Diversity Management in Organizations

The assignment delves into the topic of diversity management within organizations, specifically focusing on Aetna. It requires a critical analysis of Aetna's diversity strategy, examining its implementation, impact on workforce management, and contribution to overall organizational effectiveness. The analysis is supported by various resources, including academic journals, books, and online materials.

Managing in Complex
Environments

ABSTRACT
Complexity in the business environment influence functions and growth of a business
which makes it important to understand each and every activity of a business. This research
paper is in context to Aetna, a health benefit company in United States. The report discussed
various diversity issues faced by company while operating their activities such as Gender Issue
Generation Gaps, Ethnic and Cultural Differences, etc. which are affecting Aetna's organisational
functions. Strategies such as ICE are also explained in this study which are utilised by cited
company in order to eliminate various diversity issues influencing its functioning. Furthermore,
this examination also determined various diversity initiatives adopted by other companies such
as Humana that excels in hiring diverse talent, creating welcoming environment and
communities for employees and contributing to the society in a meaningful way. Cigna is a
global organisation that employs over 35000 people representing different cultures, beliefs and
values. Centene is a multi-line health care enterprise which offers Medicaid managed care and
speciality services. Furthermore, the research paper included effective recommendations which
can be used in order to manage various complex situations in business environment and issues
related to diversity such as Diversity training, Cultural Sensitivities training and diversity
awareness with ensuring fair and comfortable work environment, etc.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
1. EXAMINATION OF THE CASE STUDY MATERIAL...........................................................1
2. RESEARCH INTO THE COMPANY AND ITS BUSINESS CONTEXT................................2
3. EXISTING DIVERSITY POLICIES..........................................................................................6
4. RESEARCHING OTHER DIVERSITY INITIATIVES ADOPTED BY OTHER
COMPANIES..................................................................................................................................8
5. COST/BENEFITS ANALYSIS.................................................................................................10
6. EVALUATING THE EXISTING AND POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF “THE AETNA WAY”
........................................................................................................................................................13
7. RECOMMENDATIONS...........................................................................................................15
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................21
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................22

INTRODUCTION
Aetna is one of the leading diversified health benefit companies incorporating in United
States. Company serves around 37.2 million people in America. There are around 35000
employees out of which 31 per cent of employees come from different background, colour and
religion. Diversity means various types of people of different culture, colour and beliefs that
come and live together in harmony. In order to enhance the effectiveness at workplace,
management prefers to have diversified workforce. Every individual comes up with different
skills, abilities and ideas which help the organisation to thrive in competitive environment.
Present report is to assist Raymond Marcos in evaluating the existing and potential benefits of
“the Aetna Way” – despite the challenging economic circumstances that company faces. In this
report, the issues related with diversity will be discovered and recommendations will be provided
to Aetna so that management can overcome them efficiently.
1. EXAMINATION OF THE CASE STUDY MATERIAL
Aetna is one of the leading diversified health care organisations providing effective
services to more than 37 million people. Aetna provides a wide range of consumer directed
health insurance services and related products which include dental, pharmacy, group life,
disability plans and behavioural health along with management capabilities as well as health care
management services for medical plans. The customers of organisation include individuals,
college students and employer groups as well as hourly and part-time workers. Diversity in past
was an employee relation issue which revolves largely around race and gender. In the present
scenario, diversity at workplace becomes an important and essential part of the organisation
(Shadid, 2018). Aetna is the largest health care organisation incorporating in United States of
America and its health care network consists of 4919 hospitals, 84300 healthcare professionals
and more than 490000 primary care doctors and specialists.
In the year 2008, largely spread defaults on sub-prime mortgages caused a global crisis in
capital markets. Many leading investment banks in the world collapsed, credit markets enhanced
globally all around the world and the private sector as well as governments attempted to bind up
the global financial system (Balter, Chow and Jin, 2014). All 15 European nations that utilize the
euro currency (the “euro zone”) have been in a recession following two aligned quarters of
decrement in their overall domestic products. Governments across the world—including the UK,
1

the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Spain, Iceland, China,
Sweden, South Korea, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Austria, the UAE,
Portugal and Indonesia—stepped up engagement to stem the worst financial crisis in last ten
years. Those interventions took the form of capital injections, interest rate cuts and lending
pledging to reconstruct liquidity, revive the indisposed banking system and rebuild investors’
assurance. At Aetna, commending diversity implies acknowledging and esteeming person
contrasts.
This is a sober minded business system that spotlights on expanding efficiency,
imagination and responsibility of workforce while addressing the requirements of differing
shopper gatherings. Aetna seeks after a more nuanced meaning of decent variety, in particular,
that it is something beyond sexual orientation and racial or ethnic diversity (Bratton and Gold,
2012). Certainly, a developed perspective of diversity in corporate America requires a genuine
and sellable business instance of decent variety for the association and its main concern. An
interior business case for decent variety must stretch out the past consistence (and the agony of
fines and awful PR that rebelliousness can bring) to a genuine vital commitment to business
development and main concern comes about utilizing the assets.
2. RESEARCH INTO THE COMPANY AND ITS BUSINESS CONTEXT
Main Diversity Issues
At Aetna, more than 35000 employees are currently employed out of which
approximately 11000 employees are of different backgrounds, culture and colour. Out of total
workforce, 26600 are female employees from which 64 per cent holds management and
supervisory positions. In order to enhance the effectiveness within work culture, management of
Aetna formulated precise strategies and utilise appropriate framework so that diversity within
workplace can be boost up. At Aetna, celebrating diversity means appreciating and valuing
individual differences. This is a pragmatic business strategy that focuses on maximizing
productivity, creativity and commitment of workforce while meeting the needs of diverse
consumer groups. However, there are certain issues which the management observes within
organisation regarding working with diversified people especially Aetna's African American,
Hispanic and Asian employees. The issues are discussed as below:
2

