Managing Diversity and Equal Opportunities - Essay Example

Managing diversity and equal opportunities Introduction Diversity is considered as an essential contributing factor to organisational effectiveness in contemporary management. From a human resource perspective, diversity and equal opportunity (EO) promote inclusive practices and enhance motivation and commitment of employees in order to derive higher performance. Practices related to these principles have been reportedly very effective in most areas barring few negative consequences that have dearly cost the organisations huge effort, money and reputation. Yet, more compelling reasons to adopt diversity and EO have been identified and reported throughout literature, which will be studied and evaluated in this discourse while identifying some critical considerations and consequences of these approaches. Adoption of diversity and EO from different perspectives will be studied while evaluating associated advantages and challenges. Finally, conclusions will be drawn based on the key findings and evaluation. Literally, diversity refers to the heterogeneity of populations of a specific area, region or country that comprises of people from various ethnic minorities, cultures, backgrounds; diversity also refers to categorization of people based on age, gender, class, etc. Such diversification has a strong impact on the overall wellbeing of the people, society, and economy. Positive impact results when diversity is recognized as an asset and all people from diverse groups are given opportunities to earn and grow and are protected. Conversely, negative consequences occur when growth, earning and protection are focused on specific groups of people while depriving the rest. In lieu of the positive impact of diversity, nations and organisations across the world have been supporting diversity through legal, economic, social and organisational systems. In organisational contexts, diversity is promoted through diversity management practices and policies, which are also aligned to the national laws concerning labour regulations and anti-discrimination laws. Diversity management is a positive inclination towards diverse population and is regarded as an essential practice not only to adhere to its related regulations but also to recognize and promote the potential hidden in diverse workforce that comes with different learning, cultural background and habits, education, experiences etc. Wrench (2007) assigns three attributes to diversity, namely, acknowledge, acceptance and a place in the structure (cited by Fischer, 2009). The US federal agency adopts Roosevelt Thomas’s definition of diversity, which is “the process of creating and maintaining an environment that enables all participants to contribute to their full potential in pursuit of organisational objectives” (cited by Naff & Kellough, 2001; p.370). While diversity is recognized as an essential and inevitable part of life, its origins can be traced to fight for equality, which is again beyond any known period. Equal opportunity is a part of equality advocated by humanists and sociologists, and also incorporated into national legislation after understanding the economic impact of diverse population. The phenomenon of equal opportunities (EO) for all in a society, country, or an institution to aspire and achieve individual goals is now a legalised philosophy across nations. Under EO, institutions and business organisations are legally bound to treat all individuals, coming from different age groups, genders, ethnic groups, socio-economic statuses, in similar manner with respect to employment, growth opportunities, recognition, treatment, and relationship. Organisations adopt diversity management as one form of EO, which defines specific regulations, policies, procedures and practices in line with EO regulations. In the EU, a comprehensive law governing EO for all have been framed for every nation, which include matters related to anti-discrimination based on age, gender, race, and disability along with regulations governing special education needs, equal pay and human rights (Malik, 2003). Organisations have the legal and moral obligations to abide by these regulations, and hence align their policies and procedures accordingly. The European law forbids discrimination against any person directly or indirectly under any of the matters included in the law; however, this law also requires substantial evidence of discrimination instead of perceived discrimination. This law also identifies genuine operational requirements (GORs), which specify certain exceptions to discrimination with respect to employment (Greene & Kirton, 2010). Under the purview of GORs are matters related to religion, sexual orientation, and discriminating individuals based on sexual orientation in religious institutions based on religious beliefs. The European equality bill also includes positive action and positive discrimination, which allows organisations and individuals to take measures to create positive action good for the organisation or society, a radical approach that has attracted much controversy. These positive measures might also include discriminating specific groups or individuals to encourage them or restore equality by bringing their presence. These also include measures to help specific groups or genders from specific issues, such as special preferences for women caring for their families. To quote a few in general, Malik (2003, p.26) identifies few regulations related to discrimination such as the Sexual Discrimination Act 1975 and 1986, Racial Relations Amendment Act 2000, Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and 1997, Equal Pay Act 1970, and Human Rights Act 2001 that have been framed in the UK. These regulations protect human beings from any form of discrimination, unfair treatment, and violence besides promoting and encouraging the advancement of all citizens equally. In the organisational contexts, such ideology is often subject to paradoxical situations despite comprehensive diversity management. While the Sexual Discrimination Act prohibits discrimination of any person on the grounds of gender, which in organisational contexts would include anti-discrimination in employment and training, housing, education, and provision of facilities and services (Malik, 2003). However, the situation, the goal and the employees involved in the situation determine the extent to which such an act can be effectively implemented (Cauthen, 1987). For instance, employment practices such as flexible working hours to help working mothers cannot be replicated to other employees considering organisational performance; these practices can be categorised as the GORs. In order to encourage mothers to return to work after maternity, organisations adopt flexible working hours practice, a positive action; however, this practice can seem discriminating to