Diversity Management of 4 Big

Table of Contents

1.0 Executive Summary 2

2.0 Introduction 3

3.0 Managing diversity 4

3.1 What is diversity? 4

3.2 The benefits of managing diversity effectively 5

4.0 Importance of Managing Diversity 6

4.1 Importance of managing diversity 6

4.2 Growth & Importance of having diverse workforce 6

4.3 Effectiveness of having diversity in workforce 8

4.4 Perspectives of managing diversity 8

5. Body 10

5.1 Company Background 10

5.1.1 Price Waterhouse Coopers 10

5.1.2 Deloitte 12

5.1.3 Ernst & Young 13

5.1.4 KPMG 14

5.2 Current Practices of Big Four 15

5.2.1 Equal Employment Opportunity 16

5.2.1.1 Women / Gender 17

5.2.1.2 Religion 18

5.2.1.3 Age 19

5.2.2 Sexual Orientation 20

5.2.3 Corporate Social Responsibility 22

5.2.4 Work/Life Balance 24

6. Problem 28

7. Solution 29

8. Conclusion 30

9. References 31

1.0 Executive Summary

Increasingly, diversity management is seen as a strategic advantage in a world that is globalizing and where a shortage of future managers and leaders with appropriate backgrounds is likely to be a long term concern.

Advances in technology and the advent of a global economy bring the people of the world closer together than ever before. Given this fact, businesses, educational systems and other entities are investigating ways to better serve their constituents. This includes being able to attract and retain the best and most qualified workers.

Business exists in competitive and changing markets, which means that all employees must make significant contributions to business success and add value in every conceivable manner. But everyone is different, so organizations need to be able to harness individual workers' unique differences and convert them into competitive advantage.

This challenge puts a premium on value systems that are inclusive, fair and ethical. Companies know from the essential characteristics of the psychological contract employees expect with their employers that being valued is vital. This is why managing diversity is so important to enhancing business performance and, as I made research evidence, it shows that it is correlated with good people management.

At the end, the objective of this report is to provide the reader with an overview of how managers of Big Four (Price Waterhouse Cooper, Ernst & Young, KPMG and Deloitte) perceive diversity management as a part of the curriculum, teaching and research, as well as employees affairs and employment practices.

2.0 Introduction

Today's managers are responsible for both leading employees and responding to the needs of customers who are more ethnically and culturally diverse, older, and in greater need of child and elder care. Leaders in both the public and the private sectors are focusing more attention on the issue of diversity. For example, in my case I will go through all diversity plans from Big Four auditing companies (PwC, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and KPMG).

Diversity is critical to organizational leadership, strategic responsiveness and management effectiveness. Effective working relationships with suppliers are increasingly being identified as critical success factors for business as they seek to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of all linkages in the value-chain. As business is done more and more through partnerships, joint ventures and strategic alliances, so an ability to relate to other cultures becomes a key organizational requirement. It is simply inconceivable that organizations seeking to become global players could do so without achieving high levels of diversity in their workforces.

However, Big Four auditing companies require good diversity plan for their employees. According to my assignment, Big Four companies I chose four current practices, such as, Equal Employment Practices (EEO), Sexual Orientation, Work life balance and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

3.0 Managing diversity

3.1 What is diversity?

Diversity provides options in life and helps thwart hard times and circumstances by allowing a person to be flexible in how to overcome obstacles instead of staying in the same trench without the ability to move out of it. Diversity means differences such as different religious beliefs, different cultural traditions, music, art, dancing etc. (Cox T., 2000)

As well as ensuring that people from different groups do not suffer discrimination, recognizing diversity means understanding how people's differences and similarities can be mobilized for the benefit of the individual, the organization 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.

Definitions of diversity range from distributive concerns based on the traditional categories of race, ethnicity and gender to the inclusion of a vast array of differences in age, sexual orientation, disability, employment status, tenure, function, educational background, lifestyle, religion, values and beliefs in addition to race, ethnicity and gender. Managing diversity is defined as "planning and implementing organizational systems and practices to manage people so that the potential advantages of diversity are maximized while its potential disadvantages are minimized," according to Taylor Cox in "Cultural Diversity in Organizations." Managing diversity well provides a distinct advantage in an era when flexibility and creativity are keys to competitiveness. An organization needs to be flexible and adaptable to meet new customer needs.