The psychology and counseling literature contains numerous discussions of the need for psychotherapists to be culturally sensitive, including descriptions of the requisite skills and behaviors that affect the therapeutic alliance. In addition, a number of articles on diversity mention the need for multiculturally friendly offices and list some general guidelines. However, the literature contains no research, or even detailed guidelines, on the critical physical elements to consider in designing a multiculturally friendly office. This article describes the multicultural design process and specific physical design criteria that were developed and implemented in a not-for-profit mental health clinic. Examples are provided of specific opportunities for improvement identified and how these were implemented. It is suggested that future research focus on identifying the specific physical elements that are critical in creating a multiculturally friendly psychotherapy office, and the relationship of these elements to psychotherapy outcomes.
PurposeOver the past three years Accenture developed and applied a new measurement tool that assesses the maturity of an organization's human capital development processes, benchmarks the processes' performance against other organizations, and determines the relationship of each process to bottom line business results. It is designed to help executives make significantly more informed choices about their investments in human capital. This article aims to look at this tool.Design/methodology/approachThe tool, known as the human capital development framework, now has been tested in more than 60 organizations. This case describes how one organization used it to help turn around a struggling division.FindingsResults of the initial implementations of the framework suggest that financial performance improves as a company improves its scoring in those critical human capital processes with strong relationships to financial success. As an organization moves from one benchmarking quartile to the next in these processes within the framework scoring, its capital efficiency – or the ratio of total annual sales to the capital invested in the operations of the business by shareholders and creditors – improves from 10 to 15 percent.Practical implicationsThe framework outlined in this article provides a tool that enables company leaders to make clear‐eyed assessments of the payoff from human capital investments. It helps organizations diagnose their strengths and weaknesses in key human capital practices, to set investment priorities and track performance, and to establish an empirical link between human capital investments, business practices, and overall business performance.Originality/valueThose organizations in the study with more mature human capital processes have better financial performance than those organizations with less mature processes. Specifically, those organizations that focus on processes devoted to three key areas – creating a people strategy aligned with the business strategy, providing supportive work environments, and developing employees by giving them ample opportunities to learn and grow – achieve far greater economic success than those that do not.
It seems as if every week a new management fad or human resources practice is grabbing headlines and clamoring for managers' attention. And yet -as many suspect but are afraid to suggest -companies with the best financial performance achieve those results not by chasing fads but by adhering to sound people management practices that are as old as business itself. These practices enable leading companies to create a ''talent multiplier'' -that is, they enable companies to generate superior results from their workforces. The concept of the talent multiplier is central to a company's performance anatomy, which is one of the three building blocks of a high-performance business.
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