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Women and Leadership: A Case of a Multinational Enterprise in China

Xin Deng (Dr.)

Business School

University of South Australia, Australia

GPO Box 2471, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia

Email: xin.deng@unisa.edu.au Phone: 61-8-83020743

Jenny Dumont (Dr.)

Business School

University of South Australia, Australia

GPO Box 2471, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia

Email:jenny.dumont@unisa.edu.au

Acknowledgement: The case is produced with the financial support from

Proya Cosmetics under the Equal Employment Opportunities for Women

project of The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the

Empowerment of Women (UN Women). However, the views expressed

in this case do not necessarily represent that of the UN Women or Proya.

We wish to thank the interviewees for their time and contribution.

Research assistance from Flora Ding and Wing Lin are acknowledged

and appreciated. We are grateful to Jenni Ratilainen for her ideas and

constructive suggestions throughout the project. All the errors and

mistakes are the sole responsibility of the authors.

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Women and Leadership: A Case of a Multinational Enterprise in China

Abstract

This case explores a multinational enterprise’s policies and practices to promote

diversity and inclusion in the workplace in China, and draws on the experience of a

female leader to demonstrate how those policies and practices can help women rise to

senior managerial positions. It begins with a review of studies on the positive impact

of female leaders and company performance, and the current status of women in the

labor market in China. After introducing the company’s history and background, we

discuss the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices, of which the

diversity and inclusion (D&I) policies are an integrated part. The D&I policies and its

implementation in the China operation are then presented regarding five areas:

philosophy, recruitment, training and development, remuneration and benefits,

appraisal and promotion. Following that, we consider the 29 year long career path of a

female leader, who was supported through the company’s scholarship for her graduate

study due to her excellent academic performance, and chose to join the company

together with her husband. She was rotated into many roles in the company’s US

operations and assigned various tasks and responsibilities that were not interrelated

before taking a more senior leadership position in Asia Pacific. We then explore her

perception on the company’s support in her career development, and her perspective

on female leadership and advice for women aspiring to take leadership roles is then

presented. The case concludes with the company’s financial performance and

rewards for its outstanding performance in D&I.

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If you saw Hillary1 on the street, you might think she is a school-teacher: a soft voice,

black-rimmed glasses and a sweet smile – attributes that convey warmth and sincerity.

However, this petite woman is one of the most powerful figures in Delta 2 , a

multinational enterprise (MNE) with global annual sales of more than US$25billion.

Being the Managing Director of Delta’s Asia Pacific Operations for customer service,

making tough decisions is part of her daily tasks. Her most recent task, and a

challenging one as usual, is to implement a restructuring strategy for Delta’s Asia

Pacific Operations, involving large-scale redundancies and alternative work

placements. Having worked in Delta in many different divisions, and having overseen

Delta’s Asian operations for more than 15 years, Hillary is very familiar with the

operational side of the business, and is well positioned to carry out this task.

Indeed, Hillary is now one of the many female leaders in Delta, a MNE that seeks to

promote diversity in the workplace, and has successfully implemented the parent

company’s values and human resource (HR) policies in countries with a vastly different

cultural context. She joined Delta after finishing her PhD in Chemical Engineering. She

has worked in many different jobs and in different parts of the United States of America

(USA), as well as managing Delta’s operations in different countries on both sides of

the Pacific Ocean. However, one thing that has not changed in the past 29 years is her

employer: Delta. So, what has Delta done to retain talented employees like Hillary?

How did Hillary climb to the top of the corporate ladder in an industry that is largely

dominated by men? Is her career path duplicable for other professional women?

Senior executives of global corporations have acknowledged the importance of gender

equality in the workplace, and there exists ample evidence in literature about the

benefits of female leaders in organizations. A Catalyst (2004) study assessed 353

Fortune 500 corporations and found companies with the highest representation of

women on their top management team experienced better financial performance than

1 Not her real name, the actual interviewee preferred to remain anonymous. 2 Not the real name of the company.

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companies with the lowest women’s representation. Such benefits are sustained over

time. An extensive 19-year study of 215 Fortune 500 firms indicates that firms with the

best record of promoting women are between 18 and 69 percent more profitable than

the median Fortune 500 firms in their industries (Adler, 2001). This effect is not limited

to US companies. Research conducted of the top 100 companies across 10 countries in

the Asia Pacific region came to a similar conclusion (Korn Ferry Institute 2016). More

recently, a study based on a global survey of 21,980 firms from 91 countries suggests

that the presence of women in corporate leadership positions may improve firm

performance (Noland et al., 2016).