Gender Issue - Gender issues observed within healthcare sector were with female employees
who were not treated appropriately. Many female employees complained about the unfair
treatment of senior employees and managers within Aetna health care. This is considered to be a
severe issue as it can tarnish the reputation and goodwill of organisation. Gender inequality is
common but serious offence in the organisation as they have to follow Equality and Civil Rights
Act where it is the responsibility and duty of top management to monitor unfair and prejudiced
behaviour as well as take actions so that workplace effectiveness and culture can be enhanced
effectively and efficiently. As majority of workforce at Aetna composed of female employees,
management must consider the gender inequality issues and make necessary policies and
changes so that these issues can be obliterated.
Generation Gaps - In large organisations like Aetna, employees of different ages are working
which inevitably creates generation gaps in the firm. Disagreement between senior and juniors as
well as superiors and subordinates are common in Aetna. It was observed that discrepancies
occurred due to dominance behaviour of superiors on subordinates. Diversified people are more
likely to be the target of superiors and managers in organisation. It reduces motivation of juniors
which affect the corporate culture of organisation. Generation gap can be observed in any large
organisation where a large number of employees are employed. Bridging the gap between
multiple generations of workers can sometimes become an issue for employers attempting to
establish teamwork.
Ethnic and Cultural Differences- Ethical and cultural differences can be occurred in large scale
corporations where different types of employees are working together to share benefits.
Employees in Aetna are coming from different background and culture such as African-
American, Asians and Hispanic who work together for accomplishing the common goals and
objectives of organisation (Rice, 2015). Management observes that ethical and cultural
differences have been occurring in the organisation which affect the corporate culture of
company.
In the survey conducted within organisation, it was asked to employees whether Aetna
enables people from diverse backgrounds to contribute to their fullest or not. Responses were
beyond expectations as majority of employees disagreed with the statement. Ethical and cultural
differences affect the overall performance of diversified employees within organisation.
3

Employees remained dissatisfied and demotivated which reduce their determination to carry out
specific task.
Conflict - Conflicts at the workplace can be due to prejudice, racism, discrepancies,
discrimination and lack of respect. If not distinguished, such animosity at the workplace can turn
explosive or even violent. There were times that due to discrepancies, employees at Aetna found
in conflicts with each other. Conflicts at workplace if are not considered then it reduces the
motivation and loyalty of employees and their quality of work. With large number of workforce
in the organisation, management of Aetna has observed frequent conflicts in between diversified
and local employees in the business.
Communication issues - Communication issues are mainstream in large organisation. If there
are loopholes in the organizational structure and flow of communication, then there are high
probability of miscommunication within organisation. These are the most common issues which
are main causes of other problems like conflicts and disputes. In diversified organisation like
Aetna, these issues frequently affect the peace and harmony of company. It becomes difficult for
the management to enhance communication flow as large number of employees created a large
number of groups within organisation.
Poor workforce management- Workforce management (WFM) is the key area or responsibility
of HR department head. It is an integrated system of various functions such as scheduling,
payroll administration, talent management, training programs, performance monitoring, career
planning and others targeting optimizing staff productivity. HR professionals of Aetna are
obliged to manage workers, resolve their conflicts and build an effective culture at the workplace
which boosts staff morale and as a result, everyone will willingly put his or her genuine efforts
towards achievement of set goals. Referring the case scenario, Aetna holds an employee base of
800 people, among which presently, many of the individuals complaint about work aspects. The
problem of poor management at Aetna mainly arises due to lack of satisfaction among workers,
unfavourable treatment and poor relationship with the co-workers. Evidencing it, in order to
know its reason, recently, managers undertook a survey of employees after 6 months of opening
and further after 3 months of first survey.
Employee resourcing - Resourcing focuses on a specific area of human resource practices that
are related with recruitment and selection. In complex, uncertain and tough business
environment, it is too important for all companies regardless their size and operational scale to
4

