Effective Management of the Labor Force - Assignment Example

Name Tutor Course Date Chapter 1: 1. Tensions posed by global workforce trends The current global workforce has been characterized by tensions. In some developed countries, the working age population is projected to decrease in the next few years. This has called for the need to have immigrants come into the countries. For developing countries, young adult populations have been rising and this has been a concern since their economy cannot support them. Additionally, the workforce has also seen increased use of women. Due to the increasing changes in the workforce, countries are struggling with unfriendly group relations in places of work. Discrimination and prejudice becomes detrimental to the businesses since it could lead to violence. This requires effective management of the labour force to increase productivity (Barak, 2010, pp. 4). Chapter 2 1. Explain the International Bill of Human Rights and summarize the articles relevant to employment/ work related rights The international bill of human rights refers to two multinational treaties that were set up by the UN under the general assembly resolution. The treaty was set as a common standard for achievement by all people and nations to ensure that each individual and society organ constantly keeps this in mind and drives towards respect for the rights and freedom and through measures that are progressive at national and international level. The article on employment (article 23) speaks of everyone’s right to work and for free choice of employment and for protection from unemployment. It also speaks of the equal pay to everyone for equal work. Further, everyone working has the right to fair remuneration and the right to form trade unions (International Bill of Human Rights, 1999). 2. Declaration of human rights (Element of International Bill of Human Rights The article on declaration of human rights states that everyone is born with free and equal rights and dignity. Further, it entitles everyone to the rights and freedoms that are set in the international bill of human rights (International Bill of Human Rights, 1999). Chapter 3: 1. What is discrimination? Convert discrimination and overt discrimination? Discrimination refers to the treatment of a person or people in a less favorable manner than other people because of their colour, race, ethnic or national origin, sex, marital status, religion, political beliefs, or any other characteristic that is central. Covert discrimination is discrimination that is done in a manner that does not seem to suggest direct discrimination but is inclined towards it. It is done in secretive forms. Overt discrimination is the direct discrimination of a person or people with direct statements that segregate other people and make them get less treatment (YahooAnswers, 2011). 2. Theoretical perspectives of affirmative action (use information from the book) Affirmative action refers to the positive actions that are taken to increase the favour received by groups of people that are discriminated. It can be referred to as positive discrimination and it considers factors like color, race, origin, sexual orientation or gender to benefit the underrepresented group in business, employment and education areas (Fullinwider, 2011). 3. Principles of affirmative action programs: goals and target population, policies and programs, enforcement – incentives and sanctions The principles of affirmative actions are based on the provision of equality to all. Its goals are to ensure that there is equal opportunity for everyone, more so the underrepresented people. The target populations are minority employees and female but not excluding males and the non-minority employees. Its policies are set to develop diversity among employees and to add fresh knowledge and ideas while developing opportunities that were not existent before. The programs assist in the establishment of a methodology that examines the employment decisions where faith efforts that are focused provide opportunities in all classifications of employment (Fullinwider, 2011). Chapter 4 1. Important international population trends Population trends have been characterized by fast growth of the population in regions that are less developed and slow growth in the developed regions. The high growth regions include the sub-Saharan Africa while the slow growth regions include the Europe, Australia and China. Countries with intermediate fertility include United States, India and Mexico (Martin and Fogel, 2006). 2. National trends The population of the USA was reported to be 315,510,000 by January 2013. This makes USA the third most populated country in the world. Majority of the people are urbanized and live in suburbs and cities. Male population makes about 151 million. Young people below the age of twenty make for a quarter of the U.S. population (Martin and Fogel, 2006). 3. Trends in the working-age population In most European countries, the working age population has increased in size. However, in over 25 % of the region, the labour force has declined and this is most especially in Germany and partly Sweden, UK, Hungary, Denmark and Bulgaria. The regions that have recorded high increase in working population include Iceland, Poland, sprain and France (ESPON, 2011). 