Despite the ample evidence, women are still dramatically underrepresented in senior

organizational roles in China. As of 2015, it was reported that only 17% of women were

managers, senior officials or legislators (The World Economic Forum, 2015). Reports

on women in leadership roles in Chinese firms found that only 18% of senior

management positions are taken by up women. Women also only represented 10.7% of

Board positions in China, and a mere 3.2% Chief Executive Officers (CEO) were

female (Dawson et al., 2014).

According to the World Bank, workforce participation rate in China has been declining

since 1990, but this rate has decreased faster for women. In 2014, workforce

participation rates are 64% and 78.4% for women and men, while the rates were 72.7%

and 84.8% respectively in 1990 (The World Bank, 2016). The Global Gender Gap

Report indicates women in China earn on average 35% less than men for doing similar

work, ranking China near the bottom third of the Global Gender Gap Index (ranked

91st out of 145 countries) (The World Economic Forum, 2015). Similarly, a survey

reveals that average annual income of women laborers is 67.3% of that of men in urban

areas and 56.0% of that of men in rural areas respectively (All-China’s Women

Federation, 2011). Discrimination against women is widespread in the labour market.

Discriminatory terms are pervasive in job advertisements and explicit discrimination

against female university graduates is common phenomenon in the recruitment market

(Liu, 2013). The United Nation Human Rights Council (2014) reports discrimination

practices based on maternity, with employers choosing to hire only women who already

have children, denying pregnant women statutory leave, or dismissing women during

pregnancy.

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One positive element that can be reported is that there is a sharp rise in women

becoming more educated in China. The proportion of females among all tertiary

education enrolment has reached 52% in 2014 (China Statistical Bureau, 2015), and

those who have bachelor and postgraduate qualification in 2015, 47.4% are females

(China Statistical Bureau, 2016). Whether the equal education opportunity can translate

into equal outcomes in labor market depends on whether we can effectively address

issues in the labor market that prevent women from climbing up the corporate ladder.

Issues such as: traditional prejudices on gender roles, pay gap, cultural expectations

sustained by media and workplace practices - just to name a few. This case examines

diversity practices of a multinational company to demonstrate how gender equality

practices can be implemented in the workplace to foster female leadership and benefit

the company.

Company background

Delta is a large multinational enterprise, which has been operating for more than two

centuries. The company operates in more than 70 countries and has at least 135

manufacturing and processing facilities throughout the world. It has become one of the

world’s most successful technical and science entities, with more than 52,000

employees worldwide at the end of 2015. The total Asia Pacific workforce was

approximately 10,000, and the number of employees within the Chinese operations of

Delta was more than 6,000. The company reports that 30% of the firm’s workforce is

women.

Delta is a MNE whose products and services are based on scientific research.

Specifically, the company is an avid developer and manufacturer of scientific solutions

for construction and housing, healthcare, nutrition, transportation and clothing. The

products are considered to be world-class, using innovative materials and design, which

are supported with customer service that reaches the global marketplace. It is

recognized as one of the world’s largest chemical based companies in both market

capitalization and revenue.

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Early History

Delta’s first entry into China occurred in the early 20th century, when the country’s

resources were being explored for colorants. Diminished supplies due to World War I,

had affected supplies in the European continent, so Chinese alternatives were sought to

replace products from Europe. Chinese merchants demanded the formation of a joint

enterprise with Delta, however, negotiations failed and Delta was forced to seek

products in other markets. After products from these other markets failed to materialize,

Delta returned to China and successfully bypassed the Chinese merchants. The

company negotiated directly with colorant producers. Although this strategy was

fraught with challenges, such as banditry and warlords, Delta was able to develop a

network of sales offices in a number of Chinese provinces.

