INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT TIRUCHIRAPPALLI

POST GRADUATE PROGRAMME IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

2019-21 | Term III

MANAGING PEOPLE & PERFORMANCE IN ORGANIZATIONS (MPPO)

Individual Project

Case ( Draft-1)

Name. Mohanapriya J

Roll No. 1903025

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the Course

Feb 2021

Branding of diversity candidates

‘MPPO PGPBM 19-21 Case Mohanapriya J’

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Case: Branding of diversity candidates

Dow Inc. is one of the leading chemical companies of the world and has its chemical plants set up in
North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia. The organisation boasts a total of 50,000+
employees from different ethnicities, race, region, demographics. Diversity is essentially a culture and
base of the organisation. The organisation’s goals pay a lot of emphasis on the inclusion of diversity
at workplace and the same is reflected through their policies, initiatives and measures taken in the
direction.
Chennai Dow is the back- end engineering centre that supports the engineering for Dow plants across
the various sites mentioned above. The centre mirrors the overall goals, culture and expectations of
Dow, in addition to adapting to the local culture and behaviour. Some of the challenges that the centre
faces are in the conflicts that comes from this very difference of the employee behaviour and
interpretation of policies implemented to have an equitable work force distribution.
In the recent past, Dow has picked up enough momentum to conduct social events such as inclusion
week with participants representing different social groups such as gender diversity, physically
challenged diversity, people with the LGBTQ preferences , people with no to little experience and
people at the peak to prime ends of their career. The groups do not necessarily have people only
belonging to the sect but also allies who want to support the cause of inclusion. “Diversity hiring” was
one of the programs that Chennai engineering centre was adopting to balance the skewed gender
workforce to an ideal 50 :50. But contrary to the long-term expectations from this ratio, there rose a
lot of criticism against the methodology adopted. Some of the male engineers felt threatened and
insecure on the organisation’s motive to prefer women candidates. Though the HR team took utmost
sincere efforts to establish a transparent hiring process to send across the message that only truly
meritorious candidates were selected, the restlessness stayed.
Veena was one of the young college graduates from the electrical engineering background who was
chosen through campus recruitment. In her initial days at work, combined with the fear of being new
to the organisation, she was repeatedly branded as a “diversity hire “in many occasions. Although the
intent of the branding was to send a positive message and awareness about the merits of diverse
workforce, at an individual level she felt less of her merit, skills were on display and she was being
made to believe that she was there because of her gender. Veena is constantly stressed at work and
finds herself passive or withdrawn from the initiatives that the centre has taken for promoting
awareness on inclusion. One such recent instance was the lack of her interest to take part in any events
organised as part of the inclusion week. Noticing her disinterest , her reporting manager Bala decides
to have the following conversation :
Bala : Hello Veena, good morning ! I hope you are doing well.
Veena : Good morning. Yes, thanks. How about you?
Bala : Fine, thanks. I called you this morning to talk about the upcoming inclusion week coming at
the centre and I would like for you to participate in events such as debates, skits and presentations. It’s
been 6 months of you here and as a young engineer it would be beneficial for you to express your
talent in these public forums. Complimenting to you good communication and presentation skills.
Veena : Actually Bala, to be honest with you, I am not particularly thrilled about the events ..
Bala : oh, that’s surprising. I would like to understand why is that?
Veena : I would like to share with you my observations and recent experiences with the policies
aimed at improving diversity. In many gatherings and meetings, the top management takes pride in
sharing the candidates hired from the policy to increase the gender diversity. Although, I understand
the long-standing need for this, I should tell you that these situations put me into an uncomfortable
position. Following the meetings, co workers take a sarcastic jibe at the diversity hiring. It makes me
feel worthless, less of merit and I often wonder if the reason I was hired was only because I was a
girl..
Bala : Oh, I had no idea about this. First of all I would like to apologise for your unpleasant
experience. It’s completely ridiculous that people don’t see the intent for the promotion. Maybe it’s a
good time for HR to substantiate the case with data on successful workplaces with balanced gender
ratio. And as your reporting manager and one of the panel members who hired you, I can most
definitely assure you that we would not have chosen you among the many candidates we interviewed
if not for your technical knowledge, skills and your fit in the culture of the organisation.
Veena : Thanks for your reassuring words Bala. But if I can request you, that I would like to stay out
of the visibility for a while and concentrate on my projects to prove my acumen before being able to
contribute for the events like these.
Bala : And that’s all the reason for me to assure and ask you to take part this year in the inclusion
week. In fact, I would like for you to make an interactive presentation on just the same topic “How to
brand diversity candidates: Reality vs Expectations”. We can use this platform to cater to clearing the
misconceptions surrounding the program and propose better recommendations to HR for promoting
the program.
Veena : Okay , Bala. That sounds like an effective plan. I will work on it and we will meet shortly. I
would like to take your inputs on finalising it.
Bala : Absolutely! And thanks for letting me know on this and I appreciate your feedback on this.
Don’t hesitate to bring to my notice on challenges like these. Good day!
Veena : Good day to you too!