Cityside Financial Services used affirmative action to hire employees that fit personally with the communities it served. It used a two-part strategy to conduct business: reinvesting in the neighborhood businesses and housing development and attracting investments from wealthy clientele.

Two units in the Sales Division, Retail and External Deposits, offered services to grow the neighborhood. The goal was to hire women and African-Americans in order to speak to local clients. The Retail Department offered loans to small businesses, savings accounts, and home mortgages. The External Deposits Department offers money markets, IRA accounts, and CDs.

In order to gain the diverse workforce the owner wanted, a hiring program was put in place that would benefit minorities. The Retail Department hired women, who became nearly half of that department's staff. Meanwhile, the External Deposits Department continued to hire and retain mainly white males with college degrees. Despite the difference in demographic of the staffs of the separate departments, Cityside Financial Services became known for having a diverse staff. Internally, there was not enough cooperation between the two departments, which caused the customer service to take a hit.

Cityside Financial Services faxed all if the challenges to managing diversity as it was going from a predominantly white organization to a more diverse institution, offering positions to minorities like women and African-Americans. The management had to be prepared for any challenge or barrier to arise.

Current employees may have an inaccurate stereotype or prejudice about incoming, prospective, or current employees that would negatively affect the working environment, especially if those employees are of various backgrounds, presenting ethnocentrism. For the affirmative action of Cityside Financial