“Given the resources,
women can impact their lives, families
and communities in meaningful ways. Women can
CHANGE OUR WORLD.”
– Andrea Jung, Avon Chairman
Andrea Jung is a business executive, but mostly known as President of Avon’s Product Marketing Group for the U.S. In 2001 she was recognized as one of the 30 most powerful women in the USA by Ladies Home Journal.
She herself tells, that she had never been supposed to study marketing. She was taught to play lessons, attended Mandarin classes and a Princeton education to cultivate her character and refine her knowledge. Her parents were just workers, and never expected her to be retailing agent. She had chosen her life way herself, independently of someone’s opinion, and this step determined her future life and career. Her parents brought her up in the manner of respect of the surrounding people, and even staying the leader of such a huge company, Andrea Jung never shies away from looking for advice.
Partially, these factors led her to the development of self respect, and respect of the people surrounding her. She is usually described as the person who treats the others as she would like to be treated herself.
As a real expert of her profile she says: “I have a love for this business,” she says. “I have an enormous amount of passion for it. Since I’m a mother and a wife, I have to have passion or the frustration would win out. But I love managing people. The product is second to managing the people. And marketing to consumers is so challenging because it is evolving constantly.”
Because of the profile and the status of the company is simply obliged to manage diversity in order to get involved the broadest population layers. As the production is oriented to the ladies, independently on their sexual orientation, color of the skin, marital status, amount of children etc, company needs to show that its policy is loyal to everybody. Moreover as the representative of ethnic minority in the USA, Andrea Jung can not treat the other minorities less favorably. It is argued that diversity managers have the one common feature of being treated unfavorably in their past, and, remembering all the inconveniences caused by it just do not have any desire to subject their subordinates to unfavorable treatment.
As it had been mentioned above, Ms Jung tries to get engaged all the population spheres to the wok of the company. To fully use and appreciate the potential of workforce abilities, firms need to distinguish all factors of diversity, both observable (gender and race, ethnicity) and unseen (sexual orientation and nationality). The realization of diversity on numerous stages formulates the creation of really comprehensive work surroundings possible. Thus, the company believes that, in the workplace, this range of varieties offers organizations with a viable benefit.
The diversity programs usually involve the visible factors, which have been described above, but the invisible ones also play sufficient role in recruitment. Thus, Andrea Jung is the co-elaborator of the diversity program, which has the research of the diversity management statistics, and involves the following data
The percentage of the presented table involves the relevancy of the factors, which influence the treatment to the worker while recruiting, or during the further work.
The philosophy and the strategy of the company is to eliminate any differences in hiring the new workers, in order any employee of Avon Inc felt treated less favorably.
Every born diversity leader, like Andrea Jung aims to make the working conditions equal for everybody.
Another quote, showing Ms. Jung’s attitude toward the principles of the diversity management is: “Women like myself, CEOs, can pave the way for more women to get to the top.”
The current situation of Avon Inc is that it managed to turn around its unbeneficial internal city markets by hiring African-American and Hispanic administrators in charge of marketing to the customers groups located in African South American cities or cities with the prevailing black or Hispanic population.
References
- Goldsea Asian American Women 2007. Web.
- D’Netto, B. 2000 “Diversity management: benefits, challenges and strategies” Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs
- Catalyst member Benchmarking report 2005. Web.
- Buttner, E. Holly, Kevin B. Lowe, and Lenora Billings-Harris. “The Influence of Organizational Diversity Orientation and Leader Attitude on Diversity Activities.” Journal of Managerial Issues 18.3 (2006): 356
- Parvis, Leo. “Diversity and Effective Leadership in Multicultural Workplaces.” Journal of Environmental Health 65.7 (2003): 37
- Hopkins, Willie E., and Shirley A. Hopkins. “Diversity Leadership: A Mandate for the 21st Century Workforce.” Journal of Leadership Studies 5.3 (1998): 129.
- Knouse, Stephen B., and Mickey R. Dansby. “Percentage of Work-Group Diversity and Work-Group Effectiveness.” Journal of Psychology 133.5 (1999): 486-494.
- Henderson, George. Issues and Strategies Issues and Strategies. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1999.