Posts Tagged ‘Diversity’

Women in Business

Victress Awards für starke Frauen/ Victress Awards for powerful women

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

Each year, the German Victress Initiative awards power- and successful female role models. Last week four outstanding role models were honored in the course of a gala show in Berlin. Tina Müller, Senior Vice President and responsible for our global Hair Cosmetics, Skin Care and Oral Care businesses was part of the top-class jury. Under the patronage of Germans Federal Minister of Economics, Rainer Brüderle, winner Nelly Kostadinova, President of Lingua-World GmbH gain the Victress Role Models Award, Christiane Stenger (Memory World Champion) got the Future Victress Award, the Victress Health Award was given to Prof. Dr. Maria Ryan and the Victress Glassbreaker Award – which Tina Müller gained last year – was dedicated to Dr. Angelika Damman, CEO of the SAP AG.

The Victress Initiative claims diversity in leadership positions for a sustainable German business location. The motto of this initiative is: “Excellence knows no gender”. For Tina Müller it is one of the most important and enjoyable self commitments to be an active role model in improving the conditions and numbers of leading women in business. [DE]

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Diversity & Inclusion

Be good to each other / Seid gut zueinander

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

Donating money is a recent trend in Germany. Many people want to donate money for a good cause and also the number of charitable foundations is growing rapidly: 17.372 foundations in Germany manage about 100 billion Euros.

In general, foundations are non-profit organizations that manage funds for charitable purposes. They understand themselves as drivers of social, cultural and scientific progress. The purposes of foundations are often picked up by the government.

Most foundations are set up by a donor who defined the main purpose of the foundation. About 33% of all foundations in Germany are set up for social purposes. About 15% are set up for the advancement of the arts or culture.

Also many companies have set up foundations. For example the Hertie Foundation focuses on the integration of children with a migration background. By setting up foundations a company demonstrates its corporate social responsibility and also the society benefits from their involvement. The Dr. Jost-Henkel Foundation offers sponsored scholarships to young talents. Additionally Henkel gives their employees the opportunity for personal engagement outside the enterprise. And here is where diversity once more really matters: different experiences, attitudes and backgrounds lead to about 2.200 relief projects with 7.6 Million Euro spending. [DE]

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Best Practices

Internship at Henkel/Praktikum bei Henkel

Monday, August 23rd, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

A day in intern lives: brewing coffee, going on errands and if you are lucky you may have the chance to have a glance at the jobs that are done in the department. This could be normal life for many interns in other enterprises. At Henkel reality looks totally different. Our interns are part of the team, actually before they arrive. The “intern-introductions” and “intern hand-outs” summarize the first practical tips and are sent to our interns before they have their first day.

Additionally there are lots of meeting points and interaction for and with our interns. Twice a week they have the opportunity to have lunch together, every week there is one intern table at different locations in Düsseldorf and once a month one Henkel youngster presents his department and job to our interns.

On our intranet platform “InterNactive” they have the chance for interaction and the exchange of real life questions: Where is the best event location in Düsseldorf? Is there a flat or a flat share? What ever…

The Double-In-Day again gives the opportunity to change roles and intern jobs for one day. Thereby our interns get the chance to get a broader perspective of different Business Units and departments.

By the way: We – the Global Diversity & Inclusion team – offer an intern job, too: https://recruitment.henkel.com/jpapps/henkel_internship/jobs/jobview.jsp?requestno=RQ00011441&printview=true

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International Ambassadors

More Diversity at DAX companies / Mehr Vielfalt in DAX-Konzernen

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

Last week, the leading german business magazines had some good news: the desire for more diversity in German boards has been fulfilled – at least partly. Research conducted by the consulting firm Simon-Kucher & Partners showed, that the share of foreign board member increased. 60 percent of the board members appointed last year are not Germans. Thereby, the share of foreign board members increased to 28 percent. The author of the study, Christoph Lesch, believes a percentage of foreigners between 30 and 40 percent is desirable. The high percentage of foreigners reflects the structure of shareholders, markets and employees.
At Henkel, 60 percent of the management board are not from germany. For example, our CEO Kaspar Rorsted comes from Denmark. Employees from 48 nations work at our headquarter in Düsseldorf. Worldwide, employees from 116 different nations work for Henkel.
One objective for more diversity is fulfilled. It remains to be seen, if the desire for more women on management boards can be fulfilled as well. [DE]
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International Ambassadors

International Experiences / Internationale Erfahrungen

Monday, August 9th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

For many Germans it’s a dream to work abroad. Additionally, international experiences can help to build a career. The recent issue of “Women at Work” examines the advantages, disadvantages and requirements of a stay abroad. Each year, about 150.000 Germans leave their country to work in another country. Most of them are planning to come back after a certain time. At first, the advantages seem to prevail: exciting experiences, meeting new people, incentives and a career advancement. However, reality sometimes looks different. First of all, a stay abroad has to be well-organized. At best, the company takes care of the residence and work permit. For example, Henkel offers its employees to take part in the Triple-Two-Program that allows employees to gain experience in 2 divisions, 2 functions and in at least 2 countries. To prepare the so called expatriates an intense language and intercultural training program is offered. Additionally a mentoring program helps the expats to stay in contact with the basis and help to harmonize the return.