Deltas operations were significantly interrupted when China and Japan were at war in

the 1930’s. Once Japan had invaded China, many of the Chinese employees were

evacuated. Some employees were forced to fend for themselves, but fortunately, it

appears that most had avoided capture by the Japanese. After the war ended in 1945,

Delta was able to repossess most of its property, and began to restart its operations.

However, there were ongoing challenges related to the impact that the Chinese civil

war had on the company. Political differences led to Delta closing its Chinese

operations in 1949.

In 1984, Delta sought to re-enter the Chinese market, with senior executives identifying

the potential opportunities on Mainland China. Delta was resolute in its

intention to rebuild government relations and improve their understanding of the

modern Chinese market. This new venture ultimately set up new business opportunities

that resulted in manufacturing, research and development facilities, sales offices and

annual net sales of over US$2billion.

Delta Today: Corporate Social Responsibility

The Chinese operations have grown steadily over the past several years, with China

being the leader of net sales in the region. China is recognized as one of the five key

markets for Delta, along with the United States (US), Europe, Brazil and Japan.

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The company has a long tradition of being philanthropic, highly supportive of

educational opportunities, the environment and sustainability, improving health and

safety processes, and developing policies that encourage diversity in the workplace. As

a component of CSR, gender equality in the workplace has been incorporated into all

aspects of corporate human resource management processes. Diversity, equality and

inclusion are at the core of Delta’s human resource policy. The company has recently

been recognized as one of the world’s top organizations for women executives, and has

received an award for the category ‘Top 30 Companies for Executive Women’.

The organization has established a university scholarship program that exists in all

countries and business units. Over 200 students annually benefit from the program.

Delta China targets the top universities in China, such as Peking University, Tsinghua

University and Fudan University. There are ‘no strings attached’ to the scholarships,

meaning that if a student receives a scholarship they are not obliged to work for the

company upon completion of their study. Scholarship programs portray an organization

as one that is fostering a positive environment for students, and encouraging them to be

the best they can be. It would be reasonable to assume that recipients of these

scholarships would be motivated to learn about the company providing the scholarship,

and perhaps aim to work for the company at the completion

of their studies.

The company has a budget earmarked for community engagement projects. The

organization believes that having a strong, reputable corporate social responsibility

(CSR) agenda has resulted in the firm reaping significant rewards among employees

and communities. Existing research supports this view, with CSR seen as a way to build

successful relations with employees and the public (Du et al., 2007).

Since 1987, Delta China has been actively promoting CSR projects throughout China.

The company supported the government’s fight against global epidemics with large

monetary donations and has participated in numerous forums designed to improve

global poverty and address climate change. Drawing on its specialization, the company

also donates supplies and equipment for different causes including supplies to Sichuan

after the 2008 earthquake, rehabilitation equipment for the handicapped and computer

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donations to support local communities. As a result, Delta China has received numerous

CSR related awards, such as

Top 10 MNE with Harmonious competitiveness in 2009 by China Enterprise

CSR League

‘Green Chinese Company in 2009’ by Business Weekly

‘Best practice firm’ by a CSR (China) leaders Board in 2010

‘Low-carbon China: Top 10 innovative products’ by People’s Daily in 2010,

‘Low-carbon Firm of the Year’ in Southern China in 2011

Top 50 in the ‘Contribution Ranking of World Top 500 MNEs in China” by

South Weekend in 2011

and many Delta subsidiaries have been awarded ‘Best Company to Work For’

in their respective countries.

Policies and Practices that Promote Diversity and Inclusion3

The policies and practices of Delta China are consistent with those of the parent

company, which has a well-established system to promote diversity and inclusion

(D&I). The system is built on the core values of Delta and focuses on human resources

(HR) policies. While diversity in race and sex orientation is one of the major concerns

in Delta and its subsidiaries in many developed countries, it is not the case in China.

So, Delta China’s D&I policies focus on gender diversity.

Philosophy

The company has used innovation, science and engineering processes to forge policies

designed around its four core values: safety and health for employees, environmental

guardianship to protect the world’s natural resources, respect to both employees and

business partners, and promotion of highest ethical standards that are distinctly

3 The policies and practices listed below are mainly drawn from the interview with the HR manager of Great China Division of Delta, as well as company’s documents.

