Equality and Diversity Management - Essay Example

 Equality and Diversity Management British employers and trade unions have made considerable progress in tackling discrimination in the workplace over the last twenty years. Discuss. Discrimination and inequality in the workplace may be considered to be a thing of the past but more often than not, such statements are only used to ensure that a company meets the legal requirements for diversity and equality. In fact, many companies, unions and offices still struggle with diversity initiatives. At the same time, it cannot be denied that considerable progress has been made with regard to diversity and equality since the situation has improved a lot as compared to what it had been in the 70s and 80s (Alleyne, 2005). This is perhaps largely due to the changes in the theoretical perspectives on diversity and equality. While diversity initiatives sought to bring about more people from different backgrounds, ethnicities, religious and even sexual orientations into the same office, equality seeks to give different individuals the same opportunities for progress and development within the company. Diversity can be enforced by the government but the concept of equality is more ethereal and can be difficult to induce within a company. While diversity has been an important need for business as well as a legal requirement, the cultural perspectives on diversity and equality still remain to be fully understood. Companies in the UK may have HR managers that seek to develop both diversity and equality to gain competitive advantages for the organisation but the culture of the company itself may pose a hindrance (CIPD, 2006). For example, companies which have long remained a part of the old boys club may find it difficult to change overnight to become culturally accepting of not too many boys and having younger employees work in higher positions within the company. Even large multinationals operating in the UK such as DuPont and GE have had cultural problems while creating equality and diversity which goes to so that getting there is not an easy task. In terms of recent developments, diversity and equality are being seen as of the factors that could give a competitive advantage to a company and make it perform better than its rivals. A high level of diversity and equality can help to motivate employees and make them more productive. This idea has been developed to the extent that some organisations are taking diversity levels and the creation of equality as a one of their strategic objectives (CIPD, 2006). In such situations, the HR managers and the policy makers of the organisation are made responsible for creating a work environment where diversity is supported and equality is established. Fredmen (2001) says that in this regard, fourth generation equality legislation becomes very important because it improves the participation of affected groups in the decision making process. Fredmen (2001) notes that: “Fourth generation equality laws based on a positive duty to promote equality rather than simply to refrain from discrimination are being actively developed in several jurisdictions. At EU level, a powerful boost was given to the effectiveness of sex equality legislation by the adoption of the policy of ‘mainstreaming’. Mainstreaming means that equality is not just an add-on or after-thought to policy but it is one of the factors taken into account in every policy and executive decision (Fredmen, 2001, Pg. 27). However, despite the laws being present in place, the application of the laws remains difficult for most organizations even if they want to create diversity and equality. This is because the desire is not enough and it requires planning, investment and effort on behalf of the organization to get to a positive position with regard to equality and diversity. To help this process the HR department of needs to have a pivotal role in diversity management and it should try to build a culture that nurtures an inclusive environment (Folkes & Patrick, 2003). In such as cases, the HR managers and the CEO of the company is the person who should be most aware of equality and diversity related issues. This person should also act as the supporter of diversity initiatives if any lack of diversity or equality is experienced in the company. From an organisational perspective, the consumers and stakeholders of the company will know from the actions of the CEO if diversity plays an important role for the company (CIPD, 2006). To get to that point, the culture of the company needs to be adjusted such that it not only appreciates and values the individuality of the workers but also appreciates how to get to a level of equality and parity within the diverse workforce. With regard to the responsibility of company managers, Lockwood (2005) reports that many managers are not fully aware of diversity related problems and the issue becomes more severe at the higher levels of various companies. In essence, he shows that there is a dire need for management professionals to improve their appreciation of diversity as well as equality and to help others realize the benefits these two elements of business. Daniels & Macdonald (2005) suggest that such steps would improve business results as well as give companies positive action plans that