Module 12

Diversity, HRD Ethics, and Future of

HRD

Session1
HRD and Diversity
 Defining diversity
• Workforce diversity= Policies & practices that
seek to include people within a workforce who
are considered to be in some way, different
from those of the prevailing constituency.”
– Dr. J. Haran, 2006
• What forms of diversity might be present in a
workplace or need to be addressed?
• Why we need to address it?
 Forms of Diversity
• Race
• Gender
• Nationality
• Language
• Age
• Ability or Disability
• Religion
• Lifestyle
• Work function/tenure
Reasons for Diversity at the Workplace
• India has witnessed significant demographic
changes in the past twenty years;
• Many people from traditionally agricultural
communities have now joined the ranks of the
middle class.
• Large numbers of women are now being
employed in traditionally male dominated areas
• Many companies in India are proactively
encouraging diversity within its ranks.
 Gender Diversity: Nonstandard work
 More women in workforce today than ever
◦ Better educated than ever
 Most “nonstandard” workers (those who do not hold regular, full-time
jobs) are women
◦ 55% of workers paid by temporary agencies are women
◦ 70% of part-time workers are women
 Stereotypes still remain
◦ Glass ceiling, etc.
• A study by the magazine Dataquest in 2002 showed that the ratio of
men to women in the major IT companies ranged from 2:1 to 24:1.
• Another study by the same magazine in 2007 showed that the
representation of women in the IT workforce was around 24% in 2005.
In 2007 this figure had marginally improved to 26.4%.
 Age Diversity
• As population ages, more older workers are
available
• Re-entry of middle-aged women to work
• Retirees returning to supplement pension
• Internships bring in more younger employees
Workforce Diversity: Capabilities and
Disabilities
Disability Issues
– Providing reasonable accommodations for
individuals with disabilities
– Promoting a nondiscriminatory workplace
environment
– Educating the organization
about disabilities and AIDS

5-7
 Culture
• Set of shared beliefs, values, norms, and artifacts
• Culture exists in organizations
• Organizational culture
• Before- emphasis on fitting in with organization’s
culture
• More likely to be loyal and committed
• Now- emphasis on benefits of cultural diversity in
workplace
• Workplace more diverse
• Higher numbers of ethnic and racial minorities and
women in workforce
• Discrimination remains an important issue
 Challenges for Management
Organization Culture
Valuing differences
Prevailing value system
Mind-Sets about Diversity
Cultural inclusion HR Management Systems (Bias
Problem or opportunity? Free?)
Challenge met or barely addressed? Recruitment
Level of majority-culture buy-in Training and development
(resistance or support)
Performance appraisal
Compensation and benefits
CHALLENGES OF
Promotion
CULTURAL
Education Programs DIVERSITY
Educate management on
valuing differences
Promoting knowledge and Higher Career Involvement of
acceptance Women
Taking advantage of the Dual-career couples
opportunities that diversify Heterogeneity in
Race/Ethnicity/Nationality Sexism and sexual harassment
provides Work-family conflict
Effect on cohesiveness,
communication, conflict, morale
Effects of group identity on
interaction (e.g., stereotyping)
Prejudice (racism, ethnocentrism)

9
 Cultural Diversity (Hofstede)

 Managers and employees vary on 5 dimensions of

national culture:
1. Individualism vs. collectivism
2. Power distance: extent to which a society accepts the
fact that power in institutions and organizations is
distributed unequally
3. Uncertainty Avoidance: The extent to which a society
feels threatened by uncertain and ambiguous
situations and tries to avoid them
4. Quantity vs. Quality of Life (also masc/fem)
5. Long term orientation
 Sexual Orientation Diversity
• A small proportion of Indian workforce is
lesbian, gay, or bisexual. No data available
avbout the exact numbrr
• Disclosure of sexual orientation is a critical
and complex decision that is affected by many
factors (Ragins et al., 2001)
Sexual orientation in India
Sexual orientation in India
Continued.
 How companies deal with sexual
orientation
• IBM India, which had introduced a reverse mentoring project, the
Employee Alliance for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender
Empowerment (EAGLE), a year ago, vowed to remain committed to
inclusion irrespective of sexual orientation.
• The Infosys Gays Lesbians and you (IGLU), an employee resource group for
the LGBT community in the company, to create a safe and respectful work
environment for employees from the LGBT community. It conducts
awareness programs and exclusive events to create awareness and foster
Inclusion.
• According to a LGBT Resource Guide created by Google, IBM, Goldman
Sachs and Community Business last year, the LGBT community makes up
about 5-10 percent of India Inc's workforce.
• Around 80 percent of them report hearing homophobic comments, jokes
or anti-gay rhetoric at their workplace
 Attitudes Toward Diversity
• Ethnocentrism = belief that one’s own
Goal for organizations seeking cultural diversity is pluralism
group or subculture is inherently superior
to other groups or cultures
• Enthnorelativism = belief that groups and
subcultures are inherently equal
• Pluralism = an organization
accommodates several subcultures