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identifiable within business practices. Building on those core values, the HR policies

focus on four key areas: a workplace with mutual respect, diversity, professional and

individual development opportunity, and competitive remuneration.

Delta overtly promotes diversity and inclusion, and considers “a diverse and inclusive

workplace as a competitive advantage” and believes its corporate vision can only be

achieved “with the full commitment, participation, creativity, energy and cooperative

spirit of our diverse workforce” (Company’s Global Report Initiatives 2015). Not only

is it part of the company’s Code of Conduct, but the company’s senior leaders are

explicitly required to sponsor employee resource groups such as the Women’s Network

and role model inclusive behaviors. Delta is also a regular sponsor of Diversity and

Inclusion Employee Conferences featuring leading experts to engage and energize their

employees to raise the bar and build on Diversity and Inclusion’s momentum

(Company’s Website). There is a special section in the company’s website to publicize

the company’s achievements in this area. The organization

openly supports persons with disabilities, enforces workplace policies that ensure it is

safe from bullying, and it promotes equality for all. Indeed, diversity and inclusion is

the essence of one of the company’s core values: Respect for People. According to the

company’s Global Reporting Initiative Report (2015), respect for people “… is about

embracing and appreciating people for their unique background, thinking, experience,

knowledge, skills, needs and abilities”. The company implements a range of policies to

promote diversity and inclusion, and proudly publicizes its achievements in this area

through the media and its own reports and website. As shown below, HR policies play

an important role to this regard.

Recruitment

Delta promotes itself as an equal opportunity employer, and it is the company’s policy

not to discriminate against any employee or job applicant because of age, race, religion,

gender, disability, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, marital status, sexual orientation,

or veteran status. No job advertisement should list any of these factors as selection

criteria.

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Specifically, gender equality is a high priority for Delta China, as this is a major

diversity issue in a monoculture society like China. To ensure gender diversity is

properly addressed, the company’s recruitment policies explicitly require at least one

woman to be included on a short list for an advertised position, if there is a female

applicant. In addition, the company’s HR policies clearly state that there should not be

any discrimination against women or other minority groups in the selection process.

The parent company also reports on the gender and age of its new hires each year, and

set a goal in 2014 to increase the size of the female and multicultural workforce by 5%

by 2017. Of the new hires in 2015, 33% were women - higher than the proportion of

female employees (30%) in the existing workforce. This demonstrates the company’s

efforts to address gender imbalance in the organization.

Training and Development

Unlike many other MNEs, the majority of Delta’s senior management positions are

filled with internal candidates, and it is related to its emphasis on career development.

The company has a well-structured career development program for all of its

employees, which starts well before the employees enter the company, and has a

different focus at different stages of an employee’s tenure. Each position is designed

with a career development path that allows employees to rise to the top, irrespective of

what position he/she starts at.

Delta views training and development as processes and systems that “anticipate and

meet the strategic needs of our workforce in a way that unleashes the potential of our

people”. It offers “a diverse set of training, education, and development opportunities”

including in-person training and workshops, virtual classrooms, and self-development

opportunities. Promoting four core values is an important part of the training.

Employees are presented with the core values and D&I philosophy from the onset. Each

year, all employees are required to complete online training, which covers alternating

topics from the Delta Code of Conduct as well as ethics and compliance issues. In

addition, core value communications to employees are conveyed through the

company’s daily newsletter and manager-led core value discussions at the start of each

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meeting. Through promoting core values and code of conduct, employees are

constantly reminded of the importance of diversity and inclusion.

In line with the parent company’s practices, Delta China has a special Women Network

that offers female employees the opportunity to participate in career talks, where a

senior female manager talks about her career experience, and takes questions from the

participants. The Women’s Network also holds regular seminars and workshops on how

to maintain social wellbeing, such as nutrition and health, and how to maintain a healthy

work-life balance.