hire the best talent and retain them for a longer period. Hiring is a process to bring new workers
in the organization. However, recruitment is selecting the most suitable candidate who has
proficient knowledge and skills as well as able to deliver great contribution to the business
success. Now-a-days, HR professionals struggle with the hiring and selection process wherein
they put great efforts to choose the well-talented employee at workplace. There are two main
sources of hiring which are internal and external. Former is regarded with satisfying workforce
requirement internally by promoting existing workers, hiring retired employees and transferring
to different locations or departments. This is the best way because it increases staff morale as
existing people expect promotion and boost their loyalty. Moreover, company is benefited from
the same as there is no requirement to conduct training as existing employees are already well
familiar with the business itself.
Unlike this, external recruitment is about attracting new and fresh talent from the outside
organization. External agencies, campus interview and advertisement are several popular
methods used for hiring workers. In the opinion of Doykos, Gray-Akpa and Mitchell, (2016) it
helps in bringing creative employees and encourage new ideas and innovation which in turn
enable firm in retaining their competitive positioning. Moreover, as trained and highly
experienced people are available outside. However, on the critical note, Jwinkler and Marshall
(2017) argued that demoralisation among existing staff, lack of cooperation by currently
employed staff and time-consuming method are negatively affecting the organisation.
In the survey, company noticed that staff members reported lack of contentment as the
key reason behind dissatisfaction among them. People say that many-a-times, they feel isolated
from their co-workers which builds unhealthy environment and unnecessary competition within
and in between different shifts. People replied that they are like “battery hens” and treated
unfavourably by providing with a little control over numbers and type of call they receive.
Workers feel that they are working under constant surveillance with regular monitoring of their
calls to assess their productivity and checking the accuracy and validity of information delivered
to callers. Many-a-times, operators use informal ways in the number of calls and time gaps
which cause resentment and pressure.
Some fresh candidates said that they have become the victims of such redirection strategy by
their superiors. Supervisors are aware enough with such happening. Still, they find difficulty in
detecting its prevalence at the workplace. Despite such challenges, some redeveloped people are
5

not happy with working at Aetna because they feel that what type of services they are giving are
too impersonal.
3. EXISTING DIVERSITY POLICIES
The ICE strategy
Aetna's diversity strategy is an innovative marriage of business plans and values with the
roots since 35 years. Its core elements are integration, communication and education (ICE).
Integration states that all diversity elements are working together all around company and they
are completely integrated in the short and long term process of business planning.
Communication is the dissemination and creation of information to all customers as well as
employees. Finally, education refers to evolution of knowledge and understanding of the
diversity strategy and its elements as well as way in which it is implemented in business strategy
of Aetna. It also assists in developing the understanding of individuals included and creation of
various development tools or techniques in order to increase organisational and individual
competencies (Schaltegger and Wagner, 2017). The result of this strategy includes two benefits –
to serve customers more effectively in the current market and identifying new opportunities
6
Illustration 1: Aetna's Diversity strategy'
(Source: Aetna's diversity strategy, 2017)

within various marketplaces. For the ICE elements of education and communication, there are
some major initiatives by Aetna as discussed below -
 Orientation of new hire consists an overview of diversity plan or strategy
 The internal diversity website consists of elements and information in relation to diversity
which includes goal, strategy and other resources of Aetna.
 Aetna's robust performance management procedure consists of behaviours related to
diversity and competencies for employees working at all levels of company.
 The organisation publishes articles regularly on various topics related to diversity on its
online portals or platforms.
 Since 2005, Aetna started publishing an annual report on diversity.
 Aetna sponsors a speaker series through its “Diversity in Action Lecture services” which
is available via live webcast to all the employees. The diversity of Aetna is managed and controlled by chief executive officers which
consists of Aetna executives as well as its president (Shafritz, Ott and Jang, 2015).
Community and Professional Alliances
As for network inclusion, Aetna works constantly to assemble associations with nearby
network pioneers, councils of business and non-profit associations to obtain understanding and
knowledge of human care services needs in the society or community. Sometimes, it implies
making a chamber of business and network leaders to give Aetna knowledge and point of views
on the Hispanic people group as it did in Miami. Now and then it implies working with Chinese
social insurance suppliers to guarantee that Aetna's approach socially fullfilling the
considerations, as it did in New York (Tingle, 2017).
Suppliers
Another potential for company was the supply chain and suppliers which are providing
effective supplying services of resources to company. It is due to the supplier diversity program,
Aetna successfully seeks out minority and women owned companies or business as well as
invites them to compete for the business. By entering into different perspectives, experiences and
backgrounds, company enjoys many advantages or benefits like it obtains access to high quality
of services and goods. It also obtains valuable insight in multicultural marketplaces and it serves
the communities more effectively.
7

