Stamford University Bangladesh

Department of Public Administration

Master of Public Administration
Course name
Organization Theories and Behavior
Course code
MPA 502

Assignment one

Assignment on
10 Companies Around the World That Are Embracing
Organizational Diversity in a BIG Way

Submitted to
Sir Abdur Rahman, senior lecturer

Submitted by
Mohamud Abdirahman Hirsi Ali
ID: MPA-07105040

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1. Sodexo Company

Industry: Quality of Life Services 

# of Employees Worldwide: 420,000+

Diversity & Inclusion: Although gender, generations and sexual orientation are all part of the
diversity hiring strategy at Sodexo, they state that ‘gender balance is our business’, and their
mission is to make it everyone else’s business too. 40% of all staff members in Sodexo are
women – that’s up from just 17% in 2009. 43% of the members on the board of directors are
female and the company runs 14 Gender Balance Networks worldwide. What they have found is
that when there is an optimal gender balance within an organization, employee engagement
increases by 4 percentage points, gross profit increases by 23% and brand image strengthens by 5
percentage points. They also show no sign of stopping on their mission to optimize gender-
balance, vowing that by 2025, 40% of their workforce will be made up of women.

2. Johnson & Johnson Company

Industry: Medical Devices, Pharmaceutical and Consumer Packaged Goods.

# of Employees Worldwide: 127,000+

Diversity & Inclusion: J&J have pumped a lot of resources into ensuring that all employees
help to create an inclusive environment. The organization’s Global Diversity and Inclusion
vision is “to maximize the global power of diversity and inclusion to drive superior business
results and sustainable competitive advantage.” How they’re making this happen is through
employee resource groups, mentoring programmes and ‘Diversity University’, which is a
dynamic website that helps employees to understand the benefits of working collaboratively. The
Chief Diversity officer also reports directly to the CEO and Chairman of Johnson & Johnson,
meaning that the whole operation is being overseen by top-level management. Various rewards
and recognitions the company has received include being recognized by U.S. Veterans Magazine
as the “Best of the Best” for strides made in diversity efforts, and being one of only two
companies that have been on the Working Mother 100 Best list for the past 28 years.

3. Mastercard Company

Industry: Financial Services
# of Employees Worldwide: 10,300+

Diversity & Inclusion: For the past 4 years in a row, Mastercard has made it into the Top 10
of Diversity Inc’s 50 Best Companies for Diversity list They believe that “diversity is what
drives better insights, better decisions, and better products. It is the backbone of innovation”. A
particularly unique project that Mastercard has executed over the past few years involves getting
older employees in the company more active when it comes to social media. To address
generational barriers, “YoPros” BRG (the Young Professionals Business Resource Group) offers
a one-on-one ‘Social Media Reverse Mentoring’ program to older employees who want to
become familiarized with the platforms.

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4. Accenture Company

Industry: Professional Services/Consulting

# of Employees Worldwide: 375,000+

Diversity & Inclusion: Accenture believe “that no one should be discriminated against because
of their differences, such as age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression,
religion or sexual orientation.” Diversity training within the company is broken into 3 different
categories; 1) Diversity Awareness – to help people understand the benefits of working with a
diverse organization, 2) Diversity Management – to equip executives to manage diverse teams
and 3) Professional Development – to enable women, LGBT and ethnically diverse employees to
build skills for success. The organization also hosts a company-wide celebration of International
Day of Persons with Disabilities as well as endeavor to help their employees with various
support like assistive technology, flexible work arrangements and additional training.

5. Kaiser Permanente Company

Industry: Healthcare

# of Employees Worldwide: 177,500+

Diversity & Inclusion: As the largest managed care organization in the USA, the Kaiser
Permanente labor force reflects no racial majority, with nearly 60% of the staff comprising of
people of color. Additionally, three-quarters of all employees, nearly half of the executive team,
and more than one-third of their physicians are women. Part of the diversity agenda is to provide
culturally-acceptable medical care and culturally-appropriate services to all of the 140 cultures
currently represented in the population of the US. The company also ranked No.1 on the
Diversity Inc list, staying within the top 5 in the last 6 consecutive years.

6. EY Company

Industry: Professional Services

# of Employees Worldwide: 212,000+

Diversity & Inclusion: At EY, they believe that “only the highest-performing teams, which
maximize the power of different opinions, perspectives, and cultural references, will succeed in
the global marketplace.” The organization was the first of the Big Four to assign full-time,
partner-level leadership to diversity recruiting. Ever since, the number of women in top
executive management positions has increased by more than 20% and programmes such as EY
Launch have begun, which is for ethnically diverse college freshmen, sophomores and transfer
students, and builds awareness of accounting as a major and professional services as a
profession 

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7. Disney Company

Industry: Mass Media Entertainment

# of Employees Worldwide: 180,000+

Diversity & Inclusion: They say that Disney World is the happiest place on earth, but is it one
of the most diverse places to work? “As a company built on the magic of storytelling that
entertains, enlightens and inspires families around the world, Disney recognizes that diversity
and inclusion are fundamental to its success.” Along with setting up the Global Workplace and
Women’s Initiative (GWWI) programme, which focuses on expanding opportunities for women,
the organization also successfully achieved more promotions for Latinos than 75.6% of the rest
of the companies that made it onto the Diversity Inc Top 50 list.

8. Coca-Cola Company

Industry: Beverage

# of Employees Worldwide: 123,200+

Diversity & Inclusion: At Coca-Cola, diversity is seen “as more than just policies and practices.
It is an integral part of who we are as a company, how we operate and how we see our future.”
Diversity education programmes include Diversity Training, a Diversity Speaker Series and a
Diversity Library. In 2017, a new parental benefits policy will be implemented, whereby 6 weeks
of paid leave will be extended to all new mothers and fathers. The move was championed by
‘Coca-Cola Millennial Voices’, a group of young employees tasked with making sure there is a
healthy level of employee retention in millennial consumers and staff members.

9. Marriott International Company

Industry: Hospitality/Tourism
# of Employees Worldwide: 200,000+

Diversity & Inclusion: Named as one of the ‘World’s Best Multinational Workplaces by

Great Place to Work’, the world’s largest annual study of workplace excellence, Marriott
International extends their commitment to creating an inclusive guest experience to their
workforce around the globe. Women-owned business enterprises make up approximately 10% of
Marriott’s supply chain and they vow to have 1,500 open hotels owned by women and diverse
partners by 2020. LGBT inclusion is also a top priority for Marriott International. They received
that ‘Best Place to Work for LGBT Equality’ accolade when they earned a perfect score on the
HRC’s 2016 Corporate Equality Index, a widely recognized benchmark for diversity and
inclusion.

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10. Novartis Company

Industry: Pharmaceuticals

# of Employees Worldwide: 118,700+

Diversity & Inclusion Hiring Methods: Novartis believe that diversity is integral to their
success, because it helps them to understand the unique needs of their patients and find
innovative ways of addressing those needs. Within the organization, the word ‘disability’ has
been replaced with ‘diverse ability’ because they don’t view people living with disabilities as
having a lack of ability, but rather having diverse skills and proficiencies. Human Resources
professionals in the company are also educated on topics such as unconscious bias, inclusive
leadership, disabilities/accommodations and compensation/pay equity in order to improve their
diversity hiring methods.