Human Resource Management: Equal Employment Opportunity - Research Paper Example

Human Resource Management: Equal Employment Opportunity According to Torrington et al. (2011), “Human resource management (HRM) is the basis of all management activity”( p.4). Human resource management is a broad managerial or organizational function which cannot be described in few words. Even though man, material, machine and money are some of the major organizational resources, manpower seems to be the most important resource as far as an organization is concerned. This is because of the fact that all the other organizational resources need supervision of manpower to function effectively to the organization’s needs and objectives. For example, machines or materials in an organization may become idle in the absence of human involvement. As HRM is responsible for managing human elements in an organization, it can be visualized as the most important department of an organization. In other words, HRM can make or break an organization. According to Ivancevich (2006), human resource management is action oriented, people oriented, globally oriented and future oriented (p.5). Some of the major functions of HRM are; recruitment, retention, allocation of suitable jobs, training and development of employees etc. It is difficult to limit the functions of HRM in the above mentioned areas alone. Another major function of HRM is ensuring equal employment opportunities to all. Moreover, HR professionals should make sure that all the employees in their organization receive equal and fair treatments all the time. No employee should develop a feeling that the HR professionals are treating them as second class employees. Prejudices and biases should be avoided as much as possible by the HR department while deciding promotions and dispersing incentives and bonuses. In short, it is the duty of the HRM to make sure that equal employment opportunities are given to all and complaints regarding racism, sexism, stereotyping, prejudices, biases etc are not at all there in the organization. The term "Equal Opportunity Employment" was first given by President Lyndon B. Johnson when he signed Executive Order 11246 which was created to prohibit federal contractors from discriminating against employees on the basis of race, sex, creed, religion, color, or national origin. The scope of the order also covered the discrimination on the basis of the minority status (Equal Employment Opportunity, 2007). This paper analyses the importance of equal employment opportunity as a human resource management function. Role of HRM in ensuring Equal Employment Opportunities Many people have the habit of equating equal employment with equal opportunities. According to Sharf (2011), equal employment and equal opportunity are different terms. He notes that the lessons to understand are the civil rights for job-related selection procedure, second is the employment discrimination, and the redistributive political agenda of equal employment (p.537). Many American companies have the habit of avoiding people with some kind of disabilities while conducting recruitments. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) clearly gives instructions to the human resource managers about the norms to be followed while accepting or rejecting the applications of people with disabilities. During the first 12 years after ADA implementation, the U.S. Supreme Court issued several rulings that narrowly construed who qualified as disabled (Albertson’s v. Kirkingburg; Murphy v. United Parcel Services; Sutton v. United Airlines; Toyota Motor Manufacturing v. Williams). In 2008, Congress responded to these judicial interpretations by specifically rejecting the Supreme Court’s analysis and unequivocally stating the intent to expand the scope of protection under the ADA Furthermore, analysis suggests that both the original statute and the 2008 Amendments Act suffer from a lack of clarity regarding who qualifies as disabled. Public human resource managers must evaluate how best to meet their ADA obligations in this climate of legal ambiguity and fiscal uncertainty (Rush, 2012, p.75) It is an accepted fact that the companies are more interested in maximising their profits than serving the communities in which they operate. Even though corporate social responsibility is one of the major talking points in the corporate world, majority of the companies do not like the idea of giving employment to people with disabilities, especially in the current recession hit business circles. Organizations are currently looking for opportunities to deriving more than 100% out of the normal employees. They cannot ask the physically handicapped employees to increase their productivity or efficiency. Under such circumstances, companies are showing fewer interests in employing people with disabilities. According to Paauwe & Boselie (2005), “the main objectives of 'strategic' HRM are to identify and recruit strong performers, provide them with the abilities and confidence to work effectively, monitor their progress towards the required performance targets, and reward staff well” (Paauwe & Boselie, 2005, p.69). Nobody can blame the HR professionals when they give more importance to the efficiency and productivity of the candidates while conducting the recruitment process. In