4. RESEARCHING OTHER DIVERSITY INITIATIVES ADOPTED BY
OTHER COMPANIES
In order to accomplish goals and objectives of the organisation, management of
organisation prefers to hire more diversified candidates. “Workforce diversity” within companies
is associated with policies designed to recruit, retain and develop employees from diverse social
groups (Shadid, 2018). Diversity in organisation has loads of benefits as it allows shared culture,
wide pool of talent and innovative ideas which lead to the growth and development of
companies. In order to sustain in the competitive environment, it is important for management to
improve diversity within organisation so that its productivity and profitability can be enhanced.
Different companies working in same sector like Aetna have developed strategies and
allowing diversified and deserving candidates within organisation. Competitors of Aetna like
Humana, Cigna, Centene, Anthem and many more have now considered the importance of
diversity at workplace and formulated precise strategies such as following anti-discrimination
policies, increasing worker’s participation in management, appreciating and recognising talent as
well as many more (Morrisey and et.al., 2017). Diversity increases cultural values within the
organisation and also enhanced the reputation of the companies. Every company has its unique
strategy to boost up the diversity within firm. As in present dynamic era, new and innovative
organisations are emerging rapidly and thus, increasing the competitive rivalry among firms.
Existing firms need to change their policies in order to enable diversity within organisation. In
order to evaluate the diversity initiatives led by Aetna, an evaluation of diversity initiatives taken
by its competitors like Human, Cigna and Cenene are going to be made in this section. The
rationale for doing this evaluation is to know more about different diversity initiatives taken by
different organisations working within the same sector. In this context, the another diversity
initiatives adopted by other companies are described as below:
Diversity initiatives adopted by Humana
Humana honoured as a leader in diversity and inclusion. The organisation excels in hiring
diverse talent, creating welcoming environment and communities for employees and contributing
to the society in a meaningful way. There are presently 45900 employees working in the
organisation. In Humana, 61 per cent of managerial and supervisor roles are held by women and
43 per cent of associates are people of colour (Morrisey and Radcliff, 2017). This implied that
majority of workforce in the organisation is diversified. Management is committed to promote
8

diversity at the workplace as it helps them in deriving new and innovative ideas which further
assists in enhancing productivity and profitability of organisation. Company in terms of
profitability comes next after Aetna. With its precise strategies and services provided to the
consumers, it was able to generate a revenue of $53.8 billion in 2017. Top management in their
corporate governance mentioned to follow anti discriminatory behaviour at the workplace and
provide equal opportunities to all employees irrespective of their gender, religion and colour.
This helps management to accomplish the desired goals and objectives of firm. Humana's Chief
Inclusion and Diversity officer state that their vibrant, diverse workforce and inclusive culture at
Humana assists in thriving as a team and inspires others to work every day with full enthusiasm.
Diversity Initiatives adopted by Cigna
Cigna is a global organisation which employs over 35000 people that represent different
cultures, beliefs and values. The management of organisation has taken affirmative approach to
ensure that every employee in the organisation develops appreciation for individual irrespective
of his or her culture, gender and religion. The organisation is committed with enhancing diversity
within the organisation. For this, they have formulated different strategies. The management
provides incentives and rewards to those people who performed efficiently and effectively.
Management further provides platform to diversified people to introduce others about their
culture and traditions. All the festivals are celebrated with full enthusiasm which helps in
enhancing the motivation of employees (Thrift-Perry and Dharssi, 2017). Moreover,
discrepancies in between employees are also solved by negotiation in an harmonious way.
Majority of supervisor’s roles are designated to women and diversified employees. Thus, these
are the few identified strategies and practices adopted by Cigna in order to enhance cultural
diversity within organisation.
Diversity Initiatives adopted by Centene
Centene is a multiline health care enterprise which offers Medicaid managed care and
speciality services. At Centene, the management values the varying viewpoints, backgrounds and
cultural diversity which helps them in sustaining in the competitive environment. Diversity has
been managed precisely within the corporate framework with robust governance and procedures
followed within the firm. Centene currently employ 33700 employees out of which major
proportion of employees are from different backgrounds (Ball, 2017). Supervisor and managerial
position has been occupied by female employees and talented employees. Top management is
9

committed to follow anti-discrimination law within organisation. Moreover, managers provide
equal opportunities to every employee who is talented and skilled. The Diversity Officer is
responsible for handing issues and conflicts in between employees and strict disciplinary actions
are taken against the person who breaks the rules and regulation of the organisation. Thus, by
following these procedures, the management of Centene promotes diversity within organisation.
5. COST/BENEFIT ANALYSIS
Leading organisations like Aetna measures the costs and benefits of investment in
workforce diversity policies for numerous reasons. Firstly, management measure the tendency
for measurement to drive action. Secondly, effective practices require the measurement of costs
and benefits of all forms of investment which includes both tangible and intangible. Thirdly,
from the measurement, management can justify for the continuing use of scarce resources
10
Illustration 2: A Measurement Framework for Diversity
(Source: The Costs and the Costs and benefits of Diversity Benefits of Diversity, 2017)

