Free Report On Diversity Audit Of A Corporation: Darigold Inc.

Diversity Audit of a Corporation: Darigold Inc. 

Step 1: Observation and Information Gathering
Darigold Inc. has a responsibility to promote cultural diversity within its workforce. The organization has policies that ensure it pays its due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination in work places. Due to the changes in the global working environment, diversity has become inevitable for inclusion and integration in the workplace. Darigold, Inc. is a large organization with more than 1000 employees with varying skills, knowledge, language, culture, and beliefs. All the aspects that make the company’s workers different and unique constitute diversity. Equality is also part of diversity management that concerns treating everybody equally. All employees at Darigold deserve equal treatment and this has to be clearly stipulated within the diversity program. In this audit report, the goal is to gather information about diversity at the organization, evaluate how the company manages diversity, and make recommendations to improve management of diversity at the company.
Darigold is an America marketing cooperative for dairy agricultural products. It is located in Seattle, Washington. Being a cooperative organization it is owned by more than 550 dairy farmers who are members of the Northwest Dairy Association. The organization was started in the early 20th century and has since then grown to merge and acquire a few dairy companies and cooperatives. Producing over 6.5 billion pounds of milk per year, the organization generates annual revenues to the tune of $2 billion. The company has over 1000 employees making it very large. This is in addition to the over 500 family dairy farms it represents across the Northwest.
While collecting data from management interviews and statements and reports written by the organization, it was established that there is an institutional commitment to action regarding diversity at the organization. The organizational culture has themes and elements that portray the organization as promoting diversity and equality. The organization has a diversity program and is committed to implement it. However, the findings revealed a lack of a diversity officer within the HR department, a role that is likely to ensure the program is implemented well.
The entire organization works collectively and collaboratively by helping every member of the organization learn new and better ways of accomplishing tasks (Darigold, Oakhurst Dairy Honored for Sustainability Efforts, 2012). Support from co-workers have been observed to help employees feel a sense of comfort working with their colleagues, build trust and contribute to decision making by expressing themselves at work without any fear of negative consequences on their cultural background, age, educational level, career paths, technical skills, and or career (The Associated Press, 2010). Effective internal co-operation within companies is essential to employee diversity. There is collaborative working relationship that helps to steer teamwork and drives group engagement. There is good relationship with co-workers which yields a workplace culture that set the tone for employee diversity and this may result into high employee accomplishments and performance on the job.
Diversity at Darigold, Inc. is powerfully linked to a range of success factors. Among these factors are people friendly environment, dignity at work, equal opportunities, organizational culture, training and development, retention and recognition, recruitment and selection. These aspects about diversity were observed to form a key component of the organization. There was also a desirable work environment that helps to foster diversity. The job selection process at the company is extensive and stipulates the necessary knowledge and skills that the applicants are required to have.

