How ANB Managed Diversity - Example

FINDINGS & DISСUSSIОN Introduction In this chapter, the research findings from the research on ANB are analysed and a discussion provided. This chapter provides an understanding of diversity management at the bank and forms an essential part of the research, which is vital for the conclusions and recommendations provided in the paper regarding diversity management at ANB. The chapter is organised into an introduction, a background which rationalises the research by providing a brief background of the bank and diversity management therein; the findings section, which presents the research findings in a manner that is comprehensible to the reader; a discussion section, which relates findings to the theory; and a conclusion section, which sums up the chapter and links it to the conclusion chapter of the dissertation. Background Saudi Arabia is continuously in need of employees from both the developed and developing countries mainly due to its oil wealth and a deficit in locals who are qualified and/or willing to work in the private sector (Trenwith, 2013). Effectively, this means that people from different countries and cultures meet the Saudi locals and are integrated in the same workplaces, mainly having been placed there by their qualifications. Once employed, people with differences in terms of their nationalities, cultures, religions, gender, and several other personal differences have to work together harmoniously. Usually, such team synergies require their employer organisation to take deliberate steps to foster a working environment that encourages unity, equality and fairness regardless of the differences represented in the workforce. It is indicated in literature that diversity’s advantages include enhanced decision-making, creativity, innovation and problem-solving skills (Aghazadeh, 2004; Waight & Madera, 2011). However, where diversity is not properly managed, employer organisations stand the risk of fostering biasness and other negative practices that make some employees feel left out (McGuire & Bagher, 2010). In this research, managers at ANB were surveyed on matters related to diversity. Acting as the link between lower cadre employees and the top-level management in the bank, such managers were better positioned to understand how diversity management is carried out in the organisation. Additionally, other respondents, consisting of managers, supervisors, assistant managers, district/area managers and general staff members were involved in a quantitative survey which was meant to collect their general views regarding diversity management at the bank. All the sampled respondents had working experiences ranging from five to more than ten years. Arguably, the respondents had worked in the bank long enough to have valid views and understanding about how ANB managed diversity. Findings In this section, the quantitative results obtained from the questionnaire will be analysed first. The second part of the analysis will involve the qualitative results obtained from the survey. As indicated in the methodology section, triangulation of the quantitative and qualitative results will be done by merging the results from the qualitative and quantitative surveys. The merging approach will enable the researcher to provide a complete understanding of diversity management at ANB both from the management’s perspective and the employees’ perspective. The quantitative results were obtained from 28 respondents, most (89.3%) of whom were in the management cadres. They included managers, supervisors, district/area managers and assistant managers. Only 3 of the respondents (10.7%) were general staff members. Of the 28 respondents, only three were female, with two of them working in managerial positions while one was a general staff member. The low response rate from female respondents could be an indication that they are not equally represented in the workforce compared to their male counterparts. A big percentage of respondents (i.e. 75%) were aged between 21 and 45 years, with the remaining 25% being made up of people aged between 46 and 60 years. Incidentally, those within the ‘more aged’ age bracket were all in management positions, with the lowest ranking being a supervisor. There were only four non-Saudi respondents, with two of them being of Arab origin while the remaining two were non-Arab non-Saudis. When questioned about their feelings regarding the equality of opportunities afforded to staff members by the management regardless of their cultural backgrounds, 39.3 % of the respondents felt that there was equality, 7.1% did not have an opinion, and 25% felt there was no equality, while 28.6% strongly felt that there was no equality. Combined, those who disagreed and strongly disagreed formed a greater percentage compared to those who thought that there was equality in the opportunities given. Effectively, the foregoing could be interpreted to mean that the employees (most of who are in managerial positions) do not practice or perceive ANB to be practising equality. One of the areas pointed out in literature as being important in diversity management is training and development (Shen et al., 2009). From the questionnaire, an almost equal percentage of respondents agreed and disagreed about whether training programmes at ANB educated staff on cultural diversity. Effectively, these results indicate that there was no conclusive result regarding cultural diversity at the bank. While a section of the employees felt that the training offered by the bank had some diversity education, another section felt that the training programmes were not sufficient for teaching people about diversity. Figure 1 below offers