Cultural Awareness Diversity in Corporate America Today

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Managing Across Cultures 675 |

Cultural Diversity Awareness in Corporate America Today |

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Dawn S. Castle 2013 |

An Examination of 20 of Fortune 500 Top Companies Toward Minority, Ethnic, Gender, Sexual Orientation and National-Inter-National Cultural Awareness |

In this Paper I review the track records and acting rules toward cultural diversity as seen in 20 of Fortune 500’s top companies. Merging a method design and scoring system for rating cultural diversity awareness in corporate America from Calvert Investments and the Human Rights Campaign Equality Index, 2013, I developed a table with 9 characteristics that help define the cultural diversity readiness of businesses today. These characteristics are then scored using the weighted ranges from 1-6 based on similar scoring methods utilized in Calvert and the Human Equality Index, 2013. A brief summary defining the company’s track record in cultural diversity is given following an explanation of how and why certain attributes or characteristics matter in today’s global and diverse marketplace, as defined by business professional oversight management companies like Fortune and non-profits like Catalyst. |

Abstract

Introduction

Today the world is expanding at a faster and faster rate, according to one author on cultural management, David Thomas, globalization of the businesses environment is being “driven by technological and economic factors resulting in an ever increasing number of cross-cultural interactions in the workplace…” Yet according to Jose de Lasa one of the top minority execs for Abbot Laboratories interviewed by Fortunes researchers, Cora Daniels and Christopher Tkaczyk, in Fortunes 2004 article, “50 Best Companies for Minorities,” the cultural awareness in corporate America is still in its infancy; Fortune 500 companies that display the characteristics of a “culturally aware” company are few (Daniels and Tkaczyk, 2004). In order to...