Introduction
In previous years, the concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) were not of much concern, and businesses paid little attention to them. However, modern business practices have incorporated the DEI concept into their frameworks and operations. Unlike in the past, contemporary standards require all organizations to adopt and embrace DEI.
The idea represents three principles that ensure every firm attains social responsibility. Diversity refers to an organization’s ability to accept and embrace differences within its system. The variance can take many forms, including race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, and gender, among others.
On the other hand, inclusion refers to valuing people with diverse identities and welcoming them into business without discrimination based on their uniqueness. Ultimately, equity enables all individuals to access the opportunities an organization offers. The study aims to create an original DEI strategic focus for a company. Using Nike as the case study, the research will analyze the DEI policies in place and develop a continuous-improvement plan to eliminate barriers, and will finalize by measuring the progress of the strategies.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Nike
The Nike Company is one of the largest multinational corporations in the athletic wear industry, holding the largest market share worldwide. The company has several branches spread across the world, cutting across different racial, religious, ethnic, and national boundaries. With an aim for globalization, the Nike Company must ensure its framework provides a clear layout for the adoption and practice of DEI.
Diversity
The firm has been at the forefront of facilitating DEI (Lindsey-Warren et al., 2022). The Nike Company ensures diversity in its system by practicing cross-racial recruitment. With several employees working in its numerous branches and subsidiary stores, the Nike Company has recruited individuals from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.
Additionally, the company’s workers come from diverse religious backgrounds and are treated equally. Gender is another aspect of diversity that the Nike Company has properly addressed (Ferraro et al., 2022). The firm has ensured representation of its employees across all organizational levels in its branches, which are composed of both genders.
Nike Organization embraces men and women at all levels of leadership, management, and junior roles (Fabbri, 2022). In an era when women compete with their male counterparts in education and skills, the company has put the female experience to good use, offering them opportunities similar to those of their male colleagues.
Inclusion
Inclusion is another aspect that the Nike Company properly manages and demonstrates. The firm does not tolerate any form of discrimination in its system and values all workers equally. Regardless of race, religion, nationality, or ethnicity, Nike employees are treated equally without favor or discrimination (Zepponi, 2022). No worker is given preferential treatment based on their social characteristics. Even though the company has a diverse personnel composition, all employees are treated with the same dignity and respect they deserve.
Equity
Finally, Nike Company practices equity in its framework. Opportunities at the firm are shared equally without discrimination of any kind. With a diverse workforce, the organization ensures that all employees have equal access to available opportunities, free from favoritism. For instance, promotion and leadership positions are awarded based on merit and experience; thus, qualified individuals from any social background can be assured of security.
Similarly, recruitment and talent search programs are conducted relatively, focusing mainly on ability and qualification (Ferraro et al., 2022). Nike Company recruits persons from different religious, racial, and national backgrounds without discrimination or favoritism. With numerous employees sourced from diverse regions, the firm boasts one of the most inclusive workforces globally. For example, Nike factories in America employ workers from various ethnic backgrounds, including Africans, Europeans, Asians, and Americans.
Strategies for Strengthening DEI
To ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion in a business, managers need an elaborate plan for organizational leadership. Several strategies can help a firm employ and achieve DEI within its system. As in the case of the Nike Company, which already has a DEI framework in place, only a few adjustments will be required to its continuous improvement plan.
Leadership
Diverse leadership is a significant facilitator and means of continuous improvement. The company should improve diversity in its leadership structure to foster diverse opinions and ideas, which are critical to DEI. By having a leadership structure composed of various members, the company will improve the practice of DEI since the diverse managers will not allow their colleagues to restrict and confine the firm to specific nationalities, religions, races, or ideas (Woo et al., 2022).
The diverse membership will therefore promote the inclusion of various employees and different ideas. Practices such as discrimination and favoritism will be reduced and eliminated by diverse leadership. In addition, diverse leadership will bring additional experience and encourage knowledge from across fields.
Recruitment
Second, diverse recruitment is another way of overseeing continuous improvement. The Nike Company should conduct various recruitment efforts in search of new talent. With several branches spread across the globe, the company should ensure its recruitment is done in every continent and covers all the people (Szkudlarek et al., 2022). Unique and unexplored talents are hidden in regions such as Africa and Asia; the company must therefore unlock these areas and bring the skills on board.
In addition, diverse recruitment should cross religious boundaries and explore religiously confined areas (Bandyopadhyay et al., 2022). Religion should never be a major consideration in talent search (Razaki et al., 2022). Furthermore, diverse recruitment should consider different skills, disciplines, and ideas. The Nike Company can improve diversity by bringing talent from other fields and areas of the profession. A firm needs to have employees with diverse skills and knowledge.
Specialized Committee
Third, the plan is to introduce a diversity and inclusion committee. Nike Company should create a diversity and inclusion committee to supervise and handle diversity and inclusion-related issues. Comprised of diverse members, the committee will eliminate practices that discourage diversity, inclusion, and equity, such as discrimination and favoritism (Van Knippenberg, 2022).
In most cases, a firm fails to meet the DEI goal due to a few managers who engage in discriminatory practices, thereby deterring employees from unique backgrounds. A diverse membership committee will ensure that such practices are not tolerated in the company, thereby leveling the field for recruitment and the progress of diversity.
Employee Feedback
Finally, the plan for continuous improvement is to engage and solicit feedback from employees. Workers are the key components of diversity, inclusion, and equity. It is, therefore, critical to bring them on board and engage them on the issue. In some cases, the employees become the victims of discrimination and unfairness; thus, soliciting their feedback can help in monitoring the progress of the DEI in the firm and develop strategies for improvement (Woo, Lall-Trail, & Islam, 2022). The plan is to make it possible for the affected workers to report their ordeals. For instance, discriminated employees can report their cases of unfair treatment for disciplinary and improvement purposes.
Barriers and Methods for Assessing DEI Progress
Some of the barriers to implementing DEI include the language barrier. Some businesses lack translation services and interpreters for employees from diverse backgrounds. Workers can come from diverse cultures and thus face the language barrier. Without translation services and interpreters, workers with mixed languages may struggle to be accommodated within the organization (Hill, 2022). In addition, religion is another barrier to the successful implementation of DEI (Hellerstedt et al., 2022).
Religious extremists may find it challenging to work in an environment that is less sensitive to their religious practices. For instance, extremist Islamic believers may find it challenging to work in Sweden with less sensitivity to matters of religion. Similarly, companies operating in regions that value religion, such as the Middle East, may find difficulty in recruiting workers from diverse other faiths to work for them.
In measuring the progress, the company will focus on factors such as remuneration. Nike will ensure that its remuneration policy promotes equity, where employees are paid according to their work done without discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, race, or nationality (Woo et al., 2022). Another factor that will be used in checking the DEI progress is demographics across organizational levels. The Nike Company will evaluate its demographics at all levels to ensure they are well-balanced and diverse.
Conclusion
In summary, Nike Company has effectively incorporated diversity, equity, and inclusion into its framework by recruiting employees from diverse backgrounds and ensuring that all workers have equal access to opportunities and are valued equally within the firm. Despite this, there is still room for the company to improve in this aspect by increasing diverse recruitment and leadership, among other strategies. With factors such as remuneration and demographics, the Nike Company will be able to monitor and measure its progress.
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