Report writing - An example

This is an example on how one can write a report. In this specific case it was a paper I had to hand in for the for Managing Diversity class

To the Board of Directors

From SID: 0510905 /1

As part of my application for the post of the Human Resource Manager I submit the present report, which consists of a new strategic development proposal for Cavendish.

The business case

In order to continue to meet the company’s goals and expand its possibilities, it is a crucial factor to put emphasis on the diversification of the workforce in our company. Not only legislation regarding equal opportunities and diversification changed over the last decades, but also the characteristics of our society. We must understand the importance of diversity and equal opportunity for the success of Cavendish, and deal with the subject accordingly.

By employing a diverse workforce and supporting equal opportunities, the company's performance can, on the short run, be bettered by the enlargement of our pool of talented employees and, in a long term, the company can reach higher levels of social prestige and reputation. 

In order to benefit from employee diversity, the company must recognize the value added by such diversity. In addition, race, age, and gender discrimination, as well as discrimination regarding sexual orientation and disabilities must be eliminated.

I have been informed about or noticed discriminating behaviour in our company. Among the information received or observed, some are here highlighted to demonstrate in which grounds we are working:

An Afro-Caribbean staff member reported that a customer approached him with the words: ‘I didn’t think Cavendish employed black people.’ A male gay member of our staff reported harassment from colleagues in the form of jibes. As a member of the Human Resources Department I had access to evidences that rejection of job applicants aged over 50, in favour of younger applicants, is extremely common. Similarly, even though Cavendish employs disabled people, complying with the law in this respect, there are no other measures to further the development of these employees and to give them better work opportunities. And, lastly, women constitute 80% of our workforce, but only a small part of them occupy management positions (only 13% of the managers are women). (see Background 2006)

All these evidences show the necessity of acting. In addition to discrimination per se and to possible legal contravention, the fact that our customers do not identify our company with diversity or equal opportunities is especially concerning.  This is concerning because ‘By employing a diverse workforce, organisations would expect to gain a greater appreciation of the needs of their customers’ (IBEC 2006, [online]) and more flexibility.  Therefore, a diversity program should be seen as an imperative.

One more reason for a change in our human resources management strategy is the intended expansion of the company to eastern European countries. As Maznevski & Jonsen (2006) remark, 'workforce diversity provides a renewable source of internal diversity. The more uncertainty an organisation faces, the more diversity can help adapt to changing circumstances.’ In other terms a diverse workforce will help our organization to be more flexible on upcoming challenges.

Here I would like to introduce one last puzzling point. I have the impression that managers of Cavendish seem to possess a limited knowledge about East European countries and their cultures. (Background 2006) If Cavendish intends to expand to East Europe, it is of crucial importance that all our staff members, including management, be informed about diversity, whether of race, gender, age, sexual orientation culture and physical or mental disabilities. Information, understanding, acceptance and flexibility by the management, especially regarding cultural diversity, are fundamental for the success of Cavendish plans.

In the next section, the legal issues regarding diversity and equality are addressed.

Legal requirements

Understanding the meaning of the terms 'diversity' and 'equal opportunities' is useful for our present case:  

Equality means providing services and employing people in equal ways. This concerns equality of opportunity, equality of access and equality of participation. Sometimes additional services and positive action are required to provide for equality of access and equality of participation for the most disadvantaged groups (European Social Network 2006, [online])

And:

As well as ensuring that people from different groups do not suffer discrimination, recognising diversity means understanding how people’s differences and similarities can be mobilised for the benefit of the individual, the organisation and society as a whole. Managing our diversity by ensuring fairness and equality is becoming not just a “good thing”, but an imperative in a changing and complex world.(European Union 2006, [online])

The difference between the two terms is that equality of opportunity is based on legislation upon unfair treatment and is prescribed by governments whereas diversity refers to the use of different characteristics of individuals for the benefit of all. Even though diversity is not essentially a legal matter, it is also dealt with by legislation, as stated later in this report.

United Kingdom laws regarding diversity, equal opportunity and anti-discrimination meet most of the EU legal framework in this respect. Nevertheless, there are minor differences between them. Since in case of inconsistence between the U.K. and the E.U. laws the latter will prevail, our company should embrace the E.U. law regarding diversity and equal opportunity. Its application should reach the whole company, including our future settlements in Eastern Europe. The advantages of this approach lie on the fact that our company can save in three different ways: the law staff of the company will deal only with European laws (positions related to domestic laws can be slowly eliminated), the risk of litigation will be minimised, and the global monitoring of our advances will be eased.