Delta also has a Talent Review Program that offers a tailored, accelerated career path

for employees that have been identified as being “high potential individuals”. In

addition to general job or management development opportunities, those individuals

are targeted for job rotations: being offered the opportunity to work in other areas of

the organization. These tasks are classified as a job assignment, with appointments

made without any discrimination. Previous experience is considered, but assignees are

often assigned to areas that are new or foreign to them. This is to explore the potential

capabilities of employees that are as yet undiscovered. Their performance is closely

monitored to ensure they are offered more challenging roles after they have

satisfactorily managed their existing roles. The company also has a mentoring system

through which an employee is formally assigned a senior leader to help and advise them

on their tasks, as well as the development of their skills, and their career path. The

company unequivocally stresses the need to select potential female leaders and leaders

from minority groups through the talent review program.

Remuneration and Benefits

Competitive remuneration is one of the four key areas of Delta’s HR policies and

strategies. Delta has openly acknowledged that its employees are critical to the

company’s successes. As such, the company has sought to develop a range of rewards

and benefits. Most of these rewards and benefits are applied to all of Delta’s employees,

but the company has also developed a number of rewards specifically aimed at

employees with families. The intention of these benefits is for the company to support

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employees that have family responsibilities, which is likely to be predominantly

applicable to female employees.

General Remuneration

Delta offers competitive remuneration packages for employees. The company has a

monetary reward system to both encourage employees to achieve short-term objectives,

and as a retention tool. An annual pay rise, annual bonuses, and a savings and

investment plan are some specific rewards available to employees. Salary increases are

implemented on an annual basis and used as a form of a retention policy,

so that the organization can maintain their best and brightest employees. In 2015, the

budget for pay rises in the Greater China division was US$1million.

The ‘enhanced savings and investment plan’ replaced the previous employee defined-

benefit pension program in 2008. The company makes a 3% contribution to an

employee’s savings and investment plan, which is essentially a retirement pension.

Additional support for employees is in the form of the company making a

supplementary payment if an employee makes a voluntary contribution into the plan.

The additional contribution by the organization will be up to a maximum of 6% of the

employee’s savings. This is a win-win for the organization and the employee, with the

employee having a constantly growing retirement fund, and the organization retaining

quality and satisfied employees.

Pro-family Benefits

Delta offers a range of pro-family benefits including leave, flexible workplace

arrangements and support for family relocations.

Parental Leave: Delta China provides a paid maternity leave for employees, which is

consistent with Chinese government regulation. Female employees are entitled to 98

days of paid maternity leave. The paid leave is 100% of normal pay. In addition to this

leave, Delta China offers access to unpaid 6-month Family Leave with a job guarantee.

It is also possible for employees to combine their annual leave and maternity leave

entitlements. Employees may also choose to phase back into work by working part time

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for full benefits after taking maternity leave. A nursing room for new mothers is

provided on the office premises, whenever there is a need.

Other Leave: Employees are offered time off for marriage, medical and family

emergencies, as well as medical insurance for employees and family members. Holiday

subsidies, and even interest rate subsidy plans are provided for employees.

Flexible workplace arrangements: Delta offers its employees flexible working hours.

Subject to the approval of the line manager, employees can apply for different starting

and finishing times other than that set by the company, provided the different working

hours will not have a negative impact on the tasks assigned to them. Employees can

also apply to work from home, with prior approval and agreement from their line

manager.

Support for families: Delta supports an employee’s family whenever possible.

Children’s education is a big issue for employees in China as many schools in China

have very strict zoning restrictions. The HR department will always attempt to negotiate

with a reputable local school to take enrollments from Delta’s employees’ children. For

employees who need to relocate due to new assignments or new roles, Delta also has a

well-structured supporting program apart from covering the actual moving costs. For

expatriates, children’s tuition fees, local accommodation and transportation needs (i.e.

car and a driver) are also part of a relocation package. Should the employee make a

special request, the company will also determine if there is a suitable position within

the organization for the spouse so as to minimize the disturbance of the familial change.

Performance Appraisal and Promotion

Employees undergo performance reviews twice a year, and the outcome of the review

will be considered in deciding their pay rise and annual bonuses. Both team and

individual performances are considered in the appraisal, and an employee’s personal

circumstances are also taken into consideration. Of that, 80% of the criteria are

attributed to team performance and 20% are based on an individual effort. In other

words, an employee will still receive 80% of the annual bonus if he/she did not meet

the performance standard as long as his/or her team have met performance targets.