 

For those who are not leaving the country in person virtual global teams offer a lot of intercultural experiences and of course our corporate language is English. [DE]

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Best Practices

Are men “better” changemanager?/Sind Männer die “besseren” Changemanager?

Thursday, July 29th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

Are men „better“ changemanager for affirmative action programs for women?… This question send my google alert from the Xing group “Success via Diversity”.

This question already led to some discussions within our team. Is gender important to transmit diversity messages? Or is it more about the character and personality to ensure the success of diversity projects?

What do you think?

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Women in Business

The decision maker / Der Entscheidungsträger

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

 Women and men have different decision-making techniques. But what are these differences based on? A recent post by Holly Buchanan on her blog Marketing to Women Online gives an insight on this question. In her post, Holly Buchanan quotes an article, she read on MSN. The original topic was „what men love about women“ and one interesting answer was: We love how you solve problems. When a woman is solving a problem, she internalizes everything and puts herself in every possible solution to see how she would feel. Men on the other hand are trying to find the fastest solution. Holly Buchanan explains, that men and women have different brains. The parts responsible for responsible for problem-solving, decision-making and regulating emotions are larger in women’s brains. When selling something to women it’s crucial to understand her buying process. Two simple thing can help to accommodate women’s preferences and thus, „sell more stuff“, as Holly Buchanan says. First: give women enough time to make her decisions. Second: make an emotional connection with them. [DE]

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International Ambassadors

The EDI Conference in Vienna/ Die EDI Conference in Wien

Monday, July 19th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

From the 14th to 16th July the third Equality, Diversity, Inclusion (EDI) Conference took place in Vienna. This year’s theme was „Leadership for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Work”. The conference addresses academics, policy makers and practitioners and offers an international platform for explorations and discussions of leadership for equality, diversity and inclusion at work.

Several academic and doctoral sessions as well as sessions and workshops were held during these three days. For example, Stella Nkomo, Professor for Human Resource Management at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, held one of the keynote speeches, which highlighted the importance of leadership for equality, Diversity and Inclusion in South Africa. On the same day, Lize Booysen, Professor for Organizational Behavior and Leadership at the Antioch University, USA, held another keynote about diversity perspectives in leadership. Overall, the conference offered 17 streams and several workshops. Some of the topics discussed were: Sexual Orientation, Diversity and Equality in Organizations; Promoting diversity and ensuring equality at work: the role of the state, Relational Managing and Leading: The Role of Gender and Women, Work and Globalization in Developing and Transitional Societies. The next EDI Conference will take place on the February 7th and 8th in Auckland, New Zealand. [DE]

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Diversity & Inclusion

Early Birds and Night Owls / Frühe Vögel und Nachteulen

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

Which chronotype are you? Are you a morning- or an evening-person? Chronotypes are our natural preference for a certain time of the day. They are mostly determined by our genes. Both types have their strengths and for a balance, we need to coordinate them. However, morning people are often perceived as more active and successful than evening people who tend to be seen as lazy and loafing. This is, of course, a prejudice, because both sides have their qualities. Evening people are said to be more creative, intelligent and humorous, while morning people tend to be more optimistic, proactive and conscientious. Nevertheless, new research concludes that morning people are more likely to succeed in their careers. Entrepreneur Christopher Coleridge agrees that morning is the best time to make decisions. On the other hand: creativity is the basically need of advertising agencies and the best ideas often were born late at night. The preference for mornings or evenings also depends on the phase of life and age. Young people prefer to work in the evening. People with families want to leave their office on time. People over 50 are more morning-types. But thanks to diversity – all early-bird-singers and late-at-night-creatives are welcome at Henkel to get the best out of it. [DE]

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Diversity & Inclusion, Women in Business

The Super-Mom Trap / Die Super-Mom Falle

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

A new study, published in the March 2010 issue of Personality Research, highlights a seeming contradiction about the way mothers view father involvement in infant care.

The study might give an answer to the question if modern women really want to hand over her responsibilities for childcare to their husband. The finding of the study is, that mothers who rate their partner as a competent and caring father, tend to rate their own competence lower than mothers whose partners were less competent in infant care.

What means: If mom’s going to work and leave the children at home with a really competent care giving father, then she feels bad and less competent in her job. But if mom’s going to work and leave the children at home with a less care giving father, then – guess what – she also feels bad!

So, all in all is the solution: Stay at home, moms?

The authors of the study, Takayuki Sasaki und Nancy L. Hazen, describe this fact as the super mom trap and ask the provocative question „ Do involved dads erode moms’ self-competence?“. They think that mothers need to become more comfortable with the idea of sharing the responsibility for childcare in the end to get more self-confidence.

What do you think? Do mothers need to learn to give up the child caring territory? [DE]

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