Advantages and disadvantages of personnel diversity as an instrument of permanent sales promotion within the scope of diversity management

Bachelorarbeit von Guido Jackels

Abstract:

Today, at the beginning of the 21st century, the world is submerged in a wide range of demographic trends which have the potential to radically change the demographic, cultural and ethical mixture of the population in many countries within just a few decades. The effects of globalisation have intensified; technological advancements and mobility have done their part to render society increasingly diverse. In short, the world is becoming more and more an interconnected and mobile unity with fewer barriers for people to cross.

Companies, especially big multinational players which have to deal with these changes, are growingly forced to react. Employees, once a homogenous group in many countries, are increasingly diverse and need to be integrated within and into working environments. Diversity can present an immense source of opportunities but it can also mean the opposite, a big threat.

Diversity management is a managerial approach in response to these trends and can help companies to effectively and efficiently manage their personnel diversity, i.e. personnel made up of diverse and multifaceted people. The text argues that a diverse workforce can be regarded as an instrument of sales promotion, a marketing tool to induce customers to buy certain products or services. However, it is not seen as an example of classical sales promotion, whose activities are always limited to a certain, short time frame but as an example of a new terminology, created by the author, permanent sales promotion.

Permanent sales promotion activities are defined by the author as “activities that comprise all types of medium or long term instruments a company can use and implement to create a sustainable demand for their products and services.” In a multicultural society, which most trends predict to be the prevailing type of society in the future, personnel diversity can lay the foundation for a competitive advantage. There is a close link between a diverse workforce, customer satisfaction and a company’s future sales figures. Underlined by a theoretical framework and supported by an empirical research project, the author tries to make the case for this line of argumentation.

In the very first part of this thesis, the essence of diversity management will be explained. The author will look at its history, companies’ working definitions and examples from diversity management in practice. Goal and intention of this part will be to give the reader an idea of what diversity management is and underline its importance for the near future. In order to do so, the author has collected various data of trends confirming its growing significance.

In the following paragraphs, the author claims that personnel diversity, i.e. the diversity of a company’s workforce, is one result of diversity management and can be regarded as a strategic and long term instrument of sales promotion, a marketing tool to induce customers to buy certain products or services. However, it is not seen as an example of classical sales promotion, whose activities are always limited to a certain, short time frame but as an example of a new terminology, created by the author, permanent sales promotion.

The main point of distinction between both types of sales promotion is the time horizon. Classical sales promotion is time-bounded, whereas permanent sales promotion is implemented over a longer period of time. In order to more clearly understand the linkage between sales promotion, diversity management and personnel diversity, the writer attempted to thoroughly explain the main ideas behind all three terms. The text will give types and examples as well as comparisons of benefits and drawbacks.

In an empirical part, the author will try to apply theoretical knowledge to practice. Customer interviews were prepared at a shopping centre of Wal-Mart, a retail company, in Wuppertal, Germany. In particular, the interview’s goal was to find evidence for customers’ interest in seeing themselves represented in the workforce, in terms of age, gender and cultural background.

In other words, the author tried to find an answer to the following question: “Does it make sense for a retail company to match the age, gender and cultural diversity of their sales personnel with that of its customers?” In a further and evenly important step, the author tried to establish a link between personnel diversity, customer satisfaction and increased sales figures. This, in particular, will be another key line of argumentation the writer tries to verify through the interviews.

Through the analysis of the interviews, extensively described in chapter 5, the paper comes to the conclusion – at least in the case of a retailer and within the scope of the interviews – that customers are not interested in whether or not their age, gender or nationality is represented in the sales personnel. Nevertheless, other findings seem to suggest that customers more and more support companies’ fledging attempts to include more diversity into their workforce.

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