Diversity Management :Benefits and challenges

A study in the IT industry

Thesis Submitted by: Group 4 Rohit Dash Saumyadeep Mazoomdar Shreshth Raitani Vikranth Singh Seema Devi Srikant Gundabolu 165 175 185 215 235 195

Contents
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 3 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................................... 4 The Paradox of Diversity Management, Creativity and Innovation.................................................... 4 Racial Diversity, Business Strategy, and Firm Performance .......................................................... 5 Inequality Regimes Gender, Class, and Race in Organizations ........................................................... 7 Managing Cultural Diversity: Implications for Organizational Competitiveness......................... 8 Racial Diversity, Age Diversity, Interdependence, and Team Performance ............................... 10 OBJECTIVE ............................................................................................................................................. 11 ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................................... 11 CONCLUSION......................................................................................................................................... 12 LOGS ...................................................................................................................................................... 13 Response #1: Mahesh Babu (Senior System Engineer) Infosys ............................................ 13 Response #2: Eshita Malhotra (Senior Software Engineer) Infosys ...................................... 15 Response #3: Manoj Kumar Panda (Senior System Engineer) Infosys ................................ 17 Response #4: Mahendra Singh (Senior Software Engineer) Infosys..................................... 19 Response #5: Rakesh Shukla (Senior Software Engineer) TCS ............................................ 21 Response #6: Somrita Saha(Senior Software Engineer) TCS ............................................... 23 Response #7: Uvui Agarwal (Senior Software Engineer) Accenture .................................... 25 Response #8: Sarath Galimlu(Senior Software Engineer) TCS ............................................ 27 Response #9: Parnya Singhania (Senior Software Engineer) Accenture ............................. 29 Response #10: Liza Goswami (Senior Software Engineer) Accenture ................................. 31 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................... 33

Diversity Management: Benefits & Challenges

Group 4 |

INTRODUCTION
Workplace diversity is a major concern for employers these days .The workplace is becoming more diverse as it's become more global, with new cultures that have the right talent for organizational growth. Companies are starting to use diversity programs to create an open work culture but are having trouble measuring success. The aspects of diversity that are most important to employers are gender (73 percent), cultural (44 percent), racial (29 percent) and age (28 percent). The advantages of workplace diversity are It builds your employer brand. Having a diverse workforce makes your company more interesting, people can expect to learn more from your employees and you can attract better talent from around the world. A company that has a strong diversity program will have a good reputation because it will be seen as having fair employment practices. It increases creativity. When you bring a variety of different people from various backgrounds together, you'll end up getting better solutions to business problems. If you don't have a diverse workplace, you might not be able to tackle problem the best way. It encourages personal growth. Employees, especially younger ones, are striving to use their corporate experience to learn and grow their careers. This is a major advantage to workplace diversity because it can help employees learn new ideas, perspectives and connect intellectually and personally to different people. It makes employees think more independently. If you have similar people at a company, it will be harder to solve complex problems. One study by Katherine Phillips, a professor at Kellogg, shows that by even adding one employee from a different background can get people out of their comfort zones and thinking different about a situation.

Diversity Management: Benefits & Challenges

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LITERATURE REVIEW

The Paradox of Diversity Management, Creativity and Innovation

( Nigel Bassett-Jones, Diversity Management, Creativity And Innovation, Volume 14 Number 2 ,2005,pp.169-175)

Review Diversity management is a planned effort by an organization to recruit and retain employees of diverse background and abilities to leverage on the diversity for competitive advantage. Managers operating in a high-commitment context face a dilemma. They can either seek to harness diversity in order to promote creativity and innovation or they can ignore the diversity dimension, within the constraints of the law. If they are successful in embracing diversity, then organizational agility, founded upon creativity and innovation (Cox and Blake, 1991). The paper argues that diversity can be a source of creativity and competitive advantage but if not managed properly can lead to misunderstanding, suspicion and conflict in the workplace that can Result in absenteeism, poor quality, low morale and loss of competitiveness. Thus firms seeking to derive competitive advantage out of diversity in t he workplace are faced with a paradoxical situation. There is conflicting evidence about the relation between diversity and competitive advantage. On the one hand diversity damages cohesiveness leading to group-ism on the other hand diversity introduces creativity and innovation. There are two distinct challenges to achieve competitive advantage the technical challenge and the human challenge. The creativity and innovation from diverse team members helps to meet the technical challenge but the human challenge is augmented by the need to diffuse ideas and get buy in. With diverse team members the team is less likely to adopt the first solution so multiple solutions will be brought up and the credibility of each proposal will be critically evaluated by the most optimum solution is likely to be adopted. New innovations will grow from the diverse experience and perception of the team members and they are also not likely to be risk averse. But there is also the risk that the meetings end up with discord and no solution is reached. To effectively leverage on the diversity of the team the management must build trust and sensitivity among the team members with respect for each others strengths and weaknesses. This has been shown to enhance creativity and problem solving skills .They
Diversity Management: Benefits & Challenges Group 4 | LITERATURE REVIEW 4

have a broader knowledge pool and network of contacts making diverse teams more responsive to changes in environment . If the management fails to do this there is prevalent dissatisfaction and detachment from the work environment leading to groupism, absenteeism and summary decline in productivity. In conclusion the writer says that a diverse team is a melting pot of diverse ideas and capabilities .The management needs to contain this combustible cocktail of creative tension in a multilayered approach. The outer layer should have carefully crafted HR policies pertaining to recruitment reward and career progression that maintains a equitable work environment for diverse individuals. The inner layer consists of an able leadership who is sensitive to diversity and has the emotional intelligence and commitment to build relationships with the diverse members of his team and form a cohesive force binding the team.

