Activity 1.

6: Xerox Case Study

Scott A. Self
Organizational Behavior (MGMT 317)
Module 1
Embry Riddle Aeronautical University

















Xerox is one of the leading pioneers in diversifying their corporation, no doubt.
Xeroxs endeavors to create a reputation and environment where all of its employees are
included in the creative thinking, innovation and all business aspects of their corporation are
most impressive. However let us see how the stack up against other Fortune 500 companies. In
this case we will compare Xerox to two other Fortune 500 companies randomly selected; Dell
and IBM. All three corporations are powerhouses in their field. All three corporations are
admired in the computer industry. Therefore it is a fair comparison in regards to technology and
corporate similarity. I will attempt tocompare the three companies on the percentage of
minorities, and gender. Also I will explore how women and minorities are represented at the
highest levels of each organization and finally I will discuss how these statistics can be
improved.
The raw percentages of minorities between the 3 companies are remarkably similar.
Xerox is very open in their statistics on diversity and shows that their percentage of women in
the vice president role or above are at 19.2%, minority females in this role are 7.8%, and
minority males are at 15.1%. (Xerox diversity brochure, 2009) In turn, Dell has a 32% rate of
women who are in a vice president role.(dell.com, commitment to diversity). 33% of their total
work force is minority and 24% are female.(Pearse, 2007) This is an astounding rate of women
in such a high level of management and has lead Dell to receiving many awards and recognitions
from many cultural groups. However, their site is somewhat vague on their minority numbers.
Dell is quick to ensure that you can see all of their diversity programs on their site, as well as
being ranked as a top 10 GLBT employer. IBM was very difficult to research in regards to their
use of women and minorities in upper management positions. I was able to find numbers from
2006 that show IBM employment statistics show that they have a 24% rate of employment of
minorities and a 31% rate of employment of women. (Pearce, 2007) I truly feel that the harder it
is to research specific statistics on diversity rates at the highest levels of management, the more
likely it is that they are not too impressive. IBM, again, has lists of many awards and
recognitions that they have received to include the Employee resource group of year award in
2010. It even goes as far to break their awards down by minority category, and by decade. For
example, it received the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers Company of the Year
award, however there are no specific demographic statistics listed on their site as there is on
Xeroxs in regards to Hispanic employment. (www.03-ibm.com)It brags on their success of
women at higher ranks by being ranked on the The National Association for Female Executives.
IBM placed sixth among the top 30 companies for the number of women in senior ranks and the
programs and policies which support women's advancement the seventh consecutive year
IBM has placed on the list. However, there are no specific names or stats on who or how many
women in their company hold these senior offices. So as I attempt to compare percentages
between Xerox and the other two randomly selected companies it is painfully apparent that
Xerox is setting the standard among them. Xerox not only is excelling at ensure that workforce
diversity is a must but also they are excelling at presenting it to the world, and in doing so, they
are fulfilling their social responsibility and not only leading in their field of production, but in the
field of human rights.
To ensure that I am fair to IBM and Dell before I begin to recommend solutions to how
these statistics can be improved, I must admit that my ability to research properly may be
suspect. However, I do feel that if a laymen researcher such as myself struggles to find
something as simple as a percentage of women and minorities employed in the higher echelons
at a Fortune 500 company perhaps there is more to this than suspected. I feel that in order for
true diversity to be infused into our culture. There should be no vagueness to it. There should be
no secrets or elusiveness. If a corporation has full disclosure to its public on how it is making its
people better, then they should shout it from the roof tops and ensure that a lowly Organizational
Behavior student can find the numbers that support why they have received awards and
accolades. If their stats of women and minorities performing at high levels within their
corporation are released to the public, then that in itself would show the culture of change within
their walls and would, in fact, increase those assumed statistics. So I finalize by stating that as I
attempted to research and compare Xerox with other Fortune 500 companies, I can state that
Xerox not only has the culture of diversity within its corporation, it also makes those statistics
more public than Dell and IBM and in doing so is more inclusive in nature than its competitors.