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The Changing Diversity
How differently do Unilever and P&G address the changing nature of diversity in their organization?
As Fast Moving Consumer Goods suppliers, P&G and Unilever continue to expand to the global market selling soap products, cooking products and other fast moving goods. In order to handle this increased business, the companies have been forced to implement policies to boost diversity in its work force. In P & G, the company believes that everyone regardless of their race, gender, physical abilities and disabilities should be included in the P & G operations to ensure all inclusivity and ensure all staff is operating at the peak of their performance levels.
The first policy that guides P & G operations is inclusivity of the disabled. The company ensures that it employs 60 or more members are disabled employees. These employees are given the same roles and the same expectations are expected from the disabled. The recruitment and training techniques of P & G are all inclusive allowing the disabled and people from diverse communities from people of different genders and races. The company invests more on researching for local needs and preferences before developing products in foreign markets. The same employees plus several local employees are hired for such projects (Lewis and Heckman, 2011).
P & G employs talented employees of choice meaning that the company hires, engages and retains exceptional talent from around the world which is inclusive of all the different races, genders, religions and abilities reflecting the global environment that P & G works in. P & G policy declares that understanding the various skills, cultures and commonalities between the diverse communities it operates in develops a culture of inclusivity by encouraging individuality. The company thus values and respects talent and skills from the diverse talent of people working at P & G. this means that all P& G employees are expected to show respect and care to their fellow individual to ensure the diverse workforce brings out their best in terms of productivity. The company has also shifted to relying on external talent to drive its innovation. This means that all new products are developed by external consultants who understand specific markets.
Unilever Company is a global supplier of fast moving consumer goods. One of its leading policies is that it thinks globally and acts local. This means that Unilever HR principles includes understanding the common company’s vision and implementing strategies to ensure that the different and diverse talent works towards a common corporate strategies and objectives. Unilever industries have shifted from its previous strategies where it relied on British and Netherlands employees to manage its global and expanding market. The company nowadays focuses on developing local employees to e managers and decentralizing the global market operations by hiring locals who understand the local markets. The company relies on ensuring maximum ethnicity employees in its different global braches. This has increased diversity and acceptance in different markets (Palmisano, 2013).
The company aligns the local managers to the company’s overall organization culture to ensure that operations continue smoothly in the different markets. Branches in the different countries are given autonomy to operate independently and as long as they adhere to the common established culture and goals. The company respects the diversity in the various markets it works in. this means that the company’s products are tailored specific to the market it operates in. this creates the need to employ local staff who understand the local needs to ensure the expected product is produced for the market. This means that the goods, and employees sold by Unilever are specific to the targeted country thus promoting diversity.
How does each company"s approach to diversity impact its financial performance?
Unilever industry has taken a path towards decentralizing its operations. This means that the company employs local labor, including management and decentralizes its products for the local market. The company thus gets to have some local touch regarding its operations. This has enabled Unilever to gain competitive advantage resulting in better sales. Local labor also saves on the need to transfer workforce from other units saving on labor costs. P& G has invested in outsourcing for innovation from its different areas of operation. This means that it creates product unique to the area of operation. This has helped improve its local image resulting in more sales and revenues (Palmisano, 2013).
Based on your research, what would you recommend to improve each company"s approach to diversity?
P & G Company should be more inclusive and hire more locals in its foreign operations. This will help the company to have a more localized image and reduce anti-Americanism rhetoric. It will also enable it create and develop local products that satisfy the market in the foreign country. in order to reduce costs and ensure that Unilever products and services are consistent in the different global locations, it is important that the company have a shared business process and products. This means that a centralized standard for quality and product characters are implemented to ensure consistency.
References
Lewis, R. and Heckman, J. (2011). “Talent Management: A Critical Review,” Human Resource Management Review.
Palmisano, H. (2013). “Leading Change When Business Is Good,” Harvard Business Review