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An employee’s performance criteria remain the same for those on maternity or paternity

leave, or employees with significant family responsibilities (e.g. young

children), but it is adjusted by the amount of time taken off work. For example, an

employee who takes 2 months off from work in a particular year will be considered as

having performed satisfactorily, if he/she has completed 5/6 (10 out of 12 months) of

his/her performance targets.

The organization does not consider employees with children any less capable or

motivated to seek out promotions or job rotations, and makes it clear that job

assignments should be allocated on a capability basis only. Under no circumstances,

should an employee be declined for, or excluded from, a position or an assignment on

the basis of their family responsibilities.

In the case of poor employee performance, the organization has a streamlined screening

process developed to support these employees. Employees that have consistently (2-3

years) been performing below expectations will go on a probation scheme for a period

of 3-6 months. A review is then conducted. After several reviews have been completed

with no improvements in the performance, management will begin the separation

process. Where possible, managers will identify other opportunities in the organization

that may be more suitable to the individual employee. This process is considered to be

fair to the employee as it gives the employee ample opportunities to improve their

performance.

Rise to the Top: Hillary’s Experience

This section will consider Hillary’s journey in Delta to see how she rose to her senior

leadership role.

Education

Born in Taiwan, Hillary migrated to the US with her family when she was still a child.

Hillary attended a distinguished American university. In her final year of undergraduate

study, she won a scholarship from Delta designed to encourage students to pursue an

engineering career. The scholarship offered a four-year living

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stipend for winners enrolled in the top 10 engineering graduate schools designated by

Delta. With the support of the scholarship, she completed a Master’s degree and a Ph.D.

in Chemical Engineering. On acceptance of the scholarship, Hillary was advised that

there were ‘no strings attached’ to the scholarship. This meant that at the completion of

the scholarship, no liability arose if Hillary did not accept employment from Delta.

Nevertheless, Delta came across as an attractive employer. Both she and her husband

applied, and subsequently were offered jobs at Delta.

Career Trajectory

As demonstrated in the career portfolio chart in the appendix, Hillary has had a rich

experience covering multiple markets and business units across Delta in many

countries. Hillary was first employed by the company in one of its operations in the

USA. It was a very hands-on technical role including testing new products, and product

and process development. Hillary advised that this research engineer role was very

valuable for her practical learning experience, with the role lasting for a period of three

and a half years. The success of this role subsequently saw Hillary promoted to a

Technical Group Leader position. The new role required Hillary to supervise 10

engineers and chemists. Although a daunting role at the time, Hillary believed that this

new position, which lasted for two years, ultimately developed her leadership abilities

and also enabled her to expand and sharpen her communication skills and management

competencies.

From this supervisory role, Hillary was relocated to another supervisory position in the

organization’s early development career program. It was a one-year assignment, and

required Hillary to supervise 50 subordinates. A further range of skills and capabilities

were developed from this role. From here, Hillary was moved into a completely

different role, and was asked to become a frontline salesperson, in another city of the

USA. This role was a far cry from her chemical engineering training. However, it

appears that the organization was seeking this employee to have an overall

understanding of all facets of the organization. Delta believed that understanding end

use marketing was pivotal for future leaders of the firm. Hillary was in this combined

sales & marketing role for three years. Built on her experience acquired from this role,

she was then assigned a role of a market segment leader to establish a new market

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segment and create a focused cross-functional team to manage all aspects of the

business. She accomplished that mission within one year.

After the completion of that role, Hillary was appointed as a business segment manager,

where she managed one of the company’s key industrial businesses. This role required

her to lead a team to meet key performance indicators (KPI’s) and deliver sales and

technical outcomes. The role covered operations in both the North and South American

markets, and lasted one and half years. The next one and half years saw her working as

the global marketing manager for one of the product lines. She then took a role as

Global Supply Chain Manager for one of the business units for one year.

