Xerox Case Study Essay

In business , diversity has seen action in the managing of human resource as essential capital in fostering businesses at a global scale . Diversity is also seen as a concept where differences can be a powerful resource . Based on the Case facts, Xerox value diversity as the most priceless resource to drive the company towards achieving its goals.

An organization’s success and competitiveness depends upon it’s ability to embrace diversity and realize it’s benefits. Due to divers workplace multiple benefits are reported such as below:

a. Diversity is an ethical imperative for any organization; it is “A major local, national, and international challenge and an opportunity for every human being if we are to live in a peaceful and healthy world”. As a leading organization in the Healthcare industry, “The twenty-first century managers know that managing diversity is a key fundamental strategy to effectively manage employees to get results. Therefore, for the twenty-first century organization, the true sustainable advantages and a long-term competitive edge come from the success of each individual manager and employee within the organization” (Alexander, 2015 pg. 13). The case for diversity consists of diversity 's contribution to one or more of four factors. The four are, “increasing revenue or gross margin; enhancing compliance or reducing litigation risk; enhancing corporate goodwill (to become the "employer of choice);" and as part of tone at the top, when corporate leadership believes diversity is "the right thing to do." (Orenstein, 2005 pg. 22).

The overall organizational structure of the FedEx Corporation consists of six independent business units: FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight, FedEx Custom Critical, FedEx Trade Networks, and FedEx Services, each of these businesses work in different sectors. “Although FedEx Corporation is the parent company of the six independent business units, it still offers strategic leadership at corporate level and they operate on their own and therefore are solely responsible for their decisions and ultimate success.” According to Boundless Management, the FedEx organization operates as a functional structure. “A functional organization is a common type of organizational structure in which the organization is divided into smaller groups based on specialized functional areas, such as IT, finance, or marketing.” Since the above chart displays teams in different parts of the organization, it is clear that FedEx also operates under functional departmentalization. Overall, FedEx puts more emphasis on its greatest asset, its personnel. By creating incentives like career advancement and ongoing career development helps to retain employees and encourages them to attain personal and team goals. It was Fredrick W. Smith, the CEO and founder of the organization whom insisted that employees should be an integral part of

So what does diversity mean in today 's corporate world? Many organizations have rapidly become

Besides, Xerox also has a work life programs to ensures that the workforce become successful in their career and family such as dependent care fund, employee assistance program and education assistance program.

Managing diversity within a company is an important task that can have a major effect on a business. Diversity is measured in different aspects such as supplier diversity, affinity group diversity, employee diversity and technology diversity. The most common area of weakness in diversity with companies is employee diversity. This area of weakness has been a steady controversy for many large and small companies. Not every company struggles with diversity issues, in fact some companies exceed in being a diverse business. Not only does diversity factors like innovation, enhanced creativity, and cost savings benefit a company but it also puts them in favor with the public eye. Past controversies have shown that diversity can play a key factor in

earned $ 1 billion in profits” (p.31). This is a candid illustration of an organization that was cognizant of a product that was demand by customers; and thus subsequently, erected a product of quality that met the satisfaction of those customers. Henceforth, since the Xerox 914 was the first plain paper copier with patented rights to the Xerox, Inc. the organization enjoyed great competitive advantage to other innovative organizations in its industry. However, organizations have to be careful in implementing radical steps that will inhibit competitors from manufacturing products of similar quality. Mulcaster (2009) states that, “firms that are considering expanding their market share through means of strategy implementation, product improvement, and aggressive marketing in order increase sales and benefit from profits will be challenged by competitors to gain market share” (para. 1). Consequently, other innovative competitors that occupied the same industry as Xerox, Inc. challenged the Xerox, Inc. for monopolizing the market.

Xerox is a leading business process outsourcing and document management technology and services firm operating out of 180 countries around the world. In 2014, Xerox reported year end revenues of $19,540 million, down 2.3% from 2013, and a net profit of $969 million, up 17.7% from 2013. Xerox’s operations are broken down in to several main segments:

Diversity and inclusion is regarded as a core value to the company. Open communication channels are established to encourage respect, trust and confidence between the employer and employee.

With the changing demographics of the U.S. workforce (Ng & Burke, 2005) and the need for organizations to continually innovate their products and services to remain competitive, embracing diversity and the benefits its brings is going to be key to driving a successful organization

“Diversity management is the key to growth in today’s fiercely competitive global marketplace”1. Diversity is to have a different people in the same organization and thin with the same group. We are not the same all of people have different ideas, culture and gender. Because now the word be closer like a small village and we should know how to deal with all of people with their own ideas, culture and things. In addition, each people have a specific ability in a specific experience, education and knowledge. So it is hard to get all of that talent from same country, area or zone. So the diversity will help the company to become better from the different talent and ability from each country, because the organization

population. Companies need to focus on diversity and look for ways to become totally inclusive organizations because diversity has the potential of yielding greater productivity and competitive advantages (SHRM, 1995). Stephen G. Butler, co-chair of the Business-Higher Education Forum, believes that diversity is an invaluable competitive asset that America cannot afford to ignore (Robinson, 2002). Managing and valuing diversity is a key component of effective people management, which can improve workplace productivity (Black Enterprise, 2001).

On the basis of information presented in the case study, the most important effort that Texaco as an organization witnessed was the commitment of the CEO, Peter Bijur, towards introducing the cultural change. The CEO restructured the organizational culture by showing commitment towards diversity by implementing changes in hiring policies, decision making hierarchy/process, reward system and other related rules and policies. As part of the

Organizational structure and cultural in FedEx, as stated in the book “The key component in internal environments is organizational culture, or the set of key values, beliefs, and attitudes shared by members of the organization” (Williams, 2013 pg. 60). As stated by Frederick W. Smith Chairman, President and Chief Executive Office “FedEx name is synonymous with integrity and reliability our reputation is an important strategic asset”. FedEx has a reputation for providing fast friendly customer service and satisfaction. “Lawful and ethical behavior is critical to our continued success and it is required, you must comply with those laws and regulations relating to your business conduct” (According to FedEx code of business conduct and ethics 2013, pg. 5).