Racial Diversity, Business Strategy, and Firm Performance

(Orlando C. Richard, The Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Apr., 2000), pp. 164-177)

Review The main objective of this research paper was to examine the relationship between racial diversity, business strategy, and firm performance. This research departs from other research studying diversity at the individual and group level in that it investigated the impact of diversity at the firm level. A resource-based view of the firm was used to cover the entire human capital pool to assess cultural diversity at firm level. Resources offer a big competitive edge to the firms. Strategic human resource management (SHRM) is a means of gaining competitive advantage through one of a company's most important assets: its people. Cultural diversity in human capital serves as a source of sustained competitive advantage because it creates value that is both difficult to imitate and rare. This leads to the first hypothesis. Hypothesis 1- Racial diversity will be positively associated with firm performance We can examine the performance impact that cultural diversity has on firms employing a given business strategy. Companies adopting a growth strategy can benefit from marketrelated advantages obtained from cultural diversity. As racioethnic populations increase as a proportion of the total population, it is beneficial for the companies to adjust their human resource mix to reflect the target market they are attempting to reach. A growth strategy can also consist of acquiring additional business divisions. A business pursuing a growth

Diversity Management: Benefits & Challenges

Group 4 | LITERATURE REVIEW

strategy needs employees who are flexible in their thinking and who are not likely to be concerned about departing from the status quo. Also research has shown that although diversity in human resources may contribute to the quality of ideas, it also creates additional costs stemming from increased coordination and control. The additional costs associated with diversity would be detrimental for downsizing firms. From this the following hypothesis was derived: Hypothesis 2.-The relationship between racial diversity and a firm's performance will be moderated by business strategy: Higher racial diversity will be positively related to firm performance when the firm pursues a growth strategy and negatively related to firm performance when the firm pursues a downsizing strategy. The author in order to test both the hypothesis conducted a sample study. Sample of 574 banks from California, Kentucky, and North Carolina was drawn. The independent variables considered by him were: Level of racial diversity-Data from EEO-1 Standard forms were used to identify possible patterns of discrimination in particular organizations or segments of the workforce. Growth strategy- Asset growth for the fiscal years 1994 and 1995 was taken directly from the She shun off Bank Search database Controls.-Eight control variables were used which were firm size, whether the bank was a part of a holding company, two dummy variables for state differences, racial diversity index, the degree of loan portfolio diversity, geographic scope and an attitudinal measure concerning diversity. Data was collected on all the above parameters and statistical tools like ANNOVA, Correlations and hierarchical regression analysis were applied on them. No support was found for hypothesis one but a strong support was found for the hypothesis two. So finally it was concluded that the effects of racial diversity on the bottom line depends on the strategies a firm pursues and by how organization leaders and participants respond to and manage diversity. The results also highlight the importance of human capital as a strategic asset and reflect the value of people in firms and their role in obtaining competitive advantage for organizations.

Diversity Management: Benefits & Challenges

Group 4 | LITERATURE REVIEW

Inequality Regimes Gender, Class, and Race in Organizations

(Joan Acker, Gender and Society, Vol. 20, No. 4 (Aug., 2006), pp. 441-464,)

Review

The gendering of organizations and organizational practices between women and men continue in the face of numerous attempts to erase such inequalities. Managers were almost always men; the lower-level white-collar workers were always women. The managerial ranks now contain women in many organizations, but secretaries, clerks, servers, and care providers are still primarily women. The steepest hierarchies are found in traditional bureaucracies in contrast to the idealized flat organizations with team structures, in which most, or at least some, responsibilities and decision-making authority are distributed among participants. Flat team structures provide professional women more equality and opportunity than hierarchical bureaucracies, but only if the women function like men. In interviews we learned that male employees were more visible to male managers than were female employees. Women employees may be expected to behave and dress as sexually attractive women, particularly with male customers. Organizational restructuring of the past 30 years has contributed to increasing variation in inequality regimes. Restructuring, new technology, and the globalization of production contribute to rising competitive pressures in private-sector organizations and budget woes in public-sector organizations, making challenges to inequality regimes less likely to be undertaken than during the 1960s to the 1980s.

Diversity Management: Benefits & Challenges

Group 4 | LITERATURE REVIEW

Managing Cultural Diversity: Implications for Organizational Competitiveness

(Taylor Cox, Jr.,The Executive, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Aug., 1991), pp. 45-56)

Review India is known for its rich culture and heritage. With the advent of MNCs and increased literacy rate people from all over the country and world are working on common platform .Thus cultural diversity has increased in organizations.. Diversity brings substantial potential benefits such as better decision making, greater creativity and innovation, and more successful marketing to different types of customers. But increased cultural differences within a workforce also bring potential costs in higher turnover, interpersonal conflict, and communication breakdowns. These are the factors which a manager needs to manage. Now few questions arises as What are the characteristics of such an organization, and how do they differ from those of the past? What mechanisms are available to facilitate such a change This article addresses these questions. It has used adaptation of the societal-integration model developed by Milton Gordon, as well as available information on the early experience of American organizations with managing diversity initiatives, to construct a model of the multicultural organization It also describes a model for understanding the required features of a multicultural organization and reviews tools that pioneering companies have found useful in changing organizations toward the multicultural model. Gordon's seven dimensions are: 1. Form of acculturation 2. Degree of structural assimilation 3. Degree of intergroup marriage 4. Degree of prejudice 5. Degree of discrimination 6. Degree of identification with the dominant group of the host society 7. Degree of intergroup conflict (especially over the balance of power) These can be studied in various types of organizations.

