Managing workforce diversity.

Editor's Note: This article is adapted from mr. Wheeler's remarks during a panel discussion at the American Bar Association's Annual Meeting in August 1997.

"Effectively managing work force diversity" is an issue that tax executives and business managers generally are addressing with increasing frequency. Based on my own experience, there is not a single magic formula for managing diversity. It is a challenge you must contend with on a daily basis.

This article,, addresses the following issues:

* The role of the business case in managing work force diversity. We need to always go back to our business case, and emphasize the value and benefits of work force diversity. This is -- and should be -- our bottom line.

* The role of change in managing diversity and the need to create an organization comfortable with change.

* Technology: the great equalizer. Technology can eliminate differences among us that do not matter; it can neutralize favoritism and bias. Targeted use of technology can be our tactical advantage in managing work force diversity.

* Leadership selection. Quite bluntly, we should get rid of, fix, or not hire leaders who cannot manage diversity.

* The need to make diversity management a routine business practice -- a pattern of behavior.

* How to be a catalyst for change. Our personal commitment and the commitment of others in our organization.

The Business Case for Diversity

The purpose of this article is not to establish the business case for diversity in the workplace. The need to value, to leverage, and to manage diversity has long been established. The purpose here is to underscore the role the business case plays in managing a diverse work force.

It is well established that, over time, heterogeneous groups outperform homogenous groups. They are better at problem-solving, better at decision-making, and better at generating creative ideas; different points of view engender better ideas as well as better approaches and methods. Have you ever heard of "thinking outside the box"? As tax professionals, have you ever played "devil's advocate" in order to test your beliefs? Many tax professionals I know have brought these activities to an art form. Have you ever experienced the power of brainstorming? Of course you have. And if all that's not enough of a business case for workplace diversity, think about this: teamwork, productivity, and work quality all increase when employees have, or perceive they have, a full opportunity to contribute and have influence. This is job ownership, project ownership, ownership of the outcome.

So, when confronted with a need to convince a reluctant management group about the need to manage diversity, you should start by referring to the business case and to an understanding of the value and benefits of a diverse work force. And there is one additional benefit that I have not mentioned yet: the tax department's survival. A diverse organization (whether an in-house tax staff or a law or CPA firm) is more flexible and adaptable and, therefore, better able to react to change -- in short, to survive.

The Role of Change

That leads me to my next topic: the role change plays in managing diversity. In my view, the role of change in and of itself cannot be underestimated. Diversity will support change, of course; but change will also support diversity.

Organizations comfortable with change are more likely to be comfortable with diversity, and will be better at managing it. Organizations comfortable with diversity are more likely to be able to anticipate and adapt to change in the global marketplace, and will be better able to perpetuate their organizations; they will be better able to survive and prosper into the next century. Organizations comfortable with change are inherently stronger in that change involves boundary breaking and the ability to work through complexity, contradictions, and paradoxes. Accordingly, tax executives need to put change on their firm's radar screen, to put change in their comfort zone, to embrace change as a way to manage workplace diversity.

The Role of Technology

There is perhaps nowhere in the workplace that change has been more evident than in the area of office technology. Technological advances are a natural enabler to the management of diversity; they help demonstrate the value and benefits of it.

Specifically, technology tends to render immaterial differences among us such as gender, race, age, and so on. Technology is the great equalizer. Technology has none of the bias or favoritism that we often see among people. If you can use the Internet, e-mail, and other tools of technology, then you can use them to influence change and set the stage for more effective diversity management. Consider one powerful example of the tactical use of office technology: the electronic meeting.

What in the world is an electronic meeting? Electronic meetings can be face-to-face or remote. If used properly, they eliminate favoritism, bias, and "boss control." They encourage free and open exchange of ideas. Everyone has a shot at contributing.

Here is specifically how the concept works. Everyone has a keyboard. There is one central screen. There is a facilitator to run the meeting -- a technical person with no agenda other than to facilitate the meeting. Participants type in their ideas or suggestions, and because they appear on the screen anonymously, everyone's contribution is equal. If used for decision-making purposes, results can be tabulated quickly and accurately, without a boss's ability to manipulate or undercut. This way every idea is stripped to its essence.

Electronic meetings can be a powerful tool in creating a safe environment for everyone to express ideas and propose solutions. They facilitate thinking outside the box. In addition, and perhaps more importantly, they get bosses accustomed to diverse ideas. They encourage scrimmaging, brainstorming, and playing the devil's advocate. Improvements to the bottom line will result. Once these benefits are evident, once everyone is comfortable expressing ideas, once bosses become accustomed to diverse ideas, then these behaviors can be emulated in face-to-face encounters, and not just at formal meetings but in day-to-day relationships.

