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The case for workplace diversity
In a marketplace where even the smallest organisation can conduct business on an international stage, the MBA has rapidly become one of very few universally recognised qualifications. But how are these three prized letters helping to make workplace diversity a reality in the new global economy?
As the first rule of warfare is to know your enemy, so the first rule of business is to know your customer. Easy enough perhaps when your customer lives around the corner and looks and sounds just like you. Somewhat more difficult when he or she speak another language, comes from a totally different cultural background and lives on the other side of the world. Welcome to business in the age of the internet.
For many organisations, the key to this simultaneous challenge and opportunity has been almost blindingly simple – the development of genuinely diverse workforces that mirror the customer base and consequently understand its increasingly diverse needs, aims and requirements. Take, for example, the case of motor manufacturer Ford in the UK. Research found that one of the most lucrative potential markets for its small vans was small entrpreneurial companies, many of which were owned by families originating from the Indian sub-continent. But how should a marketing department without direct experience of this demographic group go about addressing it effectively? Fortunately for Ford, an organisation that had been focused on the diversity issue for many years, a ready-made solution presented itself. The professional marketers set up a task force from the high proportion of Asian personnel already within the workforce and the resultant insight helped sales to soar. Another major organisation that has demonstrably grasped the business case for diversity is the pharmaceuticals giant, Eli Lilly, According to the company’s Rafael Fernandez, “We’re acutely aware that we need to reflect the diversity of our customer base in our own staffing in terms of colour, culture, age and gender. And, for a company like us that operates in 146 countries around the world, it’s particularly important to reflect, not just domestic diversity, but diversity on a global scale.”
While commitment to workplace diversity may have originally been a US-based initiative, it is now starting to spread worldwide. Deutsche Post World Net, for example, has been working on the issue since 1995 and now has its own in-house director of diversity, Susanna Nezmeskal, while another company with German roots, Siemens, has introduced diversity training into its management development programmes.
The role of business schools
Not surprisingly, major business schools have enthusiastically spread their net to produce the MBAs who will lead this diverse workforce into a bright new business future. Reims Management School in France, for example, now draws its student body from 27 countries, Solvay Business School in Belgium from 30 and IESE in Spain from as many as 55. Even a relatively young school such as INCAE in Costa Rica has an intake drawn from 20 different nationalities. And, while this delivers benefits during the programme itself, it also plugs graduates into an international network that can provide support, advice and business opportunities throughout their careers. The alumni association of Spain’s IE-Instituto de Empresa, for example, has members in 85 countries, while that of Manchester Business School in the UK covers more than 130. And the strategy of broadening the student base certainly appears to be paying off. “We specifically target schools with a high proportion of international students,” says Rafael Fernandez, “to ensure we are drawing not just from a local but from an international pool of MBAs.”
"We're acutely aware that we need to reflect the diversity of our customer base in our own staffing in terms of colour, culture, age and gender."
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