fact, it is the duty of the HR professionals to identify the best talents available in the job market and place them on suitable positions. At the same time, HR professionals should also make sure to recruit certain percentages of physically handicapped candidates and place them properly in the organization. For example, a physically handicapped receptionist may not cause any damage to the productivity of the company is she possesses good communication skills. On the other hand, it is difficult for the HR professionals to appoint them in sales or marketing department since these jobs require extensive travelling. In short, HR professionals can identify areas in which they can place physically handicapped professionals so that the reputations of the company will be increased. Although the civil right act of 1964 is now over 40 years old and tremendous strides have been made in providing women and minorities with equal employment opportunity, one area in which the results of affirmative action have been somewhat disappointing is career development to upper levels of organization (Ivancevich, 2006, p.466). Discriminations against women at workplaces is a common thing in many of the organizations in America. Even though women are physically inferior to men, they are not so with respect to mental abilities. However, many organizations have the illusion that only male candidates would be ideal for top positions. When there is a tossup between a male and female for a critical position, usually the male candidate may excel even if the female candidate may have superior credentials. This is because of the prejudices and biases most of the HR professionals keep towards female community. Even though America is believed to be the most civilized society in the world, still American women are considered as second class citizens in many areas of their social life. It should not be forgotten that no woman yet to become the president of America. In the last presidential elections, many people thought that Hillary Clinton might get the Democratic Party candidature. However, she failed to do so, not because of her any shortage of capabilities, but because of the male domination prevailing in American society. The same thing is true in the corporate world also. Equal employment opportunities laws are in place not only in America, but also in other parts of the world as well. However, these laws are often stay on papers alone; in practice women and minorities may struggle to get equal employment opportunities. An equal opportunity employer is one that complies with the various antidiscrimination laws by making employment decisions based on job related qualifications rather than an individual’s membership in a protected class. Equal employment opportunity does not require an employer to give preferential treatment to protected groups. Instead, the various federal and state laws designed to protect certain classes of individuals from discrimination generally require employers to provide similar treatment to similarly situated individuals. (Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), 2012) There are plenty of cases in which minorities often fall victims of prejudices and biases. White people often get priority over black people while companies decide promotions in America. In other words, abilities and skills are often neglected by the HR professionals while they decide promotions. For example, Apple is one American company which is accused for keeping irregularities while deciding promotions. It should be noted that being the most valuable technology company and the second largest company in the world, Apple is keen in giving employment to all people from different cultures. However, when it comes to promotions, Apple has a bad reputation in dealing with diverse workforce. Qumer (2009) mentioned that “Unfairness in promotions and overall treatment is a common complaint in Apple Company” (Qumer, 2009, p.15). In other words, Apple Company often decides promotions and rewards based on the skin color of the employees rather than the abilities of the employees. There are plenty of other American companies which follow the same path of Apple. It is a widely accepted premise that retention and productivity of workers is a function of how well the individual is motivated” (Lord, 2002, p.3). Organizations which has bad reputations in terms of ensuring equal employment opportunities, may struggle to motivate the workforce properly. Today’s employees value recognition more than anything else. Even financial gains are secondary to them. That is why many employees from Apple like companies are looking for other companies even though they are getting decent salaries. Age discrimination is another problem usually prevailing in the corporate world because of the problems in HRM. Many of the modern HR professionals have the illusion that only the youths are capable of bringing new ideas and injecting new energies into the organization. Thus, many youth employees get simultaneous promotions while the experienced or old employees struggle to do so. It should not be forgotten that an organization needs the services of both fresh and experienced employees. It is difficult for an organization to survive in this extremely competitive and heavily globalized business world with the help of youth