Perception on Wilkinson Promoting Workplace Diversity - Research Paper Example

 Perception on Wilkinson Promoting Workplace Diversity Issues with regards to equal work opportunities correlated to gender, race, age, sexuality and disabilities have been carefully investigated by social scientists from all walks of educational institutions over recent years that had passed. (van Oorschot & Hvinden, 2001; Barton & Oliver, 1997). The government of UK adheres to the implementation of policies that will ensure work parity for everyone in the workforce. It is fortunate that in Wilkinson Eastham Branch, there seems to be a strong promotion of workplace diversity. There is a strong belief among respondents that this is being advocated in the workplace. Various public policies that have been instigated by the UK government which were aimed at eradicating inequality among workers are enumerated as follows. The significance of human rights was promoted by encouraging equality amidst diversity as proposed in the Equality Act 2006 (Office of Public Sector Information, 2009c). Meanwhile, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 was aimed at eliminating discrimination against employees with physical disabilities and such act of prejudice would be considered unlawful (Office of Public Sector Information, 2009d). As part of the policy implementation, employers were mandated to make various adjustments on their office structure, and provide special facilities such as audio tape or sign language interpreter so that disabled employees could function normally within the firm (Office of Public Sector Information, 2009e). A store manager of Wilkinson has the following to say about how Wilkinson promotes workplace diversity, “Diversity within team starts with ensuring that we attract potential employees which are culturally representative of the local area demographics. This ensures that the workforce diversity is established providing equal opportunities through our selection process to all.” Experience of Discrimination and Seeing Others Being Discriminated Moreover, it is also encouraging to see that the employees have not had any experience of discrimination, nor have they seen any incident amongst their staff or colleagues that have to do with discrimination. Based on the Women and Equality Unit (2009), there was a need to form The Equality and Human Rights Commission to combat work bias especially in the form of direct and indirect sex or status discrimination on employment or vocational trainings and sexual harassment (Women and Equality Unit, 2009) as embodied under the amended Sex Discrimination Act of 1975. In the battle against racial prejudice which discriminates based on race, skin colour, nationality, ethnic group or national origin, the local government has sustained the Race Relations Act 1976, which was modified twenty four years later, to further aid in this combat. Moreover, way back in 1999, the UK government introduced the Public Sector Duties to advance policies on gender, race and disability equality (Women and Equality Unit, 2005). The women, as well as the men are protected by the said Public Sector Duties in terms of work parity. The employment rate gap among the black, Asian and the ethnic minority drastically reduced from 19% in 1996, 16.9% in 2003 down to 14% in 2006, due to the continuous attempts of the local government to eradicate discrimination, in terms of gender and race, in work. (Bendelman, 2007). The fact that there are entities such as Wilkinson where there are no discriminatory practices exist, suggest that these legislative measures have been effectual to some extent. On the issue of gender discrimination, the Women and Equality Unit (2009b) again shares that The European Community Law and Equal Pay Act of 1970 was introduced by the UK government to deal with socio-economic problems associated with gender pay gap. Equal pay for equal work is the main premise encourgaed by the said legislation which was modified back in July 2003 (Women and Equality Unit, 2009b). Employers were mandated to grant their employees, both men and women, with a compensation that measures up to the quantity and quality of work that they have rendered for the compnay. The gender pay gap in UK dramatically fell to a rate of 12.6% from 17.4%, between 2006 to 2007 (South East England Development Agency, 2009, p. 11). A very helpful tool in ensuring that gender prejudice pay concerns would be minimized would be the use of a clear reward system among employees that equal pay is given for equal work. No such discriminatory practices based on gender were noted by the respondents in Wilkinson Eastham Branch. Belief that the Management of Wilkinson’s is Successful in Providing Equal Opportunities to All Employees There is also strong belief among the respondents that Wilkinson is successful in providing equal opportunities for its employees. This has several benefits for the organization. Aside from the requirement by the UK employment law to implement work equality, a large majority of business establishments have resolved to implement cultural diversity in the workplace, to form a positive public image and boost the company’s profitability by improving the quality of its business operations. (Corner & Soliman, 1996). Diversity has three perspectives namely : (1) access-and-legitimacy perspective (2) discrimination-and-fairness perspective; and (3) integration-and-learning perspective, which should be completely understood in order to strengthen cultural diversity in the workplace. The third persepective, integration-and-learning perspective, is geared towards motivating employees to focus on the development of important resources such as skills, insights and selected perspectives which would be very helfpul in improving the quality of their work performance, after they have carefully evaluated the market, products and services, strategies, and behavior of businesses in general (Thomas & Ely 2001). The integration-and-learning perspective is considered as the most advantageous when it comes to developing work processes in an organization mainly because of the opportunities it porvides for the employees in coping up with internal and external environmental changes (Ely et al, 2003, p. 324). The three perspectives in diversity are in general, unique when compared to each other (Thomas & Ely, 2001). The first perspective, the access-and-legitimacy perspective, places heavy recognition on cultural diverstiy among domestic and global markets and its population. In contrast to discrimination-and-fairness perspective and integration-and-learning perspective, the concept of access-and-legitimacy is readily applicable within an organization especially in situations where urgent business transactions with a foreign country is called for. Cultural background is regarded as an asset to an organization for both integration-and-learning and access-and legitimacy perspective. Integration-and-learning perspective encourages employees to build up their own cultural identity which provides an opportunity for the employees to learn from one another (Janssens & Zanoni 2005; Ely et al. 2003, p. 234; Thomas & Ely 2001), while access-and-legitimacy perspective enables an organization to come up with an instant solution in terms of transacting with foreign businessmen (Thomas & Ely 1996, p. 368). Focusing solely on the implementation of access-and-legitimacy perspective poses a problem because it may cause employees to develop feelings of being marginalized or exploited in instances when target consumers’ culture serves as a basis for the cultural diversity of a business sector. (Janssens & Zanoni 2005; Ely et al. 2003, p. 324; Thomas & Ely 1996, p. 368). Moreover, the results suggest that there are no issues as regards gender equality in Wilkinson Eastham Branch. MacKinnon (1998) note that it is quite a pain-staking task to develop a single policy that would fully gratify the distinction in gender role since the dissimilarity between male and female is great (MacKinnon, 1998). Aside from gender, issues on equality could arise in terms of diverse customs, mores and values in each nationality. Diversity and inequality is a hard battle to combat so whatever efforts the government puts into solving such a dilemma, there will always be cases that would arise out of such issues (Phillips, 2001 & 1992). There has been a constant debate on the matter regarding equality based on gender and workplace diversity since the specific needs between men and women differ greatly (Council of Europe, 1998). Some feminist groups have risen in protest to attest to the truth that the equality scheme does not put into consideration the major disputes that promote inequality among gender (Nussbaum, 1999; Pateman, 1988). In addition, gender inequality may be partially resolved by promoting diversity in the workplace, such as what is being done in the Branch. In order for employees to bring out the best in every employee within an organizaton, the idea of diversity was formed. (Kandola, Fullerton & Institute of Personnel and Development, 1994). Considering the huge differences among people, one way of solving the problem on work fairness could be by means of employing diversity in an organization, as stated by Phillips (1992). On the other hand, the human resources management strategy sees diversity promotion as a social problem. In the context of the UK anti-discrimination legislation, business management’s classification of diversity does not match altogether (Bronchain, 2003). The distinction between men and women arises in different forms and areas. For instance, the dissimilarity present in the workplace is a different matter as opposed to difference in terms of race or group (Rhode, 1998). According to a study by Yuyal-Davis (2006), the level of work prejudice differs in white women compared to black women. Gender, race and disability issues in terms of work equality greatly differ in nature because consideration given to it is based on its impact on policy problems. (Verloo, 2006) The Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 paved the way for the creation of gender equality policies in UK. It was followed in 1976 by the Race Relations Act, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, and the Public Sector Duties 1999. The UK government decided on introducing a single policy on equality termed as the Equality Act 2006 in order to strengthen gender, race and disability equality policies. As a testament to how Wilkinson promotes equal opportunities, a store manager shares, “Wilkinson provides equal opportunities by ensuring all vacancies and progressive opportunities are advertised in all areas of the business and externally. The selection process is standardized to ensure all new appointments