others that are in need for flexible working hours due to other genuine reasons such as ailing parents, ill health etc. Conceptually, such dilemmas have been identified to create intersecting differences, which is termed as intersectionality in diversity and equal opportunity paradigms (Bagilhole, 2009). Studies related to diversity and EO has revealed numerous critical findings, a few of which have been highlighted. Instances of discrimination and their consequences on humanity cannot be ruled out. The need for diversity and equal opportunities is recognized across all countries though their references and terminologies may differ. In all, the understanding related to equal opportunities is that all individuals should be given equal rights, respect and opportunity to advance. Literature mentions that organisations got their lessons on antidiscrimination regulations after Coca-Cola Company faced a lawsuit filed by one of its employees for discrimination against the black employees in the US in 1999 (Harvey, 2012). This class-action lawsuit with approximately 2200 plaintiffs cost $192.5 million towards settlement for Coca-Cola Company in 2000. In addition, Coca-Cola Co had to form an outsider team of Task Force to oversee the company’s diversity management. According to their 2005 report published by Herman et al., the Task Force is responsible for monitoring trends of new employees and also perceptions of fairness of existing employees. This team also fosters robust dialogue between employees and management to help employees understand and assess concepts of diversity and inclusion besides incorporating effective practices such as social mentoring, succession planning, effective communication, and competitive and fair compensation and bonuses. This lesson has not only taught the need of EO and diversity to organisations but also reinforced its significance in organisational effectiveness. Concerning gender discrimination, Ozbilgin (2000) identified that practices related to gender equality work well based on situation, and three approaches to implementation of these practices include liberal, radical and transformational based on different situations. However, their conclusion highlights the fact that there exists a discrepancy between theory and practice and that the liberal managerial practices do not comply with organisational culture and hierarchy. Moreover, radical approaches that encourage positive discrimination and reassuring practices specially meant for the women or minority groups, did not fit well with related regulations, which was seen as being biased; these conflicts tend to stop transformational practices meant to enhance gender equality. The inherent dilemma between diversity and gender equality practices that sometimes can support a specific group has been the cause of many conflicts as well as discrimination charges against employers, superiors and management teams. Discrimination charges range from nepotism to alleged racial abuse or discrimination. Gaps in the pay structure of male and female staff is an issue being surfaced till date though the Equal Pay Act came into vogue long ago. Scheele (2008) attributes these differences to the different total working hours of male and female due to life courses, which reduces female employees’ average working hours and hence their pay is lesser compared to male counterparts. Studies have shown that while inclusion of diverse workforce can improve understanding and performance, chances of igniting tensions are equally high (Boisjoly et al., 2006). For instance, British Petroleum was recently accused of racism by one of its senior executive who was fired for displaying ethnicity at work, as claimed by the plaintiff; however, this case is still being investigated because the plaintiff’s supervisors complained about her rude behaviour, which contradicts the plaintiff’s 360-degree evaluation obtained from her colleagues (Ross, 2013). Traditionally, BP is known for its diversity and inclusion principles that encourage people from all societies, at all hierarchical levels (Diversity and inclusion, n.d). Hundreds of such complaints have been raised by many employees across the world in spite of strong regulations and policies to encourage diversity and EO. It could also be said employees might be taking an advantage of these policies and regulations. These conflicts, tensions and undesirable outcomes result either because of ineffectiveness of diversity management or a weak diversity climate. Avery and McKay (2010) explain that the extent to which diversity is imbibed into organisational culture, policies, practices and employee understanding and acceptance decides the diversity climate of the organisation. Evaluation of diversity climate is essential to understand the effectiveness of diversity management in any organisation. Garcia and Hoelscher (2010) point out four themes for assessing diversity climate, derived from different studies. Firstly, effectiveness of diversity climate can be assessed based on perceptions related to conflicts between groups and the way these conflicts are handled; secondly, policies and practices that promote greater representation of minority groups; thirdly, fairness and transparency in promotions, compensation, rewards and recognition; and lastly, practices and ethics that promote respect for co-workers . Three main factors can be assigned to the emergence of diversity and EO in organisational setup, namely, social, legislative and economic. Socially, diversity management and EO help in establishing a harmonious environment in institutions by providing acknowledgment, recognition, and chance to all employees to perform and prosper. Organisations are social institutions that have a deep impact on general public’s lives in any nation or region. Moreover, these organisations, unlike religious institutions, are open for people from different religious backgrounds and ethnic groups, which make them influential part of the society in general. Therefore, they can play a significant role in promoting harmonious relationships between people coming from different groups. However, making people behave harmoniously with each other in the organisational setup is impossible without strong guidelines and principles, which is another reason why diversity management and EO have been positively embraced and also mandated in organisations. In addition to sociological reasons, economic reasons that necessitate diversity and EO have resulted in formulation of legislation. For instance, Archibong and Ashraf (2010) have analysed that the economic perspective which encourages diversity management is far more compelling in Europe as they find that the number of citizens that are economically dependent on the government is continuously increasing, which is further causing greater burden in terms of pensions, medical facilities, and citizen welfare payouts. Promotion