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The purpose of this audit was to
assess the Structural and Workplace Diversity Issues at the City of
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Component 1: Assess the structural components of the city's policies and procedures.
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Component 2: Assessment of the city employee workplace.
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Component 3: Action planning.
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Policies and procedures need further
improvement in order to comply with the City’s statement citing its commitment
to creating a diverse workplace.
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Change efforts must involve all
employees, supervisors and managers; key employee impressions and perceptions
show they are inextricably linked together.
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The 4-Sided Partnership is an excellent model
that needs to be operational in the
everyday workplace. It needs to be expanded
to include all employees and supervisors.
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The City’s Individual Development
Plans (IDP) needs to be improved substantially to alleviate job promotion and
salary concerns.
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All components of research and
findings build on other components. The audit report's findings must be taken
in total for proper understanding and interpretation.
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Executives, managers and employees
care about the Tempe community and are motivated to do an outstanding job for
its citizens.
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There are a wide variety of areas
where diversity can be improved in the City workforce.
This
"Component 1 Final Report" includes all reports, documents and
presentations summarizing the findings of the Jamieson and Gutierrez Diversity
Audit Team regarding Component 1 of the City of Tempe (COT) Diversity
Audit. The report is organized for ease
of reference for the reader.
The
data and conclusions arising from Component 1 are presented in this Final
Report. They begin with a summary
presentation of the Component 1 research.
Following this, the individual research project reports are presented in
a sequential manner, from the Analysis of the City's Policies and Procedures
report to the Comparison of similar Cities to Tempe, to the identification of
Best Practices. The final section is the
Appendices, where all documents used in the Assessment of Structural Diversity
Issues are listed.
This
report represents all of the research, documentation and findings associated
with the research objectives of Component 1.
If, however, additional data or information is needed, we stand ready to
provide such input.
Jamieson
and Gutierrez
Diversity
Audit Team
In
the approach to an assessment of how a commitment to diversity is manifested
within the structure of an organization, the first questions to be addressed
begin with “Why”.
Why is the organization
interested in diversity? Are they finding themselves out
of compliance applicable laws? Is there
moral posturing internally and externally bringing pressure for change? Is there a sincere desire to reflect the
demographics of their community? Are
they finding diversity is necessary to fulfill their mission? Is it thought to be good practice for
organizational efficiency?
Why does the organization
want to know more about the role of diversity in their organization? Is it a reaction to a public relations
crisis? Is it a response to employee
generated feedback? Are they conducting
a proactive self-assessment for improvement sake?
Why search for best
practices in other organizations? Are they
hoping to find out they aren’t so bad after all? Do they want to learn from others’ successes
and failures?
Why do they want
recommendations about ways to change it? Do they want
to know the minimum amount that they have to do to satisfy the critics? Are they looking to effectively initiate,
instill, and sustain the changes to their organizational culture that embrace
diversity because doing so enhances the organizations’ ability to fulfill its
intended mission?
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Private
industry is providing insight into why a diversity balanced employee population
has value beyond the historical motivators of avoiding legal entanglements and
expensive law suits, or embarking on a public relations campaign singing
various renditions of “doing the right thing.”
Business
leaders are understanding that the demographic make-up of the available work
force has changed and will continue to change into the future. They understand that the consumers of their
products and services are found in increasingly diverse markets. Remaining competitive requires that they
operate efficiently. Developing
effective strategies involves utilizing diverse work teams. Business leaders are understanding that
building a diverse organization is good business strategy and must come from
top levels of management down.
We can identify private
industry insights that pertain directly to public sector organizations such as
the City of Tempe. Demographic changes
have altered the composition of the available pool of employees. To attract and retain the best-qualified
employees, the City of Tempe must embrace their differences and create
hospitable work environments. To
continue operating effectively and efficiently, organizations that once
functioned successfully by creating worker friendly environments tailored for
white males must learn to provide the same for women, various minority groups,
individuals with disabilities, and so forth.
The need to improve productivity and remain competitive is directly
related to the organizations’ ability to attract and retain the most qualified
employees available. The inclusion of
diversity initiatives solely as a means to avoid legal entanglements and settlement
awards will prove to be short sighted regarding the real costs.
The City of Tempe is facing
greater demands for services with fewer resources to pay for them. In order to
fulfill its mission successfully, Tempe must recruit and promote into their top
levels of management, individuals who embrace diversity values. To better understand how to meet the needs of
the community it serves, Tempe’s strategic planning and implementation will
require diverse work teams. To achieve
employee demographics that are the reflection of the available work force and
the community it represents, Tempe must retain employees of under represented
groups in greater number than it loses.