(Guillaume and et.al., 2017). Eventually, measurement enables managers to learn lessons for
future similar to investments. The benefits will directly reflect upon the cost which invested in
order to improve the diversity within the organisation. The more company invests, the better
results they will obtain. Business managers put extra efforts in order to attain goals and
objectives which they have set and are predetermined. Benefits can be classified into two which
includes short term, medium term and long term improvements. The model approach is based on
existing measurement practices, evidence of costs and benefits as well as modern performance
measurement methods. It helps the organisation to identify benefits obtained by investing in
improving the diversity within the organisation.
It can be understood that Aetna cultural values within organisation becomes more robust.
The reputation of the organisation enhanced which eventually helped in attracting and retaining
highly skilled and talented employees. The motivation and efficiency of staff has been increased
moderately (Lawton and De Aquino, 2015). Furthermore, innovation and creativity skills of
employee increased due to investing in enhancing diversity strategies. Aetna's management is
committed to work redundantly in order to promote diversity within firm. This will help the
management to reduce the employee turnover, absenteeism and also enhanced the overall work
culture of the organisation. Cost and benefits are analysed by the firm periodically in order to
measure the return on investment (Bratton and Gold, 2012). This is essential and important as it
provides the manager information regarding the practices are best to improve the diversity within
organisation.
In order to sustain in the competitive environment and increase the goodwill of brand, it
is important for the management to focus on promoting diversity within the organisation.
Diversity refers to different people working together in a collective and collaborative manner so
that organisational goals and objectives can be accomplished. It has become important for the
management to focus on developing genuine and harmonious relationship in between employees.
By following this, management could establish positive corporate culture within company. In the
present era, due to increase in organisations and ventures, employees have ample of
opportunities to switch jobs and acquire a new one (Kim, Lee and Kim, 2015). This increases the
attrition rates in organisation and hampers its profitability and productivity. In order to retain the
employees, management needs to put extra efforts and recognise abilities of workers.
Furthermore, they have to provide equal opportunities to employees irrespective of their
11

background or gender. These are the strategies which can be implemented within the
organisation in order to enhance the diversity at workplace. Diversity at work place is as bec
significance for the organisations. It provides the firms with loads of opportunities to grow and
innovate as different minds work together in a collective manner producing productive ideas that
lead s the orgaon towards growth and development. To gain the market share, firms often deploy
new strategies which helps in enhancing the producty and profitability of the organion.
Diversified workforce came up with different innovative ideas which helps the firm to
grow and thrive. This further enhanced the corporate culture and reduces the conflicts and
disputes in the company. Aetna is one of the leading diversified health care organisations
providing effective services to more than 37 million people. Aetna provides a wide range of
consumers directed health insurance services and related products which include dental,
pharmacy, group life, disability plans and behavioural health along with management capabilities
and health care management services for medical plans (Kim, Lee and Kim, 2015). Management
is committed to promote diversity and inclusion at workplace. They follow distinct strategies and
empower employees so that their morale and motivation can be increased. This is considered to
be a good practice especially in the present competitive environment. Attracting and retaining
employees has become one of the most hectic challenges to the organisations. In order to
enhance the attraction and retention, management must follow precise laws, anti-discrimination,
equal treatment, etc. so that employee’s sense of belongingness and loyalty can be increased.
6. EVALUATING THE EXISTING AND POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF
“THE AETNA WAY”
There have been various challenges and critical situations faced by Aetna while moving
on the way to success and achievement of goals. Company faced financial crisis in the year 2008
due to recession. According to third quarter 2008 the outcomes are as below -
 Net income was $0.58 per share. It was reduced by 39% over the previous year quarter
and this was due to the net realised capital losses.
 Operating earnings were $1.12 per share, a 15% increment over the previous year quarter.
 Guidance: Full-year 2008 operating earnings per share were proposed to be $3.90 to
$3.95.
12

 Revenues, excluding net realized capital losses, enhanced 14 percent to $8 billion for the
third quarter of 2008, as compared with $7 billion for the third quarter of 2007. The
growth in third quarter revenue reflects a 16 percent increment in premiums and 8 %
increment in fees and other revenue.
Existing and potential benefits
Employees in Aetna live by a set of core values called as Aetna way which put people
using company's services at the core of each and everything it does. While organisation results
are essential, senior managers in Aetna believe that how the organisation obtain those outcomes,
Aetna's existing values and principles are the potential of company. These values are clients
centric in nature and revolve around the customers of Aetna. The various core values of company
can be described as below: Integrity – To do the right for a right purpose, behave ethically and honour commitment Employee engagement – Lead people to value diversity, success & build pride and
confidence in the company. Employee engagement is an important element that assist in
developing new ideas and increasing performance of the organisation. Accountability and excellence –Generating fair profit, anticipate & innovate future,
listen, observe and learn.
 Value and quality service – Eliminate hassles, make it easy and make Aetna the
standards by which other companies are judged, build trusting and valued relationships
with each and every constituents. The value and quality of services or products offered by
an organisation plays a major role in attracting more customers and developing a good
market position.
Aetna’s business outcomes are amazing. Its market value is rising from $3.3 billion when
the present-day CEO took over in 2001 to more than $29 billion in 2008. Aetna’s net income
increased from a loss of $291.5 million in 2001 to more than $1.8 billion in the year 2007.
Doubtless, much of the turnaround in business results can be traced to a more focused business
strategy, but at the same time, CEO made diversity is a key business imperative (Shafritz, Ott
and Jang, 2015).
13