The Role of Leadership Selection

The role of leadership -- and therefore the process of leadership selection -- is important in managing workplace diversity. The goals should be to get rid of, fix, or not hire leaders who cannot manage diversity. The ability to manage diversity effectively should become a core job requirement for those in a leadership position, alongside technical competence, adversarial skills, and the ability to work with clients at your business units. The ability to manage diversity should be a threshold issue. If a company has managers who are weak at managing workplace diversity, it needs to address the problem. Management skills, particularly diversity management, may not be natural or instinctive. Consequently, training may be necessary.

There is change afoot in management today. The role of managers is changing away from a directive (or command and control) orientation to a facilitative (or coach and counsel) role and, further, to an enabling (or empowering) role. Today's manager must realize that information is power, and that the power comes not from hoarding information, but from sharing and circulating it with employees. The sharing, moreover, should be open, honest, and meaningful. Empowered employees need to participate in decisions affecting their work. Empowerment requires reciprocal trust and open, multidirectional communication -- between boss and employee, between employee and boss, and among employees.

Make Diversity Management Routine

Tax executives should strive to make diversity management a routine business practice. Management of work force diversity should be treated as a business initiative and not a human resource or personnel department initiative. Managers should endeavor to keep the HR people out of it. Good managers should incorporate diversity management into day-to-day business processes. Proper linkage of the diversity message with day-to-day activities is essential.

Clearly, it may at first be necessary to sponsor specific diversity awareness and diversity management courses at the company. But, eventually, diversity management should be incorporated into the company's normal leadership training or mentoring programs. For example, although a company may initially find it necessary to initiate special accountability measures to achieve diversity objectives, eventually accountability should be built into the firm's normal appraisal and reward systems. If a company is managing by results (as most seem to be doing nowadays), it may be advantageous to build diversity and diversity management into its mission statements, business objectives, and strategies. The value of a well-articulated, commonly understood mission statement that embraces diversity cannot be overemphasized.

Being a Catalyst for Change: Personal Commitment

Each and every member of the tax department should be a personal catalyst for change. And being a catalyst for change requires two things: a personal commitment and a will to commit others.

Before you can build diversity management into your business routine, you have to secure your organization's commitment to change. As a catalyst for that commitment, you will have to behave in some respects in an extraordinary way in order to demonstrate your personal commitment to diversity management in order to build a constituency within your department. Simply put, your behavior will have to drive the message home in no uncertain terms.

There are a number of ways you can exhibit your personal commitment to managing diversity:

* Be involved in diversity initiatives

* Set recruitment objectives and results

* Sponsor and attend training workshops

* Work with employees in career management

* Support work-life and alternative work programs

* Communicate diversity strategy

* Modify personal behavior to be consistent with principles of respect and dignity

* Be an effective listener and a precise speaker

* Go out of your way to prevent tokenism 

Being a Catalyst for Change: How to Commit Middle Management

Once a tax executive has unequivocally exhibited his or her personal commitment to managing workplace diversity, it becomes critical to secure the commitment of others, including those in "middle management." The challenge here, of course, is not with your disciples -- the converted -- or those who taught you to value and manage diversity. Rather, the challenge is those reluctant members of middle management who are skeptical of the benefits of diversity or uncomfortable with change or with differences, or who are just poor managers in the first place. And, incidentally, as often as not the issue is simply one of poor management skills -- nothing more, nothing less. Stated differently, what may come across as an inability to value or manage people who are different may well be an inability to manage anybody, whether different or not.

The most important thing about securing the commitment of middle management is this: You must act the way you speak. A reluctant middle management will not likely commit to valuing diversity to a greater extent than the leader does.

In addition, you must find ways to destroy existing "non-inclusive" comfort zones and rebuild them as "inclusive" comfort zones. You may have to ruffle a few feathers. In other words, you need to make middle management increasingly uncomfortable with the status quo.

You also must find ways to accustom middle management to workplace diversity. This can be done by including people with differences in meetings, by using the previously discussed electronic meetings, and by giving best assignments to a diverse group of people. You should go out of your way to do this. You should measure this. You should establish an effective reward system. And you should become increasingly intolerant of failures to respect or manage diversity. Most important, once again, is that you should act the way you speak.

ROGER D. WHEELER is Chief Tax Officer for General Motors Corporation. He is a member of TEI's Detroit Chapter, and currently serves on the Institute's Board of Directors and its Executive Committee. He received his B.A. degree from Baldwin-Wallace College and his J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law Center.