Step 2: Review and Analysis

In recruitment and selection a positive pattern was observed. The process of recruitment and selection within the organization was viewed to be extensive enough to bring out the knowledge and skills that applicants need. It was further observed that their procedure for selecting and recruiting employees do not defy or act contrary to any anti discriminatory policy and laws. Besides, the job application forms are quite extensive and include separate equal opportunity monitoring form that helps to assess individual applicants based on their own competence, knowledge, and experience. The application forms do not assess an applicant’s background and character. Part of the recruitment process is candidate shortlisting which is highly structured to help score applicants based on the information they provided, thereby making the shortlisting process credible and fair.
The organization is also committed to training, development, and internal progression of employees (Darigold, Oakhurst Dairy Honored For Sustainability Efforts, 2012). This is evident in a written policy that is widely accessible to employees. What this means is that anyone irrespective of their cultural background or gender have equal opportunity to build their career at the organization without discrimination of any sort. The rules governing retention and progression are obviously clear and publicly published for employees to interact with them.
If employees perceive that the company is focused on their career advancement opportunities, the company’s reputation as a good employer, and is a sign of a clear vision from senior management about future success. Employees are ready to be engaged in an organization if they believe they are valued. Being valued are associated with employees’ perceptions of the organizational human resource and development practices where the organization provides access to training and development opportunities, support training and development, the benefits of training, and formal career management support. The importance of training and development opportunities and career management support (Hohl, 2000).
Organizations with high level diversity provide their employees (both new and old) with adequate opportunities to develop their abilities to acquire new knowledge and skills in other to utilize their potentials in performing their jobs. Organizations can enhance diversity in their workforce by creating a learning culture and creating individual development plans for every employee. Many studies had shown that most employees want to keep their jobs inventive and interesting by acquiring new knowledge and skills and applying new approaches in their daily work life.
Employees also have a strong role to play in eliminating discrimination in the places of work. This was observed at Darigold, Inc. Discrimination and stereotyping is usually evident in a diverse environment. As a result, organizations have to ensure that they engage employees in eliminating discrimination. This can be done in the induction process and subsequent training and development sessions. Diversity and inclusion has to be among the major themes that appear in the organization’s seminars, induction processes, and training.
A critical area to evaluate in conducting a diversity audit is the organizational culture. The culture of the organization dictates a lot about whether or not the organization embraces diversity. The culture is critical and it supports the incorporation of good diversity practice and equal opportunities in to the everyday culture of the organization. Culture is also very important in eliminating bias and prejudice. However, the culture observed in the organization, Darigold Inc. is one that supports the diversity and equal opportunities. Employers can increase employee diversity by going beyond downward communication and making sure that people are not just treated as employees; instead they should be treated as valued individuals, as the research on individual differences suggests.
Furthermore, if management pay close attention to happiness at work, they will benefit from well-functioning employees, whilst at the same time enhancing the prospect of future resourcefulness. Organizations are more likely to see results by fostering positive emotions rather than simply concentrating on negative emotions and dealing with problems. Employees appreciate the need to receive feedback about their performances in as much as they appreciate to have their voices heard and opinions considered.
Research has shown that there may be a link between levels of diversity and organizational performance. Human resource practices that have a strong focus on people have demonstrated a significant impact on improvements in productivity, satisfaction and financial performance. In addition, diversity needs to be viewed as a broad organizational strategy that involves all levels of the organization, a string of actions and steps, which require the contribution and involvement of organizational members as well as consistent, continuous and clear communications.

Step 3: Recommendations

The work environment, consisting of the colleagues, supervisors, organizational policies and procedures, physical resources, team work, collaboration, and safety all contribute to a level of diversity. Employees are more engaged in a job environment characterized by high organization commitment, the feeling of going beyond what is expected of them, and the feeling of extreme pride about the organization. Rewards and recognition, as a variable, was also found to have a significant influence on employee diversity. There was a positive correlation between rewards and recognition and organizational diversity. According to the findings, opportunities for promotion and recognition for work accomplished were seen as the most critical factors that contribute to a desirable job environment.
Diversity at Darigold is important for the success of the organization. Heterogeneous groups of employees will help to deliver better analysis and solutions and therefore, the organization has to be structured in a way that promotes diversity. One of the recommendations that will further help Darigold embrace a culture of diversity is employee assessment. A lot has already been put into place to increase the level of diversity at the organization. However the attitudes of individual employees and staff members have to be reviewed and evaluated in relation to diversity. It is important for the management to know and understand how every employee is interacting with others, the level of acceptance they have towards others, and how easy they blend with others at work. The reviews and assessment have to reflect on this aspect about employees.
Secondly, in order to further emphasize a culture that promotes diversity, the organization’s management has to encourage interaction. Cases of diversity related issues can be identified in the work place, but if people do not confront them or discuss them, the organization will gradually begin to have a culture that fails to support diversity. Additionally, encouraging interaction can be achieved by creating diverse teams and developing a working environment where everyone is free to express themselves.

References

Darigold, Oakhurst Dairy Honored For Sustainability Efforts. (2012). Dairy Foods, 113(4), 12-
15.
DARIGOLD. (2012). Keeping our Promise: Darogold 2012 CSR report. Seattle: Darogold, Inc.
Hohl, P. (2000). Reinventing Darigold. Dairy Foods, 101(8), 14.
The Associated Press. (2010, August 10). Darigold announces merger with Montana co-op. Retrieved from Magical Valley: http://magicvalley.com/business/agriculture/article_b4d5fb41-8e48-55b0-9097-f703a3b1c6cb.html