Analysis of BlackRock's Diversity and Inclusion Strategy Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of BlackRock's diversity and inclusion (D&I) strategies. It begins with an overview of the company's history and operations, emphasizing its global reach and commitment to eliminating discrimination and promoting equality. The report delves into the company's culture, assessing the value of D&I initiatives and exploring the benefits of a diverse workplace. Key findings include an examination of the Women's Initiative Network (WIN) and other strategies designed to foster inclusion. The discussion section identifies major issues such as talent management, hiring practices, and the need for manager training. The analysis draws on relevant theories to understand the challenges and proposes solutions, including improved hiring processes, training programs, and addressing gender-related barriers. The report concludes with recommendations and a summary of the proposed solutions, emphasizing the importance of D&I for BlackRock's success in a competitive market.

MANAGING HUMAN CAPITAL

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Executive summary
In this report, different diversity and inclusion strategy of BlackRock Inc is discussed. A brief
overview of the company is given that contains details about its history and operations. This
is a global firm that has devised this strategy for eliminating discrimination and maintaining
equality. Detailed analysis of company culture and D&I strategies are done in this findings
section of this report. Moreover, value provided by these strategies to the company is
discussed in detail. Different issues regarding human capital management are discussed and
analyzed properly with the help of relevant theories. Different problems are described in a
proper way. Relevant solutions are proposed with costs and other requirements.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................4
2. Findings..................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Company overview...........................................................................................................4
2.1.1 Overview of the diversity and inclusion (D&I) of BlackRock..................................4
2.1.2 Culture of the company..............................................................................................5
2.1.3 Assessment of the value of D& I to BlackRock........................................................6
4. Discussion..............................................................................................................................6
4.1 Overview of major issues of the company.......................................................................6
4.2. Analysis of issues............................................................................................................8
4.3. Identification of problems...............................................................................................9
4.4. Possible solutions..........................................................................................................11
5. Summary of recommendations.............................................................................................14
6. Conclusion............................................................................................................................14
Reference list............................................................................................................................16

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1. Introduction
Diversity and inclusion (D&I) are essential factors in an organization, which helps in creating
a good work environment. Diversity can be defined as differences in various factors that
include sex, ethnicity, status, and race. While, inclusion can be defined as the achievement of
a work environment, where all staff is treated fairly and equally. Moreover, they are provided
with an equal chance of achieving opportunities and resources. Diversity and inclusion help a
firm to gain success in competitive and global market. In this report, D&I issues of
BlackRock have been discussed and potential solutions to problems are provided on the basis
of priority.
2. Findings
2.1 Company overview
In 1988, BlackRock Inc was founded, which was then known as Blackstone financial
management (BlackRock 2019). They offer financial services to customers and operate
globally. In 1995 this firm purchased PNC financial services and later in 2009 they acquired
Barclay’s global investors, which is a British multinational bank.
2.1.1 Overview of the diversity and inclusion (D&I) of BlackRock
BlackRock has experienced quick growth due to acquisition of diversity and inclusion. This
organization has focused on all related aspects of D & I to maintain constant and quick
growth of the business. However, it was difficult for the leaders to maintain D & I
effectively. In 2009, it has been proposed to form Women's Initiative Network (WIN) at
BlackRock. Women leaders have been initiated to take responsibility for establishing the
WIN organization within BlackRock. This kind of approach is potent to influence other
women to join this company and deliver their best performance (Frank and kalev 2019). On
the other hand, it can be easier for BlackRock to maintain workplace diversity. After merger
of BlackRock and BGI, certain changes have been found. In past, BlackRock was having