Diversity Management: Benefits & Challenges

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Types of Organizations Three organization types discussed: The monolithic organization, the plural organization and the multicultural organization and various model dimensions are as follows. I .Pluralism Objective/s: -create a two-way socialization process ensure influence of minority-culture perspectives on core organization norms and values. Managing/valuing diversity (MVD) training II. Full Structural Integration Objective/s -no correlation between culture-group identity and job status III. Integration in Informal Networks Objective/s liminate barriers to entry and participation IV. Cultural Bias Objective/s eliminate discrimination eliminate prejudice V. Organizational Identification -no correlation between identity group and levels of organization identification VI. Intergroup Conflict Objective/s -minimize interpersonal conflict based on group-identity minimize backlash by dominant-crroup members Tools

Thus we see that increased diversity presents challenges to business leaders who must maximize the opportunities that it presents while minimizing its costs. To accomplish this, organizations must be transformed from monolithic or plural organizations to a multicultural model. The multicultural organization is characterized by pluralism, full integration of minority-culture members both formally and informally, an absence of prejudice and discrimination, and low levels of inter-group conflict; all of which should reduce alienation and build organizational identity among minority group members. The organization that achieves these conditions will create an environment in which all members can contribute to their maximum potential, and in which the "value in diversity" can be fully realized.

Diversity Management: Benefits & Challenges

Group 4 | LITERATURE REVIEW

Racial Diversity, Age Diversity, Interdependence, and Team Performance

(THOMAS A. TIMMERMAN, Small Group Research, Vol. 31 No. 5(October 2000),pp. 592-606)

Review Task interdependence moderates relation between age diversity and team performance. The effects of age diversity are studied on a large number of professional sports teams belonging to baseball and basketball. The reason behind choosing these two sports is to identify the age diversity performance relationship between two sports where there is high and low interdependence among the team members. Another reason behind choosing professional sports is the objectivity with which the results could be verified in terms of sports like the team and individual performance unlike cases where subjectivity creeps into pictures where superiors rate their subordinates The results show that the relation between team composition and team performance is moderated by task interdependence. In case of baseball where there is less interdependence between players age diversity didnt affect the team performance significantly. This goes in sync with the hypothesis that as interaction is less the effect of age diversity on team performance is less. In case of basketball the results indicate that during the initial two time periods in consideration effect of age is negligible on performance but had negative effect on the period from 1981-1997.The negative effect on performance seems to be a phenomenon which evolved recently and calls for further research. However, we can try to relate this with one of the concepts given in the article that teams with more age diversity has less emotional conflicts as people tend to compare their achievements with those who are in the same age group as them. But, in case of the last time period of basketball it could have happened that players started to demarcate their age gap and compared their achievements with other members of the team resulting in emotional conflicts with self or among group resulting in lower performance.

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OBJECTIVE
The objective of this thesis is to understand the benefits and challenges of diversity in an organization . We have conducted a survey among IT professional to confirm the learning we had from the literature review of experts

ANALYSIS
The questions were set keeping in mind the articles that we read and following is the analysis for all the cases:A diverse team ensures that multiple ideas are suggested and critically evaluated to reach the best possible the solution .But there often is conflict among team members which must be resolved to take a decision and be productive. A diverse team is more creative and productive when the diverse member trust each other and are sensitive to each other's strengths and weaknesses .The management must engage in team building activities to this end and provide am equitable work environment to diverse employees to leverage the competitive advantage of diversity in the work place . As per the article on Gender Diversity opportunities for women are less in traditional bureaucracies and more in Flat team structures .The response to the question has also revealed the same. IT sector having more of a Flat team structure gives more opportunity for growth to women as compared to traditional bureaucracies. If we talk about career progression, it depends more on the performance of individual than the gender .The job roles that requires more interaction and coordination skills are given to women as they are good in expressing ideas as mentioned in the article. As per the article on Racial Diversity ,the data received was very vague, but it had some inclination towards the hypothesis 2 that was stated in the article. So the conclusion can be made that the effect of racial diversity on a firm depends on the firms strategy, but we would also like to put forth precautionary note that a sample of 10 is very small to come to any conclusion. Organization are multicultural. Employees working there belong to difference culture and background .They are brought up in different environment and thus have different value system and evolved different culture over the period of time.
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It was observed from the responses that one major aspect at which most of their respondents agree with is that having age diversity in a team brings in diverse ideas. But another point put forth which is not touched upon in the study is the possible delay in the implementation of task. Regarding the possible friction within the team because of diverse age profile, one positive aspect everyone seems to have agreed is the diverse amount of inputs which comes in a team having age diversity. On the other hand team co-ordination seems to be one aspect about which everyone is worried about in case of age diversity which was not touched upon in the article. Though more or less most of the aspects in the article are found true there are some deviations like the one where some people found that having less age diversity is more favorable.