4. Migration trends (push and pull) Migration flows has seen a significant upturn in the majority of OECD member countries since 1990s. The push forces in some of the European countries have been the restrictions that are placed on immigration channels and this has resulted in an increase in the quantity of asylum seekers. The push force of unemployment has been strong between the years 1999-2000 and this resulted in immigration to most developed countries. Family reasons have been a push for other immigrations. South-South migration has been as common as has been South-North migration. The mean age of most migrants is 29 while the age with the most migrations is 39 (Henning, 2012). 5. Occupational Diversity Occupational diversity has been studied by economists through a reduction of the different skills and qualifications so as to aggregate the quantities of human capital. Human capital has many forms that include abilities and skills appearance, personality, appropriate credentials and reputation but despite this, the human capital is homogenous and is composed of the same stuff but with different families. This is the reason for occupational diversity (Mookherjee and Ray, 2006). 6. Educational trends and workforce diversity The effect of educational trends on the diversity of workforce is seen in the way jobs that have been trending are pursued by students in colleges and universities. The students study the jobs and the courses related to it. This brings the tension of shortage in other industries since they will not have enough labour force with time. On the other hand, the trending jobs will be flooded by the labour force that has studied for the courses related to the trending jobs (United States Department of Labour, 2012). Chapter 5 1. Perceptual process model including goal, content and description. The perceptual process refers to a series of steps starting with the environment and leading to the perception of a stimulus. The process is continuous but not so much time is spent on thinking about the process because of the perception of the stimuli surrounding an individual at any time. The goal is for the individual to adapt to the environment. The steps include environmental stimulus, attended stimulus, retinas image, transduction, neural process, perception, recognition and action in that order (Cherry, 2012). 2. Social identity theory including goal and content. The social identity theory refers to an influential theory of group and intergroup relations and processes and how the social context affects the relations between groups. It is inclined to the perception that people favor their own groups as compared to the groups of others. Its goal is to explain how the environment affects a group of people and how groups can influence each other’s behaviors (Hornsey, 2008, pp. 207). 3. Attribution process and attribution errors. Attribution refers to the process of where the causes of behaviours and events are inferred. It is meant to analyze why things are done the way they are and not considering the biasness and processes that result to the inferences. Certain things might be attributed to internal characteristics while external force may be blamed for other things. Certain errors emerge from the biasness since perceptions of events often get distorted and this leads to errors and biases. Distortions could be caused by past experiences, expectations and own needs (Cherry, 2012). 4. Johari Window (dimensions, goal and content). The Johari window is a model used for personal development, self awareness, understanding relationships and group development. It represents feelings, views, experience, attitudes, intentions and motivation in people relative to their team. it is relevant because of the emphasis and influence of soft skills’ behaviour. The goal of the tool is to understand and to train individuals into self awareness, improved communications, personal development, interpersonal relationships, team development, group dynamics as well as inter-group relationships (Abella, 2011). Works Cited Barak, M, 2010, Managing Diversity: Toward a Globally Inclusive Workplace, Sage, Carlifonia. International Bill of Human Rights, 1999. YahooAnswers, 2011, What is the definition convert discrimination, retrievd on February 16th 2013 from: http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100930083932AAKVmvd. Fullinwider, R, 2011,"Affirmative Action", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter Edition), retrieved on February 16th 2013 from: http://plato.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/encyclopedia/archinfo.cgi?entry=affirmative-action. Martin, J & Fogel, S 2006, Projecting the US Population to 2050: Four Immigration Scenarios, A report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform. USA. ESPON, 2011, Poster "Trends in Working Age Population", retrieved on February 16th 2013 from: . Henning, S 2012, Migration Levels and Trends: Global assessment and Policy Implications, U.N., Newyork. Mookherjee, D & Ray, D 2006, Occupational Diversity and Endogenous Inequality, New York University and Instituto de An´alisis Econ´omico (CSIC). United States Department of Labour, 2012, The U.S. Population is becoming Larger and More Diverse, retrieved on February 16th 2013 from: . Cherry, K 2012, Perception and the Perceptual Process, retrieved on February 16th 2013 from: http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/ss/perceptproc_2.htm. Hornsey, 2008, Social Identity Theory and Self-categorization Theory: A Historical Review, Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2/1: 204–222. Cherry, K, Attribution, retrieved on February 16th 2013 from: http://psychology.about.com/od/socialpsychology/a/attribution.htm. Abella, H 2011, Johari Wndow, retrieved on February 16th 2013 from: http://www.slideshare.net/harveabella/joharis-window. Read More