are based on competency and suitability to the role.” Satisfaction with the Cross Cultural Practices at Wilkinson’s Eastham Branch The respondents from Eastham Branch express the need to hire employees from more nationalities and cultural backgrounds, as attested to by the results of the survey. As defined by the College of Mainland (2008) ‘Diversity” is defined as “taking in a variety of cultural or moral backgrounds and characteristics of humankind.” (College of the Mainland 2008). With reference to the above definition of diversity, cultural diversity mainly focuses on one or more socio-demograhic traits like gender, race, traditions, and age (Janssens & Zanoni 2005). Moreover, 'multiculturalism’, or cultural diversity in the workplace is all about incorporating culture in the aspect of an employees’ age, gender, mental or physical capacities and characteristics, race, ethnic heritage, sexual orientation, geographic location, work experience, income, religious philosophies, language spoken, organizational role and level, communication styles, family status, work style, and employees’ educational background (Loden 1996). Cultural diversity is built upon the idea of building a concept which would serve as a guide for recognition and reverence among the employees. Based on the outcomes of the survey, Wilkinson employees seem to be strongly supportive of multiculturalism. The results of the current research are encouraging, since they run contrary to the findings of Huo & Molina (2006) who say that groups in a business organization are usually divided into major and minority. A study was conducted by Huo and Molina (2006) in order to investigate the impact of respect to the subgroups’ opinion in relation to developing constructive organizational outlook that would promote harmony and diversity among the White Americans, African Americans, and Latinos. The result of the study shows that among the members of the ethnic minority groups mainly among the Latinos and African Americans, subgroup respect is present, but is absent in White Americans, which frequently practice ingroup favoritism rather the subgroup respect. The major groups must make a lead in promoting work diversity among minority groups in order to avoid internal conflicts as well as build up the profitability and success of a company (Maalouf 2003). Moreover, cultural background is regarded as an asset to an organization for both integration-and-learning and access-and legitimacy perspective. Integration-and-learning perspective encourages employees to build up their own cultural identity which provides an opportunity for the employees to learn from one another (Janssens & Zanoni 2005; Ely et al. 2003, p. 234; Thomas & Ely 2001), while access-and-legitimacy perspective enables an organization to come up with an instant solution in terms of transacting with foreign businessmen (Thomas & Ely 1996, p. 368). Focusing solely on the implementation of access-and-legitimacy perspective poses a problem because it may cause employees to develop feelings of being marginalized or exploited in instances when target consumers’ culture serves as a basis for the cultural diversity of a business sector. (Janssens & Zanoni 2005; Ely et al. 2003, p. 324; Thomas & Ely 1996, p. 368). A store manager of Wilkinson has the following to say about the cross cultural practices of the company, “Wilkinson has practices and guidelines for ensuring that all cultures are offered equal opportunities and cultural needs are met in the workplace i.e. we provide alternative uniforms for differing cultural groups.” Moreover, he says, “No, I believe it makes a business challenge its processes to improve its credibility.” This is his response on whether cross cultural diversity makes managing difficult. HR Managers should encourage opportunities for learning in the course of carrying out integration-and-learning pespective in order to deal with the challenges that arise with the new viewpoint (Thomas & Ely 1996, p. 370). It is important for HR managers to carefully educate themselves about this new concept in order to avoid mistakes and slip-ups during the implementation stage. The establishment of organizational mission and culture is very important for managers during the organizational learning because it will allow employees to have open communication lines, attain the high standard of work performance, and encourage the personal growth of each employee (Thomas & Ely 1996, p. 371). A mission will serve as a main roadmap which will aid employees to be aware of the manager’s vision and long-term direction for the organization. On the other hand, the culture will serve as a primary tool and pattern for behavior and beliefs that are acceptable within the organization. Satisfaction with the Organizational Policies Developed by the HR Manager on Equal Opportunities, Work Diversity, and Cross Cultural Practices There is 84% of the sample who expressed satisfaction with the organizational policies developed by the HR Manager on equal opportunities, work diversity, and cross cultural practices. These results are likewise supported by the perception of respondents on the effectiveness of store managers in advocating these organizational policies. This suggests that HR Managers comply with what is mandated by law, at least from the perception of the respondents. Punitive misdemeanor could be charged to any employee who would