Topic 3: Managing teams in the 21st century
The broad issue our team has selected is managing teams in the twenty-first century. With the rise of multiculturalism in the city of Montreal, we ask ourselves, can more culturally diverse teams in financial institutions improve the team’s and institution’s performance?
Business question/hypothesis
Can culturally diverse teams in financial institutions improve team and business performance?
The 5 Ws:
Who: We will look into the staff teams within financial institutions
What: We will examine cultural diversity.
When: We will look at current financial institutions that are active.
Why: Does having a more culturally diverse staff in financial institutions improve team and business performance?
Where: We will focus on institutions in Quebec.
Preliminary claim:
Culturally diverse teams in financial institutions improve teams and business performance.
Two fundamental business theories:
For institutions to stay competitive, they should always continue to innovate, as claimed by Chandler. Institutions with culturally diverse teams improve the performance of the team and the business. How? As mentioned in the article “Diversity In Finance: Why It Matters & how to improve it?”, due to different perspectives and ideas from each member of the team, it is confirmed that diversity in financial institutions boosts innovation. It is also achieved by investing in R&D. In addition, due to different backgrounds, diversity also leads to committed/engaged teams which can increase the profits (improved company performance). If the teams are innovative, they can benefit from it and can possibly become a first mover of either a new product or service (most likely a service in our case). *First mover: company heavily investing in R&D, come up with a unique product/service, and build a market for it. This way the organization gains competition as well. Collins and porras. For a company to be successful, a well conceived vision is important. This vision has two components : Core Ideology (it is fixed in time) and an envisioned future. To start, core ideology has two components which are core values (guidance) and core purpose (inspiration). Core value basically means what the company stands for (beliefs), whereas core purpose explains why the company exists. In addition, core ideology work as a glue that holds the organization as it expands, grows and diversifies. It must be inspiration and meaningful to the people inside the organization as well. Whether the company is multicultural or homogenous, these components are a must within an organization. The goal to the employees is clear as we know what we stand for and what’s our purpose. Moving on, an envisioned future has two components : BHAG and vivid description. An envisioned future explains where the company is going, where we wish to be and what needs to be changed in order to enjoy an enduring success. In short, Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) helps an organization become visionary. It is a ARTICULATED goal that a company wishes to achieve which has a finish line of 10-30 years. Vivid description comes along BHAG. It is a picture of what is it like to achieve BHAG. Therefore, for a company to enjoy an enduring success, they must have core values + purpose and an envisioned future (stimulate progress and make necessary changes).
Vrio
V: diverse teams bring value (something valuable)
R: diverse teams in financial institutions are rare/not rare = not rare.
O: the company must be organized (policies, rules, etc)
I: it is easy to imitate. Other institutions can easily become more diverse by just hiring more people.
Comparative equality
Description of proposed participants and 4-5 interview questions:
The target participants for our interview questions are those who work in financial institutions. For instance, a bank-teller, financial analyst, an investment banker, manager, and so on. With all that being said, the roles found in a financial institution will provide us with a better understanding of workplace diversity. Using their feedback, we can better go about how to improve the performance of team management in the financial industry.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you describe the level of diversity found in your financial institution?
How many times a year does your company provide diversity training to management?
On a likert scale, how important is it for a financial institution to be culturally diverse and be inclusive of all backgrounds?
Are there moments where you witnessed a racial tension between colleagues and how strongly did they react on the likert scale?
What are some common issues when trying to organize a more diverse team for an institution?
Is there a significant increase in clientele with a diverse staff?
Is a multicultural team performance higher than a homogeneous team? (very high, high, low, very low)
Bibliography: (5 sources)
Asare, J. G. (2019, August 20). New Data reveals that big banks need to improve diversity efforts. Forbes. Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2019/08/20/new-data-reveals-that-big-banks-need-to-improve-diversity-efforts/?sh=204cbc39270f
Diversity among directors and executives in Canada’s Financial Services Sector. Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. (n.d.). Retrieved November 5, 2022, from https://www.osler.com/en/resources/governance/2020/diversity-among-directors-and-executives-in-canadas-financial-services-sector#:~:text=In2022TDBankScotiabank,inclusiontop100for2021.
Diversity in finance: Why it matters & how to improve it. Jennings Executive Search. (2022, March 3). Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://jenningsexec.com/diversity-in-finance-why-it-matters-how-to-improve/
Diversity from a central bank’s perspective: A case study of the Bank of England. Newfinancial.org. (2020, January). Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://newfinancial.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/A-case-study-The-Bank-of-Englands-approach-to-Diversity.pdf
Focus: Representation of women at Banks in Canada. Canadian Bankers Association. (2021, March 8). Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://cba.ca/representation-of-women-at-banks-in-canada
The banking industry and increasing systemic participation. EcoAmbassadeurs. (2022, October 6). Retrieved November 5, 2022, from https://ecoambassadeurs.ca/the-banking-industry-and-increasing-systemic-participation/
Veasey, A. (2022, February 18). Diversity, inclusion and the future of banking. Finextra Research. Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://www.finextra.com/the-long-read/345/diversity-inclusion-and-the-future-of-banking#:~:text=Diversityandinclusionaremore,theirdomesticandinternationalmarkets.