7. RECOMMENDATIONS
To enhance the diversity at workplace, it is essential and important for management of
Aetna to formulate mitigation strategies and plans which can help them in obliterating the
identified challenges. In order to enhance effectiveness within Aetna health-care centre, it is
essential for management and employees to work up on. In this context, recommendations and
solution to eliminate = diversity issues are as follows:
Providing education to employees about how stereotypes work
When employees recognize the work of stereotypes, they tend to scrutinize their own
decision making carefully that tends to break the tendency to use stereotypes. Gender bias is the
most common issue that any small, medium and large organisation can face. It can tarnish the
14
Illustration 3: Aetna Way
(Source: Aetna way, 2017)

overall reputation of the organisation and can affects productivity and profitability of company
(Schaltegger and Wagner, 2017). As Aetna is a large health care insurance company which
provides coverage to large number of people thus, it is essential for them to focus on eliminating
gender inequality within corporation. From the case, it was identified that maximum number of
employees in Aetna were female employees. Thus, it is essential for management to focus on the
needs and expectations of female employees and also put close monitoring and supervision so
that their motivation and morale can be enhanced effectively and efficiently. It can be suggested
that female employees working at Aetna must be treated fairly. Anti-discrimination act and
equality act must be followed in Aetna so that its goodwill can be increased.
Diversity training
Conflicts arise when there is lack of acceptance of culture diversity and beliefs among
employees. Every organisation faced these kinds of situations frequently. Employee’s
discrepancies, unhealthy relations between diversified employees and non-diversified employees,
etc. are the issues can affect growth and development of organisation and further, it degrades the
overall reputation of company (Shafritz, Ott and Jang, 2015). In order to eradicate the issue,
management at Aetna must provide diversity training to employees as well as employers.
Diversity training will help employees to understand, accept and respect each other’s differences.
It must be provided under the supervision of diversity officer of Aetna. Thus, it is strongly
recommended to the management at Aetna to provide diversity training to employees. This
enhances the interpersonal relationship in between employees and they will be able to understand
each other.
Cultural sensitivities training and diversity awareness
In an organisation, some individuals hold prejudice against the people who have different
ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds as their own. This hampers the interpersonal
relationship within the organisation and affects reputation of company. In order to erode this
issue, management at Aetna must provide cultural sensitivity training and diversity awareness
programs at workplace that can help to address this issue. Cultural sensitivity training would help
in eradicating prejudices amongst workers and allow them in enhancing their relations with other
employees at the workplace (Tingle, 2017). This further cultivates the positive corporate culture
within organisation and leads it towards growth and development. Thus, it is recommended to
15

the management of Aetna to provide cultural sensitivity training and promote diversity by
conducting group meetings, team activities, etc. in organisation.
Ensuring fair and comfortable work environment
Disabled employees often have a difficult time navigating through their workplace
because of lack of proper accommodations. Organisations must consider to provide basic
accommodations to the disabled person. For instance: by constructing ramps for wheelchairs,
developing restrooms for disabled employees, etc. This can enhance the motivation of these
entities and they will give their full contribution so that organizational goals and objectives can
be effectually accomplished (Bratton and Gold, 2012). Thus, in this context, it is being advised
to the management of Aetna to ensure that employees are provided with fair and comfortable
work environment for employees with physical and mental disabilities which help in developing
successful diverse workforce.
Appreciating every view point
Many a times, cases are found in the organisation where managers deliberately avoid
suggestions or advice which come from different employees. These practices can hamper the
relationship and degrade motivation of employees. Thus, this eventually restricts the growth and
development of organisation (Doykos, Gray-Akpa and Mitchell, 2016). In order to obliterate the
issue, management at Aetna must appreciate every view point of employees and also provide
them a platform where they can independently share new ideas to expand the venture. Thus, it is
recommended to management to follow such practices which help in the growth and
development of organisation effectively and efficiently.
Focusing on similarities rather than difference
In order to obliterate generational gap issues at Aetna, management needs to concentrate
on the similarities of thoughts rather than differences. New people have skills and old have
experience. Management needs to combine both elements in order to raise the effectiveness in
quality of work. In order to sustain in the competitive environment, it is essential that all
employees within organisation work in a team. Seniors must respect the thoughts of juniors and
juniors must obey the seniors. By working collaboratively and collectively, management at
Aetna could be able to achieve its diversity goals and objectives. Juniors must ask questions or
doubts rather than making statements (Balter, Chow and Jin, 2014). They should not argue with
the seniors as it can be harmful for their career. Aetna’s management prefers to have harmonious
16

