Shell Canada Ltd. - What impact does diversity have on organizational and group performance?

Authors Avatar

MGST391

Assignment #1

Instructor: Scott Kirker

Due Date: Wednesday, October 1, 2003 by 9:00 pm

(in Scurfield Hall, MGST 391 drop-off box)

Indicate order of preference for tutorial times.

Shell Canada Ltd.

Company Description

Shell Canada Ltd is a petroleum company in Canada concerned mainly with producing natural gas, natural gas liquids, sulphur and bitumen.  A leading manufacturer, distributor and marketer of refined petroleum products, Shell has corporate goals of leadership in profitability, profitable growth and commitment to sustainable growth, focus is also put onto operational excellence and the health and safety of their employees.  

Keen on recruiting the best people possible from Universities across Canada, Shell Canada’s hiring practice is based on the basis of merit.  Recent company Human Resources efforts have been aimed at promoting cultural and ethnic diversity within the company, to include more employees of differing ethnic backgrounds.  

Research Problem

What impact does diversity have on organizational and group performance?

Action Research – Method

Action research is unique in that it pursues action and research simultaneously. Where often research focuses on controlling variables and sterilizing data collection environments, this family of methodologies encourages change and understanding. Action research is a structured spiral process, involving both the researcher and the participants in the development of findings and directions for research.

Join now!

Generally, an action research project involves a spiral process made up of continuous four step cycles. Reconnaissance, the first step, involves understanding the group’s problem and formalizing a problem statement. The planning stage devises an intervention strategy. Essentially, an intervention is an alteration to the environment that seeks to solve the problem. Step three, the action stage, implements the intervention strategy. Concluding the spiral is a reflection of the effect of the intervention, and a reevaluation of the state of the initial problem. Once the reevaluation takes place, the spiral continues. Since the intervention will have changed the environment, a ...

This is a preview of the whole essay