How Legitimate Are Government Attempts to Regulate the Rules for Hiring Employees by Organizations - Essay Example

HRM Name of the Student: Name of the Instructor: Name of the course: Code of the course: Submission date: HRM Topic 2: 'With business suffering from over-regulation like never before, governments have no right to dictate whom the owners can and should hire.' Discuss. Over time, government regulation on businesses has increased by a great margin. The high degrees of freedom which were enjoyed by businesses in the 19th Century were not the same as the ones in 20th century and certainly not comparable to the ones in the 21st century. With the steady increases in the degree of government regulation in business, regulation has turned from what it was to being to overregulation. Although it can be acknowledged that governments aims at ensuring that the general welfare of the public is upheld via regulation, overregulation has a tendency to retard the gains which have already been achieved in the business world. This explains the reason as to why Fred Deluca, the founder of Subway says that he would not be able to build Subway to the giant company it is in the present age due to the high government regulation as compared to the 1960’s when he started the company (Howerton 2013, p.1). Although it is important to acknowledge that the social, economic and political situation was very different to what it is in the present age, it can be acknowledged that overregulation has a negative effect on the business world. The following essay will take an in depth discussion on whether government regulation should dictate whom business owners can or should hire. Government regulation in business takes form of policies and legislations which govern how businesses should operate. The policies and legislations vary from one country to another depending on the social, economic and political situations prevailing in the specific countries. Government regulation on hiring is effected through labour laws. Under the labour laws, there lie various clauses which address specific issues in hiring for instance observation of gender equity (OECD 2011, p.11) and balance, racial quota, and age discrimination among other clauses which the government deems relevant to the specific prevailing conditions in the market (Kleiner 1998, p.3). The essay will first put forward arguments and then counter arguments on government regulation in hiring. One of the main problems which government has had to address in their countries is labour discrimination. A look at a country like Australia which has diverse cultures and ethnic groups, it can be noted that some of the groups have been continuously subjected to labour discrimination. Taking an example of the indigenous people, the Torres Strait people and the Aboriginals, it can be seen that they are not given equal chances in the job market as compared to other people (Ward & Gorman 2010, p.3). This has led to government intervention via regulation where it aims at ensuring that the indigenous people are not discriminated against in the job market. Taking a look at another country like the USA, it can be seen that the situation is the same. The county has a dull history where black people were discriminated against in all spheres of life; with the job market included. The government introduced the racial quota regulation policy in a bid to ensure that all the people living in America had equal chances of getting a job (Kleiner, B., 1998, p.8). The racial quota regulation compelled organizations to observe racial balancing in their hiring processes. Other areas where the government has intervened in a bid to eliminate discrimination include in gender equality and equity and in people with disabilities discrimination. Government regulation also aims at ensuring that there is a sustainable economic and social development. One of the main negative effects of a lack or minimal government regulation is the development of sustainable social and economic discrimination (Canadian International Development Agency 2010, p2). Taking a case example of the Australia, where the Aboriginals have been subjected to historical injustices in all spheres of life including in employment, a close relationship between their poor lifestyle and the employment discrimination can be identified (Ward & Gorman 2010, p.3). In the event that the government leaves the business fraternity to manage itself in a free environment, capitalist forces are set to come in, which will ultimately disadvantage specific groups of people which ultimately leads to a social and economic imbalance. This is the same case which occurred in the United Kingdom in the cities of Branford and Burney. The two cities have high populations Asian immigrants (Cantle, T., et. al. 2001, p.5). However, the labour market discriminated against the immigrants with the city councils acting no different from the private enterprises. This led to the ethnic and racial violence as the Asian immigrants tried to get a space for themselves (Cantle, T., et. al. 2001, p.5). Looking at this example, it can be acknowledged that the lack of appropriate government regulation in the labour market may lead to social and economical imbalances; which is unsustainable social and economic development. Therefore governments should come up with appropriate legislations aimed at ensuring that there is a sustainable economic and social development in their countries. Governments also regulate the business hiring in a bid to protect the public and the businesses from possible harm. On this point, it is important to give reference to the USA which has a regulation policy which regulates businesses in the hiring of criminals. The aim of the regulation is to protect the business and their owners from possible harm which may come up as a result of hiring a criminal (Peek 2013, p.1). This is the same