show discrimination among co-workers and customers which could then be a ground for discharge from employment. On the other hand, employers could be charged of a criminal offence if proven to be at fault of discrimination among employees and applicants. HR managers are enjoined to rigorously adhere to UK policies with regards to equal work opportunity, in managing employees and handling job applicants, in order to steer clear of being charged against unlawful inequity. On the role of the line manager in implementing such practices, the store manager shares, “We implement these through compliance to all relevant legal and procedural requirements, i.e. diversity policy, equal opportunities policy, disability discrimination act. Also, our company’s working values, ensure an ongoing focus. Shape the future, show we care, build trust, be passionate, pull together. We also work with an open door policy to all staff and have team charters.” Moreover, “There are company values that have posed some challenges as would be expected but each one is an opportunity to learn and improve our processes for the future.” Each and every employee are entitled to receive an equal opportunity to be trained, promoted, developed and grow within an organization regardless of age, gender, belief, race, marital status, membership in trade union and work flexibility as well. Flexible working rights should be granted to men and women as part of work-life balance. Moreover, work flexibility can be extended to employees and implemented efficiently by the HR manager. Some of the frequent options given to employees include: part-time jobs, flexy time, job sharing, and unpaid leave. Part time job is frequently utilized by most companies especially for those with position that are compensated with a little amount (Secord, 2003, p. 173). There are also guidelines for the fair implementation of part-time work. It is said that there are several ways on how HR managers could effectively implement the part time job in a company. HR managers could welcome the idea of providing weekly scheduled hours to guarantee that part-time employees would be available to to perform their role at a specified timetable. The HR manager must be notified in advance if an employee has a plan of taking a leave from his/her shift. The HR manager should also build up a work environment that recognizes on-call work option during instances when a part-time employee is not available. Flexy or flexible hours refer to the privilege of an employee to avail of the most convenient time for him to work provided that work would be delivered on time. In order for flexy hours to work for both employer and employee,strict rules should be in place and implemented by HR managers especially in terms of timeline for job submissions. Job sharing could also be made available between two or more employees. In this case, HR managers should be explicit in handing over work load and schedule for every member of the group assigned to a specifict ask. To illustrate, work schedule of forty hours per week should be divided evenly among three employees working on a particular project to guarantee that each one of them would be working for a definite number of hours within a week (Dessler, 2001, p. 312). In such manner, equal work opportunity would be rendered to all of the three employees and complaints would be avoided. In UK, there is an occurrence of unpaid leave. In this case, HR managers should carefully remember that under the Council Directive 96/34/EC, which was amended in 2001, a father is given up to thirteen weeks of unpaid parental leave and eighteen weeks if a child is found out to have some disabilities (Chandler, 2000, p. 431). The decree is applicable to all parents who are presently employed with children aged five years and below. It also includes adoptive parents with children below the age of eighteen years granted that the parents have been employed continuously for at least one year or more (ibid). Mothers who have been in employ for more than one year could also avail of such benefits. It is important for an organization to always adhere to the unpaid leave decree to ensure that any legal problems arising out of employee’s grievances would be avoided. The interview response of the store manager on whether the HR Manager’s role in ensuring work place diversity and equal opportunities is effective, is as follows, “Yes, there is always an opportunity to make improvements. These become apparent by actively gaining feedback from those who work with and are affected by the practices.” Finally, his thoughts on the best way to establish work force diversity and cross cultural practices within a business establishment: “Ensure great communication is established. Listen to your team members and customers. Gain valuable information through feedback mechanisms and always challenge yourself to do more and keep improving. Conclusion The current research shows that Wilkinson Eastham branch is effectual at observing work diversity and equal opportunity within their workplace. This has been validated by the responses in the survey questionnaire which attest to the fact that they have not experienced discrimination and neither have they observed anyone being discriminated at the branch. Moreover, they are satisfied with the way HR has implemented cross cultural and equal opportunity policies in the workplace. Read More