Question

textbook: Employee Training and Development 8th edition.

The Nike swoosh is well recognized on sports shoes, clothing, and accessories and has been touted for its efforts to promote diversity. For example, Nike’s CEO Mark Parker believes that diversity leads to creativity and innovation and wants all employees to realize their potential. Nike’s website mentions that “We Believe in the Inspirational Power of Sport to Break Down Barriers, Overcome Differences, and Bring People Together.” Nike’s “Equality” ad campaign featuring athletes LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Serena Williams, Victor Cruz, Gabby Douglas, Megan Rapinoe, and Dalilah Muhammad emphasizes that everyone should have opportunities based on personal actions—not their skin color or nationality. Also, Nike is one of a small number of companies that have been transparent about the diversity of its workforce by making statistics publicly available. But Nike has fallen short of creating a true culture of diversity and inclusion. Although Nike’s workforce has almost equal numbers of men and women, only 29 percent of its vice presidents are women. People of color make up more than half of Nike’s workforce, yet only 24 percent hold director positions. Also, there are signs that the work environment may be toxic and unsupportive of women and people of color. Current and former employees have come forward with complaints of inappropriate workplace behavior and sexual harassment. Some employees even claim that the human resource department has ignored or dismissed employees’ complaints of mistreatment and harassment. Before the previous head of HR retired, he was investigated for allegations that he created a hostile work environment. In a recent memo sent to employees, a current top human resource executive expressed concerns about the representation of women and people of color in top leadership positions. She admitted that although Nike has tried to increase the representation of women and people of color in senior management positions, progress in doing so has been too slow. She believes that the company needs to make major changes in how it manages inclusion and diversity.

Questions

What could be responsible for the lack of women and people of color in top management positions at Nike?

What actions should Nike take to accelerate the movement of women and people of color into director positions?

As Nike’s CEO, what can Mark Parker personally do to help prepare women and people of color to move into leadership positions?

Can training help Nike have a more diverse management and leadership team? Explain your position. no plagiarism

Answer 1

The lack of women and people of color in top management positions at Nike could be attributed to the fact that, deep down, Nike does not have a tangible and systematic culture that promotes and emphasizes diversity. Although Nike hires in large numbers females and people of color the lack of a tangible and systematic culture prevents the female employees and employees of color of Nike to rise in the corporate ladder and get to management positions.

To accelerate the movement of women and people of color into director positions Nike should start by taking the action of reorienting all its senior managers as well as its HR department. The reorientation of senior management and HR department will focus on the need to recognize the ability and skills of female employees and employees of color and how they can successfully guide the company if they held leadership positions within the company. Moreover the culture of the company will have to be overhauled because the culture of diversity that it projects is in fact hollow deep down. The culture will have to be changed so that it supports diversity at all levels and so that diversity does not remain merely an external façade.

As Nike’s CEO Mark Parker should hold group sessions and one-to-one sessions with female employees and employees of color. He should also design management development programs for these employees so that their skill development is fast tracked and they become more suited to hold top managerial positions in future.

Yes, training can certainly help Nike to have a more diverse management and leadership team. All employees of the company will have to be trained with regards to the importance and necessity of having a diverse team. Female employees and employees of color should be provided with special training sessions so as to equip them with necessary skills to take on leadership roles.