case in Australia where people who have criminal record are not given equal chances of getting employed in the country’s labour market (Australian Human Rights Commission 2013, p.1). The aim of this practice is not to discriminate against the previous criminals, but it is to protect the business and their owners from the potential criminal activities which may be done by the specific people. In some countries and institutions, there is ‘hire at your own risk’ clause which compels business owners to prefer people without a criminal record as compared to those with one. However, it is important that governments come up with strategic regulations which ensure that there is no unfair discrimination (Peek 2013, p.1). On the other hand, it can be argued that government regulation in dictating who a business should or should not hire is not good. Government regulation has been associated with many negative things which to some extent are counterproductive (Smith 2012,p.1). One of the negative things which are associated with government regulation in hiring is the killing of jobs (Wang 2011, p.1). Government regulation has often been associated with the killing of jobs. In a situation where the labour laws in a country are so strict, organizations normally prefer to offshore their non critical tasks to other countries which have fewer government regulations. This leads to the reduction of the number of employment opportunities available domestically (Goitom & Nancy 2008, p.428). On this point, it is important to take a case example of the USA. The USA is losing a lot of jobs to India via off shoring. This is due to the low government regulation in India, which makes it conducive for doing business. Government regulation in hiring also infringes on the right of business owners over their businesses. On this point, it is important to note that business owners should be given a right to do what they deem fit for their businesses (Smith, N., 2012). Talking from the shoes of a business owner, it can be acknowledged that everyone has his or her prejudgments on specific issues. Some people may prefer hiring men as opposed to women due to the nature of their jobs or due to a general dislike for women. On the other hand, a social enterprise in Australia may prefer to hire Aboriginals only due to its objectives. On this note, it therefore becomes important that the government give business owners some space to hire whom they think is fit to work in their organizations. The government should also take care of the business forces in the market and ensure that business organizations operate with respect to market forces, and not regulation. Giving a stand in this discussion, this paper argues that government regulation in hiring is necessary. However, there is a need for the government to desist from overregulation. It is always important for a government to analyze the situation in the market and in the globe before establishing regulations. Government regulation ensures that there are sustainable societies and economies. It is important to note that business prosperity does not always translate to stable economies and societies; hence the need for governments to regulate business processes. In conclusion, it can be seen from this essay that government regulation has both negative and positive effects to business. Government regulation aims are eliminating discrimination trends in the market hence leading to equality and equity in employment. It also enables a country to realize a sustainable social and economic development and also protects businesses and business owners from possible harm. However, it also destroys jobs and also infringes on the rights of business owners to run their businesses in the way they deem fit. One thing which came out strongly in the paper is that government regulation has its limits. Overregulation has a bad effect on a business organization. For this reason, it is important that government come up with strategic policies which are based on statistical data from both the domestic and global markets, hence ensuring that their regulations have minimal negative effects on business organizations. References Australian Human Rights Commission, 2013. Human Rights: Discrimination in Employment on Basis of Criminal Record, Australian Human Rights Commission, Retrieved on 13th April 2013 from Canadian International Development Agency, 2010. Stimulating Sustainable economic Growth, CIDA, PP.1-8 Cantle, T., et. al. 2001. Community Cohesion: Report of the Independent Review Team, The Cantle Report, pp.1-80 Goitom, T, & Nancy, B., 2008. Do offshore outsourcing firms in the USA use their investments on corporate social responsibility to alleviate negative attitudes toward offshore outsourcing?, Social Responsibility Journal, Vol. 4 , no: 4, pp.428 - 438 Howerton, J., 2013. Subway Founder Blasts Gov’t Regulations: ‘Subway Would Not Exist’ If I Started My Business Today, The Blaze, Retrieved on 13th April 2013 from Kleiner, B., 1998. Age, Sex, Colour and Disabiliy Discrimination in America, Equal Opportunities International, Vol. 17, no.3, pp. 1-119. OECD,2011. Gender and Sustainable Development, pp.1-80 Paul, R., 2013, Civil Rights Act, RonPaul.Com, Retrieved on 13th April 2013 from Peek, L., 2013. How Obama’s White House Stops Employers from Hiring, The Fiscal Times, Retrieved on 13th April 2013 from Smith, N., 2012.The One Big Thing Keeping Companies from Hiring, Business News daily, Retrieved on 13th April 2013 from < http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2272-personality-types-hire.html> Wang, M., 2011. Do Regulations Really Kill Jobs Overall? Not So Much, Pro publica, Retrieved on 13th April 2013 from Ward, R., & Gorman, D., 2010.. Racism, Discrimination and Health Services to Aboriginal People in South West Queensland. Aboriginal and Islander Health Worker Journal, Vol. 34, No. 6, pp. 3-5. Read More