CONCLUSION
Managers need to align their efforts in such a way that they can get maximum benefit for multicultural environment without any conflict. From the survey we conducted we can conclude that mangers did not face much challenges in dealing with people from different culture rather they enjoyed working .Thus they didnt feel any need to follow specific model or they are not aware of it. But few are very concerned and see as opportunity to maximize their business.

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LOGS
Response #1: Mahesh Babu (Senior System Engineer) Infosys
(called 9thAug13 5:30pm)

Q1) What is your view on the productivity of teams having diverse members in terms of age, gender, race and culture ?
Productivity of the team increases as different members are able to bring in their perspectives adding a new dimension to the solution.

Q2) Comment on the ease of working in a team with diverse team members as opposed to a homogeneous team ? Working in a homogeneous team is easier. Q3)How can the organization use the strengths of diverse employees effectively? Management should undertake trainings for team building. Q4) How easy/tough was it to handle any conflicts (Emotional / Normal ) while working with team members who are of your age, and those with whom you have significant age difference ? With people older than me generally they are the ones who take major initiative in case of any issue and with younger people it was generally the other way around. But with people of my age it was generally a bit tough to solve any issue because on will be waiting for the other to strike a deal. Q5) What are the various difficulties you faced while working on a task with high interdependence on each other and there is a significant age difference among team members? It was difficult to co-ordinate in such case & also to keep everyone on the same page Q6) What according to you are various positives and negatives of working in a team with/without age (any one type or both the types based on your experience diversity? A very subjective question and the answers depend on type of task handled to the team. Q7) How is the racial diversity in your firm? Is it increasing /decreasing on a yoy basis?
I have no clue about the exact ratio, but if you take our Bangalore office then out of about 5000 employees we can assume 500 are from the US. Diversity Management: Benefits & Challenges Group 4 | LOGS 13

Q8) What is the overall strategy of your firm, is it growth oriented or focuses on cost cutting? Is it succeeding in its strategy? The overall strategy is growth oriented and yes it is succeeding as last year the growth achieved was around 30% which was a phenomenal success. Q9) Is the attrition rate of your firm increasing or decreasing on a yoy basis?
Our firms attrition rate is more or less constant yoy.

Q10) Do you feel that women are at an equal footing with men in employment opportunities? Yes, especially IT sector is providing equal opportunity to both men and women Q11) Do you feel that gender plays a part in carrier propagation opportunities ? Please elaborate . As women are good in managing things, they are usually given the responsibilities that involves good coordination skills. Q12) Do you feel gender has a part to play in the distribution of roles and authority in teams ? Yes, women are more preferred in career propagation as they manage things in better a way. Q13) what do you feel about a cultural diversity in your organization? Yes as I am working in MNC, its very high in our organization. Q14) what are the positive and negative implications of cultural diversity? Sometimes conflict arises. Q15) how do you deal with cultural diversity in your organization or team? It involves a lot of coordination skills to deal with such diversity.

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Response #2: Eshita Malhotra (Senior Software Engineer) Infosys

(called 11thAug13 2:30pm)

Q1) What is your view on the productivity of teams having diverse members in terms of age gender race and culture?
Diverse teams help in taking the right decisions .We dont jump to conclusions but evaluate every suggested alternative.

Q2) Comment on the ease of working in a team with diverse team members as opposed to a homogeneous team? Working in diverse teams needs conflict resolution skills. Homogeneous teams are easier to work in . Q3) How can the organization use the strengths of diverse employees effectively ? There should be exercises that build trust and confidence among team members . Q4) How easy/tough was it to handle any conflicts ( Emotional / normal ) while working with team members who are of your age, and those with whom you have significant age difference ? I haven't faced any difficulties as my seniors are generally very helpful Q5) What are the various difficulties you faced while working on a task with high interdependence on each other and there is a significant age difference among team members ? There are different sets of inputs didnt find any difficulty in such combination Q6) What according to you are various positives and negatives of working in a team with/without age ( any one type or both the types based on your experience diversity? A healthy mix would be ideal and a tilt towards any side would either make the process slow on time or on quality Q7) How is the racial diversity in your firm? Is it increasing /decreasing on a yoy basis?
Yes the racial diversity can be said to be increasing as now days we are having trainees from all over the globe in our office.

Q8) What is the overall strategy of your firm, is it growth oriented or focuses on cost cutting ?Is it succeeding on its strategy?

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Our company has a growth strategy and It is performing consistently according to its strategy. Q9) Is the attrition rate of your firm increasing or decreasing on a yoy basis?
Our firms attrition rate is more or less constant yoy.

Q10) Do you feel that women are at an equal footing with men in employment opportunities ? No, Women are still considered better for secretaries, clerks, servers, and care providers jobs Q11) Do you feel that gender plays a part in carrier propagation opportunities ?Please elaborate Women are considered more apt for client interactions Q12) Do you feel gender has a part to play in the distribution of roles and authority in teams ? Women are preferred when the just higher level authority is male dominated Q13) What do you feel about a cultural diversity in your organization? Its high in our organization Q14) what are the positive and negative implications of cultural diversity ? Its great to have people from different culture,we learn a lot about other cultures from them. Q15) How do you deal with cultural diversity in your organization or team? My Team is highly cooperative ,never felt need to manage.

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Response #3: Manoj Kumar Panda (Senior System Engineer) Infosys

(called 11thAug13 10:00am)

Q1) What is your view on the productivity of teams having diverse members in terms of age gender race and culture ?
It is difficult to come to consensus. When egos get involved the decision making process gets affected.

