CASE STUDY EXAMPLES
#1. Included too late in the game
One common dynamic in the global process is passive resistance. One multinational corporation sought to customize its leadership diversity training program. It sent the design used for the US to its UK and French teams and asked them to customize it to their liking. The US team made suggestions as to what might be considered – different business case, cultural group dynamics, case studies – but the UK and French representatives said the materials “seemed fine.” However, during the actual workshops they complained that the design had content not relevant to them and that the US was foisting something upon them. The US team was struck by how its efforts to be inclusive and customize had failed. They erred by underestimating the need to fully engage people. To overcome headquarters mentality you must bring people together early in the process, not five steps down the road.
#2. Half-hearted inclusion
A telecommunications company that operates in 15 countries created culture training for all managers worldwide. The headquarters team pronounced that it would customize for local needs, so it put together a team of global representatives (one from each of five regions). But in its first conference call, they turned down the request for translated workshops because all employees were “required to speak English and translation would be very expensive.” It was only after receiving strongly negative reaction during a pilot in Mexico that they capitulated and invested in Spanish translation. The reaction and results were so positive that the workshop is now conducted in two other Spanish dialects as well as Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, German, French and Korean. Obviously this entailed a significant expense, but it also enabled the program to be the great success it is today.
#3. Narrow focus on race and gender bias
A major global consumer products company focused its global diversity initiative on representation of women and minorities. This made sense where these groups were underutilized sources, but the goal was set uniformly. The lack of a qualified “minority” population in some countries made local leaders question the integrity of the diversity concept and resent being pressured to create such plans. They have yet to engage in the process.
#4. Customization pays off
A multinational healthcare organization followed a strategic diversity process and sequence of events and made excellent progress in Germany, UK and Canada. Key to this was that they invested in finding the global/local balance. To determine local issues they held global leadership interviews, conducted a customized employee survey, gathered key diversity trends by country and internal data concerning employee recruitment, retention and promotion patterns. The results were used to form the business case, which was presented to the global executive team for their strategic planning. Data was cut by country and business unit to ensure that each leader could see his/her unique challenges and opportunities and for use in local customization of training and action plans.