Once the “why” questions
have been addressed with rationales that embrace the motivators of past events,
the core values of fairness and equality, and the benefits of sound business
practices, we advance. We advance to
exploring the necessary structural components of an organizational culture that
embraces diversity.
Is the organization in
compliance with existing laws? Do recent
structural changes reduce or increase the organization’s legal exposure?
What are cities of
comparable demographics doing about diversity?
Are they ahead of or behind the curve?
How
do you bring your key people on board?
Are they able to understand the full value of achieving a diverse work
force to the organization and to them personally? How do you move the integration of diversity
initiatives from being an unappreciated distraction to an asset for achieving
strategic goals?
If a diversity friendly work place is an asset to achieving strategic goals; and not just the time consuming compliance with federal laws and well-intentioned civil rights advocates, there must be a way to demonstrate so quantitatively. Demonstrating that the entire organization is experiencing a measurable positive return on the investment in achieving diversity will have a profound effect on ensuring diversity’s long-term integration into the organizational culture.
Component I of this report seeks to support the City of Tempe’s process of integrating motivators to change with rationales for change through the best practices of change. Through the discovery of internal and external practices, common interests and goals, and best practices research, this report provides a comprehensive look at what is and what can be for diversity in the City of Tempe.
Component 1 Methodology
The purpose of Component 1 is an assessment of the
Structural Diversity Issues at the City of Tempe. The assessment identified existing diversity
focused initiatives, their implementation, their effectiveness and the scope of
their application in relation to the entire employee population. This assessment focuses on cross gender/cross
cultural issues incorporating the broadest interpretation of diversity as
reflected among City employees. As a
result to this process, best practices were benchmarked for aligning all
systems with the City's stated policy valuing diversity.
Methods used varied. The City's policies and procedures and other written documents underwent a line-by-line review to assess their effectiveness and actual implementation and the subsequent impact on employee performance and moral. The documents were reviewed for terminology consistent or inconsistent with applicable municipal ordinances, Arizona Revised Statutes, and/or Federal guidelines. All pending grievances, complaints and/or claims initiated by current or former employees of the city of Tempe
and their
final dispositions were also reviewed in an effort to identify historic trends
and/or patterns that should be continued or avoided in future complaint
resolutions. Complete confidentiality of
these records was maintained at all times.
There were four primary sources of information that
were utilized on this portion of the audit.
Those sources included (1) the City of Tempe Personnel Manual (commonly
referred to as the Personnel Rules and Regulations) last revised on August 12,
1999, (2) all relevant Administrative Memorandums relating to the
interpretation and/or implementation of the City of Tempe Rules and
Regulations, (3) all pending grievances, complaints and/or claims initiated by
current or former employees of the City of Tempe and (4) the proposed revisions
to City of Tempe’s Personnel Rules and Regulations as set forth in Tempe City
Council Resolution No. 2002.10.
In addition to the above, research was conducted
comparing similar cities to Tempe.
Forty-eight (48) cities were selected using purposive research
techniques. The cities had total
populations of between 131,760 and 193,556.
From those 48 cities, eight (8) cities were selected based on overall
population and ethnic minority population to within 5% of Tempe's
population. The eight cities were
surveyed with two separate questionnaire instruments. Phone and electronic mail
was used to complete the surveys. In
addition, the Human Resources (HR) Director, the Assistant HR Director and a
City of Tempe ADA Commissioner were interviewed in person.
Section C involved research on public and private
sector diversity-focused best practices. Section
C examines the current practices within the City of Tempe in specific areas of
organizational structure that research has identified as diversity
sensitive. A review of available
research produced a paucity of municipal government focused studies in the area
of best practices of diversity initiatives.
The City of Tempe, it appears is ahead of the curve in its desire for a
comprehensive understanding of diversity as part of a total
culture/organization. Private industry
is recognizing the value structural and cultural integration of diversity
initiatives to the successful functioning of a business
organization. Like Tempe’s, this
value assessment extends far beyond the avoidance of Federal legal
entanglements and costly law suits and manifests far beyond boilerplate
compliance with Federal legal guidelines inserted in mission statements and
policies.
From the study of private industry best practices,
we can find commonalities with public sector organizations such as city
governments. We will explore Tempe’s
current practices in the diversity critical areas identified in private
industry research. Those current
practices will be evaluated against research provided diversity best practices
within private industry. Where
appropriate, the private industry statements of value regarding specific
diversity initiatives will be included and parallels drawn to corresponding
value in public organizations.