Q2) Comment on the ease of working in a team with diverse team members as opposed to a homogeneous team? It is difficult to work in diverse teams. There is no bonding among members Q3) How can the organization use the strengths of diverse employees effectively ? There should be incentives for team behavior and groupism should be discouraged. Q4) How easy/tough was it to handle any conflicts (Emotional / normal) while working with team members who are of your age, and those with whom you have significant age difference ? While working with different sets of people you always have that diversity and the mix of fresh thoughts by people younger to me and experience bought by seniors Q5) What are the various difficulties you faced while working on a task with high independence on each other and there is a significant age difference among team members? It was difficult to handle such scenarios as delay at one level has produced a lot of friction in the team considering the significant age difference between the team members Q6) What according to you are various positives and negatives of working in a team with/without age (any one type or both the types based on your experience diversity? Diverse ideas of experienced combined with energy of young are the positives. Havent seen any major negatives Q7. How is the racial diversity in your firm? Is it increasing /decreasing on a yoy basis?
No idea about the ratio, but I can easily assume that we have a very healthy diversity ratio. Employee exchange across the globe leads to increase in racial diversity yoy.

Q8) What is the overall strategy of your firm, is it growth oriented or focuses on cost cutting? Is it succeeding on its strategy?
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Our company had a growth strategy but due to saturation in the market it is focusing on cost cutting(removing people on bench,giving less hike,etc).Yes you may be right, it is having to spend more on recruiting people from across India. Q9) Is the attrition rate of your firm increasing or decreasing on a yoy basis? The attrition rate I would say is decreasing, due to reduced bench strength, but I am not sure. Q10) Do you feel that women are at an equal footing with men in employment opportunities ? Yes, now women are equally skilled as men are, so recruiters are not taking gender as the criteria for selecting them. Q11) Do you feel that gender plays a part in carrier propagation opportunities ?Please elaborate . Creativity is more in women , so they are preferred for creative jobs whereas men are better in handling stress situations Q12) Do you feel gender has a part to play in the distribution of roles and authority in teams? No, carrier propagation opportunities are dependent on company policies Q13) What do you feel about a cultural diversity in your organization? Yes, its very high. Q14) what are the positive and negative implications of cultural diversity? It is simultaneous learning along with job, really had some great experiences. Q15) How do you deal with cultural diversity in your organization or team? It depends on situation, sometimes there are conflicts then need to resolve them.

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Response #4: Mahendra Singh (Senior Software Engineer) Infosys

(called 10thAug13 5:00pm)

Q1) What is your view on the productivity of teams having diverse members in terms of age gender race and culture ?
Productivity is affected as there are conflicts which often remain unresolved .

Q2) Comment on the ease of working in a team with diverse team members as opposed to a homogeneous team. It is difficult to build rapport among team members in a diverse team .Working in a homogeneous team is easier . Q3) How can the organization use the strengths of diverse employees effectively ? Team parties and outingings bring about trust within the team . A team that trust its members works better . Q4) How easy/tough was it to handle any conflicts ( emotional / normal ) while working with team members who are of your age, and those with whom you have significant age difference ? On the negative side, it is not fit for all policy with which you can approach problems in your team Q5) What are the various difficulties you faced while working on a task with high interdependence on each other and there is a significant age difference among team members ? Found diverse inputs from every one compared to teams where there almost everyone is of same age Q6) What according to you are various positives and negatives of working in a team with/without age ( any one type or both the types based on your experience diversity? The exuberance of youth properly guided by the experienced people is the positive thing and possible miscommunications could be negative Q7) How is the racial diversity in your firm? Is it increasing/decreasing on a yoy basis?
If south indians and north indians are of a different race then racial diversity is optimum in the office.I would say more or less it is remaining constant yoy.

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Q8) What is the overall strategy of your firm, is it growth oriented or focuses on cost cutting ?Is it succeeding in its strategy? Our firm targets growth in minimal cost. The employees are evaluated on a half yearly basis and may be removed after one warning on degrading performance. Q9) Is the attrition rate of your firm increasing or decreasing on a yoy basis? Our firm has a great retention policy. People usually are not fired and also they do not leave the firm. Q10) Do you feel that women are at an equal footing with men in employment opportunities ? No, masculine jobs are still dominated by men like manufacturing sector. Women are very less preferred there. Q11) Do you feel that gender plays a part in carrier propagation opportunities? Please elaborate. No, roles and responsibilities are less impacted by gender diversity Q12) Do you feel gender has a part to play in the distribution of roles and authority in teams ? No, it depends on the individual competencies not the gender diversity Q13) What do you feel about a cultural diversity in your organization? People from various states and cultures are joining the organisation and it is very enriching to work with them. Q14) what are the positive and negative implications of cultural diversity? Positive but it depends ,If one is introvert then he wont be able to take its benefits Q15) How do you deal with cultural diversity in your organization or team ? I have people from diverse culture ,thus always take care not to hurt anybodys feelings.

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Response #5: Rakesh Shukla (Senior Software Engineer) TCS

(called 10thAug13 2:00pm)

Q1) What is your view on the productivity of teams having diverse members in terms of age gender race and culture ?
Productivity of diverse teams are higher .Some times decisisions are delayed but wrong decisions are not taken .

