Citation
Dymond, J. (2014), "Why businesses keep misdiagnosing gender diversity", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 13 No. 4/5. https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-06-2014-0037
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Why businesses keep misdiagnosing gender diversity
Article Type: Strategic commentary From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 13, Issue 4/5
Thought leaders share their views on the HR profession and its direction for the future
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Jon Dymond
Existing approaches to achieving gender diversity in the workplace ask women to “lean in” or play the game the “male way”. The prescription for tackling a lack of women at the top? Network, mentor, work later and harder – and we’ll offer some flexibility and career-breaks.
Some women will do this, and will want to, but many – as the dearth of senior women shows – will not. So, what’s the remedy?
Not-so modern medicine
Many of today’s managers, and the cultures of the organisations they run, are out of date or at least in need of some modernisation. At present, they are struggling to recruit, keep or promote women, but they’re also failing to motivate their people across the company – with Generation Y, a prime example.
A significant factor behind this is that organisations of the 20th century were essentially designed to produce efficiency. The way that they managed people, and approached what management is, served that purpose well – indeed, a big dose of that approach was essential for companies during re-structure in the recession. However, organisations are now struggling to cope with a different world: new business challenges require less siloed and more adaptable, flexible and innovative organisations to fulfil customer demand. Delivering 21st century business requires organisations – and their approach to people – to evolve far more than many realise or are comfortable with.
As a result, managers and organisations not only need to develop as good an understanding of their people as they do of their capital and their finances, they also need to use their imagination to change their approach to their employees and how they’re managed and organised.
Healthy organisations
Data show us that diverse organisations are more likely to have the wider set of skills needed in modern matrix organisations. At the same time, McKinsey’s Women Matter report highlights that companies with three or more women in top management functions deliver ten per cent better return on equity (ROE). Likewise, Grant Thornton’s Women in Business research further confirms gender diversity’s prowess, showing that companies with more women holding top positions achieve 16 per cent higher return on sales and 26 per cent higher return on invested capital.
To achieve this greater diversity, the best organisations innovate and understand what motivates their people to perform, allowing for greater flexibility. Not to be “nice”, but instead to enable them to make the very most of business opportunities. Those organisations powering ahead in the present climate are those that have re-examined the work and role of the employee to benefit both the person and the organisation. In these companies, corporate culture and management styles are measured and actively managed. The result is both better delivery and a more diverse and sustainable organisation.
Therefore, we know it’s worthwhile to encourage diversity. But how do we help companies to hold still for their injection of 21st century medicine?
Finding a cure
It is often difficult for 20th century managers to realise the need for an innovative approach. After all, successful managers feel that they know “what works here” and their own progression stands testament to the success of that way of work. It is the “outsiders” – those not traditionally in those ranks, such as women, Generation Y, non-Westerners and, indeed, employees on the frontline – who will often see this more clearly than management. Organisations must listen to their employees, as it is their dissatisfaction which tells them what and where the problems are.
The time and effort put into existing approaches to gender diversity is essentially wasted if those approaches are designed to help “different people” fit in. A more effective approach is to reconsider how well you understand your people and what makes them effective, so as to properly focus on changing the organisation and the way it manages them – both to maximise their productivity and improve your ability to get business done.
All that’s required now is for management to “man up” and get on with it.
Jon Dymond, Director at Hay Group, London, UK