ability to exhibit appropriate actions) for finally using your head, heart and body to understand other cultures.

References:

Class presentation

http://www.allstate-jobs.com/content/diversity/

http://sexdiscriminationact1975.com/
http://delhi4cats.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/discrimination_by_thinkvegan.jpg

Module 2 essay: Is there a corporate culture in every organization?

As mentioned in a previous blog (see: “Module 2: Organizational culture”), corporate culture is settled at the very beginning steps of any company foundation and is marked by the deeply embedded beliefs and values that are shared by members of the organization which become visible in the way work gets done on a day to day basis. So I do consider that every organization has a corporate culture by nature, “The culture of an organization is like its DNA, showing some outward representation yet much is held below the surface which is much harder to identify and name” but I also must clarify that not all the companies have the same culture structure, and not all the organizational cultures are equally strong. All these possibilities make possible the differentiation between companies, its strategies and achievements.

It is up to each company how to establish its own culture and how important would it be to follow it strictly in order to achieve any specific goal; and it is linked to this culture that the employees may fit and as a consequence feel better or worse in this company or in the next one. What is sure is that this organizational culture is (normally) deeply-rooted in the company and trying to change it may be very difficult and may also bring disastrous results. I’m not saying that is impossible to change the culture of an organization but I’m saying that it may be a very long and hard process and in some cases the results would not be the expected ones. The general mistake that leads to a failed “cultural change” is that it is developed in order to achieve a specific objective or in order to try to change a particular behavior but it is more effective to use the cultural strength of the company (instead of changing it) to achieve it. “You don’t go out and try to change the culture. You do something to improve performance, and if you pull it off, it tends to stick -it seeps into the culture”.

Now, we must also consider cases as M & A where the corporate culture of the company is different to the one of the acquired organization. In these cases it is often a giant (and common) mistake to try to impose one’s culture to the other, and it’s even worse when it takes place between companies of different nationalities. What should be done is to understand the other’s culture and gradually start adapting some main values and if possible shared aspects and adapting not only from the corporate culture but from the professional cultures (i.e. financial, engineering or operating culture). When facing challenges like this we must remember that the adaptation to change is one of the cultural traits seemed to be most associated with success.

Sources:

• Gregory J. Millman. Corporate culture: more myth than reality?
• http://www.nhorizons.ca/en-change-culture-change.asp
• http://www.harshman.com/index.php?page=Culture

Module 2: Organizational culture (Summary)

“Corporate culture describes the whole collection of assumptions, practices and norms that people in an organization adopt over time.” Corporate culture is comprised by the assumptions, values, norms and tangible signs of organization members and their behaviors and in many times it defines the way that the organization is going to be conducted. Having a clear well defined corporate culture may have many benefits or in some cases disadvantages but anyway we must have clear that it is going to affect the company’s performance.

Organizational culture is composed by several levels, from the deepest aspects of a company (as its mission, vision and identity) until the most external ones (rituals, symbols, norms, slogans, etc). In the middle of these two extremes we can also find aspects like the shared values, beliefs, capabilities and knowledge. All these aspects take time to be successfully developed.

Defining the corporate culture of a company can help to both have an internal integration (allowing the members to know how to relate to one another) and external adaptation (to help organization to adapt to external environment).

Organizational or corporate culture is strongly tied to National culture. This is due to the fact that the basis for the whole organizational culture are settled at the very beginning steps of company’s foundation and at this stage entrepreneurs set the norms and rules based on the context of values and assumptions they have from their own National culture. This fact has to be taken into account when trying to change the culture of an organization. Here is where many mistakes are done by managers and is a very common case when mergers and/or acquisitions appear. In many cases the new manager doesn’t take into account the huge cultural differences that may exist between both companies and simply tries to impose his own culture, normally leading to giant failures (which in business terms means millionaire loses).

We can see different kinds of cultures such as: entrepreneurial culture (based on values innovation, creativity and risk taking); mission culture (which has a clear vision of purposes and how to achieve them); clan culture (it focuses on needs of employees as a route to performance); and bureaucratic culture (that supports a methodical approach to business and efficiency).

Developing a good organizational culture has many strong advantages. It is linked with the good performance of the company, it generates motivation, core values are intensely held and widely shared, reduce potential conflicts and make a good environment in which the employees will work hard willingly. Nevertheless it has also some weak points because it could also generate an inflexible barrier, an instinct against the change and may bring the people together in a defensive way. That’s why it is very important to understand it and to know how to develop it in order to achieve an equilibrium that allows to profit the benefits without being victim of the disadvantages.

References and sources:

Class presentation.

Gregory J. William. Corporate culture: more a myth than reality

http://www.furstsearch.com/NewsArticles/Articles/WhoIsAStrategicLeader/tabid/155/Default.aspx

http://www.nhorizons.ca/en-change-culture-change.asp