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only one network. After this merger, they became able to have multiple networks in different
major offices. These networks are leading by senior female employees. WIN organization of
this company not only focuses on the female employees but also, has included male
employees for making strong and diverse workplace. After evaluating the D & I metrics of
this company, effective strategies have been formed and implemented to articulate the
business case. However, leaders of this company have faced challenges of encouraging both
male and female employees to contribute equally to achieve the business goals.
D & I within the workplace has many benefits and it is challenging as well. It allows us to
foster innovation and helps leaders in inspiring creativity. It can help in attracting and
retaining the best talents free from all kinds of biases (Noe et al. 2017). Workplace
discrimination can be reduced with an effective D & I strategy. Challenges of maintaining D
& I included non-cooperation from a few employees to respect others' cultures. It can be
difficult to face negative cultural stereotypes and different workplace etiquettes of people
within the workplace.
The D & I of the BlackRock are valuable as it is the key to their success. A diverse workplace
and good professional bonding between employees are helping this firm to meet expectations
of its customers.
2.1.2 Culture of the company
BlackRock is dedicated to a collaborative and inclusive culture. They want to create an
inclusive environment for all the employees covering the whole spectrum of diversity
(Audenaert et al. 2019, 823). This firm has around 15000 employees who speak more than
100 languages and they have millions of customers from different parts of the world. Hence,
maintaining diversity and inclusion is an essential part of their culture. They have developed
through acquiring and purchasing other companies like BGI. Factors of organizational culture

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such as WIN organization and out networking have helped in supporting integration between
the two firms.
2.1.3 Assessment of the value of D& I to BlackRock
BlackRock has taken different D& I initiatives like multicultural network. This network was
established in 2013in this firm, which is comprised of employees who identified as ethnically
diverse. This can help a firm to provide service to a diverse range of customers all over the
world (Downey et al. 2015, 40). This D&I initiative were taken by BlackRock for fostering
diversity in the organizational culture and promoting a staff population, which resembles the
client population. Moreover, the WIN organization is also a diversity strategy that has
increased the number of women representatives in different positions of the company. This
has helped women employees of the firm to get connected over a common issue. They have
supportive policies for LGBT and other employees, which has helped them to gain higher
productivity, higher firm value and low turnover of employees. Retaining talents can help an
organization to gain a competitive advantage (Lu et al. 2015, 860).
4. Discussion
4.1 Overview of major issues of the company
BlackRock has formulated different strategies for managing diversity in the organization.
However, they are facing the issue of talent management. Without proper talent
management systems, human resources cannot be utilized properly. According to Cloutier et
al. (2015), it is essential for a firm to have a proper talent management system, which enables
them to acquire talent and utilize their expertise to increase productivity. As BlackRock
expanded through the process of acquisition and purchasing, hence they have a vast number
of employees. Managing this large pool of employees is a big concern for them. Employees
in this organization perform different activities, which helps in achieving trust and loyalty of
customers. As this is a customer-oriented firm, hence it is essential to provide the proper

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service. Managing talent can identify and mitigate gaps in performance, which can help to
increase firm's productivity.
Another issue is regarding practice and behavior of the organization. This firm has no
proper entry-level hiring process. This can impact on HR behavior and diversity cannot be
achieved. Proper strategies and policies of hiring can guide the recruiting team properly and
they can operate without any biases or discrimination. Proper practice and behavior can help
to increase engagement and employees can perform enthusiastically (Hsiao et al. 2015, 108).
As this firm operates in many countries, therefore it is essential to have similar policies that
eliminate any chances of biases. However, this requires proper education of policymakers
regarding culture of different regions where the firm operates.
One of the most essential issues of this firm is training program organization for
managers. This is a vital issue because, without proper training, skills of managers cannot be
developed to manage the large pool of staff. Moreover, lack of training can hamper job
satisfaction of employees. Diversity and inclusion can be maintained if managers treat
subordinates equally and spread awareness about the need for diversity in the organization.
However, in this company, there are no such resources or infrastructure to provide proper
training to managers. The human capital committee of this organization is responsible for
establishing infrastructure regarding training properly.
Another essential issue is the reluctance of women to get hired for a certain shift. D&I
managers face this issue as women did not get hired for late-night shifts due to traditional
stereotypes of society. This thinking has created a barrier for them to join a job for late-night
shifts. However, this old and bad social stigma can impact on D & I initiative of this
company. On the other hand, it is essential for managers to create a good work environment
where both organizational goals and employee goals are achieved (Han and Beyerlein, 2016,
364). Hence, it is essential for D&I managers bring flexibility and mitigate this issue.

