with Complete Solution
MSHRM Capstone
Course Code: D436
Student Name:
Student ID:
Date: May
Mentor:
A1. AFS’s organizational goal to expand into new markets is ambitious and will be
difficult to achieve with the current company demographics. Several gaps in AFS's
employee demographics will need to be addressed. The first demographic to address is
the percentage of African American or black employees currently working at AFS. 8.1%
of the population in the northeast is black or African American, which is a significantly
higher percentage than AFS's employee population. At AFS, only 5.5% are black or
African American, leaving a large gap in the representation of the black community.
A second gap in AFS’s current demographics is regarding employees in a
, leadership role. While AFS has made strides in recent years to close the gender hiring
gap and bring the male-to-female ratio closer to a 50/50 split, there is a pronounced gap
in leadership positions between men and women. Currently, men have over 71% of the
leadership roles, while women make up a mere 28% of the leadership team at AFS.
A2. Under-representation for both groups can have serious ramifications for the
staying power and future growth potential for AFS. Currently, AFS experiences turnover
with women and minority groups at a higher rate than the current industry standard due
to a lack of promotion opportunities and the perception that AFS does not place the
same value on all races, economic levels, and ethnicities. One negative impact of the
demographic for black employees is the challenge of acquiring new business in the
black community. One of the goals for AFS is to expand into additional markets and
affluent neighborhoods, but data from the “Growing Our Roots” Project showed that
68% of all attendees had never heard of AFS. At present, AFS is falling short on
diversity among staff, and when recruiting new clients, diverse companies are 70%
more likely to acquire new business in a new market than a company who is not. (Pratt,
2023) Representation by a multitude of people from various diverse groups helps
potential clients feel seen and represented, and can more easily identify with the
company and products.
Exit interview data reveals that employees feel the management team rules by
fear and has average emotional intelligence. Lack of room for advancement is one of
the top reasons employees are leaving AFS, and it is shown that the majority of
leadership roles go to white, older males. This yields another negative impact for AFS
due to the mostly male leadership team, which is prone to groupthink. When there is a
leadership team composed of the same types of people, age range, race, gender, etc.,