Some Cultural Diversity Issues In Management Within Small Minority Business Firms

By Dr. Henry T. Yeh

For the past several decades, it has been clearly established that a strong tie is closely associated with the issue of minority and managing small business and the accompanying diversity issues of the labor market. One of those issues as noted by Dr. Naichen” Chen. was that “we live and work here since it is the best location for cultural experiment and the best Moratory for humanities and social sciences. We are experimenting right here based on the virtues S compassion, mutual respect, learning from each other, and benefiting others and selves”

1. Continually, product and services of all kinds move across state and national borders, and so hen do human resources. The inevitable result has been increased diversity of the population base in the United States as well as other countries, and unquestionably a greater diversity in the workplace. Diversity as commonly understood refers to the heterogeneity of the population and the workforce. Clearly, as W.B. Johnstone states in his study, “the new world labor market no longer does the workplace include only individuals who are very similar to one another (that is Caucasian men); it now includes individuals of both sexes, as well as people of various races, nationalities, and ethnic backgrounds”.

2. Diversity presents ever growing and new challenges for small businesses and managers especially for organizational success requiring a strong organizational culture and group cohesiveness. For instance, n. V. Perry postulates ” more women today are executive vice presidents largely because they have been given the opportunities to prove themselves especially in minority and small businesses”.

3. Of course achieving this may be more difficult when the workplace includes individuals with vastly different backgrounds and from different countries, and especially with varied and little understood cultural frames of reference. Men, women, Caucasians, Hispanics African Americans and others with diverse racial, national and ethnic backgrounds often have very different perceptions about the same situations, and it is for this reason as noted in hick man et al. Research, that as a consequence,” it may be more difficult to reach a consensus on common goals and on the methods for achieving these goals”.

4. A fair number of minority and small businesses today have established reliable and recognized training programs to assist their employees in developing not only their learned and acquired skills but to provide the employee a sense of appreciation for the nature of diversity and to foster co-operation among culturally diverse groups. A large number of these training programs focus on valuing, and in some cases celebrating diversity, both in the breadth of thought and experience that results from diverse work-groups. There are those minority businesses that have actually implemented significant and meaningful programs in this respect because it is the Some Cultural Diversity Issues in Management Within Small Minoyity Business Firms

“Politically correct” thing to do. And then again, there are those firms that have put into place real aggressive diversity training programs because they believe that a diversity work force provides a real organizational competitive advantage. These firms according to J. Crocket! in winning competitive advantage through a diverse workforce, maintains that it “is essential for small businesses to use the diverse workforce as a business strategy”.

5. Allstate insurance company views diversity as a key strategic tool for ensuring its organizational success in the highly competitive insurance market. Sara lee has a similar management philosophy and to this end maintains an active program to guarantee that a diverse workforce is recruited, supported, developed and retained within the organization. J. Bryan says, “a firm like Sara Lee reinforces this philosophy in their vital speeches of the day to their employees”.

6. There can be no doubt, that the heightened awareness of the accompanying diversiissues in corporate America in general and minority small businesses in particular, has created a number of difficulties and problems in the workplace as well. In fact, there are those like G. Flynn who feel as though, “this so called reverse discrimination has been the result of aggressive efforts to create a diverse workforce to be disadvantageous to white males”.

7. Despite this viewpoint, cultural diversity and small businesses will continue to grow and no doubt the issues of diversity will go on to influence the activities of minority and small businesses related to their business policies, practices and management behavior. But as time has shown, the overall business benefits do far outweigh the negatives. To change attitudes and stereotypical perceptions does take time, and for small minority businesses with a diverse workforce to become successful does require the characteristics associated with successful entrepreneurs as noted in Johannsen’ work, “characteristics of successful entrepreneurs”.

8. It might be noted here that these characteristics do not only apply to successful entrepreneurs but if used wisely and strategically, especially by minority small business, the indicator for success in business could be predicted to be very positive. This researcher believes that it is note worthy to reiterate these characteristics:

1) A high need to achieve

2) Filtering information for opportunity

3) High internal locus ofcontrol4)

4) High goal orientation

5) Always the optimist

6) Full of courage

7) Tolerance to ambiguity

8) Strong internal motivation – the Tire’ inside the word diversity is no longer just a word or

“an eye-brow raiser” or jargon conjured up by bureaucrats in the workplace. For example, the all state insurance company was alluded to earlier in the paper which genuinely believes that its diversity initiatives in the workplace has already begun to pay off and will continue to bring significant benefits to the company and the business community for years to come.