Laws of equal opportunities can be found in 30 Acts of parliament, 28 Statutory Instruments, 11 Codes of Practice and 12 European Community Directives and Recommendations. Among those one can find the Sex Discrimination Acts which were introduced in 1975 and 1986, the Race Relations Act from 1976, the Equal Pay Act 1970, and the Disability Discrimination Act from 1995. Newer legislation, dating 2003, covers Employment Equality regarding religion and beliefs, and equality regarding sexual orientation.

Diversity is guaranteed by the anti-discrimination Act of the European Court of Justice. It prescribes a balanced workforce in member countries of the E.U. The latter acknowledges the differences between different people and disapproves direct and indirect discrimination, harassment, and victimisation. It also favours affirmative action in some cases.

Specific measures might be called for to compensate for disadvantages arising from a person’s racial or ethnic origin, age or other characteristics which might lead to them being treated unfairly. (European Commission, 2006 [online])

The European Union sanctions those who infringe the law against discrimination in Article 15 of the Employment Equality Directive. It specifies that each member state must give priority to this directive in their country and ensure its enforcement. The sanction may comprise effective, proportionate and dissuasive payment of compensation to the victim. (see European Comission, 2006 [online]

It is legally clear that companies should engage with diversification and with equal opportunities, but since these terms are apparently contradictory, some difficult is met. Equal opportunity means to ignore differences whereas the legal framework of diversity means to embrace the uniqueness of each individual.

Kirton & Greene mention companies face difficulties of having policy frameworks which simultaneously aim to ignore and respond to differences, because there is little understanding of the basis for deciding when it is appropriate to recognize differences and when to ignore them. (Kirton & Greene 2005, p131)

In spite of that, with the application of both equal opportunity and diversity policies in our company, fairness and ‘good business practice’ will be favoured. How to achieve and manage a balance between ignoring and addressing differences will be discussed in the next section.

Promotion and Management

Since women constitute over 80% of our workforce, but only a small part of them work on management levels, it is important to foster their improvement and increase the possibilities for their career development at the company.

In regard to discrimination against different sexual orientation it will be necessary to set a special board which ensure that gays and lesbians feel secure and their contribution is being valued. (see Gay and Lesbian rights lobby 2002 [online])

Employees over 50 years of age should have preference on recruitment processes. Whenever two candidates present the same knowledge, education or abilities, the older candidate should be preferred. In addition, the company should establish a minimum percentage of positions reserved for this group.

The company must invest on training of disabled employees in order to provide them opportunities to reach better work positions. Cavendish could create a pathway only for the disabled to follow, including special intermediate categories between those existent in the company. Recruitment of candidates with disabilities should continue as established by law, or increased.

Regarding ethnic minorities, our company should also establish a minimum number of positions. In addition, whenever two candidates present the same kind of experience, education, abilities or knowledge, the one belonging to an ethnic minority group should be hired. 

With the appropriate exception of those mentally challenged, all the groups cited above should be guaranteed access to management levels, both through training furthered by the company and through appropriate recruitment. These actions will allow the company to meet the law requirements and to promote diversity in all levels.

Kirton & Greene (2005, p207-208) endorse affirmative actions such as those cited above when certain social groups are under-represented, and where the business would benefit from the workforce diversity. […] there might be circumstances where positive action, or even positive discrimination, should be used to achieve business objectives […]. (Kirton & Greene 2005, p208).

With regard to the future possible locations of Cavendish, it seems of high importance that people from those countries should be given positions at all levels in our company.

Procedures of introduction and overcoming resistance

Companies tend to see training as the way to diversity and equal opportunities but it might not always produce the effects expected.

While such programmes work well in sites where diversity in the local population means staffs are familiar with working alongside colleagues from ethnic minorities, in another site, it could be a very different story. (Murray, The Financial Times 2004)

Nevertheless, a one-day diversity training for all employees is important to bring awareness of changes taking place in the company. Complementarily, workshops may be offered to insure that employees are enabled to work in a diverse environment. Promoting and assuring a continuous education among the workforce should be seen as an imperative. Regarding this topic, Redia Anderson, the National Principal from Deloitte & Touche’s Diversity and Inclusion Initiative, states that:

Encouraging and indeed sometimes changing the view certain things affects their behaviour. Education, along with accountability, is very important to understanding and achieving any cultural change initiative. ( Anderson 2003, [online])

'Changing champions', both in senior and in regional managements are also fundamental for the changing process. These leaders will ensure that the process does not stop before the change has been made.  Anderson also acknowledges this point: ‘Support from leadership – both on the national and local level – is critical for a successful culture change [since] national and local leadership are the champions of our initiative’ (Anderson 2003, [online])

In addition, opinion and ideas of employees should be asked and employees should be thoroughly informed. By doing so, employees will be involved in the changing process. Giving people ownership over the change process helps the company to overcome resistance to change.