a summary of how respondents answered different questions. Figure 1: answers to some questions in the questionnaire 1 The second part of this analysis relates to the survey. In total, nine questions were asked to the managers at ANB. Out of the seven respondents, two mentioned teamwork (i.e. inclusivity) in their management style, while another mentioned that he likes supporting employees in moral and psychological aspects of work-related issues. Four of the seven respondents further indicated that they had encountered cultural-related issues in the workplace. One specifically noted that “the presence of a multinational minority generates differences and a culture of exclusion”. From the responses, it is rather obvious that all respondents did not understand diversity away from culture. For example, the questions relating to how each respondent understood diversity and the challenges they encountered managing it at ANB were all answered in reference to cultural diversity. None of the respondents for example mentioned the need to bridge the gender gap between female and male employees in the organisation. When questioned about the procedures or policies they use to identify and respond to cultural diversity problems, only one respondent cited human resource policies and procedures as a key resource. One respondent argued that no procedures or policies had been embraced by the bank, while the remaining five respondents admitted that there were procedures and policies that the bank had taken, but could not identify them. Arguably, the foregoing is an indication of poor awareness by the management regarding diversity management at the bank. The respondents also indicated a low awareness of cultural diversity as reflected in training programmes. From the responses, there were mixed feelings about whether ANB is committed to maintaining cultural diversity. Most of the surveyed managers also indicated that they were not aware whether diversity management was included in the HR strategy. The results of the survey also indicate that the bank does not have measures that provide non-Saudis a comfortable work experience. Even if there are such measures as indicated by one of the respondents, it would appear that most such managers do not know about them. The survey results further show that the bank does not have a diversity policy during recruitment; rather, it focuses more on a person’s qualifications and competencies. Discussion From both the qualitative and quantitative surveys, it is clear that ANB has some improvements to make regarding diversity. The qualitative survey is a clear indication that the managers are not aware of diversity management at the bank, while the quantitative survey is a clear indication that there are some diversity aspects felt by the employees but which are not clearly articulated in policies and/or procedures by the bank. The importance of diversity policies has been documented by Weiler (2006), Gupta (2011) and Byrne (2011), who indicate that diversity makes firms flexible and more productive since it brings peoples who had diverse talents and experiences together for a common good. While diversity training programmes have been indicated as critical in helping managers and employees become aware about diverse beliefs and cultures and how to accept and work with each other (Byrne, 2011; Fine, 1980; Page, 2007), it is rather clear that such training programmes are lacking at ANB. The diversity climate, which is defined by Terrie, McKinney and Azam (2013) as the “individual employee’s perceptions of the inclusiveness of his or her organisational context” at ANB could also do with some improvement (p. 52). From both the qualitative and quantitative research results, it is rather obvious that most employees and managers do not perceive ANB to be having or fostering an inclusive organisational context. From the comments made by managers in the qualitative research, one gets the impression that they do not consider diversity management as a pressing issue. For example, they stress the importance of qualifications and competencies in the place of having a diverse workforce. Perhaps their perceptions are shaped by the absence of diversity management during recruitment and selection, which should ideally be the responsibility of the human resource management department as indicated by Shen, Chanda, D’Netto and Monga (2009). Arguably, the management at ANB can be classified as ‘unaware’ in the Schwartz model (cited by Miller & Rowney, 1999), where managers and the organisation have little appreciation of diversity. Additionally, considering that only 3 (i.e. 10.7%) of the respondents were female, it can be argued that this is a reflection of the unequal representation of the female gender in the organisation. Understandably, the foregoing explains why the qualitative survey respondents only viewed diversity from the cultural lens hence excluding gender issues. This is not surprising because as Elamin and Omair (2010) observe, Saudi Arabia is largely a male-dominated society and women, though increasingly educated, still face a lot of hardships in attaining inclusivity in workplaces. One of the advantages of effective diversity management is that it encourages the inclusion of all employees regardless of their differences, and this leads to a more participatory and motivated workforce, which helps the organisation to attain its business objectives (AMF, 2010). If ANB has not succeeded in managing diversity as found out in the results of the research, then it is likely that some of its employees will always feel left out, and this is likely to affect their motivation to work. AMF (2010) also indicates that diversity