can help to develop the culture of the company. Through the fourth generation of viewpoints on equality and diversity, the process of managing a company includes the ability to create diversity in a work environment and to create a culture which promotes the idea of equality. The organisational perspective on diversity was discussed by Brown (2005) who says that the force behind the new perspective on diversity is the change in the demographics of the country which affects the labour market as well as the consumer makeup of the country. When it comes to diversity and equality, a organization can use its diverse human capital to provide positive workforce interactions that can lead to be more accepted by consumers and ensure that its workers are more motivated than the competition. Where there is equality, information flows freely between co-workers, teams become more efficient and managers look at individuals as equals (Brown, 2005). The change has made companies realise that attracting diverse customers requires a diverse leadership the workforce to be diversified as well. Targeting minorities through ads and signs cannot ensure that the clientele will come and contact with a diverse market needs an appreciation of how the market will view the company. Beyond legal requirements, diversity and equality may be the cause of what helps a company survive in the future (Brown, 2005). Despite this need and desire for diversity Schuller (2005) notes that many diversity initiatives and equality measures fail to meet their targets. To prevent that from happening, companies should use targeted and quantifiable SMART objectives for establishing diversity and equality. Groups of managers who are supposed to enhance the diversity of the company can be given business based targets to get to higher levels of diversity and in this manner; their business performance can be evaluated along with diversity related targets. The meeting of such objectives may require heavy investments internally with regard to the number of people working on the initiative and externally in terms of the investments made for advertising and recruiting but the long term gains may make such investments vital for the company. While companies may have accepted diversity as a business needs the social fabric of society may still have prejudices and biases. A diverse workforce may be difficult to create in situations where the consumer’s mentality and public perceptions say than one gender, race or ethnicity is better at doing a job than the other (Crawford et. al. 2002). At the same time, such ideas can also be exploited as the reason for success since an individual whose gender fits the stereotypes for the job may be able to perform better with clients than others (Eagly & Karau, 2002). These biases and their effect on society will certainly diminish with time as the country moves towards a more equal and diverse workforce (Sherman, 1996). The problems of diversity and equality exists throughout the UK and the rest of the western world and it still seems that society has yet to come out of the stereotypical images of groups as they are seen (Jussim et. al.,1987). The media also carries some responsibility for the situation governments must continue to do what must be done to prevent stereotypes (DTI, 2006). Undoubtedly, the global situation has improved because even a quick look at the Fortune 500 list shows that in 2003, women held less than 15 percent of board seats while they had less than 10 percent seats in 1995. In 2004, the situation has improved to the point that many companies have 25% or more women on their board of directors (Lockwood, 2005). Change is hard to come by, but it is good to know that positive changes are coming. Word Count: 1,728 Works Cited Alleyne, S. (2005). But Can You Walk the Walk. Journal of Black Enterprise, 36(2) Pg. 100-105. Brown, R. V. (2005). The ROI of Diversity. Mortgage Banking. 65(12) Pg. 111-113 CIPD. 2006. ‘Diversity and equality’, CIPD.co.uk, [Online] Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/dvsequl/ Crawford, M., Sherman S. J., and Hamilton D. L. (2002). Perceived Entitativity, Stereotype Formation, and the Interchangeability of Group Members. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83 (5), Pg. 1076-94. Daniels, K. and Macdonald, L. 2005, Promoting Equality: challenging discrimination and oppression in human services, McMillan DTI. 2006. ‘Discrimination in Employment’ DTI.gov.uk, [Online] Available at: http://www.dti.gov.uk/employment/discrimination/europe/page24085.html Eagly, A. and Karau, S. (2002). Role Congruity Theory of Prejudice toward Female Leaders. Psychological Review, 109 (3), Pg. 573-98. Folkes, V. and Patrick, V. M. (2003). The Positivity Effect in Services: Seen One, Seen Them All? Journal of Consumer Research, 30 (1), Pg. 125-37. Fredman, S. (2001). Discrimination and Human Rights: The Case of Racism, Oxford. Jussim, L., Coleman, L.M., and Lerch, L. (1987), The Nature of Stereotypes: A Comparison and Integration of Three Theories. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52 (3), Pg. 536-46. Lockwood, N. R. (2005). Workplace Diversity: Leveraging the Power of Difference for Competitive Advantage. HR Magazine, 50(6) Pg. 1-14. Schuller, S. (2005). 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