THE CASE SCENARIO
This case is about Vihaan Anand, a manager at a plant of a leading engine manufacturing firm in India, ABC Corporation. He was a workaholic and a high achiever, having excellent client management abilities. His team held him in high esteem for his technical and people skills. On the personal front, Vihaan chose to hide his alternative sexual orientation from his colleagues. However, his co-workers took hints and mocked him on various occasions for his effeminate attributes, which made Vihaan feel that they were mostly homophobic. For Vihaan, his job and career meant more than this mockery, which made him more tolerant with time. Vihaan was also appreciated by his superiors at work for his diligence. The management had publicly recognized him for his high performance. He was recently promoted as the Head, Strategy, for ABC’s latest million-dollar project to build environment-friendly, high-efficiency engines. Shortly after this announcement, Vihaan decided to work from home to care for his partner, Riyansh, who was suffering from health problems. Coincidentally, Riyansh worked for a rival of ABC Corporation, but they never discussed work with each other. Vihaan finished the pending review and plan of action report on the new project before the deadline. He submitted the print of the report to the office, leaving instructions for his assistant to put it up in the Board Meeting slated the next day. When Vihaan was about to leave, he received a call from his senior’s office, asking for the report to be emailed to him at the earliest, which he did immediately. On the day of the meeting, Vihaan was informed by the Board Members that he was terminated on the grounds of the misconduct of leaking crucial information to a rival firm. This sharing of information was attributed to his relationship with Riyansh. It was a shock to Vihaan, as his decade-long loyalty to the corporation was questioned through the suspicion of providing insider information to a rival firm
SITUATION ANALYSIS
The case describes an organizational setup that claimed to embrace diversity in all its forms through its diversity policy. Yet, internally, its people, especially the top management, do not seem to be ready to accept demographic diversity as a reality. The case discusses the termination of an employee who had served an establishment for a decade, on the pretext of leaking critical confidential information to a rival firm, but the actual reason is his alternative sexual orientation. It is a good case in point about the organizations that do more lip service to the diversity and inclusion (D&I) mandate. Demographic diversity can be seen at multiple levels in organizations. It can be the diversity of gender, ethnicity, generation, culture, special abilities and so on. Most organizations initiate their diversity programmes with gender diversity and then include other categories such as special abilities, generations, culture and so on. The inclusion of the third gender in the workforce is a comparatively newer phenomenon for organizations, particularly in India. The decriminalization of same-sex relations by the annulment of Article 377 in India in the year 2018 has given more courage than earlier to people with an alternate sexual orientation to come out of the closet. However, the complete inclusion of this group is still a distant dream, and it comes out clearly in this case. Robertson (2006) identified a few factors for assessing the status of D&I in any organization. Representation, fairness and leader commitment to diversity are some of the key factors emerging out of their model. We can assess ABC Corporation on each of these factors:
Representation of other Diverse Groups within the Organization. The case does not throw much light on the status of other diverse groups in ABC Corporation. In fact, there is a mention of only one female Board member in the case. However, it is still acceptable given that it is a manufacturing organization and manufacturing sector in India is categorized as a male-dominated sector, especially at the executive and senior levels. It can be safely assumed that despite having the diversity policy in place, the organization will have meagre representation from various diverse groups. Openness to include the third gender will be a far-fetched idea for them.
Fairness of the Organizational Climate. The organizational climate does not seem to be fair and open to minority groups. This can be one of the reasons why despite being a decade old in the organizational system, Vihaan remained in the closet. The day-to-day interactions with his colleagues and superiors would probably have given him enough hints about the openness of the environment for people like him. Hence, he chose not to disclose his real self to anyone in the organization. The organization seems to be quite low on interactional justice (Greenberg, 1987).
Leader Commitment to Diversity. This is one of the key factors in enabling organizations to be inclusive. The leader and the top management play a vital role in making the organization an inclusive place where there is psychological safety in the minds of the people. If employees can experience through the actions of their leaders they are committed to making the organization inclusive, they feel safe, and irrespective of the minority groups they belong to, they will still be valued members of the organization if they perform well. It helps in building a performance-centric environment in the organization. Leader behaviour also defines how others in the organization will deal with minorities. This is where ABC Corporation is giving a very clear message to its minority groups, especially to people like Vihaan that the leadership is not ready to practice what they preach about diversity.
Mor Barak et al. (1998) suggested four dimensions of diversity climate: (a) organizational inclusion, (b) organizational fairness, (c) personal value for diversity and (d) personal comfort with diversity. ABC Corporation seems to be failing on each one of these dimensions and creating a diverse and inclusive climate
WHAT SHOULD VIHAAN DO?
Right now, Vihaan has limited options in front of him. The pros and cons of each one of these options can be weighed:
Fight for His Case. The Board Members have abruptly terminated Vihaan, communicating to him that his full and final settlement would be done in due course. No show cause notice was issued to him. He was not even given a chance to present his case. Not allowing a person to clarify their position violates the principle of natural justice. Thus, Vihaan can file a case of illegal termination against ABC Corporation in any civil court. It may have its implications in terms of mental agony and financial losses, but this can also set an example in front of others for not tolerating any such nonsensical decisions of the top management.
Accept the Termination and Move On. This seems to be a peaceful option, but it may have serious implications for the other representatives of different minority groups within the organization.
Negotiate for an Out-of-Court Settlement. This needs a pragmatic mindset from Vihaan, wherein he could think of turning this situation in his favour. The organization would definitely not like to drag itself into the legal battle for a matter as critical as D&I. It will fetch a scar to the brand name. Vihaan can negotiate on monetary compensation and recommendation for moving to another organization. Given his competence and track record, finding another job should be easy for him.
WHAT SHOULD THE ORGANIZATION DO TO IMPROVE ITS DIVERSITY CLIMATE?
It seems ABC Corporations and several other organizations like it need to look closely at their diversity climate and find out ways to improve on it. Some of the recommendations are as follows:
Have a Clearly Defined D&I Strategy. ABC Corporation needs a clearly defined D&I strategy that has the buy-in of the people at different levels. The organization needs to invest in a serious benchmarking exercise around that. It needs to look at the D&I best practices within and across the industries and chalk out a way best suited to the organization’s context. There is a need to have a clearly defined short- and long-term objectives of the D&I strategy.
Sensitization of Employees About Their Unconscious Biases. Our actions are driven by our unconscious biases. In this case, the people within the organization, especially the top management, does not seem to be aware of their biases. Sensitization of different levels of people starting from the top is the need of the hour. This can be done through various awareness programmes, workshops and trainings by the experts in the area.
Increase the Representation of Different Minority Groups Within the Organization. The issue here is not only about the third gender. The broader issue seems to be lack of sufficient representation of different minority groups. The organization needs to scale up its presence of different diverse groups.
Formation of a Core Group to Promote and Champion the Cause of D&I Across the Organization: For mobilizing the efforts around D&I, the organization needs to form a core group of people who are interested, committed and competent for this cause. This group will help increasing sensitization and creating awareness about the needs of the diverse minorities.
The above-mentioned actions may help the organization improve their diversity climate. This may help people like Vihaan to come out of the closets without hesitation and can help retain crucial talent like Vihaan for the organization’s benefit.
