This document discusses diversity and its effects on organizations. It begins with providing background on diversity including relevant legislation and the business case for diversity. Some problems with diversity are then outlined, such as increased costs and potential marginalization of minority employees. The document benchmarks the diversity strategies of two companies, IBM and Pitney Bowes, noting IBM's focus on maintaining multicultural markets and brand image. Recommendations from a 2009 conference emphasize expanding the employee pool, monitoring progress, and using affinity groups for problem solving. The document concludes with an invitation for questions.

1. DIVERSITY AND ITSDIVERSITY AND ITS
EFFECTS ON ANEFFECTS ON AN
ORGANIZATIONORGANIZATION
KWEKU NYINAKU
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
ILR HR 6640

2. AGENDA
 Background of Diversity
 Business Case
 Problems with diversity
 Benchmark of 2 companies’ diversity
strategies
 Recommendations from 2009 NEA conference
 Questions and Answers

3.  Civil Rights Act 1964 Title VII
 Affirmative Action
 Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission
 Ethical Considerations
 Corporate Challenge/Responsibility
BACKGROUND

4.  Utilize diverse talents and abilities of all employees
who are critical to success
 Creativity, innovation, new product development
 Demonstrate to the community a respect for
fairness, tolerance, and human rights
 Globalization, cultural intelligence, attract a more
diverse customer base and creation and maintenance
of a diverse workforce
 Diverse groups better at problem solving and are
more creative than homogeneous teams
BUSINESS CASE

5. PROBLEMS WITH DIVERSITY
 Cost in recruitment, selection, and training
of minority employees
 Diversification may lead to hiring
unskilled talents
 Motivations are antithetical to the
ultimate goal
 Lead to marginalization of minority
employees (Ely & Thomas, 2001; Konrad,
2003)
 Difficulty in measuring

7. BENCHMARKS FROM IBM
“IBM’s diversity strategy helps it to
anticipate, be sensitive and responsive to,
demographic difference” -Ted Childs
 Maintain multicultural markets
 Expand market share
 Improve customer loyalty
 Strong brand image

8. IBM BENCHMARK
Source: The Conference Board, October 2008

9. PITNEY BOWES BENCHMARK
Source: The Conference Board, October 2005

10.  Expand the pool of potential employees
 Monitoring progress
 Evaluating results and making
modifications when necessary
 Affinity groups for problem solving and
work-life balance
 Change Management
NAE RECOMMENDATIONS

11. Questions and Answers