Diversity Best Practices for the U.S. Air Force

Introduction

Many human resources practitioners have argued that increasing diversity in an organization can contribute to adding value to that organization and, in some cases, improving its competitive advantage (Richard, 2000). The conceptual background of this line of thinking is that culturally diverse groups improve the quality of decisions — for example, by "stimulating nonobvious alternatives" (Richard, 2000). As literature on workplace diversity increased, many corporations began to consider what greater diversity looked like and undertook specific strategies not only to increase diversity but to leverage it for competitive advantage. Some of the best practices developed through this process became part of tracking efforts like the Diversity Inc. corporate diversity rankings, which rely on a set of different measures to evaluate the diversity practices of organizations. The USAF can look to the best performers in these rankings to develop a set of best practices applicable to its own context.

Corporate Diversity Leaders and Their Practices

The first company is AT&T, which ranks fourth on the Diversity Inc. survey. According to Diversity Inc., AT&T relies on "four pillars of diversity: employees, community, marketing and suppliers." It has focused on hiring an increasingly diverse pool of talent, but beyond that, AT&T has also instituted initiatives to ensure minorities are visible in its marketing, that it works with a growing percentage of minority-owned suppliers, and that it maintains a program to support disadvantaged communities. Some of the specific achievements AT&T has recorded include:

• Mentored 160,000 at-risk high school students as part of the Aspire Mentoring Academy
• Has 3,000 sales representatives who speak a language other than English
• Six executive-level scholarships and 12 service-disabled veteran-owned business leaders supported
• Ranks #1 in the number of Employee Resource Groups
• Ranks #1 in recruitment of minorities
• Ranks #1 in supplier diversity
• Ranks #4 in mentoring
• Ranks #5 in veteran inclusion
• Ranks #6 in LGBT employee inclusion

These successes have driven AT&T to rank fourth overall on the latest survey. Other companies whose diversity programs may be less established are also doing meaningful work on this front. One of those is the Kellogg Company, which made the Diversity Inc. Top 50 for the fifth consecutive year on the following strengths:

• 21% more visible minorities in senior management than the overall average
• 50.6% more women in senior management than the U.S. average
• Executive compensation tied to diversity objectives
• Senior executive-level commitment to diversity

Another company is General Motors, which ranked 48th on the list. GM has achieved diversity successes in the following areas:

• Double the average supplier diversity
• Substantially higher rates of mentoring by second- and third-level managers
• CEO commitment to diversity
• Only automaker with membership in the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce
• Executive compensation tied to diversity performance

Shared Best Practices Across Companies

There are several things in common among these three companies, from which best practices can be derived. Clearly, leadership commitment is an essential component of increasing diversity. A pro-diversity attitude starts at the top, because that is where resources are allocated, lower-level executive compensation is set, and where the foundation of organizational culture is laid. CEO commitment has proven essential to all three of these companies.

Incentives also matter significantly. In a couple of these companies, senior executive incentives were tied in part to diversity measures. In general, people will do what they have been specifically motivated to do. There are many ways to motivate people, but performance incentives are particularly effective. Tying a portion of one's bonus to the achievement of diversity measures creates motivation where there otherwise might not be any. It is up to senior management to design these motivation structures.

Mentoring plays a major role in corporate diversity programs for a straightforward reason: these companies do not just want diversity at lower levels — they want a diverse pool of future leaders to draw upon. It is at the leadership level where diversity will be most valuable. Some of the measures used by groups like Diversity Inc. explicitly include diversity in senior management. Ultimately, no company will promote someone unqualified into senior management, so mentorship programs exist to ensure that women and minorities have equal access to the pathways that lead to the executive level. This is a key mechanism by which, over time, the glass ceiling can be broken.

References

Diversity Inc. (2016). The Diversity Inc. Top 50. Diversity Inc. Retrieved May 9, 2016 from http://www.diversityinc.com/the-diversityinc-top-50-companies-for-diversity-2016/

Losey, S. (2015). Air Force Secretary's diversity plan will mean quotas, critics say. Air Force Times. Retrieved May 9, 2016 from

Richard, O. (2000). Racial diversity, business strategy and firm performance: A resource-based view. Academy of Management Journal, 43(2), 164–177.