environment throughout their corporation and to achieve them, it is recommended to the
management to reduce the discrepancies in between subordinates and superiors. Managers at
Aetna can conduct team activities in order to enhance the relationship between junior and senior
employees.
Promoting appreciation of cultural differences
In order to obliterate these issues, management needs to conduct activities and
programmes where diversified employees got an opportunity to represent themselves as well as
their culture so that their motivation can be enhanced effectively and efficiently. This will not
only promote socialisation but it will also provide each person the opportunity to learn about and
appreciate one another's culture. Management at Aetna can also invite their employees where
they can write feature article in newsletter or internal communication about a particular culture.
Ethical and cultural differences within organisation is not a good signal for organisational image.
In the present era, many big corporations like Microsoft, Apple and Google prefer to have
diversified workforce so that share of culture, thoughts and ideas can be proliferated effectively
and efficiently.
Aetna as a large healthcare benefit organisation which employs over 35000 employees
includes both diversified and local employees who face issues regarding ethical and cultural
differences (Shadid, 2018). In order to obliterate these issues, management needs to conduct
activities and programmes where diversified employees got an opportunity to represent
themselves as well as their culture so that their motivation can be enhanced effectively and
efficiently. This will not only promote socialisation but it will also provide each person the
opportunity to learn about and appreciate one another's culture. Management at Aetna can also
invite their employees where they can write feature article in newsletter or internal
communication about a particular culture. Thus, it is recommended to the management of Aetna
to focus on the promoting cultural equality within the company or business so that growth and
development of organisation can take place.
Negotiation
The best way to reduce and eliminate conflicts within workplace is negotiation.
Negotiation is the process of achieving agreement through discussion. Conflicts can degrade
overall reputation of organisation and in order to sustain in the competitive environment, it is
essential for the management to focus on developing brand image and reputation. To do so, they
17

have to eliminate the frequent conflicts and disputes that occurred within an organisation.
Negotiation is considered to be the best way to eliminate disputes and conflicts within the
organisation. It is the duty and responsibility of top management to conduct meetings and call
disputed parties or employees in order to negotiate with them and solve their problems as well as
disputes. Agreement can be formulated and documented for the future purpose. In this manner,
diversity within organisation can be proliferated effectively and efficiently. Thus, it is
recommended to the management of Aetna to negotiate with disputed employees so that peace
and harmony can be maintained in organisation and diversity within company can be flourished
efficiently (Kilbourne, 2017). Managers at Aetna can call the disputed parties in the meeting and
negotiate with them peacefully. Managers first listen to the demands of employees and then put
forward their views regarding it. This will help in eliminating the conflicts in a peaceful manner.
Improving flow of communication
Communication distortions can affect the organisational productivity and performance of
employees. Miscommunication can lead to the conflicts and disputes. The management of Aetna
must develop precise communication plan and restricts unhealthy communicating at workplace
which could ignite conflicts at work. In this manner, management would be able to enhance
diversity at the workplace.
Workforce development
In this regard, Aetna can be advised to redesign its salary structure, incentives and others
benefit and promotional opportunities must be given to members on the basis of their
performance. It will create a positive competition among workers in which everyone feels
motivated and work with greater efficiency to get promotion and growth (Westrenius and
Barnes, 2015). Thus, some newly hired candidates, more importantly, youngsters feel that they
worked with better efficiency than others did. Still, their performance is not recognized by
standardized pay structure and existing reward mechanism. Some employees are concerned
about employability and desire their formal recognition for output, efficiency, effectiveness and
contribution to business goal. As a result, they are looking for other employment opportunities in
which companies recognise their worker’s skills and efforts. It is the key concern for Aetna as
due to such prevalence, firm already lost a sizeable staff number who switched off to other
localized call centres which respect employee’s contribution, offer opportunities for professional
development and have a better career prospectus. Thus, the problem can be resolved only by
18

providing good growth opportunities to the staff members so that they can be motivated to work
with company for prolonged period. It includes career development, promotion and other
opportunities which will help in retaining talented people with the firm for a long-lasting period.
Some effective measures are needed to be taken by Aetna to retain the best talents as a foremost
priority. For this purpose, Aetna is required to enforce some effective measures in its hiring
policies to recruit technical people with a professional attitude towards work. Apart from this,
maintaining a disciplined approach towards as a way of ensuring successful attainment of
business objectives is referred to other beneficial measure. Poor management of work found to
be yet another concerning matter at workplace of Aetna where they are suggested to adopt a
long-term approach of thinking by together communicating the same to workers. It is to handle
any such difficult situation at work where the individuals should be encouraged more rigorously
by adopting practices of benefiting them through rewards, etc. (Baxter, 2016).
Further, in order to improve the performance of employees, it is being recommended to
the management of Aetna to improve their performance appraisal and management approaches.
This will provide effective benefits and support to them as well as also generate maximum
employee satisfaction. It should be done with a key aspect of building healthy relationship
among the workers belonging to different cultural backgrounds where each one of them tends to
respect each other’s distinct socio- cultural beliefs. Finally, issues relating to staff monitoring has
been found to be a concerning matter in Aetna that in turn necessitates them to undertake some
effective conflict management strategies incorporated with some tactical measures to resolve any
disruptive setting at work. This needs to undertake effective measures for coaching employees
with a constant monitoring of staff’s progress (Rice, 2015).
Besides this, performance management is a key concern for Aetna and a reason of
workers dissatisfaction. Therefore, it seems necessary for company to design a structured and
well appraisal system where candidate’s salary is increased considering their performance and
relationship with other colleagues, punctuality, productivity, attendance as well as behaviour
with clients and others. It encourages positive competition among all the staff members in which
everyone will give their best to get promotion and other opportunities as well as contribute
towards achievement of defined goals.
19

CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be understood that diversity at workplace is important and
essential which helps in enhancing the performance and quality of work within organisation.
This study discussed about the diversity issues occurred in Aetna Healthcare. Issues such as
communication, ethical differences, gender issues etc. were discovered in the case study of
Aetna. The solutions have been provided and recommendations have been given to management
which could help in enhancing diversity at the workplace. Hereby, it can be concluded that
management issues may be resolved by Aetna so that it may prosper it’s functioning and
working in long run. This is important as it is facing resistance from employees because they are
not leaving their comfort zone. This has led to inefficiency in the overall productivity of firm.
Aetna is facing much management related problems and difficulties which should be
resolved as soon as possible so that it may recreate its lost reputation. It also needs to focus on
employee’s development because workers are required to fulfil their duties in accordance with
their skills and talents in an effectual manner. This is essential as poor management is a serious
issue and it may lead to employee leaving the organisation. The management related to solving
disputes is much important as employee’s conflicts need to be resolved. It is required to be
resolved so that healthy environment at workplace can be attainedeff
20

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ball, C., 2017. US Presidential Mandate on Value-Based Drug Pricing–Moonshot or
Wormhole?. Redefining Drug Development, p.35.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2012. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave
Macmillan.
JWinkler, M. and Marshall, E., 2017. Creating and shaping the organizational environment and
culture to support practice excellence. Transformational leadership in nursing: From
expert clinician to influential leader, pp.247-267.
Morrisey, M.A. and et.al., 2017. Five‐State Study of ACA Marketplace Competition: A
Summary Report. Risk Management and Insurance Review, 20(2), pp.153-172.
Morrisey, M.A. and Radcliff, T.A., 2017. A Study of Affordable Care Act Competitiveness in
Texas. Risk Management and Insurance Review.
Schaltegger, S. and Wagner, M. eds., 2017. Managing the business case for sustainability: The
integration of social, environmental and economic performance. Routledge.
Shadid, W.K., 2018. A framework for managing organizations in complex
environments. Construction Management and Economics, 36(4), pp.182-202.
Shafritz, J.M., Ott, J.S. and Jang, Y.S., 2015. Classics of organization theory. Cengage Learning.
Thrift-Perry, M. and Dharssi, S., 2017. Identification and critical analysis of metastatic breast
cancer policies to advance access to care and treatment in Europe: Research methodology
and approaches used to survey the current policy environment. European Journal of
Cancer, 72, pp.S120-S121.
Werner, J. and DeSimone, R., 2011. Human Resource Development. Cengage Learning.
Westrenius, A. and Barnes, L., 2015. Managing complex business relationships: Small business
and stakeholder salience. The Journal of Developing Areas, 49(6), pp.481-488.
Rice, M.F., 2015. Diversity and public administration. ME Sharpe.
Balter, R., Chow, J. and Jin, Y., 2014. What diversity metrics are best used to track and improve
employee diversity?.
Doykos, P., Gray-Akpa, K. and Mitchell, F., 2016. New directions for foundations in health
equity.
Tingle, B.C., 2017. What is Corporate Governance-Can We Measure It-Can Investment
Fiduciaries Rely on it. Queen's LJ, 43, p.223.
21

Guillaume, Y.R. and et.al., 2017. Harnessing demographic differences in organizations: What
moderates the effects of workplace diversity?. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38(2),
pp.276-303.
Lawton, D.S. and De Aquino, C.T.E., 2015. DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE AND THE
IMPACT OF WORK VALUES ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MULTI-
GENERATIONAL TEAMS. Journal on Management, 10(3).
Kim, H.K., Lee, U.H. and Kim, Y.H., 2015. The effect of workplace diversity management in a
highly male-dominated culture. Career Development International, 20(3), pp.259-272.
Online
Aetna way. 2017. [Online]. Available through: <https://my.aetna.com/>.
Aetna's diversity strategy. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<www.aetna.com/members/health_coverage/.../QMsummaryaetnacom052009.pdf>.
Baxter, J., 2016. 7 Tips to Manage a Diverse Workforce. [Online] Available through:
<https://talentculture.com/7-tips-to-manage-a-diverse-workforce/>.
Kilbourne, C., 2017. 5 Steps for Successfully Managing Diversity. [Online] Available through:
<http://ehsdailyadvisor.blr.com/2010/07/5-steps-for-successfully-managing-diversity/>
22