Managing Diversity Approach - Essay Example

Managing diversity approach to managing employees- Transport and Logistics Firms UK. The Transport and Logistics Industry in UK is worth 15 billion to the country's economy. The total employment provided by this sector is close to around 2.3 million people. According to the Sector Skills Council for Logistics 'Skills for Logistics', the logistics industry in the fifth largest employer in the UK and this is a very significant number. As stated by the Sector Skills Council for Logistics, the following sectors have been identified to define the Transport and Logistic Firms. 1. Freight Transport by Road 2. Scheduled Air Transport 3. Non-Scheduled Air Transport 4. Cargo Handling 5. Storage and Warehousing 6. Other Supporting Air Transport Activity 7. Activities of other Transport Agencies 8. National Post Activities 9. Courier Activities Going by the job description of most of these sectors mentioned above and the kind of work involved, this sector employees a large number of unskilled or semi skilled manpower. Only people in the management category are skilled or highly skilled, per se going purely by the educational qualification required for this sector. The history of transport in UK can be traced back to over 4000 years ago, when man was using stone tools and making the transition from a nomadic existence, living by hunting and gathering his food, to living in settlements and developing agricultural skills. Although, history of transport is very old, only during the 1930s, a few roads were upgraded to dual carriageways as a means of relieving unemployment but it was the motorway network that started to develop in the early 1960s that were the first major additions to the road network. (Reference: Shropshire Transport) Modern day today, this industry being the 5th largest employment sector in the country and over 2.3 million people being employed, the need to upgrade the employment process and policies and match the same with the other industries has risen. This is more so important to this industry as people of diverse background and cultures have taken this as a means of employment. This is where the organizational behavior comes into picture to manage diversity and aiming at "Equality" and "Equal Opportunities" for employees. As some of the greats put it, Diversity in an organization is defined as ""Diversity within organisations is about recognising the range of differences in people and valuing people as individuals, respecting their differences and their differing needs. It is also about accommodating differences wherever possible so that an individual can play a full part in the working environment" (Daniels and Macdonald, 2005, p.1). First and foremost, it has to be recognized that an individual alone is unable to fulfil all his needs and wishes and he lacks the ability, strength and time or endurance for achieving all these single handed. Therefore, he must rely on others for help to achieve these. As several people are involved, there is a need to co-ordinate and establish a chain of mutual help. It is a plain truth and fact that in order to achieve organizational goals, all involved in the system have to accommodated and looked after with the same level of interest. Respect for individuals, irrespective of caste, creed and culture is the key. This is the basic concept of managing diversity and bringing all involved, under the same umbrella with no discrimination and giving all an equal opportunity. There are many different ways of defining "equality". When looking at equality initiatives in employment, "Equal Opportunities" has become a common label. But there are many different definitions of "Equal Opportunities". The Collins Concise Dictionary defines "inequality" as "the state or quality of being unequal; disparity" (Collins Concise Dictionary, 1989, p.639). In determining inequality, a moral judgement has to be made about whether social difference is better or worse (Vincent, 1995, p.4). The focus (of EO) is on preventing unfair discrimination, so that when two people have the same knowledge, skills and experience they should gain the same access to jobs, regardless of their social group membership (Liff and Wajman, 1996). Social outcomes of capitalism have prompted a variety of social and legislative interventions. These include the regulation of working hours, conditions and pay. Despite general advances in conditions of employment over the decades, some groups remain disadvantaged. Unfair discrimination against particular groups in employment means poorer pay and promotion prospects for those concerned. This is usually considered undesirable. Most companies and organizations now have EO policy statements. For example: "In order to achieve consistent profitable growth we aim to select, recruit, develop and promote the very best people, basing our judgements solely on suitability for the job". "We ensure that all applicants and employees receive fair and equal treatment irrespective of sex, marital status, nationality, colour, race, ethnicity, national origin, or disability".(source: www.wincanton.co.uk) It has been shown that employing an age diverse workforce can have real benefits for the organization. People of all ages have the potential to contribute positively to the business at every level as long as the workforce is managed positively and fairly. As stated above, the transport and logistics industry employees close to over 2.3 million people of different background and culture and in order to create a harmonious environment providing equal opportunities to each individuals becomes all the more important. The British Government has realized this and effective 1st October 2006, has put into place, "new anti-age discrimination laws" which all employers have to follow. Employers in the transport and logistics industry have to watch out for the following to ensure diversity and equal opportunities. (Source: Personnel Today) Ensure recruitment campaigns targeted at attracting younger workers are balanced by other campaigns focusing on a diverse age range. If you require drivers to have fitness tests at certain ages, make sure there is a genuine occupational requirement for these or they could be considered discriminatory. Don't discriminate against younger drivers because of difficulties with insurance. Consider whether there are non-driving roles they could fill until insurers agree to cover them. Don't use time left to retirement as a basis to exclude employees from training. This will be lawful, but only if there is a legitimate business reason, such as a demonstrable connection between the cost of training and the time for which the employee will stay in work. There has been a positive feedback from the industry and actions have been implemented by the employers, which is very encouraging and taking the Diversity management to the next level. While the primary focus has been "Equal Opportunities", the overall focus is on "Diversity Management", which in the long run aims at maximizing employee potential and achieving organizational goals. During the recruitment, companies have set up graduate schemes and have added parallel schemes to ensure no age groups are excluded. But that doesn't mean the industry is focusing purely on recruiting young people. First Group, the largest bus operator in the UK, has already launched a scheme designed to attract and retain older employees. Under 'The First flexible decade' programme, staff between 60 and 70 can combine flexible working opportunities with pension scheme options and arrange their hours to suit them. Staff involved in workforce management is fully aware of their responsibility not to discriminate on the basis of age or other grounds. Also, there are routines or practices in place to check that no bias, deliberate or unintentional, influences any management decisions. There is a clear transparency in the decisions being taken and all involved are well informed and taken into confidence. This has resulted to better people management. A properly managed diverse workforce has helped provide a better service to customers, which directly and obviously benefits the organizations. Regardless of the size of the organization and number of employers, the organizations are providing trainings, professional associations, employer organizations and trustees and occupational pension schemes. Some of these organizations have gone on record and have been following the Equal Opportunity Policy into place and are following the same. Below are some of the examples of the positive changes. "We welcome applications from disabled people. We offer support throughout the recruitment process for people who consider themselves to have a disability." (Source:www.royalmail.com) "We are committed to equal opportunities in our recruitment and employment of people. Our business is able to deliver the solutions our customers value so highly by drawing on a rich and diverse talent pool of employees with a wide range of knowledge, skills and abilities. We actively encourage women, people from ethnic minorities and people with disabilities to apply for jobs with us". (Source:www.bt.com) The bottom line is that the age old "transport and logistics industry" which came into being primitively 4000 years ago has gone a sea of change and is today viewed as employee friendly industry with more and more people getting into the industry. The focus has been on providing equal opportunities to each individual and EO ("Equal Opportunities") Policies have been put into place and practice to properly manage the diverse employee base. And with each passing day, this industry is only getting better and is contributing to the overall economy of the country in a very positive way. Read More