16
 Sex-Based Discrimination &
Harassment
• Discrimination
• Women still underrepresented in top roles
• 2006: 23,000 formal sex-based discrimination charges
• Harassment
• Women filed 84.6% of all harassment charges in 2006
• Do you think men are experiencing sexual harassment but
not reporting?
• Any examples from the news or work experience?
• Sexual Harassment Act in India
 Session 2

Diversity Management
 Challenges of Diversity
• Availability Challenge
– In past employers could control diversity
• More people than jobs
– Qualified employees have become scarce
• Employers must become more flexible
• Realize “Different does not mean deficient”
• Fairness challenge
– In past, typically viewed as equal treatment
• Equal Employment Opportunity
– Now employers must embrace new diversity
• Essentially focus on “differences”
 Challenges of Diversity
• Synergy challenge
– More and more group-based work
– Diversity can create positive and negative
conflict
• Can facilitate creative problem-solving
• Can close down communication
• Can derail group processes
– Group leaders must minimize destructive
conflict and maximize diversity of input
 Diversity Training
• Created to value the diversity and differences in organizations
• Most workforces now include this training
• Usually only one instance of training- no follow-up
• Possible benefits
• Raises awareness
• Improves how employees treat and act towards one
another
• Criticism of diversity training
• Emphasizes differences
• Difficult to create goals and needs assessments for diversity
programs
• Expensive- high cost for diversity consultants and cultural audits
• Difficult to evaluate this type of training
Managing diversity
Example: iCelebrate Diversity
Jelly Beans
• 6 flavors of jelly beans
• Flavors inside do not match with outside colors
• Green jelly bean might be cherry or other flavored
• Note on the candy says, “This candy is just like people--you
cannot determine what is on the inside by simply looking at
the outside. Diversity jellybeans remind us to experience
people one at a time and enjoy their unique qualities.
Diversity is Strength!”
• Companies that use Diversity Jelly Beans
• Microsoft, UPS, Apple, Target, and may6 more more
• Is this effective?
 Diversity Management

• Different approach than positive/affirmative

Action

• Focuses on creating a work culture that works for

everyone regardless of sex , race, culture or
minority status

• About inclusion

• Making sure everyone is on “level playing field”

 Inclusive Practices in the Workplace
Current Responses to Diversity

 Building a corporate culture that values

diversity
 Changing structures, policies, and systems
to support diversity
Recruitment
Career advancement
 Providing diversity awareness training

26
 Cross-cultural education and training
• Hundreds of thousands of Indian citizens work overseas
• Organizations use cross-cultural training to prepare
employees
• Goals of training:
• 1. Raise awareness of cultural differences
• 2. Focus on ways attitudes are shaped
• 3. Provide factual information about each culture
• 4. Build skills in language, nonverbal communication,
cultural stress management, and adjustment adaptation
skills
• Can be expensive
• But research shows good training can positively impact
employee’s overseas adjustment and performance
 Diversity Initiatives
Recruitment
 Examine employee demographics
 Examine composition of the labor pool in the area
 Examine composition of the customer base
Career Advancement
 Eliminate the glass ceiling
 Accomplish mentoring relationships
Accommodating Special Needs
 Child care
 Non-English speaking training materials and information packets can be
provided
 Maternity or paternity leave
 Flexible work schedules
 Home-based employment
 Long-term-care insurance, special health or life benefits

