Changing the corporate culture

For the most part, today's corporate cultures reflect the white male model of doing business. These cultures are not conducive to including women and minorities in important decision-making processes or enabling them to go high in the corporate hierarchy. The result of this mismatch between the dominant culture and the grow­ing employee population of minorities and women is that many employees' talents will be underutilized, and the corporation will be less competitive.

Chapters 3 and 12 describe approaches for changing corporate culture. Managers can start by actively using symbols for the new values, such as encouraging and celebrating the promotion of minorities. To promote posi­tive change, executives must change their own assumptions and recognize that employee diversity is real, is good, and must be valued. Executives must lead the way in changing from a white male monoculture to a mul-ticulture in which differences among people are valued.

To accomplish this, managers must be willing to examine the unwritten rules and assumptions. What are the myths about minorities? What are the values that exemplify the existing culture? Are unwritten rules com­municated from one person to another in a way that excludes women and minorities? For example, many men may not discuss unwritten rules with women and minorities because they assume everyone is aware of them and they do not want to seem patronizing.

Companies are addressing the issue of changing culture in a variety of ways. Some are using surveys, in­terviews, and focus groups to identify how the cultural values affect minorities and women. Others have set up structured networks of people of color, women, and other minority groups to explore the issues they face in the workplace and to recommend changes to senior management. Corning, Inc., appointed a task force to tackle the problem of how to recruit, retain, and develop talented minority workers.

To accomplish this, managers must be willing to examine the unwritten rules and assumptions. What are the myths about minorities? What are the values that exemplify the existing culture'? Are unwritten rules com­municated from one person to another in a way that excludes women and minorities? For example, many men may not discuss unwritten rules with women and minorities because they assume everyone is aware of them and they do not want to seem patronizing.

Companies are addressing the issue of changing culture in a variety of ways. Some are using surveys, in­terviews, and focus groups to identify how the cultural values affect minorities and women. Others have set up structured networks of people of color, women, and other minority groups to explore the issues they face in the workplace and to recommend changes to senior management. Corning, Inc., appointed a task force to tackle the problem of how to recruit, retain, and develop talented minority workers.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14