of diversity can help increase in employable citizens significantly. Secondly, increasing immigrants in some parts of the world is reducing the number of people entering the workforce in other parts of the world, which is an economic concern to the latter (Mor Barak, 2010). These global trends in workforce are driving and necessitating promotion of diversity and equal opportunities. Organisations have experienced great outcomes by adopting diversity management in principle and practice, in terms of performance, innovation, teamwork, better business outcomes and growth, job satisfaction besides avoiding huge costs of alleged discrimination. Based on previous studies, Fischer (2009) asserts that encouraging diversity through various human resource practices helps in increasing talent pool as such talent will include and encourage people with different learning experiences and cultures. Moreover, employee-related practices such as training, leadership and motivation, performance evaluation, fair compensation etc support diversity implementation (Shammot, 2014). Diversity management promotes wider inclusion of people from minority groups, which can give direct access to the minority markets as well as ideas about these markets. Moreover, such access also helps in forming legitimate business partnership with new aspirants as well as customers. This kind of business potential is reinforced by globalization with better communication media and information access. In addition, these minority markets can prove to be high potential business prospects that can be harnessed with effective management of diverse workforce that will in turn manage better the customers from respective areas (Fischer, 2009). Secondly, Fischer (2009) notes that diversity fosters cooperation and brings together different ideologies, thereby resulting in better outcomes at workplace. However, understanding different cultures and their perspectives becomes necessary for cooperation and understanding in diversity-oriented workplaces, else misinterpretations and misunderstandings can erupt conflicts (Mor Barak, 2010). Formal diversity management practices help in instilling specific types of behaviour in employees at all levels that facilitates better understanding and cooperation among different groups thereby enhancing overall outcome. Economic consequences of discrimination have taught many lessons to organisations and businesses. These consequences surface not only in the form of fines and fees towards class-action law suits but also through improper recruitment, lack of job satisfaction, low motivation and morale of staff, low productivity, lack of customer focus, lack of understanding of customer needs etc. When organisations fail to recognize and adapt to mixed demographics that the globalized world brings, they will be overtaken by their competitors in all spheres related to business. In order to sustain and grow, organisations have to aim at hiring the best talent from the market irrespective of age, race, sex, culture, or ethnic background. However, if employers wish to hire specific groups, such as preferred age group, then they will be exercising discrimination, which is violation of law. Moreover, discouraging diversity by promoting discrimination could be harmful for the organisational climate and culture that will breed hostility towards co-workers and therefore cause higher turnover, which again is an economic loss for the organisations (Klobuchar, 2013). Avoiding or reducing the employment of specific group of employment seekers, such as mothers with children to care for or older women, can negatively affect organisation’s image; moreover, organisations that feel compelled to hire less desired groups tend to pay less wages, which again is not only discriminatory but also economic loss due to frequent conflicts, low morale and commitment as well as a base for alleged discrimination by law that can have severe financial consequences besides reputational losses. Despite the effective outcomes of diversity management and EO, challenges to their implementation cannot be ruled out. For instance, the conflicts, tensions, misunderstanding and misinterpretation of policies are in themselves serious challenges that managers have to continuously face. Managers are constantly threatened by the challenge of making the right decisions related to different requests presented by different staff members; these requests can be personal, religious, community-based etc. Such requests cause dilemma to the manager while approving or disapproving keeping in mind the business requirements. In either case, the manager can be accused of discrimination. Secondly, it is extremely strenuous for managers to change people’s perceptions that are formed and driven by their entire life’s experiences. This challenge can threaten the effectiveness of diversity climate that the organisation strives to build through policies, and procedures. Thirdly, lack of cultural intelligence can impede with diversity management. Cultural intelligence is essential not only to understand staff’s behaviour and intentions, but also to avoid misinterpretation and improper behaviour that could affect the relationship between the leader and the subordinate. For instance, managers from the East might feel offended to receive feedback from their subordinate belonging to the western cultures, whereas the Westerners believe in giving face-to-face direct feedback. The degree of freeness allowed by women from the East is far less than their Western counterparts, which needs to be understood to avoid any allegations of harassment of any form. Lastly, equal opportunities is confronted with challenges related to individual’s skills and talent, preparedness for a particular role/job, experience etc, which can be misinterpreted for discrimination in some cases or can cause dilemma during selection process. Moreover, special actions taken by organisations to encourage employment of minorities can be misinterpreted as discrimination and special preference. Conclusions The key points to note in this discourse include the significance of diversity and EO from economic, sociologic and legislative perspectives all of which are interrelated in some way or other. The regulations that enforce diversity and EO in organisations are not only helping organisations in achieving better outcomes but also helping the society by fostering inclusivity and harmony. Moreover, diversity and EO are also helping organisations to improve their business prospects as well as performance through better employee motivation, morale and commitment. These approaches improve safety and belongingness of minority-group employees along with providing opportunities to explore. However, achievement of such feats depends upon the effectiveness of diversity management practices adopted by organisations. 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