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4.2. Analysis of issues
Different issues of BlackRock are preventing this organization to manage D & I effectively.
It is important to solve these issues as quickly as possible to manage diverse workforce.
Adherence to relevant theories can help BlackRock to analyze the identified issues
effectively. One of the main issues of BlackRock is about managing talent within the
workplace and this issue can cause poor performance of this firm. Leaders of this
organization must take initiatives to manage talent within the firm to ensure constant growth
of this business. According to the resource-based theory, implementation of diversity in the
workplace affects the resources of the company. This theory has defined employees as a
valuable resource (Ellemers et al. 2016, 50). For gaining competitive advantage,
organizations must manage and retain talents. BlackRock needs to arrange training programs
to improve performance of its employees. Tasks must be distributed based on capability and
experience of employees. Lack of performance monitoring is one of the major causes of this
issue in BlackRock.
This firm is facing issues regarding poor behavior and practice of the organization to hire
talented employees. Lack of an effective hiring process is preventing this company to deliver
the best service to their customers. According to the strategic contingency theory, people
must be assessed based on their ability to solve problems. During the recruitment process, HR
manager of BlackRock can state a situation and ask candidates to solve the problem
mentioned in this situation. According to Selvaraj (2015, 17), people with lesser
qualifications, sometimes, solve problems more efficiently than others. A policy can be
formed with this viewpoint to solve this issue within the BlackRock.
This company does not train managers of different levels and self-development of
managers is being prevented due to this reason. It is important to arrange regular workshops
for managers to encourage them to improve professional and personal skills. This aspect can

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help managers to deal with diverse workforce and guide them to deliver their best
performance. According to Syed et al. (2015), the workshops of managers must be focused
on Fayol’s 14 principles of management. Activities of the workshop must be focused on
these 14 principles to make manager more efficient. On the other hand, lack of training of
managers is causing loss of managerial control over business operations. As a result, this firm
can fail to manage employees from different countries of the world and cultural differences
can rule the workplace culture.
This company is taking initiatives to influence women to join this firm for maintaining a
diverse workplace. They are ensuring equal treatment for both male and female employees.
However, it has been seen that many female candidates are showing less interest to be
hired by this company in certain shifts. As mentioned by Barak et al. (2016, 813), due to
social barriers and negative stereotypes, many women fail to work in night shifts and this
aspect has become a barrier of the BlackRock to provide opportunity to female candidates to
be a part of this company. Argyris’s theory postulates that management can change their
practices to influence female employees to transform into a mature individual. As stated by
Bernstein et al. (2019, 12), this theory has mentioned about seven main changes in human
nature that can help to think maturely than others. Female employees can be motivated to
think maturely and take their profession more seriously. This company needs to include
female employees into the hiring group to motivate talented female candidates to join this
company.
4.3. Identification of problems
BlackRock is a large multinational firm, which has a unique business expansion strategy of
an acquisition. Previously they have merged with various companies like BGI. Mismatching
of culture is a great problem that they have faced and will face in the future. This problem
occurs due to difference in culture and employees face problems during this situation. They

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find it difficult to cope with this environment (Bendl et al. 2015). It can be seen that BGI had
an academic culture, while BlackRock was streetfighters. Moreover, BlackRock adopted
fundamental investing while BGI has adopted quant investing. Merging and acquisition led
create different problems for employees that reduce job satisfaction. The reconciliation of
structure and culture increases anxiety of employees. Moreover, Benschop et al. (2015, 140)
stated that employees find it difficult to adjust to the changing environment. As this firm,
adopted this strategy for business expansion, hence they must have a proper solution to
mitigate this problem. Stress and anxiety regarding compensation and job satisfaction can
create a barrier to conduct inclusive practices.
It is a great problem for BlackRock to create a balance regarding needs of anyone country
while maintaining an overall sense of oneness in the organization. This is a multinational
firm, which consists of employees and customers from different regions and countries one
BlackRock is the name of a key principle of this company. This means that this company is
very coordinated. For maintaining the inclusiveness of the firm, it is necessary for this
organization to meet different needs of employees and customers from different regions.
People from different regions may have some specific cultural beliefs and values
(Scarborough et al. 2019, 194). This firm needs to provide solutions to meet those needs in
one hand and on another hand they must maintain oneness of the company. Hence, diversity
and inclusiveness can be maintained, which can help to provide a competitive advantage to
this organization.
Maintaining D & I efforts in the whole firm is a great problem for this company, without
any proper infrastructure. Previously it was discussed that lack of training for managers is an
issue for this company. This is due to improper infrastructure and resources. Lack of training
of managers hampers the D&I efforts as awareness regarding diversity and discrimination
cannot be spread properly. This company operates in near about 30 countries, therefore it is