28
 Highest Level of Integration
Stages of Awareness Multicultural attitude-enables
one to integrate differences and
Diversity Awareness adapt both cognitively and
behaviorally
Adaptation
Able to shift from one cultural
perspective to another
Able to empathize with those of
Acceptance other cultures
Accepts behavioral differences and
underlying differences in values
Recognizes validity of other ways of
Minimizing Differences thinking and perceiving the world
Hides or trivializes cultural
differences
Focuses on similarities among all
peoples
Defense
Perceives threat against one’s
comfortable worldview
Uses negative stereotyping
Assumes own culture superior
Denial
Parochial view of the world
No awareness of cultural differences
In extreme cases, may claim other
cultures are subhuman Lowest Level of
Awareness 29
 Global Diversity Programs

• Expatriates = employees who live

and work in a country other than
their own
• Global Diversity Program
– Employee selection
– Employee training
– Understanding high vs. low-
context communication context
30
 Leveraging Diversity
• Multicultural teams = made up from
diverse national, racial, ethnic and
cultural backgrounds
• Employee network groups = based
on social identity, and organized by
employees to focus on concerns of
employees from that group

31
 Managing Multicultural Teams
• Advantages
– Enhanced creativity, innovation, and value in
today’s global marketplace
– Generate more and better alternatives to
problems
– Produce more creative solutions than
homogeneous teams
• Disadvantage - increased potential for miscommunication and
misunderstanding

32
 Diversity in a Turbulent World
• Diversity in the workplace reflects diversity in
the larger environment

Organizations that value diversity encourage and support

network groups to enable minority organization
members to
●reduce their social isolation
●be more effective in their jobs
●have a greater impact on the
organization
●achieve greater opportunities for career
advancement 33
 Other ways to help women &
minorities

• Modify HR practices
– Develop new programs, for example:
• Flexible work schedules
• On-site daycare
• Language interpreters
• Multilingual supervisors
 Session 3

Role of HRD in Ethics

 Business ethics
• “The study of business situations, activities, and decisions
where issues of right and wrong are addressed” (Crane
and Matten, 2007 page 5).
• There will always be some organisations who attempt to
avoid even their legal responsibilities (Boxall & Purcell,
2008).
• To ensure against unethical behaviour organisations need
to develop self-regulatory practices that are based on
clearly defined ethical guidelines such as codes of conduct
(Dowling & Welch, 2004).

(Mankin, 2009)
 Code of conduct
• A code of conduct (or code of ethics) sets out
the way in which employees or members of a
occupational group are expected to behave
when carrying out their work responsibilities.
• A code “is sometimes better seen as a
symbolic vehicle supporting the political
interests of the profession by promoting its
image as highly respectable and credible than
as a set of norms that in practice ensure
morally superior behaviour on the part of
professionals” (Alvesson, 2004 page 35).
(Mankin, 2009)
 Role of HRD
• HRD can play an important role in promoting corporate
social responsibility (CSR), corporate sustainability (CS),
and business ethics.
• To understand the role of HRD in CSR, CS, and ethics, it
is important to refer to the triple bottom line model.
• sustainable development can be achieved only when
there is a balanced attention to the environmental,
economic, and social elements of the system
• In analyzing the role of HRD, we need to consider
simultaneous interaction of HRD with all three
elements of the triad.
Triple Bottom Line
 Analyzing the Role of HRD in Developing
Ethical Behaviour
• Conceptual framework - two dimensions of the
epistemology of values, which both relate to the
idea of ethical wholeness or fragmentation.
• The extent to which a person believes their own
ethical values to be a unified whole or, to a
greater or lesser degree, a variable set.
• Concerns a person’s beliefs about the holistic or
fragmentary nature of the wider cultural field in
which they live and work.
 Continued..