Q2) Comment on the ease of working in a team with diverse team members as opposed to a homogeneous team. It is easier in a team with like minded people . Q3) How can the organization use the strengths of diverse employees effectively ? There should be workshops on team work and team building Q4) How easy/tough was it to handle any conflicts ( emotional / normal ) while working with team members who are of your age, and those with whom you have significant age difference ? I haven't had many issues with my superiors or colleagues of my age. But in case of subordinates who generally tend to get upset after seeing their hikes/performance Review, I talk to them personally and by explaining the constraints of the scenario. Q5) What are the various difficulties you faced while working on a task with high interdependence on each other and there is a significant age difference among team members ? It was a tedious task to convince the team in case of any issue and make them work as a team. Q6) What according to you are various positives and negatives of working in a team with/without age ( any one type or both the types) based on your experience diversity? Different kinds of inputs are the positive and slow working of the team is the negative. Q7) How is the racial diversity in your firm? Is it increasing/decreasing on a yoy basis?
We have a good amount of racial diversity which keeps on increasing.

Q8) What is the overall strategy of your firm, is it growth oriented or focuses on cost cutting ?Is it succeeding in its strategy?

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Our firm is on a growth strategy and it is also succeeding in it, but it has a very poor people strategy as most of us have to slog long hours due to short timelines and lots of variety in the job. Q9) Is the attrition rate of your firm increasing or decreasing on a yoy basis? I dont know about the attrition but people are leaving the firm because of the reason I stated in question number one. .Q10) Do you feel that women are at an equal footing with men in employment opportunities ? Yes, as the female education level is rising, recruiters are treating women equally at par with men. Q11) Do you feel that gender plays a part in carrier propagation opportunities? .Please elaborate. Women are more sincere in the jobs they performed so they are generally preferred for critical tasks Q12) Do you feel gender has a part to play in the distribution of roles and authority in teams ? As women are better in expressing the ideas ,they are preferred for interfacing roles . Q13) What do you feel about a cultural diversity in your organization? Cultural diversity is very high in my organization, even we try to send people on certain assignments abroad also. Q14) what are the positive and negative implications of cultural diversity? One negative implication which I can remember is people often make groups and do not mingle with others. Q15) How do you deal with cultural diversity in your organization or team? I see the big picture ,since I need to take care of new trainee as well as try to take care of everybodys interest ,I think this is an important task for me.

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Response #6: Somrita Saha(Senior Software Engineer) TCS

(called 10thAug13 6:30pm)

Q1) What is your view on the productivity of teams having diverse members in terms of age, gender, race and culture ?
Productivity increases when there is trust within the team members otherwise it is adversely affected .

Q2) Comment on the ease of working in a team with diverse team members as opposed to a homogeneous team. Working in teams of like minded people is easier . There is bonhomie within the team Q3) How can the organization use the strengths of diverse employees effectively ? The diversity of the team should be respected and ample responsibility should be given to all members so that they can contribute Q4) How easy/tough was it to handle any conflicts ( emotional / normal ) while working with team members who are of your age, and those with whom you have significant age difference ? Issues with elder/superiors are generally tougher to solve as it was a bit difficult to convey our view point Q5) What are the various difficulties you faced while working on a task with high interdependence on each other and there is a significant age difference among team members ? Everyone had given their best in such case as no one wants to be free rider as there is lot of interdependence on one another Q6) What according to you are various positives and negatives of working in a team with/without age ( any one type or both the types based on your experience diversity? Everyone in the team will have lot to learn from each other, the way this learning is directed could be either positive or negative Q7) How is the racial diversity in your firm? Is it increasing/decreasing on a yoy basis?
I am not sure but I feel that our new director is more inclined towards recruiting more people from his own state so though the diversity ratio was good it is getting worse day by day.

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Q8) What is the overall strategy of your firm, is it growth oriented or focuses on cost cutting ?Is it succeeding in its strategy? Our firm is on a growth trajectory and its policy are alligned to support the same. Q9) Is the attrition rate of your firm increasing or decreasing on a yoy basis? Our firms attrition rate is more or less constant yoy. .Q10) Do you feel that women are at an equal footing with men in employment opportunities ? No, women in rural area are still not getting equal employment opportunities Q11) Do you feel that gender plays a part in carrier propagation opportunities ?Please elaborate. No, now a days roles are based upon the skills the employee possess Q12) Do you feel gender has a part to play in the distribution of roles and authority in teams ? No ,it totally depends on how well the person had performed in past Q13) What do you feel about the cultural diversity in your organization? Cultural diversity is very important . Q14) what are the positive and negative implications of cultural diversity? I feel that it is an opportunity to work in multicultural organization. Q15) How do you deal with cultural diversity in your organization or team? It is very encouraging, I had always enjoyed with people from other culture.