By the year 2002, Hillary was appointed to a senior leadership position in China. The

role was to manage an Asia Pacific business unit and saw Hillary in that role for three

years. This role was the first employment position for Hillary outside of the USA, and

presented her with some significant challenges. Although Hillary had a good

understanding of the Chinese language and the people, she needed to learn about

domestic business practices and how to successfully conduct business in Asia. She

found cultural and gender mix was very different in China at that time. She and the

senior management team made sure that corporate culture and policies were

implemented in the same way as those in the parent company.

By now, Hillary had established herself as a key leader in the organization. She went

on to work in the corporate operations area in China for a period of four and half years,

and then went into a strategy and planning role for a business unit for two years. From

there she went on to Delta’s corporate marketing and sales department for the North

Asia sector. She stayed in this role for a further two and half years. These roles saw her

conduct a range of work tasks in different business units across

North Asia, which furthered developed and nurtured her business acumen,

communication and management skills.

In her current position, Hillary is in charge of over 260 subordinates, in a customer

service role that services China and several other Asian nations. During her first year

in the job, the organization underwent considerable structural change, with the

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customer service department being significantly transformed. These changes have been

substantial and required strong leadership, communication capabilities, and having a

significant understanding of the organization and what it is seeking to achieve.

Hillary’s Perception of Women’s Path to Leadership

Throughout the interview, Hillary acknowledges the support of the organization in

advancing her career over the past 29 years. She admitted that she did not aspire to her

current position when she started her career in Delta, and she did not actively pursue

new career opportunities. Instead, from the very beginning, the company offered the

jobs to her and her husband as development opportunities for both, and she was

approached and offered the new roles by the company. Hillary felt that while some of

the roles she had completed were not directly related to her education, they were very

useful in preparing her for a leadership role in the company. She learnt different things

in each role ranging from technical support and product development, to sales and

marketing. She had to step out of her comfort zone, and learn a tremendous amount of

new knowledge in a short period of time. Her success had reassured her ability to deal

with new challenges – a significant part of her existing role.

Hillary openly praised her company, Delta, in the highest terms. She was particularly

positive about the company’s diversity and inclusive policies, and the many

opportunities that Delta had given her to reach her potential in the organization. In her

29 years in Delta, she never felt that she should be treated differently because of her

gender, and her achievements have never been downplayed or ignored because of her

gender. She never considered moving to another company, as she identifies well with

the company’s core values, and her roles within the company have provided her with

enough challenges and opportunities to grow.

Reflecting on her own experiences and the women around her, Hillary acknowledges

the valuable contribution made by female employees to an organization and is confident

that women have the potential to achieve the same as men. She felt that female

employees complements male employees in many ways in a company, as they are more

prepared to initiate and participate in mentoring new employees, open to exploring

new opportunities and learning new skills, and are more willing to provide assistance

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to their colleagues. She found women are more empathetic, supportive, and open, which

can make them effective leaders. Hillary has been an avid supporter and participant in

Delta’s mentoring program. .

However, Hillary felt that there are hurdles that women need to overcome to advance

their career. First, there are traditional perceptions in China that portray women as less

ambitious than men, and reluctant to take risks when an opportunity comes along.

Women should not allow such perceptions to define them, and need to adjust their

aspirations and have faith in their own potential. Second, gender discrimination is still

present in many workplaces. Hillary is grateful for the working environment and career

opportunities offered by Delta and consider them as an important element in her

success. Women need to find an employer that offers them the best possible career

perspective and working environment. At a minimum, a good employer shall take care

of their employee’s welfare, and would be willing to accommodate an employee that

has diversified needs and treats them as a unique person.

Drawing on her own experience, Hillary highlights many of the benefits of Delta’s

diversity and inclusive practices. Attracting and retaining quality employees is no doubt

a crucial outcome. An employee’s loyalty translates into a significant cost

saving in recruiting and training. Hillary has been working for Delta all her life, with

many other employees who have worked for Delta for more than 10 years. Many of

Delta’s executives started their careers in the company.

Hillary advised women aspiring for a top job to prepare for a rocky climb. Similar to

many people aspiring for top employment positions, Hillary also had doubts, struggles,

mistakes and setbacks. What differentiates her from the rest is her willingness to take

on new challenges and learn from the new jobs as quickly as possible. Hillary believes

that for women early in their careers, an opportunity to learn and grow is more

important than a high salary, as the former is more important for their future career.