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difficult to consider cultural norms of every country and maintaining D&I efforts. It is
essential for the company to have a central system that can spread awareness about diversity
and different inclusive schemes of this company (Han et al. 2016, 51). This includes
compensation for employees, equal chance for all, gender diversity and others. Thus, policies
of D&I needs to be spread evenly without which equality cannot be maintained in this firm
that can create long term problems and impact on competitiveness of this firm.
Management of these problems can help this firm to maintain diversity among employees and
conduct inclusive practices in the whole organization. If these problems persist, then this can
lower the satisfaction level of employees, which can lead to employee turnover.
4.4. Possible solutions
Identified problems must be solved on immediate ground for maintaining continuous growth
of the company. Before searching for solutions, it is important to prioritize the problems
according to their importance and intensity (Frank and Kalev 2019). Following solutions are
potent enough to help the BlackRock to solve their business problems,
a. Solutions to maintain D & I effect within the entire organization
It is important to develop workforce infrastructure to maintain D & I effect within the
entire organization. Managers and leaders of this organization do not get opportunity to self-
development and this aspect has become one of the main barriers behind the problem of
maintaining the D & I effect. This organization is currently operating its business in more
than 30 countries. Development of infrastructure to arrange workshops for leaders and
managers can help this organization to mitigate this main problem of their business. On the
other hand, this company needs to attract and retain different talents during implementing this
solution. Following table is showing the activities associated with the implementation of this
strategy and require costs,
Activities Cost (S$)

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Research about the needs of infrastructure 200
Conducting meeting with managers and
leaders
100
Conducting meeting with employees 100
Creating a robust talent pipeline with the
help of all stakeholders
50
Training managers and leaders of all levels 250
Total 700
b. Solution to the problem of mismatching culture
After merging with BGI, BlackRock is facing the problem of dealing with employees from
two different cultures. BGI employees are comfortable with academic culture. However, the
employees of BlackRock are comfortable with street fighting culture. Due to the sudden
merger decision, these employees are facing stress and anxiety. It is affecting their
performance. Talent management and establishment of two-way communication are
potential solutions to this problem. As suggested by Guillaume et al. (2017), managers and
leaders must communicate with employees to understand their basic needs, problems, and
point of view. This aspect may help in implementing effective practices to enhance job
satisfaction in employees. On the other hand, talent management can help this company to
help employees to deliver their best performance through working collaboratively with
people from all cultural backgrounds. The following table indicates the actions of the cost of
implementing this solution,

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Activities Cost (S$)
Meeting with employees 100
Arranging training programs 300
Assessing performance of employees after
training
50
Total 450
c. Solution to the problem of maintaining oneness of the company
Maintaining values for the cultural belief of particular region is the potential solution to
mitigate this problem. As this company is operating its business in many overseas countries,
it must be difficult for them to maintain the oneness of the company. It is important to
understand the cultural background of employees and customers of different regions and
provide values. Training managers and employees are required for implementing this solution
into practice. The following table indicates the required action and cost of implementing this
solution,
Activities Cost (S$)
Research about cultural beliefs of different
marketplace
150
Training managers about respecting
different cultures
100
Training employees about respecting
different cultures
100

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Changing policy and practices as per
cultural beliefs of particular operating areas
150
Total 500
5. Summary of recommendations
The above-mentioned recommendations can help the BlackRock to get rid of their business
problems. Developing workforce infrastructure can help this firm to maintain the effect of D
& I within the entire organization. On the other hand, talent management can help to mitigate
the problem of mismatching culture due to merger. Developing values for different cultures
of different regions can help this organization to maintain the oneness of the company. All of
these solutions are cost-effective and can be implemented within minimum time within the
BlackRock.
6. Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that a multinational organization needs to
confront different issues like employee management. Proper talent management is necessary
to increase job satisfaction of employees. Management must communicate with employees
to understand their needs and problems for mitigating the problem of mismatching culture.
Moreover, different problems like maintaining D&I efforts whole operating in different
countries must be mitigated through development of infrastructure. It is essential for this
company to maintain values for cultural beliefs of a particular region while maintaining
oneness of the company. This can be done through proper evaluation of needs. Collection of
resources like costs and skilled managers is essential for implementing the recommendations
properly.

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