Opportunities for communication through diversity

With more diversity predicted in the future, company communications need to change to meet the demands, tastes and preferences of a new workforce. The challenge for communicators is to be agents of change.

The present emphasis in communications has been mainly directed from human resources people stressing the need to change and to provide proper training and development. Communications people have mainly concentrated on influencing the content of internal communications to reflect the new diversity. Not much attention seems to have been paid to finding out what the new workforce requires in both on the job communications and in the regular internal media of companies.

Cultural complexity is a challenge and an opportunity. With a more Africanised workforce, change research carried out in South Africa points to the need for a move towards Afro-centric approaches to training and development and moving organisations towards a more African-based value system. However, the need to grow and develop people must be matched or balanced with the imperative to be globally competitive through a sharp productivity and profit focus.

Yet management styles in companies are often seen as rigid, bureaucratic, directive and task-orientated, with decision making over-centralised. Leadership aspects such as direction, vision and effectiveness are seen as lacking. The present environment is in stark contrast to the influence of the democratic process, which requires organisations to look toward more involvement of its people in decision-making, to be more consultative and participative. As companies increasingly reflect external demographics with a greater intake of disadvantaged people, communicators will possibly be presented with rich possibilities for communication.

It is a touch ironic that while communicators have ardently supported corporate social investment initiatives, balanced representation of race, and gender equity has not been pursued with the same vigour. In-house journals still don't cover senior women managers, their achievements, views and comments on company developments. Perhaps this reflects the shortage of women at management and board levels. The Breakwater Monitor (2000) indicates that only 21.34 % of managers were female. Figures for women representation at board level – both for listed and non-listed companies – are sketchy, but as a percentage of total membership they are infinitesimal.

In Western Europe we see more progress towards the appointment of women to company boards. However, advancement has been a lot slower than you may think.
A recent survey by the Professional Women's Network indicates that 62 percent of companies have at least one woman on their board, while only 28 percent of companies have more than one woman on their board. Countries such as Norway, Sweden and Finland have slightly more than 20 percent women board directors. France, Denmark, Spain, Belgium and Italy fare a lot worse with 5 percent and below.

There is a strong business case for having more women at the top. Ultimately, what counts for any company is contribution towards shareholder value. Research shows that Fortune 500 companies with the largest proportion of women, had a return on equity of 35.1 percent higher than those which did not. In addition, total return to shareholders was 34 percent higher than those companies which had the lowest proportion of women representation. Another fact that makes a case for increase representation of women on corporate boards is that top companies had more women in their leadership teams.

As companies in South Africa take representation of women more seriously, there is a possibility for new dynamics in company culture and management styles. The common perception is that the impact of more women in senior management and boardroom positions is that they bring a more humanistic, inclusive, holistic and balanced approach. Widely known to be excellent listeners, there will be more opportunity for participation and feedback. Mercifully, there could be less politics, infighting, favouritism, and fewer seemingly arbitrary decisions. All this would be better for company morale, reflect the diversity of communities and may well increase company performance.

With changes in the managerial system, the supporting communications subsystem may well be influenced with a communications structure that is more open and responsive, create more tolerance, trust and respect in the work environment and more tuned into the needs of the women's market. A more informed and motivated workforce has benefits for increased efficiency and productivity.

It may be well true that women can also be dictatorial, charmed by their egos, shut out from the people reality of their companies except for the carefully measured factory walk-about, shaking the hands of people who they wouldn't be able to name. There are possibly these sort of women managers, yet their preponderance seems hardly unlikely given their probable experience of these abuses on their slow, hard struggle on the way up.

Arguments about emotional intelligence and better people skills aside, increased diversity in companies is likely to boost the possibilities for more effective decision-making which bodes well for improvements in shareholder value, which is ultimately the real performance measure of value in companies. Communicators will need to rise to the occasion and come up with imaginative ways to leverage these new opportunities to help improve the communications climate in organisations for more effective company performance.