Businesses capitalize on diversity

By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
diverse work force is key to turning a profit in today's business world, local experts say. Changes in the country's population and an increasingly global marketplace are forcing businesses to cater to a wide variety of customers, said Anne McMahon, professor of management at Youngstown State University. And they're finding the best way to meet those varied needs is by capitalizing on ideas and expertise that come from workers who understand those needs themselves.
A diverse work force brings better ideas to the workplace because it facilitates a steady flow of new ideas from people who have different perspectives, said Bob Faulkner, vice president for education and work force development at the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber. Faulkner joined the chamber in 2001 after retiring as manager of global community relations at Warren-based Delphi Packard Electric Systems, a leading supplier of power and signal distribution systems and component parts for the automotive industry.
All the variables
Diversity does not apply only to different racial and ethnic backgrounds, he said, but to the entire range of variables that make each person unique -- education, physical abilities and limitations, skills, talents and interests, age, gender, life experiences, socio-economic background -- the list is endless.
Working side by side with people who are different from one another fosters understanding and appreciation for differences and helps eliminate misconceptions, Faulkner continued.
"What we discover is that people are a lot more similar than they are different; we all want the same things," he said.
When Delphi Packard opened plants in Mexico, India and Indonesia, he said, the American workers sent there learned how much they have in common with workers in those countries and vice versa. Building a bridge of understanding, he said, "is good for us and it's good for them to understand us, too. Diversity is really a two-way street."
McMahon explained why.
"Mass markets no longer exist," she said. "There are only niche markets, and companies must address the specific needs of those markets if they are going to exist."
Addressing specific needs of niche markets requires an understanding of a range of customers, she said, and applies to even the smallest businesses.
Business-based
Unlike affirmative action, which came out of the civil rights movement and applies to social justice, the term diversity came out of business and the need for companies to meet the needs of a varied base of customers, she said.
In connection with her role at YSU, McMahon founded The Partners for Workplace Diversity, a cooperative effort among business, education and social service organizations in the Mahoning Valley to address diversity issues in area workplaces.
"We have customers all over the globe, and we must make decisions and build relationships that are important to them," said Ray Deibel, director of public affairs and communications at Delphi Packard, a member of Partners.
The best way to build those relationships, Deibel said, is to use the knowledge and experiences a diverse work force offers. As Delphi Packard expands product lines into nonautomotive markets, he noted, new ideas will become increasingly important.Warren-based Delphi Packard employs 110,000 workers at plants in 34 countries, including more than 6,000 workers in the Mahoning Valley.
Give them input
Merely employing a diverse work force will not enable employers to reap the benefits.
"If you have the right mix of people, and you want that to be vital, it is important that the organization create a culture of inclusion to take advantage of that diversity," Deibel said. "It must embrace differences, actively seek differences in normal day-to-day business and include employees in the decision-making."
Seeking input from workers enables the company to make more comprehensive decisions, Deibel explained. "It increases the probability of fresh, new ideas and fosters a greater commitment to those decisions because employees have a stake in the ownership."
Incorporating employees' ideas into decisions also helps build workers' pride in themselves and in the company, he said. "More comprehensive decisions are better decisions, and better decisions make you more successful, help you attract and retain a great work force."
Delphi Packard, Deibel said, has always operated in a team-based environment. As the value of a diverse work force has become more apparent, attracting, developing and retaining these individuals has become a top priority.
"Diversity is essential to our business," Deibel said. "Delphi Packard will fail without it."
General Motors also recognizes the value of diversity among its workers.
A complex blend
"For a long time people viewed diversity as a minority issue or a male-female issue, but it's really much more than that," said Paul Emond, personnel director at GM's Lordstown assembly plant. "Diversity incorporates age, military experience, national origin, where people grew up -- a whole range of things -- and blends that into the organization to create a synergy to move the business forward."
"From an economic standpoint and a marketing standpoint, you have to appeal to your customers, and our customers are very diverse ... our customer base is global," Emond said.
Over the years, he continued, GM's customers and employees have grown increasingly diverse, and as a result, workers have come to understand that change to meet customers' varied needs is an everyday thing.
"We've all gotten comfortable with change and have moved toward, 'You are different and that's OK.' It's a society change that has taken place as we have become more global and mobile," he said.
Differences among workers, Emond continued, affords the company an opportunity "to use constructive conflict to develop a competitive edge."
Helpful programs
To encourage input from a variety of workers and help them develop sensitivity and appreciation for the diversity among co-workers, GM and the United Autoworkers have jointly sponsored several programs. Faces of Cooperation, a program sponsored a few years ago, helped to create a nonhostile workplace by reducing sexual harassment and violence, Emond said. Next year, the company and union will sponsor another joint program, Faces of Change, which addresses methods of making change a continuous process and blending differences together to effect changes for the better, he said.
Management and labor at both the Lordstown assembly plant and the metal fab plant have also come together to publish a diversity cookbook that showcases ethnic and family recipes and traditions submitted by workers.
kubik@vindy.com