Well, if this does not smack of reverse discrimination... or even plan out discrimination, then I do not what does.
I work in the outsourcing fiels. I receive a magazine called Global Services which is actually pretty good. Must more content and much fewer annoying ads than other industry magazines.
I was reading an article and found it interesting. It's a story about Pepsi, their new Indian woman CEO, and diversity in general at Pepsi.
The link to the story:
http://globalservicesmedia.com/article/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=193402723&pgno=1
I took an excerpt from the story and pasted it below. Particularly troubling (to me at least) info is in bold. If you are a white male at Pepsi, you do not stand a chance of being promoted, even if you were actually hired. It almost sounds like reverse discrimination where manages are rewarded for hiring and promoting women and minorities. The manage would think "Hmm, Fred, Barney, and Wilma all are good workers and Fred is a little better but, I get more money in my bonus if I promote Wilma."
A RAINBOW OF EXPECTATIONS
In a fiercely competitive marketplace, no achievement is ever by chance. When Pepsi outpaced Coke in market capitalization in December 2005 for the very first time in its 108-year rivalry, it reflected the company’s long term strategic planning. A large element of that strategy involved a steadfast focus on developing its human resources.
The three pillars of Pepsi’s HR strategy were to focus on recruiting more women, develop a diverse workforce at every level and put in place a succession plan to smoothly handle transition.
When Indra Nooyi took over as the first woman CEO of PepsiCo, it was the culmination of a long process at Pepsi to groom women for the top position. The impact of the Pepsi culture was not limited to the company, as several other powerful women spent much of their careers at PepsiCo, including Brenda Barnes, CEO of Sara Lee, and Irene Rosenfeld, CEO at Kraft Foods.
Reinemund’s hand-over to Nooyi was as smooth as the transition to Reinemund from his predecessor, Roger Enrico. This is against the current market trend where boards are under pressure to dismiss chief executives abruptly and forced hire from outside.
Nooyi has been groomed for the top job, along with her main rival, Michael White, Head of PepsiCo’s international operations, after joining from ABB, an engineering firm, in 1994.
That PepsiCo has appointed a woman to its top job is an even bigger anomaly. According to Catalyst, which conducts employment research, only 16% of the corporate officers of Fortune 500 firms are women, although women comprise half of the managers and other professionals in the American workforce.
Since 2001, then CEO Reinemund established an aggressive hiring and promotion plan that required half of Pepsi’s workforce to be women or minorities. The company’s bonus structure also rewarded managers on their ability to hire and retain such talent. Today 25% of Pepsi’s managers are women, up from 22% four years ago and six out of Pepsi’s top 12 executives are women or minorities. One reason given for this aggressive push to diversify Pepsi’s leadership is to better understand the tastes of new consumers as the business continues to expand globally. Also women control much of the household expenditure.
PepsiCo’s executives demonstrate their commitment to diversity by holding themselves accountable. Each of the CEO’s direct reports is responsible for the growth and development of a different group of employees. For instance, one executive partners with black employees and another one with women and so on. These executives hold themselves accountable for understanding the workplace issues the diverse employee populations face. They work to identify the key talented individuals in the groups and often serve as their “voice” to the rest of the executive committee.