There should be a clear message what the company's goals are and how Cavendish wants to achieve them; this should be internally and externally advertised. Our customers, investors and the public should be aware of Cavendish's diversity initiative.

Recommendations for monitoring and evaluation

A regular benchmarking on the grade of diversity among different companies in the same region will indicate if Cavendish is performing well in its diversity program. Meetings of the regional directors and the executive board of directors to discuss if the goals on diversity are being kept also helps to monitor diversity.

Scholars agree that it is extremely difficult to evaluate the outcome of diversity in hard factors like profit return. Nevertheless, companies see general improvements in the range of employees' ideas and suggestions and in the public's opinion. (see Hamilton 2003, p131)

An increase in the number of people interested on working and doing business with Cavendish is a potential indicator of the success on diversity implementation.

Other issues which can be considered during monitoring and evaluating:

Achievable short term and long term targets should be set and monitored by internal and external parties. As Anderson states, 'We also commissioned an external advisory board of prominent national leaders and authorities, who come from business, academia, and government.' (Anderson 2003, [online]).

This is confirmed by the following excerpts:

One proactive way to asses the impact of equality in an organisation is to carry out an equality review. A number of Member States are already carrying out workplace gender reviews. (European Social Network 2006, [online])

and,
In particular, the monitoring of the workforce by grade, ethnic origin and gender can be based on self-classification surveys. This can help to enable organisations to identify imbalances in the workforce profile and consider positive actions that can be put in place to redress these imbalances. (European Social Network 2006, [online])

By looking at the outcome of such assessments, one can than correct and include missing parts into the changing process.

Conclusion

Diversity and equal opportunities are crucial for our company to successfully expand in a globally challenged environment. Diverse workforce contributes with achieving results necessary for competitive advantage. Even though our company meets the required legal regulations, not enough has been put in practice in respect to embracing and implementing diversity and equal opportunity in our company. Diversification and equality must be furthered both through recruitment and promotion.

Managing diversity should not be dealt with only by the Human Resource Department, but shall reach all departments in all levels. The senior management level must support this initiative. So-called change champions in all our subsidiaries shall give support to the senior management motivation.

A company wide policy shall be created and enforced. Employees should be involved in the process, both participating with ideas and by being informed and trained. Regular monitoring, such as by benchmarking and meetings with the regional directors, shall take place. Not only communication but also enforcement of the policies set shall prove our success.

Bibliography

Books

Kirton, G. & Greene, Anne-marie. (2005). The Dynamics of Managing Diversity. A Critical Approach. (2^nd ed.). Oxford: Elsevier

Kossek, E. E., & Sharon A., Lobel (eds.). (2000). Managing Diversity. Human Resource Strategies for Transforming the Workplace. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers

Journals

Anderson, R., Profiles in Diversity Journal. (2003). Owing the Initiative. Vol. 5, No.1 [online]

Available from: http://www.diversityatwork.com/articles/deloitte.pdf

[cited 10 May 2006]

Hansen, F. (2003). Workforce. Diversity’s Case Doesn’t Add up. April, p. 28-32 [online]

Available from: http://bss.sfsu.edu/naff/HRM/Hansen.doc

[cited 10 May 2006]

Hunt, L. New Zealand Science Review. (2003) Petrey, A. (ed). Protecting Science. Working in a CRI. Vol 60 (4) pp130-133 [online]

Available from: http://nzas.rsnz.org/publish/archive/NZSR_60_4.pdf

[cited 24 May 2006]

Maznevski, M. & Jonsen, Karsten, The Financial Times. (2006). The value of different perspectives. A diverse workforce leads to innovative solutions when dealing with uncertainty, March 24

                                                                                  

Murray, S., The Financial Times. (2004). The challenge of the subconscious MANAGING DIVERSITY, May 10

Electronical Resources

IBEC. (2006). Business Case for Managing Diversity [online]

Available from: http://www.interact2.com/uploads/Business%20Case%20for%20managing%20Diversity.doc

[cited 10 May 2006]

European Union. (2006). Managing Diversity – what’s in it for business. Benefits of diversity [online]

Available from: http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/fundamental_rights/pdf/public/factsheet3_en.pdf

[cited 11 May 2006]

Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby. (2002). The Pink Ceiling is too low. WORKPLACE EXPERIENCES FROM LESBIANS; GAY MEN AND TRANSGENDERS [online]) Workplace discrimination. [online]

Available from: http://www.glrl.org.au/pdf/factsheets_2002/workplace_discrimination.pdf

[24 May 2006]