Activity 1.

6: Xerox Case Study

Scott A. Self

Organizational Behavior (MGMT 317)

Module 1

Embry Riddle Aeronautical University

 Xerox is one of the leading pioneers in diversifying their corporation, no doubt.

Xerox’s endeavors to create a reputation and environment where all of its employees are

included in the creative thinking, innovation and all business aspects of their corporation are

most impressive. However let us see how the stack up against other Fortune 500 companies. In

this case we will compare Xerox to two other Fortune 500 companies randomly selected; Dell

and IBM. All three corporations are powerhouses in their field. All three corporations are

admired in the computer industry. Therefore it is a fair comparison in regards to technology and

corporate similarity. I will attempt tocompare the three companies on the percentage of

minorities, and gender. Also I will explore how women and minorities are represented at the

highest levels of each organization and finally I will discuss how these statistics can be

improved.

The raw percentages of minorities between the 3 companies are remarkably similar.

Xerox is very open in their statistics on diversity and shows that their percentage of women in

the vice president role or above are at 19.2%, minority females in this role are 7.8%, and

minority males are at 15.1%. (Xerox diversity brochure, 2009) In turn, Dell has a 32% rate of

women who are in a vice president role.(dell.com, commitment to diversity). 33% of their total

work force is minority and 24% are female.(Pearse, 2007) This is an astounding rate of women

in such a high level of management and has lead Dell to receiving many awards and recognitions

from many cultural groups. However, their site is somewhat vague on their minority numbers.

Dell is quick to ensure that you can see all of their diversity programs on their site, as well as

being ranked as a top 10 GLBT employer. IBM was very difficult to research in regards to their

use of women and minorities in upper management positions. I was able to find numbers from

2006 that show IBM employment statistics show that they have a 24% rate of employment of
minorities and a 31% rate of employment of women. (Pearce, 2007) I truly feel that the harder it

is to research specific statistics on diversity rates at the highest levels of management, the more

likely it is that they are not too impressive. IBM, again, has lists of many awards and

recognitions that they have received to include the Employee resource group of year award in

2010. It even goes as far to break their awards down by minority category, and by decade. For

example, it received the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers Company of the Year

award, however there are no specific demographic statistics listed on their site as there is on

Xerox’s in regards to Hispanic employment. (www.03-ibm.com)It brags on their success of

women at higher ranks by being ranked on the The National Association for Female Executives.

IBM placed sixth among the top 30 companies for the number of women in senior ranks and the

programs and policies which support women's advancement — the seventh consecutive year

IBM has placed on the list. However, there are no specific names or stats on who or how many

women in their company hold these senior offices. So as I attempt to compare percentages

between Xerox and the other two randomly selected companies it is painfully apparent that

Xerox is setting the standard among them. Xerox not only is excelling at ensure that workforce

diversity is a must but also they are excelling at presenting it to the world, and in doing so, they

are fulfilling their social responsibility and not only leading in their field of production, but in the

field of human rights.

To ensure that I am fair to IBM and Dell before I begin to recommend solutions to how

these statistics can be improved, I must admit that my ability to research properly may be

suspect. However, I do feel that if a laymen researcher such as myself struggles to find

something as simple as a percentage of women and minorities employed in the higher echelons

at a Fortune 500 company perhaps there is more to this than suspected. I feel that in order for
true diversity to be infused into our culture. There should be no vagueness to it. There should be

no secrets or elusiveness. If a corporation has full disclosure to its public on how it is making its

people better, then they should shout it from the roof tops and ensure that a lowly Organizational

Behavior student can find the numbers that support why they have received awards and

accolades. If their stats of women and minorities performing at high levels within their

corporation are released to the public, then that in itself would show the culture of change within

their walls and would, in fact, increase those assumed statistics. So I finalize by stating that as I

attempted to research and compare Xerox with other Fortune 500 companies, I can state that

Xerox not only has the culture of diversity within its corporation, it also makes those statistics

more public than Dell and IBM and in doing so is more inclusive in nature than its competitors.