management capitalises on unique skills that include innovativeness and rich decision-making that are present in a diverse workforce. ANB may also miss out on such innovativeness and rich decision-making if at all it does not reconsider its diversity management practices. Managers have a role towards diversity management. According to AMF (2010), they are “responsible for fairness and tolerance through compliance policies, control systems and staff training” (p. 11). Arguably, the foregoing quoted statement implies that organisations that are serious about diversity management need to develop and implement relevant policies and control systems. Additionally, they need to train their staff on diversity-related issues. Does ANB have diversity management systems and/or control systems? Does the bank train its staff on diversity related issues? Can it therefore be said to be a bank that takes diversity management seriously? The evidence from the research findings implies that ANB does not have compliance policies, control systems, and neither does it train its staff on diversity-related issues. The bank therefore can be faulted on its seriousness about managing diversity. Evidence from the qualitative data obtained in this research shows that managers at ANB do not fully understand what diversity management is all about. If the statement by AMF (2010) that managers are responsible for training staff and implementing diversity compliance policies is indeed true, then there is no doubt that the managers at ANB need to be trained first. \ As noted in the literature review section, ANB has branches in the UK as well as its home country Saudi Arabia. Definitely, the bank will hire (as is currently the case) expatriates and immigrants to boost its workforce. This comes in the wake of media reports indicating that Saudi graduates still prefer government jobs as opposed to jobs in the private sector (Al-Fawaz, 2014). The preference by Saudi graduates is mainly inspired by the security offered by government jobs, and consequently, there is a deficit of willing workers for the private sector firms such as ANB. This is despite the ‘Saudisation’ concept that was used by the government to encourage private sectors to employ more Saudi nationals. However, the unwillingness of graduates to join the private sector makes it hard for private sector firms to employ as many Saudis as they have the potential to. Inevitably therefore, private sector firms have to consider hiring expatriates in order to meet their human capital needs. Hiring expatriates means that differences will abound not only in culture but also in gender (since most female expatriates are not limited by the same laws that limit Saudi women from seeking employment), race, language, religion, age, personalities, ideologies, working styles and communication styles among other points of difference. The foregoing will require ANB to improve its diversity management practices by developing and implementing diversity management policies, putting diversity control systems in place, and training staff on diversity-related issues. A theme that has emerged especially in the answers provided by the questionnaire respondents is that while ANB may have specific (and perhaps well-meaning) diversity practices, not everyone perceives them as the bank intended them to be perceived. Hicks-Clarke and Iles (2000) underscore the importance of managing employees’ perceptions in relation to diversity by indicating that if employees do not think that the employer organisation is treating diversity as an important issue, key work outcomes such as commitment, job and career satisfaction and performance will suffer. Divided perceptions as is the case at ANB is not a good indicator. If anything, it shows a breakdown in communication at ANB, because the bank seems not to understand the perceptions held by the employees, while the employees seem not to have communicated their perceptions and/or dissatisfaction to the bank. Kossek and Zonia (1993) however indicate that if employees do not feel valued mainly because of their ethnicity, race or other differences, they do not communicate the same. Rather, their dissatisfaction is best seen in how they interact and communicate with others and in their job involvement. The failure by ANB employees to communicate their dissatisfaction about how diversity is managed can therefore be seen as an indicator that such employees do not feel valued. Overall, it would appear that ANB’s efforts at diversity management have not resulted in the outcomes that the banks had wished for. Arguably, ANB’s efforts are not even good enough because the bank has not involved the HRM department in diversity management and as such, most of the diversity management-related activities that are ideally handled by the HRM department have not been addressed. For example, there is no evidence of diversity management during training and selection, while opinions are divided regarding diversity in training and development programmes. ANB therefore needs to re-evaluate its diversity management practices, revise/change them, and implement them with the seriousness they deserve. Conclusion This chapter has indicated the findings and discussed them. The next chapter (conclusion) will indicate the significance of these findings and their significance in research. The conclusion will also indicate whether or not there are possible areas that this researcher (or others) can research in future. 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Companies and workers benefit from diversity policies. Eurofound. Retrieved from http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/ewco/2006/08/EU0608NU06.htm Read More