They need to be prepared to grow in the organization, and be prepared to give their best

effort whenever asked to work on an assignment. They should not reject a new

opportunity only if it is an area they are not familiar with, or it does not come with a

pay rise. They should also not be afraid to seek help from their peers and supervisors.

19

Company’s Performance

This case would be not complete without looking into the company’s performance,

which can be summarized into three key parts: turnover rate, financial performance and

recognition.

Employee’s Turnover Rate

In 2015, Delta hired approximately 3,500 employees and experienced a global turnover

rate of 9.8%. In Delta China, the average turnover rate has always been in single digits,

well below the 20% turnover rate in manufacturing industries in China.4

Company’s Financial Performance5

Delta has long been the top company in its industry sector. It has been included in

FORTUNE’s list of “Most Admired Companies”, and as part of the ranking, it has won

first place in innovation, people management, social responsibility and quality of

products/services in its industry sector. It has been rated highly because of its use of

corporate assets, quality of management, financial soundness, long-term investment

and global competitiveness. As shown in Table 1 in the appendix, the company is in a

very good financial position with net sales and operating profit stable over the past five

years. The last five years is just a snapshot of its long successful history. Indeed, the

company has been paying dividends to shareholders since 1904, which is an indicator

of a solid financial performance. Measured by net sales and operating earnings per

employee, Delta is also performing very well with both major financial indicators on

the rise since 2011 until 2015, indicating a steady rise of productivity from employees.

Recognition

The parent company has received numerous awards to acknowledge its commitment to

diversity. In 2015-2016 alone, it was named in Diversity Inc’s 25 Noteworthy

4 The average turnover rate in China is 17.7% in 2015, according to an annual survey released by 51job.com. The figure was 17.4%, 16.3% and 16.7% in 2014, 2013 and 2012 respectively. The annual turnover rate of manufacturing industry is 20.9% in 2015. 5 Data in this section is based on the parent company’s financial report as Delta China does not release financial report to the public.

20

Companies for Diversity, placed on the National Association of Female Executives list

of Top Companies for Executive Women for the 8th consecutive year, and met the

requirements for recognition by the Disability Equality Index. In addition, for the ninth

time, it was recognized by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) as the best place to

work for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality. It was named by a

leading USA magazine dedicated to women in business, as one of 100 best Companies

for 26 consecutive years.

21

Appendix

Table 1: Delta’s Financial Information between 2011 and 2015

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Net Sales (mil USD) 25,883 27,610 28,998 28,406 25,130

Operating Earnings after income tax

(mil USD)

2210 2238 2926 3110 2503

No. of Employees (,000) 61 61 55 54 52

Net Sales per employee (000 USD) 424 453 527 526 483

Operating Earnings per employee (000

USD) 36 37 53 58 48

Total Stockholder return -5.2% 1.8% 49.2% 17% -2.7%

Dividend Yield 3.6% 3.8% 2.7% 2.5% 2.6%

22

Discussion Questions: Based on information in the above case study, reflect on what you think about the

following questions:

1) In your opinion, do you think that the gender gap will continue to close as a

result of companies implementing gender diversity policies like Delta? Why

and why not?

2) What are the benefits of implementing a gender diversity policy?

a) For the organization?

b) For the employee?

3) What obstacles do you think organizations face when implementing gender

diversity and equity policies? Are they internal or external obstacles? Why do

you think these obstacles arise?

4) Do you consider that an organization has a social responsibility to promote

gender diversity?

5) In your opinion, why might women appear ‘less ambitious’ in workplaces than

men?

6) A global survey on women working in the area of sciences, engineering and

technology (SET) found 83% respondents in China reported that their

coworkers believe men have a genetic advantage in math and science

(Hewlett, 2014). Do you consider that such a belief is well-grounded? What

can be done if you are working with colleagues with such beliefs?

7) There are reports stating that “sleeping at company” is a popular phenomenon

among hi-tech companies in China, where overtime is the norm. Discuss

Hillary’s chance of rising to a senior management if she started her career in

this kind of company. Is “sleeping at company” a sustainable strategy for

companies in hi-tech sector?

23

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