Impact of Discrimination on Productivity in the Work Place - Case Study Example

Impact of Discrimination on Productivity in the Workplace IMPACT OF DISCRIMINATION ON PRODUCTIVITY IN THE WORK PLACE Impact of Discrimination on Productivity In The Workplace 2 Abstract. In the given scenario we are faced with a situation where an employee is claiming to be the victim of discrimination on the basis of race and gender. The response by the company indicate that the discrimination was unintentional, but by citing her accent as the reason for failing to promote Ms. XX, the company has given validity to her claims of racial discrimination. Furthermore, the application of blanket policies to all employees can create problems in situations where different gender roles in society are not taken into account. Such situations can be prevented by restructuring the promotion policy and making sure that all employees are aware of the criteria they must satisfy in order to be eligible for a particular post. The routine evaluation should also be systematized in such a way that any discriminatory behavior on part of the supervisors is immediately evident. Main body. To discriminate is defined in " The Oxford Dictionary of Difficult Words" as "making an unjust or prejudicial distinction in the treatment of Impact of Discrimination on Productivity in the Workplace 3 different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, sex or age." [Hobson, pg 131] We all like to believe that we live in progressive times, times when we have left social evils like discrimination far behind us, and that when they rear their ugly heads, we will be protected from them by social laws. We often fail to take into consideration the fact that we, as people, are flawed. On a normal day, each one of us "discriminates" against our fellow man in hundreds of different ways. Choosing to sit next to a friendly looking lady on the morning bus instead of the malodorous homeless man, choosing the coffee shop attendant who gives every customer a friendly smile rather than her sullen colleague who looks like she got off the wrong side of the bed these are small, everyday snippets from our lives that no-one holds against useven though we are making "distinctions" that are "unjust" and "prejudicial". Discrimination can usually be described as taking one of three forms, which can be explained as follows: Discrimination is said to be direct if someone is treated less favorably than others would be treated in the same circumstances It is said to be indirect if a requirement or condition is applied equally to all, but it has a disproportionately detrimental effect on one sex or racial group, because of their inability to comply with it. Impact Of Discrimination on Productivity in the Workplace 4 It takes the from of harassment when someone is subjected to inappropriate actions, behavior, comments or physical contact that is objectionable or causes offence to the recipient. It may be of a sexual or racial nature or it may be directed towards people because of their age, their sexuality, a disability or some other characteristic.[ Guild, pg 3] As is evident from the information provided above, the most common forms of discrimination encountered in our everyday lives are those based on race, gender and age. On basis of the information provided by Ms. XX, she believes that she was subjected to racial and gender discrimination during her tenure of ten years in this company. In addition to being overlooked for a promotion that she believes she deserved, she also states multiple other minor grievances, in the from of incidents where she felt that she was being subjected to discriminatory treatment. All her complaints will be assessed separately. Her primary complaint is that at the time of promotion, she was overlooked, in-spite of her seniority and greater work experience, and the promotion was given instead to a less qualified colleague on the basis of his race. In support of her claim, she points out her work experience of 10 years as compared to 7 years on the part of her colleague. The Impact of Discrimination on Productivity in the Workplace 5 reason cited for not promoting her was her distinctive accent. As such, this places the company's act under the criteria of racial discrimination which is defined as "any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedom in any field of public life." [Doebbler, pg 379] The company maintains that her accent was the primary issue because good communication skills were a requirement of the job in question and Ms. XX's speech was often too rapid to be intelligible to listeners. Thus in light of the job requirement, the company chose an employee who was better suited for the appointment, even though he was less eligible in terms of work experience. The company is thus by its own admission culpable for racial discrimination, because even in light of company well being, basing the failure to promote a worker primarily on the basis of their accent is defined as discrimination. Evidence that this is so can be cited from a legal case in which an employer's negative statements about an employee's accent was deemed to be direct evidence of discrimination. "In In re Rodriguez, No. 06-1988, --F.3d--, 2007 WL 1827284 (6th Cir. June 27, 2007), the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a summary judgment award in favor of employer FedEx Freight East, Inc., Impact of Discrimination on Productivity in the Workplace 6 which allegedly denied an employee a promotion due to the employee's accent and speech characteristics. The appellate court concluded that the employee had provided direct evidence in support of his national origin discrimination claim. Jose Rodriguez, a FedEx employee, was not selected for a supervisory