Principle is defined as ‘a standard that is to be observed, a requirement of fairness or

justice or some other dimension of morality
Policy sets out a goal to be reached, generally an improvement in some economic,
political or social feature
Aporia: the state which exhibits a high degree of fragmentation of personal
values.
The HRD ethical stances
 Strategies for Embedding CSR, CS, and
Ethics and the Role of HRD
• HRD can raise the awareness of employees and
develop positive attitudes toward sustainability.
• It can contribute to the development of a culture
that supports sustainability, CSR, and ethics.
• HRD facilitates in developing more responsible
cultures by developing new competencies and
mindsets among their managers and executives
• HRD needs to foster reflection, creativity, and
continuous learning of individual employees and
promote the culture of learning throughout the
organization
 Critical Perspectives on the Role of HRD
• HRD has been criticized for disengaging with its
roots in humanistic social science and its original
concern for the well-being of individuals in
organizations and for developing human
potential.
• HRD has been described as an instrument of
corporate profit maximization agenda
• HRD needs to critically examine own practices to
make sure that they are based on principles of
social responsibility, sustainability, and ethics.
• Act as role models of ethical and responsible
behavior within their organizations
 A Relational Model of the Role of HRD in
CSR, CS, and Ethics
• HRD can have a direct and significant impact
not only on employees’ awareness of issues,
but also on how employees will behave when
confronted with ethical- or sustainability-
related dilemmas;
• And that change interventions can have a
lasting effect, resulting in creating ethical and
socially responsible cultures.
Emergence of organizational culture of ethics and
responsibility: The interaction of individual, organizational,
and environmental factors
 HRD and business ethics (1)
• The HRD profession has a responsibility to
create a profession that behaves in a morally
responsible manner (Hatcher, 2003; Ulrich &
Brockbank, 2005).
• All aspects of HRD practice have ethical
implications (Hatcher, 2006) and involve
making moral choices (Fisher, 2005).
• These choices will reflect directly on the
personal integrity and credibility of
practitioners (Garavan, 2007)
(Mankin, 2009)
 HRD and business ethics (2)
• Educate organisational leaders so that they
better understand the importance of ethics
and how this can be integrated into the
business (Maycunich Gilley et al, 2003).
• This has been termed ethical stewardship
(Dowling & Welch, 2004).
• To achieve this practitioners need to develop
the ability to influence key stakeholders
without having the prerequisite formal power
(May et al, 2003).
(Mankin, 2009)
 HRD interventions
• Training in understanding business ethics (e.g.
the difference between gifts and bribes).
• Diversity training processes that address
inequities (Hite, 2004)
(Mankin,and
2009) challenges
employees’ own prejudices and assumptions
about diversity (Awbrey, 2007).
• Nurturing the organisational culture (e.g.
encouraging social networks that span all
employee groupings).
 Session 4

Role of HRD in CSR and

Sustainability
 Corporate social responsibility (CSR)

• An ambiguous and problematic concept that is difficult to

operationalise (Pedersen, 2006).
• It is sometimes impossible to determine corporate
motives for developing CSR policies (Crane and Matten,
2007).
• The external focus of CSR is about the impact of an
organisation’s activities on communities, the environment
and external stakeholders such as customers and
suppliers.
• The internal focus is about how an organisation is
managed and the impact this has on employees.

(Mankin, 2009)
 The responsibilities of CSR
According to Crane and Matten (2007) CSR
encompasses the following responsibilities:

• Economic
• Legal
• Ethical
• Philanthropic

(Mankin, 2009)
 Underpinning theories
• Shareholder theory and stakeholder theory.
• Shareholder theory gives priority to profit maximisation
based on a corporation’s legal obligations to generate
shareholder wealth (Key, 1999).
• Stakeholder theory looks beyond profit maximisation and
focuses on social and environmental values, based on a
corporation’s moral obligations to all those who have a
stake in the business (Freeman, 2001).

(Mankin, 2009)
 Levels of CSR activity in Indian Companies
• Companies are reasonably strong on governance, weak in
disclosure, stakeholder based CSR and, sustainability.
• At least a third of all companies fail to beat the half way
mark on all the fronts.
 CSR Matrix

India's Top Companies for CSR & Sustainability, 2015:Rpeort from IIMUdaipur
 Top 15 CSR spending companies
Source: Ministry of corporate Affairs
Companies In Crores
Sector wise Sustainability Reporting
Sustainability Initiatives by Indian organizations
 Shareholder theory
• A CSR strategy underpinned by shareholder theory
encourages a short-term perspective.
• Financial scandals associated with this approach: Enron
(where losses and debts were hidden in various
subsidiaries); World Com ($3.9 billion was wrongly
accounted); and, Adelphia Communication (who invented
500,000 subscribers) (Zink, 2005).
• Criticised as an overly simplistic view given that business
organisations have to satisfy the needs of stakeholders
other than shareholders (Freeman et al, 2004).

