HRM 301: Cloud Development Company's Affinity Group Policy Changes

This assignment is a response to a scenario at Cloud Development Company, addressing new policies regarding affinity groups. The solution outlines a communication from the company to all employees, detailing changes to the formation and management of these groups. Key changes include voluntary membership, open participation for all employees regardless of background, and the establishment of clear guidelines. The document emphasizes the importance of these changes for fostering diversity, inclusion, and employee satisfaction, ultimately aiming to improve productivity, enhance customer relations, and maintain a competitive advantage in the software industry. The assignment references several sources to support the rationale behind these changes, highlighting the benefits for both the company and its employees.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 1
Human Resource Management
Student’s Name
Institution

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 2
To: All Employees
From: Cloud Development Company
Subject: Decisions Regarding Affinity Groups
This email has been written to all the employees across every department of Software
Development Company on the new changes that will be implemented regarding affinity groups
in our firm. As an organization, we must begin forming our affinity groups voluntarily. The
management and top executive of Cloud Development Company should move from forming
affinity groups through dictatorship. New legal recommendations will be implemented in the
company to improve the way of handling affinity groups.
From today henceforth, affinity groups will be established from individual worker
membership and involvement within the organization. As an organization, it is high time that we
move away from the old ways of forming affinity groups and do it internally since such groups
are voluntary and therefore should not be established through dictatorship (Myers et al. 2019).
Among the new changes regarding this matter, every meeting and activity of affinity groups will
be open to every employee of Cloud Development Company. Meetings and events of these
groups will be open to all the members of the staff and not just those employees from similar
race, gender, color, age, and also nationality. This is because we all belong to the same company
and are expected to collaborate towards the success and overall growth of our organization
(Briscoe & Safford, 2015).
As a company, we will establish clear criteria and documented policies and guidelines
for creating and recognizing affinity groups. To ensure that this change is successful, the
company through the Human Resource should refrain from formally keeping track workers’

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 3
involvement in Affinity groups, and their participation should not be part of an employee
performance evaluation. These decisions are critical to the company since the focus of affinity
groups must have a clear business objective, for instance, positive public reputation or image,
productivity, customer relations, and employee collaboration. There are several reasons why
these changes must be implemented in our organization.
Affinity groups will promote continuous deployment due to the development of new
features hence customers cannot be inconvenienced as it allows greater business agility due to
software resilience since the micro-service architecture is enabled. Therefore, this will enhance
revenue for the company as delighted customers will help in marketing, thus allowing the
company to have a more significant stake in the marketplace. Through developing and deploying
applications faster and monetizing, it helps increase revenue with less cost of operating. Also,
affinity groups will support us as a company in implementing changes and improvements as it
recognizes benefits for both employers and employees such as attracting, retaining and recruiting
of employees, promotion of diversity on matters regarding culture and an inclusive working
environment for all while increasing job satisfaction for employees, morale and our productivity
(Mor Barak, 2015).
As a software firm, recognizing and promoting affinity groups will help us remain at the
top of our competitors. This will be achieved through the creation of a broad network for
individuals and meeting new mentors who help us as an organization to grow and expand
(Welbourne, Rolf, & Schlachter, 2015). This is because of sharing new knowledge and skills
from people from diverse cultures. The ultimate result of this is able as a company to compete
favorably with other software companies, thus gaining a competitive advantage.

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References
Briscoe, F., & Safford, S. (2015). Employee Affinity Groups: Their Evolution from Social
Movement Vehicle to Employer Strategies. Members-only Library, 14(1-2).
Mor Barak, M. E. (2015). Inclusion is the key to diversity management, but what is
inclusion?. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership &
Governance, 39(2), 83-88.
Myers, K., Trull, L. H., Bryson, B. J., & Yeom, H. S. (2019). Affinity Groups: Redefining Brave
Spaces. Journal of Baccalaureate Social Work, 24(1), 1-18.
Welbourne, T. M., Rolf, S., & Schlachter, S. (2015, September). ‘Employee Resource Groups:
An Introduction, Review and Research Agenda’. In Academy of Management
Proceedings (Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 15661-1594). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of
Management.