Leveraging Diversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Leveraging Diversity - Essay Example Organizations need diversity in ideas and therefore they need leaders who can encourage and manage under diverse situations (Kirton, 2007). But sometimes it is not the employee but the corporation that wins. The quality of any work or any team is improved when it is diverse. Leaders who understand that diverse companies have different needs from their leaders will do well. This diversity will improve the companies product line (Carter, 2007). At least this is the theory. Some are successful in implementing and some are not. Harley Davidson is the manufacturer of a high end motorcycle company. They were in bankruptcy not to long ago. Harley Davidson instituted a diversity management program and tools to help make the job easier. Their goal was to improve market share by increasing the innovation in the team. This meant that their management, including their senior management had to be trained in diversity and how to leverage that for the company's improvement. Harley Davidson has seen steady increases in market share since instituting this change (Harley Davidson, 2007). The company's employees have voted it as one of the best companies to work for so in this case diversity is a win-win situation. However, there is also Wal-Mart. The Wal-Mart story s quite different. According to Kirton (2007), Wal-Mart has won many awards for their diversity management. They proclaim that they have hired many minority people and that their management staff includes many minorities. It is clear that Wal-Mart has profited from these claims. However, there have been many complaints from Wal-Mart employees. Women employed at Wal-Mart say that they are promoted less than men and the company has been accused of taking advantage of undocumented aliens. This is an example of a company that has leveraged diversity for the good of the company alone Cox (2001), accurately describes the reasons so many organizations are struggling with a rapidly changing environment. It is clear that the advent of diversity management has forced business leaders to radically look at the way they do business. Organizational leaders recognize the importance of leveraging diversity on the bottom line but often they struggle with how to make that happen strategically. In a computerized, web-driven world companies have had to become a part of globalization essentially overnight. According to Global Lead (1998), diversity is a key business strategy and the expectation is that it contributes to an organization both in business growth and successful results. Global lead is a management company that has developed a strategic initiative that incorporates the use of what is called the five key drivers of business (Global Lead, 1998). The business drivers according to Global Lead (1998) are focus on the market, talent, innovation, values, and goodwill. Leadership will determine how well or how poorly diversity does in any given work setting. To assure that this is true, leadership must be well trained in diversity and the need for a diverse workforce. They must understand that a diverse workforce can create a work force that improves the bottom line (Clark, 2007). "Diversity is about empowering people and promoting the human spirit."(Clark, 2007). Diversity is about

Identifying Long Term Trends SLP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Identifying Long Term Trends SLP - Essay Example have sufficient funds to fully invest there business in Canada, and as a result the financial managers may decide to source some funds from a financial institution. However, these funds will be associated with an interest rate set by the lender. During inflation period, the interest rates will tend to be higher, this will affect the amount of interest that will accrue to the loan borrowed (Mankiw, 2012). Financial managers of Fedex corporation should therefore, consider interest applicable before deciding where to source there funds. As an economic variable, the stock market affects FedEx Corporation, Canada’s expansion program. This is because the stock market index based on Canada’s stock exchange gives a prediction of the expected future value of stock prices. In case, there is a high value index FedEx Corporation should continue to carry out its expansion to Canada because the financial managers expect high profits as a result, of rapid economic growth accompanied b y low levels of unemployment. Financial managers need to also determine the rate of inflation in Canada before carrying out there investment. If inflation is high it then means that consumers prices will be high, and in turn will affect how they spend there money (Mankiw, 2012). If inflation is high FedEx Corporation will fix the prices of there services high, and as a result, consumers will not use the services because they cannot afford it. During inflation, it is extremely difficult for FedEx to determine how much income to generate, this is because it is difficult to determine the demand for there services at the higher prices (Mankiw, 2012). In addition, the financial managers of FedEx Corporation should focus on the trends of the real gross domestic product as it gives a measure of what the economy produces goods and services besides giving an accurate measure of changes in the price levels. In addition, the financial managers of FedEx Corporation should take into consideration the