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In managing for excellence, and using diversity as a competitive advantage, Allstate insurance company has searched for creative ways to ensure outstanding performance and to achieve competitive advantage. The management at Allstate that workforce diversity is a business strategy that can distinguish the company from its competition. Allstate diversity vision statement provides insight into its philosophy: as noted in j. Crockett’ diversity planning,” diversity is Allstate’s strategy for leveraging differences in order to create a competitive advantage”

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9. The company believes that externally, a diverse work force fosters brand loyalty, as well as customer growth and retention. Internally, the company sees its diversity initiatives as a tool for developing a creative and knowledgeable work force that can achieve superior results. The company has integrated diversity into its human resource process – in terms of both recruitment and training and development. For each key position in all state, the human resource department ensures that a diverse slate of candidates is identified. In addition, all non-agent employees go through diversity training and participate in an employee survey and feedback process twice a year. As might be expected, all state has already begun to see results from its diversity efforts. The company has seen steady growth in the number of women and minorities it employs, as labor statistics show, far surpassing national averages, and it has received national recognition for its performance. J. Crockett notes, “the Allstate in 1998 was among the first companies to be ranked by Fortune as one of the 50 best companies for Asians, blacks, and Hispanics”.

10. Minority MBA magazine include Allstate on it’s list of the ‘top ten companies for

minority managers ‘. The company has also been cited by working mother, vista and Hispanic

In summary, due to the unprecedented complexity and uncertainty that characterizes today’s business environment, whether corporate or minority small businesses, coupled with the rapid-fire developments in information technology and current organization3 dynamics, a host of urgent questions are posed for today’s business leaders for serious consideration and to come up with solutions for a 21st century business environment. They are:

1) Learning to adapt. How can an organization effectively deal with constant and multidimensional change? How can it boost. Its capacity for learning and adaptability?

2) Structure. How should a company be organized for maximum responsiveness to continuous and often unpredictable changes in the market place? How should it relate to its network of customers and suppliers?

3) Skills. What leadership qualities are needed to guide tomorrow’s organizations? What skills will be cruci3 to success at all levels of an organization operating in such a dynamic environment?

4) Management styles. What happens when command and control of management collide with ongoing efforts to empower workers. When more workers have greater access to more information, how should business decisions be made?

Some Cultural Diversity Issues in Management Within Small Minority Business Firms

5) Impact of information technology. What will happen to industry structures when electronic markets and information highways make it possible for buyers and sellers of any size to find each other easily anywhere in the world without human intermediaries?

6} New ways of working with greatly increased capabilities for communication and coordination, how will individuals work together? How will their work be evaluated? Will there be less need for large offices and factories? Will more people become telecommuters?

7) Innovation. In such a competitive world where the winners are likely to be companies (definitely minority small businesses), that are the first to recognize new ideas and implement them, how can an organization create the environment needed to spur continuous innovation?

8) Measures of success..As intellectual capital and other intangibles play a larger role m a firm’s success, can we adapt traditional accounting measures to more accurately portray the true assets, liabilities, and term prospects of a company?

Given the above questions, what will be the profile then of the new manager for the 21st century? Certainly, the new and successful firm, which strives for success, will have a different managerial style in the future. Managers will no longer think of themselves as the “boss” but will view themselves as sponsors, team leaders, or internal consultants. The chain of command will be less relevant as managers seek out whomever they need to get the job done. They will work in a fluid organizational structure, involve others in decision-making, and share information freely. They will develop their cross-functional skills so they can be more flexible. And perhaps, most important, these new managers will demand results, not just long hours, from their work teams.

Perhaps, researcher Dumaine sums it up best when he says, “The new manager of tomorrow will be the new non-manager managers”. I believe that minority small business managers are strongly leaning in this direction and in the near future they will attain this distinction

References:

(1) Chen, Naichen, Minority And Small Business Review HLU Vol. 1 Jan 03

(2) Johnstone, W. “Global Workforce 2000: The New World Labor Market”, Harvard Business Review, March-April 1991, 115

(3) Perry, N., “More Women Are Executive VP’s”, Fortune, July 12 1963

(4) Hickman.G.. et al, “Diverse Self Directed Work Teams: Developing Strategic Initiatives For the 21st. Century Organizations”, Personnel Management.27,2, Summer 1998, 187-200. (5)Crockett, J. , “Diversity: Winning Competitive Advantage Through A Diverse Workforce” Hr Focus.76,5 , May 1999, 9-10.

(6) Bryan, J., “Diversity: A Strategic Business Imperative”, Vital Speeches Of The Day 65 2 Nov. 1998,44-47.

7) Flynn, G., “White Males See Diversity’s Other Side”, Workforce,78,2,Feb.99, 53-55

(8) Johannsen, M., Minority And Small Business Review, HLU.Vol. 1 ,Jan’.03.

(9)Crockett, J., “Diversity As A Business Strategy”, Management Rev. 88,5, May 1999, 62 – 63

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(10)IBID, 65-67.

(11) Dumaine, B.,”The New Non-manager Managers”,Fortune,Feb22,1993,80-84.

(Dr. Henry T. Yeh is an adjunct professor at SWIU)

About the Author: Dr. Henry T. Yeh received his Ph.D. in business, MBA degrees from Baruch College, CUNY in the 90s and MS degree in Operations research from Columbia University. He has taught at CUNY and St. John’s University and worked at TWA. He is currently teaching at

Southwest International University USA. Source: isnare.com

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