Analysis of Diversity Management at Aetna in Complex Business Contexts

This report examines the diversity challenges faced by Aetna, a leading health benefit company in the United States. It delves into issues such as gender inequality, generation gaps, and ethnic/cultural differences, which impact organizational functions. The report analyzes Aetna's strategies, including the ICE framework, and explores diversity initiatives adopted by other companies like Humana and Cigna. It provides a cost/benefit analysis and evaluates "The Aetna Way," offering recommendations for managing complex situations and promoting a fair work environment. The report highlights conflicts, communication issues, and workforce management challenges, as well as employee resourcing concerns. The study emphasizes the importance of diversity training, cultural sensitivity, and awareness to foster a more inclusive and effective workplace.

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,
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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:
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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