Creating the Multicultural Organization: A Strategy for Capturing the Power of Diversity
The globalization of business, the increased use of teams, and changing workforce demographics have all made managing workforce diversity a critical competency for today's organizations. But for many companies, efforts to manage diversity have produced disappointing results. This book offers proven methods that show how you can achieve breakthrough results in this often difficult and complex area. Creating the Multicultural Organization challenges organizations to move away from merely "counting heads for the government" and begin creating effective strategies for a more positive approach to managing diversity. Taylor Cox outlines the diversity challenge and the forces that drive it and then presents innovative strategies for change through leadership, research, and education. Representing a radical departure from what most organizations have done in the past, Cox's innovative, systematic five-part model for developing a diversity-competent organization shows how you can achieve measurable results on changing the climate for diversity. The book includes an integrated case study on managing diversity efforts at Alcoa, one of the world's largest companies. Chapter endnotes integrate relevant research, and each chapter of the book ends with a set of questions designed to provoke thoughtful dialogue and support action planning around the ideas presented in that chapter. Whether you're a CEO, a member of a diversity steering committee, a human resource professional, a work group manager, or a team leader, Creating the Multicultural Organization will show you how to build an environment where people from all backgrounds are respected and are able to reach their full potential in the organization-and where the power of diversity as an organizational resource is fully realized. THE AUTHORTaylor Cox Jr. is associate professor of organizational behavior and human resource management at the University of Michigan Business School. He is also founder and president of Taylor Cox and Associates, Inc., a research and consulting firm specializing in organization change and development work for clients with culturally diverse workforces and markets. One of his previous book's, Cultural Diversity in Organizations: Theory, Research, and Practice, was a cowinner of the National Academy of Management's 1994 George R. Terry Book Award.