Diversity Action Plan

Diversity Action Plan

University of Phoenix

May 21, 2007

Superior Essex

Superior Essex Inc. is a Fortune 1000 company and one of the largest wire and cable manufacturers in North America. The company is also a global leader in communications cable and magnet/winding wire industry. The organization is headquarters is located in Atlanta, GA employing more than 4,000 people in the United States and around the world. Superior Essex is currently a $2 billion multi-industry corporation with its primary focus on the fabrication of wire and cable. Superior Essex has 20 manufacturing facilities located in the United States, Mexico, Europe, and China, serving thousands of customers across the world through the experience, excellent craftsmanship, and the dedicated employees who have made the organization successful.

When it comes to diversity, Superior Essex is in the running. With the many different facilities that are owned by the company, in different locations and different countries, diversity within the organization is inevitable part of daily life. The Brownwood, Texas plant employs 465 employees, which 25 % of them are Hispanic and 15 % are Black. Of these 465 employees about 30 of them are women. The Brownwood plant employees work together to manufacture copper wire and fiber optics cable. Brownwood is just one of several plants located in the United States.

There are three other plants located in the United States; one in Chester, South Carolina; Hoisington, Kansas; and Tarboro, North Carolina. All together, these plants employ 517 people. These facilities are all wire and cable producing plants. Tarboro is the most diverse of the three. Of the 212 workers at the Tarboro facility, the majority of them are Black, including the human resource manager and her assistant, and there is not a great deal of women working in this plant.

Because the Tarboro facility does not employ very many women, the US Department of Labor regularly conducts a computer-generated audit of the Texas, Kansas and South Carolina plants and an in-house audit of Tarboro’s Affirmative Action Programs. The three plants have been required to provide their Affirmative Action Programs for the last two years. Since the information requested was completed in a timely manner and provided to the Department of Labor an in-house audit was not necessary. Tarboro was not so lucky, that plant is going through an extensive audit because the facility only hired one woman during 2006.

Superior Essex in an international organization having facilities overseas. The China-based facility located in Suzhhou gives the organization international diversity. In this facility Superior Essex has approximately employees, where 25 % are men. Chinese are hard working people because of the competitive forces due to their culture. Therefore, this manufacturing facility provides a greater profit margin to the company.

The magnet wire manufacturing plant is located in Torreon, Mexico. This 320,000 square foot facility was built in 2000, is geographically located, and employs 315 workers, serving global customers who are located in Mexico as well as marketing opportunities in Central and South America.

Of the Mexican workers the majority of them are Hispanic, with the exception of about 25 who are Caucasian, and are also the supervisors and managers who run the facility’s operation. The facility has about 40 women working in it. Most of them are office personnel, such as secretaries and assistants. The other women work in the manufacturing areas, but there is not great deal of women employed. This is partly due to the Mexican beliefs that women should not be labor workers.

By having facilities internationally, this will help provides opportunities for the organization to be very transnational. “In Europe, the Invex acquisition is highly complementary across our product lines, customer base, and manufacturing assets. Also, it should provide near- and long-term synergy opportunities” (Carter, 2007). This acquisition will also enable the organization a quicker response times to an expanded customer base. Superior Essex is also looking forward to welcoming two more Invex facilities in to Quattordio, Italy.

The Opportunities of Diversity

The global economy presents many opportunities for cultural diversity. Companies such as Superior Essex can no longer assume that every employee walking in the door has similar beliefs or expectations. With headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, Superior Essex has operations in Canada, North America, Europe and China. To the executive management at Superior Essex, diversity requires an understanding of the many cultures this company is dealing with and how its market is shaped by the behaviors of those cultures. Leadership must understand that a diverse workforce will embody different perspectives and approaches to work and must value a variety of opinions and insights, which creates openness among employees. Corporate leadership at Superior Essex must recognize both the learning opportunity and the challenges that the expression of different perspectives presents for the organization, such as accents that are often interpreted as a breakdown in communicate and therefore, as a problem.

In order to be successful in its China operation, Superior Essex must address inappropriate practices and the misconceptions that cause communication breakdown and inefficiency. The China operation must also respond adequately to the cultural diversity at Superior Essex’s other subsidiaries; realize the advantages of a multicultural workforce, and the enormous advantages it can bring to a company. However, when issues such as poor language skills, improper practices, misunderstanding concerning other cultures happens, it can causes a company to such as Superior Essex to overlook important opportunities both abroad and at home. Languages, the way they are used to interact, and their relationships are the key to cultural diversity in Asia.

The Challenges of Diversity at Superior Essex China Operations

“The rate of modernization and growth in China, as well as other parts of Asia, is so rapid that it difficult to gain a true perspective on the magnitude of economic and social change. Yet, putting happening in Asia into perspective is crucial, because the issues and opportunities created by this progress are having a profound impact on the global business community (China View, 2006).

Even though cultural diversity presents challenges, Superior Essex’s sees the entrance into

...