employees or old employees alone. The success of an organization depends on how well the HR department blends fresh with experienced. It should be noted that the fresh ideas brought by the fresh employees need fine tuning and only the experienced employees are capable of doing the fine tuning works of such ideas. In short, both fresh and experienced employees are necessary for the modern organizations to keep their competitive power intact. The Department of Labor enforces the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which sets basic minimum wage and overtime pay standards. These standards are enforced by the Department's Wage and Hour Division. Current Minimum Wage: $7.25 per hour and it applies to workers covered by the FLSA from July 24, 2009 onwards. Overtime Pay should be not less than one and one-half times regular rate of pay and it should be provided after 40 hours of work in a workweek (United States Department of Labor, n.d.). Even though such clear cut directions are there about minimum wages and overtime wages, many US companies are violating it. These companies often seek the services of illegal migrants since illegal migrants may not be able to complain about the employment discriminations they are facing to the authorities. Overtime is usually not an option, but a mandatory requirement for securing the employment for many of the American employees. Many American companies have the habit of threatening the employees if they fail for overtime works. In other words, work life balancing is not a respected term in American organizations even though employment laws clearly argue for it. Globalization has brought huge changes in the organizational world. Business is currently taking place in a globalized market and hence organizations are keen in keeping a diverse workforce. In expensive labor oriented countries such as America, the services of cheap labor from countries such as India, China etc are essential. In fact the influence of expatriate workforce is visible in almost the entire employment sectors in America. For example, majority of the healthcare professionals working in the American healthcare industry are from overseas countries. Same ways, educational sector, IT sector and construction sectors are also not free from the influence of expatriate workforce. In short, in a white dominant America, the workforce is black dominant. So, ensuring equal employment opportunities to all irrespective of the skin color is a complex HRM task. Plenty of complaints are there in America about the double standards of managing or treating the employees based on skin color. Diversity management in HRM is a concept originated from America. It should be noted that many of the American companies are currently operating in overseas countries and hence they forced to keep a diverse workforce. Outsourcing and offshoring are some of the new business strategies evolved out of globalization. As mentioned earlier, American companies cannot compete effectively in global market without reducing the prices of the commodities they produce. Outsourcing and offshoring help these companies to exploit the cheap labor available in overseas countries so that they could manufacture goods for cheaper prices. Many of the American companies have business units in cheap labour oriented countries and they are forced to keep an extremely diverse workforce. Ensuring equal employment opportunities is a big challenge for HRM in such companies since the needs of the diverse workforce could be different and contrasting. For example, Fridays are sacred days for Muslims whereas Sundays are sacred for Christians. So, Muslim workers usually like to have weekly off on Fridays whereas Christian workers like to have the same thing on Sundays. HR professionals should make sure that the needs of both the Muslim and Christian workers were met by fixing separate weekly off days for people from different communities. According to a study by Konrad & Linnehan, (1995), formalized human resources management (HRM) structures promote goals of equal employment opportunity and affirmative action or symbolize good faith in the absence of real change. After analysing the antecedents and outcomes of formalized HRM structures in over a hundred organizations, assessing the presence of "identity-conscious" and "identity-blind" HRM structures, they found that identity-conscious structures were associated with some positive indicators of the employment status of women and people of color. It was concluded that such practices, although perhaps adopted for symbolic purposes, improved the employment status of protected groups (Konrad & Linnehan, 1995, p.787). As mentioned earlier, women and black communities are the major victims of discriminations in the workplace. A kind of stereotyping is taking place in majority of the American organizations. Women and black communities are branded for certain types of jobs alone whereas white community does not have such restrictions. It should be noted that it is difficult to see a white person working as a construction worker in America. In fact black people are reserved for hard labor oriented works whereas white people are getting comparatively easier jobs. Ways to ensure equal employment opportunities to all It is recommended that interviewers undertake detailed training, decrease