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Response #7: Uvui Agarwal (Senior Software Engineer) Accenture

(called 12thAug13 11:30am)

Q1) What is your view on the productivity of teams having diverse members in terms of age gender race and culture ?
Productivity of teams with diverse members is generally higher if they work as a single team ,if different groups form within the team productivity drastically drops

Q2) Comment on the ease of working in a team with diverse team members as opposed to a homogeneous team? Working in diverse teams has its challenges. Its easier to work with people of similar backgrounds. Q3) How can the organization use the strengths of diverse employees effectively ? The manager must listen to every team member and try to be cohesive force that keeps the team together. Q4) How easy/tough was it to handle any conflicts (emotional / normal) while working with team members who are of your age, and those with whom you have significant age difference? It was easier to convince people of your age when compared with people with those having age diversity Q5) what are the various difficulties you faced while working on a task with high independence on each other and there is a significant age difference among team members? Never found great difficulties in such cases as the complex are tasks are easily handled by people having diverse ideas and thinking Q6) What according to you are various positives and negatives of working in a team with/without age (any one type or both the types based on your experience diversity? Team members supporting each other in tough situations as they have different set of people to look up for. Couldnt see any major negative points . Q7) How is the ratio of racial diversity in your firm? Is it increasing/ decreasing on a yoy basis?
In our Gurgaon office we were generally having people from the north Indian side, but nowadays more and more employees from the Bangalore office are joining in increasing the diversity level. Diversity Management: Benefits & Challenges Group 4 | LOGS 25

Q8) what is the overall strategy of your firm , is it growth oriented or focuses on cost cutting ? Is it succeeding in its strategy? Our firm is more or less stable in its growth and it follows a people strategy which is neither growth oriented neither leads to cost cutting. Q9) Is the attrition rate of your firm increasing or decreasing on a yoy basis? Our attrition rate decreases on a yoy basis. .Q10) Do you feel that women are at an equal footing with men in employment opportunities ? No as the women are still considered more suitable for handling house hold responsibilities then the office work Q11) Do you feel that gender plays a part in carrier propagation opportunities .Please elaborate ? No, MNCs do not differentiate based upon gender while delegating roles and responsibilities Q12) Do you feel gender has a part to play in the distribution of roles and authority in teams ? Men are preferred for carrier propagation as they are more stable in their jobs as compared to women Q13) What do you feel about a cultural diversity in your organization? Cultural diversity totally depends the type of management the location has and also how people are willing to relocate. Q14) what are the positive and negative implications of cultural diversity? Implications are often positive ,we get chance to interact with people of different background? Q15) How do you deal with cultural diversity in your organization or team?. Though I had never faced such differences but if I will face then I will go for certain group activities which allow people of different group to common on common platform.

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Response #8: Sarath Galimlu(Senior Software Engineer) TCS

(called 10thAug13 2:30pm)

Q1) What is your view on the productivity of teams having diverse members in terms of age gender race and culture .
Diverse team members often bring out of the box solutions to the table . That adds to the novelty of the solution and add to productivity .

Q2) Comment on the ease of working in a team with diverse team members as opposed to a homogeneous team Working in a team with the diverse background is interesting . Q3) How can the organization use the strengths of diverse employees effectively ? Every member must be given equal opportunity to contribute so that one team member can complement the weakness of another team member . Q4) How easy/tough was it to handle any conflicts ( emotional / normal ) while working with team members who are of your age, and those with whom you have significant age difference ? It is easier to handle any conflicts with people of your age but with people of significant age difference it was a bit tough to manage. Q5) What are the various difficulties you faced while working on a task with high independence on each other and there is a significant age difference among team members ? Works got delayed in such setting as it was difficult for everyone to come to consensus because of the diverse inputs everyone had. Q6) What according to you are various positives and negatives of working in a team with/without age ( any one type or both the types based on your experience diversity? A diverse set of inputs is the positive thing and delay in process because of the diverse thinking could be the negative thing. Q7) How is the racial diversity in your firm? Is it increasing /decreasing on a year on year basis?
We are in regular touch with our onsite team over various mode of communication, so I feel we have a good amount of racial diversity wholesome and it remains more or less constant yoy.

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Q8) What is the overall strategy of your firm, is it growth oriented or focuses on cost cutting ? Is it succeeding on its strategy? Our firm is on cost cutting strategy as it has removed many facilities like cab, previously there was a north Indian and south Indian caterer but now there is only the north Indian one giving great displeasure to our south Indian counterparts. Q9) Is the attrition rate of your firm increasing or decreasing on a yoy basis? Our attrition rate is increasing on a yoy basis. .Q10) Do you feel that women are at an equal footing with men in employment opportunities.. Yes and even women are getting more opportunities through various government reservations schemes Q11) Do you feel that gender plays a part in carrier propagation opportunities .Please elaborate Some mangers are biased in distribution of roles and they provide advantage to females Q12) Do you feel gender has a part to play in the distribution of roles and authority in teams . Carrier propagation do require high visibility in workplace and women have edge in that Q13) What do you feel about a cultural diversity in your organization. Though its increasing overall but at my location I feel its very less. Q14) what are the positive and negative implications of cultural diversity Had some good experience when I was abroad, we learn to give respect to other s culture and values. Q15) How do you deal with cultural diversity in your organization or team . For me it becomes difficult to manage when people belong to certain group starts communicating in their colloquial language.

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Response #9: Parnya Singhania (Senior Software Engineer) Accenture

(called 12thAug13 5:00pm)

Q1) What is your view on the productivity of teams having diverse members in terms of age gender race and culture ?
Productivity of diverse teams is higher .

Q2) Comment on the ease of working in a team with diverse team members as opposed to a homogeneous team ?

