Assignment:
Read the given Case Study. Answer the three questions that follow. Elaborating on your responses by distinguishing between the role of human resources managers and line managers in implementing the changes described.
In 1992, Deloitte & Touche, LLP, was celebrating the tenth year in which approximately 50 percent of its new hires were women. Because it takes nearly a decade to become a partner, the accounting firm based in Wilton, Connecticut, was now sitting back waiting for all the women in the pipeline to start making bids for partnership. But something unexpected happened. Instead of seeing an increase in the number of women applying for partnership, Deloitte & Touche saw a decline. Talented women were leaving the firm and this represented a huge drain of capable people. In a knowledge-intensive business such as theirs, this problem went beyond social consciousness. They could not afford to lose valued partners. The company formed the Task Force on the Retention and Advancement of Women to pinpoint the reason women were leaving. The task force conducted a massive information-gathering initiative, interviewing women at all levels of the company, even contacting women who had left the firm. It uncovered three main areas of complaint:(1) a work environment that limited opportunity for advancement, (2) exclusion from mentoring and networking, and (3) work and family issues.
The networking and mentoring concerns seemed to be the most troublesome. In a male-dominated business, men often network, sometimes to the exclusion of women. To tackle this problem, Deloitte & Touche retooled the work environment. It made changes such as a renewed commitment to flexible work arrangements, reduced workload, and flextime. The firm also developed plans for company-sponsorednetworking and formal career planning for women. In addition, the firm's 5,000 partners and managers attended two-day workshops called "Men and Women as Colleagues" at a price to the company of approximately $3 million. The results were terrific. Retention of women at all levels rose, and for the first time in the history of the firm, turnover rates for senior managers (just before making partner) were lower for women than for men. In addition to winning an Optima Award, it was cited as one of the top places for women to work in a New York City survey by McKinsey & Company. Deloitte not only had one of the highest proportions of women employees among those surveyed?more than 75 percent?but received especially high marks for its leadership in work/life quality and effectiveness. The firm was singled out as the only company to have a full suite of skills training and succession planning programs specifically for women. Deloitte also ranked number six on Training magazine's 2005 "Training Top 100" list.
Required to answer:
Question 1: How did the problems at Deloitte & Touche occur in the first place?
Question 2: Did their changes fix the underlying problems? Explain.
Question 3: What other advice would you give their managers?