(Mankin, 2009)
 Stakeholder theory
• Stakeholder theory looks beyond shareholder
value to embrace a wide range of
stakeholders.
• It enables an organisation to adopt a longer
term perspective: long-term sustainability
relies not just on the shareholder but on all
other stakeholders relevant to the
organisation (Zink, 2005).
• This perspective increasingly underpins
organisational approaches to CSR (Burchell &
Cook, 2006).
(Mankin, 2009)
 Benefits of CSR: Organisation
• Improves and enhances • Employee benefits result in
company image and higher productivity
reputation • Limits government
• Attracts new customers interference
• Increases customer • Sources of finance are more
satisfaction and builds readily available
longer term customer • Minimises the likelihood
relationships and cost of fines and legal
• Accumulation of customer actions
goodwill

(Mankin, 2009)
 Benefits of CSR: Employee
• Increases employee trust in management;
• Attracts new employees;
• Increases employee satisfaction, motivation
and morale;
• Improves employee retention.
• The consumer feels good about buying
products from companies they trust.
• The consumer will talk positively to family,
friends and colleagues about the company.
(Mankin, 2009)
 Benefits of CSR: Society
• Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) want to
work with companies they trust.

• Alleviation of social ills.

• Development of the arts and sport through

company sponsorship initiatives.

(Mankin, 2009)
Potential problems of a poor approach to CSR

(Mankin, 2009)
 HRD and CSR (1)
• A key aspect of organisations acting in a socially
responsible manner is an investment in human capital
(Zink, 2005).
• This is easier for organisations that have a surplus of
resources to invest in this way (Pedersen, 2006).
• In the non-HRD literature the role is usually restricted to
the provision of training.
• Training can be focused specifically on CSR or on helping
employees in ways that reflect an organisation’s
commitment to CSR.
• Rees and McBain (2004) observe that many managers are
left untrained or poorly briefed on the implications of CSR.
 HRD and CSR (2)
In terms of the HRD literature:
• The HRD role is seen as being more influential at a strategic
level (e.g. developing democratic values in the workplace and
focusing more on social justice than performance
improvement according to Hatcher, 2004).
• According to Maycunich Gilley et al, 2003:
– The design, implementation and review of social audits;
– The design, implementation and evaluation of
improvement projects;
– The communication of CSR benefits through daily HRD
practice.
 Socially conscious HRD
“HRD has a responsibility to create a socially
conscious work environment that benefits the
whole social system, not just the organisation…
HRD has a unique opportunity to educate
organisations about social responsibility and use
HRD strategies to integrate social consciousness
into organisational activities that have the
potential to effect significant social change”
(Maycunich Gilley et al, 2003 pages 216-217).
 HRD and CSR (3)
• Act as an advocate for employees when an
organisation breaches the psychological contract.
• Ensure that decisions are arrived at democratically by
involving all stakeholders.
• Teach and promote ethical management and
leadership.
• Challenge and improve traditional performance
measures to include socially responsible metrics.

Maycunich Gilley et al (2003)

 Session 5

The future of HRD

 HRD for the future

• HRD is needed everywhere and it has a role in

– Starting times of the business
– Stabilizing business
– Growth of the firm
– Facing storms or challenges
• It has role in all sectors
– Family
– Society
– Government
– NGOs
– Everywhere
 SWOT Analysis of HRD
Strength Weaknesses
Body of knowledge Professional bodies limited time and
First country to conceive Integrated HRD perspective rather than mission driven
systems No regulations for entry into and maintaining
standards
28 Years of History
CEOs not being able to identify and use the HRD
Many firsts Managers
Good and strong professional bodies HRD managers lacking courage to educate and
(NHRDN, NIPM, ISTD) make a difference
Good Institutions Talent gap, Not enough role models
Successful HRD professionals who have Theory practice gap
made a mark as CEOs and change Agents
Opportunities Threats
Unlimited, HRD is needed everywhere Definition of success (some line managers
Family
Society succeeding as HRD Manager without doing
Government any HRD work)
NGOs
Corporations Incompetent HRD Managers
Where not? PR world and PR Attitudes
HRD is needed all the time
Changing scenario has opened up unlimited
opportunities for HRD professionals
 HRD Competencies needed for future