Working in a group of similar people is always easier Q3) How can the organization use the strengths of diverse employees effectively? The management should ensure that the tasks allocated to team members are according to their diverse strengths and make everybody a part of the decision Q4) How easy/tough was it to handle any conflicts ( emotional / normal ) while working with team members who are of your age, and those with whom you have significant age difference ? Chances of conflicts with people who are younger is generally less & easier to handle as I was able to convince them but it was tough when similar situation comes with older people Q5) What are the various difficulties you faced while working on a task with high independence on each other and there is a significant age difference among team members? Co-ordination among different team members, particularly when one missed the time lines and there was lot of unrest in such cases Q6) What according to you are various positives and negatives of working in a team with/without age (any one type or both the types based on your experience) diversity? Positives depend on the kind of task handled, but team co-ordination is a negative point across all such scenarios Q7) How is the racial diversity in your firm? Is it increasing/dereasing on a yoy basis?
Cant say about the ratio, but we are a global company where work is distributed across the globe and taking that into consideration we have a very healthy racial diversity which remains more or less constant on a yoy basis. Diversity Management: Benefits & Challenges Group 4 | LOGS 29

Q8) What is the overall strategy of your firm, is it growth oriented or focuses on cost cutting? Is it succeeding in its strategy? Our firm has a growth oriented strategy and it is growing on a yoy basis. Q9) Is the attrition rate of your firm increasing or decreasing on a yoy basis? Our efficient recruitment process helps us in attaining a low attrition rate which remains more or less constant yoy. .Q10) Do you feel that women are at an equal footing with men in employment opportunities? No as the recruiters are still afraid of employing women who can take more leaves due to many household responsibilities Q11) Do you feel that gender plays a part in carrier propagation opportunities .Please elaborate ? No , as guidelines are usually very clear regarding the criteria for distribution of roles and responsibilities in our organizations Q12) Do you feel gender has a part to play in the distribution of roles and authority in teams ? No, gender dont plays a role as carrier propagation is usually a collective decision judging employees on various criteria Q13) What do you feel about a cultural diversity in your organization? It is very broad term for me to comment But I think we have intra country as well inter country diversity. Q14) what are the positive and negative implications of cultural diversity? Sometimes positive and sometimes negative depends on situations. Q15) How do you deal with cultural diversity in your organization or team ? I take it as very positive ,if there is some conflict between any group then we go for common outing so that can be resolved.

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Response #10: Liza Goswami (Senior Software Engineer) Accenture

(called 11thAug13 6:00pm)

Q1) What is your view on the productivity of teams having diverse members in terms of age gender race and culture ?
Productivity of the diverse teams depends on t he bonding within the team .

Q2) Comment on the ease of working in a team with diverse team members as opposed to a homogeneous team Diverse team members have their own personnel agendas and making harmony is a tough task. Q3) How can the organization use the strengths of diverse employees effectively? The organization should have and equitable distribution of responsibilities and encourage synergy among team members . Q4) How easy/tough was it to handle any conflicts (emotional / normal ) while working with team members who are of your age, and those with whom you have significant age difference ? Personally speak with the concerned persons in case of any conflicts Q5) What are the various difficulties you faced while working on a task with high independence on each other and there is a significant age difference among team member ? Havent faced any major difficulties in such cases. Q6) What according to you are various positives and negatives of working in a team with/without age ( any one type or both the types based on your experience diversity? Wide range of ideas and rich experience of the team members is the positive thing. Q7) How is the ratio of racial diversity in your firm? Is it increasing/decreasing on a yoy basis?
Our firm believes in keeping people closer to their home town. Hence we have more or less a homogeneous group of people in the firm.

Q8) What is the overall strategy of your firm, is it growth oriented or focuses on cost cutting ?Is it succeeding on its strategy?
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Our firm has more or less a stable growth but I have no clue about its strategy. Q9) Is the attrition rate of your firm increasing or decreasing on a yoy basis? The attrition rate is more or less constant. .Q10) Do you feel that women are at an equal footing with men in employment opportunities ? Yes ,women are performing equally good as their male counterparts Q11) Do you feel that gender plays a part in carrier propagation opportunities .Please elaborate ? No ,the recruitment process is same for both so distribution of roles and responsibilities is also unbiased. Q12) Do you feel gender has a part to play in the distribution of roles and authority in teams ? No, carrier propagation is totally dependent on the past performance as various ratings are considered while promoting employee and the ratings are independent of gender Q13) What do you feel about a cultural diversity in your organization? Its not much in our location as more or less a homogeneous group of people in the firm. Q14) what are the positive and negative implications of cultural diversity ? Sometime negative as people often make groups and restrict themselves. Q15) How do you deal with cultural diversity in your organization or team ? Never felt to manage ,I think organization policies are rich enough to deal with it..

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REFERENCES

The Paradox of Diversity Management, Creativity and Innovation Nigel Bassett-Jones, Diversity Management, Creativity And Innovation, Volume 14 Number 2 ,2005,pp.169-175

Racial Diversity, Business Strategy, and Firm Performance Orlando C. Richard, The Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Apr., 2000), pp. 164-177

Inequality Regimes Gender, Class, and Race in Organizations Joan Acker, Gender and Society, Vol. 20, No. 4 (Aug., 2006), pp. 441-464

Managing Cultural Diversity: Implications for Organizational Competitiveness Taylor Cox, Jr.,The Executive, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Aug., 1991), pp. 45-56

Racial Diversity, Age Diversity, Interdependence, and Team Performance THOMAS A. TIMMERMAN, Small Group Research, Vol. 31 No. 5(October 2000),pp. 592-606

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