position he sought. A FedEx customer service manager allegedly told Rodriguez that "he would have hired Rodriguez but for Adkinson's [Rodriguez's supervisor] stated concern that Rodriguez's accent and speech pattern would adversely impact Rodriguez's ability to rise through the customer ranks." "[Rozyki, Haase] The company, however, goes on to give further reasons for not approving of the promotion, saying that Ms. XX's performance was below par. They claim that her relations with co-workers were strained and she was frequently reproached for tardiness and attendance problems for which she cited family problems. The company holds these issues responsible for her poor job evaluations. Ms. XX counters this saying that her poor evaluations are simply another manifestation of discriminatory behavior by the company. She states the cause of this discrimination as being due to her gender and race, as she is the only female in her work place, and also the only " colored" employee. Due to the presence of two documented incidences where Ms. XX was counseled Impact of Discrimination on Productivity in the Workplace 7 by her supervisor for being late, and one incidence where she was called in for being absent, it appears to be safe to conclude that her poor evaluation reports are not based on gender or racial discrimination, but on her work performance. On closer scrutiny however, in this situation there are elements of indirect discrimination. Ms. XX was not personally victimized, due to her race or gender. However, when the issue of promotion rose, her colleague was given preference and the main reason cited for this was that it was believed that he was better qualified for the job because he was unimpaired by an accent. Thus indirectly, the company, in choosing an employee with lesser experience for the job on the basis of accent would be considered guilty of racial discrimination until one takes into account the mitigating factors, which in this case are the documented incidences quoted by the company of poor performance by Ms. XX. Ms. XX claims that her attendance and timing problems are rooted in family issues. This brings us back to her claim of poor treatment based on her gender. The claim begins to appear logical in light of the fact that in our society, gender roles are different and females are more likely to be burdened with family problems involving children or the elderly in the family. " Because men and women have different gender roles, they have different gender needs/interests/ approaches. From both a policy and operational viewpoint, it is useful to distinguish Impact of Discrimination on Performance in Workplace 8 between the two types of gender needs." [Moser, Tornqvist, Bronkhorst, Pg 18] Such a situation can be prevented in the future by taking some simple steps: The company's promotional policy should be restructured so that any promotion is based on 3 factors each being given equal weightage. 1. the work experience of the person being considered 2. the evaluation reports of the person being considered in the past years of employment 3. the suitability of the person for that particular job. The job requirements for each post should be clearly stated in the promotion policy to eliminate any ambiguity. A worker of seniority who is deemed ineligible for a post due to any personal characteristic which would, in the opinion of the company, impair his/her ability to perform his/ her assigned duty, should be Impact of Discrimination on Productivity in the Workplace 9 compensated by conferring added benefits in his/her current post or by being considered for any other post of equal seniority in which the aforementioned characteristics would not be an impediment to their performance A copy of the promotional policy should be available to all the workers, and it should be ensured that the job requirements for every upcoming promotion are understood by all the personnel who stand a chance of being appointed at the post Instead of making blanket policies, that raise charges of indirect discrimination, subtle alteration of rules and regulations in light of employee gender, age and experience should be formulated. Such alterations would prove to be especially beneficial while dealing with pregnant employees, breast feeding employees, etc. The policy for job evaluation should also be reviewed and structured in a way that the supervisor has a clear idea of the different criteria under which the workers performance is to be assessed. The most convenient way to bring this about would be a standardized rating Impact of Discrimination on Productivity in the Workplace 10 sheet, with a numerical score, the total score being broken down into different categories, e.g., PUNCTUALITY 1. always on time 5 points 2. usually on time 4 points 3. often late 3 points 4. almost always tardy 1 point A copy of this assessment sheet should also be made available to all the employees so that they remain in no doubt as to what factors contribute to a poor assessment. It is believed that by taking all these factors into consideration, the recurrence of such a situation will be avoided. Impact of Discrimination on Productivity in the Workplace 11 References 1. Doebbler, Curtis Francis. "International Human Rights And Law: Cases And Materials". Pg 379. (2004) 2. Guild, E. "The EC Directive on Race Discrimination." Pg 3. " Industrial Law Journal" ,(2000) 3. Hobson, Archie. "Oxford Dictionary of Difficult Words." Pg 131. ( 2004) Oxford. 4. Moser, Caroline N. Tornqvist, Annika. Bronkhorst, Bernice Von. " Mainstreaming Gender And Development in the World Bank." Pg 18. (1999) 5. Rozyki, Carla j, Haase, David K. "Statements About Employee's Accent May Be Direct Evidence of Discrimination". Special to Law.com. (July 18, 2007) Read More