• HRD practitioners are being increasingly

challenged by the dynamics of a changing
workplace (Garavan et al, 2007).
• HRD practitioners need to be able to embrace
change and ambiguity (Mankin, 2001).
 Future trends (1)
• Customers are replaced by ‘prosumers’ who
co-create rather than simply consume goods
and services (Tapscott & Williams, 2008).
• ‘Globality’ will characterise global markets
(Sirkin et al, 2008): we’ll all be competing with
everyone, from everywhere, for everything…a
whole new mindset that embraces profit and
competition as well as sustainability and
collaboration” (ibid: 1-2).
 Future trends (2)
• A growth in connectivity in the form of ‘Web-enabled
communities’ which focus on innovation and wealth
creation as well as social development (Tapscott &
Williams, 2008).

• Using ‘service-oriented architecture’ to design and deploy

software that supports business activities (Merrifield et al,
2008): “It is becoming possible to design many business
activities as Lego-like software components that can be
easily put together and taken apart” (ibid: 74).
 Future trends (3)
• The ‘wiki workplace’: based on community,
mass collaboration across boundaries and
self-organisation in contrast to traditional
corporate structures based on hierarchy
and control (Tapscott & Williams, 2008).
• The emergence of the business-web (or b-
web) which are “clusters of businesses that
come together over the Internet” to create
wealth and “are predicated on a new kind
of interenterprise collaboration” (Tapscott
& Williams, 2008: 57).
 Future trends (4)
• The continued growth in multiunit enterprises: “a
geographically dispersed organisation built from standard
units such as branches, service centers, hotels,
restaurants, and stores, which are aggregated into larger
geographic groupings such as districts, regions and
divisions” (Garvin & Levesque, 2008: 108).
• A growth in social and environmental entrepreneurs who
bring a new perspective on value creation by tackling what
are seen by mainstream institutions and organisations as
intractable problems with high risk solutions (Elkington &
Hartigan, 2008).
 HRD implications of future trends (1)

• Integrating the learning needs of ‘prosumers’ ( producers

and consumers) into the organisation’s HRD strategy.
• Developing and improving learning and development
processes to develop and retain talented employees
[Sirkin et al, 2008 refer to an employee’s ‘learnability’].
• Facilitating collaborative activities (e.g. innovation
projects).
• Facilitating inter-organisation and inter-government
collaboration.
 HRD implications of future trends (2)

• Understanding how technology can be used

to sustain competitive advantage.
• Developing an organisation’s collaborative
capabilities.
• Facilitating online collaboration.
• Embracing technology as a vehicle for
learning.
• Supporting knowledge transfer processes.
 HRD implications of future trends (3)

• Developing employee competence in

entrepreneurial skills (e.g. risk-taking).
• Developing employee competence in creativity
and innovation.
• The design, implementation and review of
HRD interventions aimed at value creation
through improvements in social, health,
education and the environment.
• Supporting organisation design processes.
The principal internal factors influencing HRD
 The principal challenges facing the HRD
practitioner in the future

• Adopting a leadership role;

• Acting as a catalyst for social change;
• Transforming performance management systems;
• Ensuring HRD interventions add value;
• Building intellectual capital;
• Innovating new products, services and processes;
• Supporting new organisational designs;
• Supporting formal and informal HRD practices.
Future challenges facing HRD practitioners
Role OF HR
• Synergiser
• Team Builder
• Culture Builder
• Firms Performance
Manager
• No more Systems
Developer (Systems will
be outsourced)

TVRAO
 Future HR Manager
• Strategic Thinker
• Leader
• Entrepreneur
• Technological Familiarity
• Global Benchmarking
• Initiative
• Visionary
• All Rounder
• Researcher
• Behavior Systems Creator

T V RAO