Managing diversity at Cityside

Financial Services
About Cityside Financial Services
Bank put up Two units of
Founded
for Sale Sales

1930 1970 1999

Retail Operations External Deposits

HEAD BY Bernard Thomas Sue McMillen

OFFERING Offered local community Serviced all other investors

White middle-class college

HIRED MOSTLY Black employees
graduates
Company
Involvement gives community
BELIEF Comfortability for white clients
comfort

Goal: Rebuild the community and grow bank’s dwindling client base
About Cityside Financial Services
INITIAL SUCCESS:
● Inherited Mismatch Found
● Argument for a more diverse staff
● At both service and managerial
levels
● To lure the local clients
● Aggressive Minority Hiring
Program
● Female employees increased to
nearly 50%
“REPUTATION OF HIGH-FUNCTIONING,
MULTICULTURAL ORGANISATION”
THE SCHISM (Mid-2004) :
● Red Flags - Ron Wilkins Question
● Complains of :
○ Limited service
○ Investment Products never
offered
○ Discriminatory Treatment
● Overlapping Services
● Lack of coordination
● Mistrust between Divisions
“TWO DIFFERENT BANKS, EACH WITH
UNIQUE CULTURE”
Group Development & impact with respect to time
Initially Groups were in first Formation of Ingroups and
three stages i.e. forming, Outgroups and intergroup
storming conflicts

Norming stage is arrived Impact on the performance

when both groups were lead of the organization as a
by the respective heads whole
Problem Statement
Challenge 1 Challenge 2 Challenge 3

How Wilkins can ensure How to make sure that How to decrease retail
that both the units work people in Retail unit don’t unit’s customer attrition?
collaboratively? feel scared to put
How to make sure that
forward their thoughts customers don’t feel
With ever rising increase when in disagreement,
indifferent treatment
in market competition, and they don’t come out
from retail operations
this is a important pre- as negative and whiny? and external deposit?
requisite.
Ingroup and Outgroup
● People working in retail
operations countered that whites
cannot handle the demands of
01 Ingroup Favoritism retail unit
● Whites said that it was a perfect
job for them and not suitable for
blacks

● If someone from blacks have to

be promoted they are shifted to

02 Discrimination
towards Outgroup
retail operations for higher
position
● Retail workers are aggressive
that whites have more resources
RECOMMENDATION

1. Revamp the Sales Division

2. Marketing on basis of customer needs

and not on the basis of biases

3. Diversity Management - Sensitivity

Session, Openness and Equal Treatment

4. Equal representation at all levels

5. Benchmarking diversity performance

THANK YOU!