Personali juhtimise kodutöö, mitmekesisus organisatsioonis inglise keeles (0)

Diversity in organization: the case of Office of Naval Research
Human Resources Management and Organization Behaviour homework
Darja Kristina Vester
My work is mostly based on a book “ Building a Diverse Work Force : Scientists and Engineers in the Office of Naval Research, which was written by Committee to Study Diversity in the Scientific and Engineering Work Force of the Office of Naval Research, National Research Council in 1997.
The Office of Naval Research has for 50 years been in the forefront of research and development in the USA, especially in the physical sciences and engineering. Predating the National Science Foundation, ONR is one of the oldest federal agencies whose mission is to fund external research and development in support of national security needs . It continues today to be viewed as a premier R&D organization where the best science and engineering is identified, supported, and applied to meet national security requirements .
The rapidly changing human resources environment in the United States portends significant changes in the talent pool from which ONR will develop its future work force. In particular , women and ethnic minorities are a growing component of the professional scientific community. It is, therefore, incumbent on ONR to establish effective mechanisms to recruit and retain personnel from these groups and to develop a climate that is conducive to integrating diverse employees into a more productive organization. Because of that, in late 1994, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) asked the National Research Council (NRC) to provide advice on how to ensure diversity in its future science and engineering work force in order to meet the needs of anticipated naval science and engineering specialties.
In building a diverse organization, ONR is far from being at a disadvantage. On the contrary, ONR is uniquely positioned to access highly qualified individuals throughout the entire U.S. research and development establishment. Through its broad responsibility of maintaining a window on R&D wherever it occurs, ONR has a potential knowledge base of candidate personnel that far exceeds most organizations both in the public and private sectors. ONR's access to universities and industry through an established network of over 5,000 principal investigators, and its ready access to R&D agencies of the government , provide it with means to identify the most capable female and minority scientists and engineers ranging from graduate students to established professionals at all levels.
To build a more diverse work force, an organization needs to enhance two critical aspects: the process by which employees are recruited and hired , and the environment in which they work. Creating and maintaining a supportive and productive work environment and providing opportunities for employee development are as important in retaining quality employees as is the process of recruiting them .
The committee gathered information on ONR's recruitment and hiring practices from several sources . The Office of Human Resources within ONR provided extensive background information and sample materials describing current recruitment and hiring policies and practices. They also permitted examination of 13 files documenting recent hiring actions of scientists and engineers into ONR. In addition , personal interviews with program officers and senior executives yielded important insights into the attitudes and beliefs that underlie hiring decisions . The work environment for scientists and engineers at ONR is dominated by individuals who are white, male, and have a long association with the Navy. It is also dominated by scientists with doctoral degrees. Given the history of ONR and the long tenure of some of its senior personnel, this environment is what one might expect, and this kind of work force has served ONR well for many years. It may not be serving ONR's current needs as well, however . A number of scientists and engineers do not relate to the prevailing management style and perceive that they have a difficult time at ONR. They clearly like their work, but they do not see the opportunities for advancement and support that allow them to use their full capacities. This may have a negative impact on ONR's ability to recruit high quality people. Some of the differences in perceptions between men and women are striking. While these perceptions can in no way be attributed to every woman or every man at ONR, they were expressed by enough members of each group to be noteworthy. Whether fact or perception, such significant differences in employees' views of the same organization are counterproductive and undermine the ability of the agency to function as an integrated unit.
The Office of Naval Research created an ONR Diversity Committee under the STAB to study ONR diversity issues , demographics, and trends ; to provide recommendations; and to measure and track progress. The ONR Diversity Committee is an important tool for ONR in its work to increase diversity, and the current committee is to be commended for its solid recommendations. This committee believes that the ONR Diversity Committee should be strengthened and given a position of greater prominence. The Committee has identified many useful ways to increase the representation of target groups. Included among them are new initiatives in four areas : diversity training, rotational assignments , mentoring, and recruitment and relocation bonuses.
Diversity training is helpful to ensure that common skills and knowledge are shared throughout the organization. This plan suggests that departmental displays highlight principal investigators, their research, and pictures of diverse participants. This can be an excellent forum to demonstrate the contribution of scientists and engineers in the target groups. Presenting them along side their peers belonging to majority groups will avoid the impression of tokenism and will communicate the importance of scientists and engineers in the target groups. Providing rotational assignments is an excellent way to provide career development opportunities while also increasing collaboration and understanding among different naval organizations. As representation of the target groups increases , these scientists and engineers should be encouraged to participate. The mentor program description includes among its objectives to provide a tool to embrace diversity as a core value of ONR; to change the organizational culture to enhance the participation of minority, female, and disabled scientists and engineers; and to attract and retain qualified new people into ONR.
Creating a more diverse science and engineering work force at ONR is important to its future success , not only because of the demographic changes, but also because of the Navy's need to tap the very best minds from all sources for its research and development efforts. Based on its findings, the committee makes two primary recommendations: to create specific targets for increasing diversity and to appoint an external group to monitor progress. In addition, a series of suggestions are provided for implementation of these recommendations in the areas of recruitment and hiring and employee development and climate.
Some of recommendations:

• Where possible, send women and minority scientists and engineers from ONR to speak in universities and at professional meetings as role models for students and faculty and to reward these employees for their extra efforts;
  
• Establish ongoing relationships with individuals, foundations, and sociaties that truly have expertise in where to locate women and ethnic minority and engineers in each field ;
  
• Make particular efforts to recuit women and ethnic minority scientists actively for senior executive positions ;
  
• Broaden job descriptions and selection criteria to eliminate unnecessary restrictions;
  
• Promote diversity on a continious basis in ways which are visible to the entire work force. It means – to publish diversity targets and regular discussions of diversity in oral or written form;
  
• Conduct a Work Place Climate Survey of employees every two years through informal breakfast or coffee with groups of program officers;
  
• Institute changes to help all employees be more productive by providing greater flexibility for the individual (flextime, flexiplace, part-job opportunities, etc.);
  
• Create a “personal development plan” for each staff member ;
  
• Provide opportunities for advancement for women and underrepresented minorities;
  
• Diversity training. The purpose of this training is to teach employees how to get along better and wotk productively with a diverse population of colleagues.
  

The following these recommendations will help to create a more diverse science and engineering work force at ONR.
In conclusion I can say, that diversity in organization is important because diverse teams bring a wide range of ideas to the table, helping to tackle problems creatively and drive innovation.
References:

• Committee to Study Diversity in the Scientific and Engineering Work Force of the Office of Naval Research, Building a Diverse Work Force: Scientists and Engineers in the Office of Naval Research, National Research Council, 1997 - http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=5837
  
• Ginger Lapid-Bogda, Diversity and Organizational Change, The 1998 Annual: Volume 2 Consulting, Jossy-Bass/Pfeiffer, 1998 - http://www.bogda.com/articles/DiversityandOrgChange.pdf
  
• S. Grogan, B Eshelman, Staffing Strategies For A More Diverse Workforce: Case Examples In Cornell Cooperative Extension, Journal of Extention, February 1998 // Volume 36 // Number 1 // Feature Articles // 1FEA1 - http://www.joe.org/joe/1998february/a1.php