stereotyping by focusing on job description and keep interviews job related. It is also wise for interviews to include tests when judging applicant's skills, knowledge and ability. Federal laws and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission also serve to ensure that equal opportunity is granted to all and discrimination is avoided (Cates & Dana, 2012, p.178). Training and development of the employees are assumed to be a vital human resource management function. While giving training to other employees, HR professionals should not be forgotten to be get trained in all the aspects of modern human resource management. Old professionals working in the HR departments may not have proper awareness about what is going on outside their organization. They may stick with the old HRM strategies which are inappropriate for a heavily globalized and diversified organizational world. It is difficult for a modern organization to stay competitive and reputed with the help of old HRM strategies. In fact strategic HRM is a new topic in the corporate world to make changes in HRM strategies time to time based on the new developments in the market. An organization cannot stay competitive if it values only skin color rather than capabilities. Competitive organizations are looking for talents of any skin color instead of giving employment only to a particular gender or community. It is impossible for the current organizations to go back to the old customs and traits of human resource management as business scenarios and market are changing rapidly. Yesterday’s HRM strategies may not be suitable for today. Same way, today’s HRM strategies may not be suitable for tomorrow. The success of the organization depends on how well the HRM department implements changes in its strategies based on the changes in the market and the organizational world. According to a study by Bennington, (2006), “significantly less female managers admit to making decisions on the basis of unlawful questions than male managers. Thus, support was found for female line managers as guardians of EEO” (Bennington, 2006, p.13). These findings are extremely relevant in ensuring EEO at American workplaces. HRM should be the savior of equal employment opportunities or EEO, no matter who are serving as human resource managers; male or female, black or white, and fresh or experienced. The ultimate aim of HRM is the judicious management of human elements in an organization. Since HRM is the bridge between the employees and the organization, it is necessary for it to safeguard the interests of both the employees and the employers. This should be done in a judicious manner so that least complaints are there either from the employer or from the employees. Conclusions Equal employment opportunities or EEO is a basic right of the employees irrespective whether they are males or females, Christians or Muslims, experienced or fresh and normal or physically handicapped. HRM should give importance only to the abilities of the employees rather than their skin color while deciding promotions and complements. In a heavily globalized business world, no organization can function effectively by catering the needs of only a particular community. Female HR managers seem to be less affected by prejudices and biases compared to male HR managers. So, it is a better idea to employ more female HR managers in modern organizations to reduce the complaints related to the equal employment opportunities violation incidents. References Bennington, Lynne. HRM Role in EEO: Sheep in Shepherd’s Clothing? Journal of Business Ethics. Apr2006, Vol. 65 Issue 1, p13-21 Cates, S.V.& Dana, H. (2012). Discrimination in a Covert Methodology: An Analysis of Physical and Social Characteristics That Prohibit People from Becoming Employed. I-Business. Jun2012, Vol. 4 Issue 2, p178-184. Equal Employment Opportunity, (2007). Retrieved from http://recruitment.naukrihub.com/employment-opportunity.html Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) (2012). Retrieved from http://www.cityofvancouver.us/hr.asp?deptID=10422&itemid=11187 Ivancevich, J.M. (2006). Human Resource Management. McGraw-Hill Irwin, 17-Mar-2006 Konrad, AM & Linnehan L. F. Formalized hrm structures: coordinating equal employment opportunity or concealing organizational practices? Academy of Management Journal. Jun95, Vol. 38 Issue 3, p787-820 Lord R.L. (2002). Traditional motivational theories and older engineers. Engineering Management Journal Date: September 1, 2002 Paauwe J & Boselie P. (2005). HRM and performance: what next? Human Resource Management Journal, Vol 15, no 4, pages 68-83 Qumer S.M, (2009), Apple Inc’s corporate culture: The good, the bad and the ugly, ICMR Center for Management research, www. Icmrindia.org Rush, C.L. (2012). Amending the Americans with Disabilities Act: Shifting Equal Employment Opportunity Obligations in Public Human Resource Management. Review of Public Personnel Administration. Mar2012, Vol. 32 Issue 1, p75-86 Sharf, J. C. (2011). Equal Employment Versus Equal Opportunity: A Naked Political Agenda Covered by a Scientific Fig Leaf. Industrial & Organizational Psychology. Dec2011, Vol. 4 Issue 4, p537-539. Torrington, D., Hall L., Taylor, S. & Dr. Atkinson C. (2011). Human Resource Management. 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