Diversity Management - Essay Example

diversity management by The of the The of the School The and where it is located The Date Diversity management Introduction It would not be a mistake to suggest that living in the social environment should be regarded as an irreplaceable prerequisite for the development of the inner potential of a human being. Indeed, if it had not been for the presence of other people around a considerable number of features that are seen as characteristic would not have developed. However, it must be noted that such positive impact of the society can occur only in the lack of discrimination. Indeed, it often happens that some parts of the population are being oppressed because they belong to a minority. This has a negative effect on the society in general. That is why companies are required to fight discrimination within organisation. This paper will explore the concept of diversity management as well as explore different types of discrimination, based on examples taken from the real life. Theoretical background To begin with, it may be particularly important to gain a proper understanding of the concept in question. Thus, the researchers state that “diversity management refers to a strategic organisational approach to workforce diversity development, organisational culture change, and empowerment of the workforce” (Arredondo, 1996, p. 17). As one can clearly see, there are three major elements of it. The first of them is the idea of diversity. One can easily guess from the very name that it stands for different characteristics that people are able to possess. Indeed, there are many different points of view that a population can be looked upon, such as age, marital status, race, gender and many others. That is why a person can simultaneously belong to the majority (being a middle aged individual) and to a minority (a disabled person.) The second element of diversity management that should be taken into account is the change of organisational culture. Indeed, it often happens that a company is being comprised by people who belong to similar demographic categories. As a result, there is a big temptation to set rule and regulations that would reinforce this state of affairs. For example, the majority of companies are formed by men; that is why the senior management will be reluctant to promote women as the more women are promoted the more diluted the organisation will be. As a result, many female employee experience the so called “glass ceiling” and “sticky floor”. This means that diversity management often involved changes that address not only particular situation, but also affect the entire company. Finally, the definition above also contains the third element which is empowerment of the employees. One would make no mistake suggesting that the contemporary business world is much different from its counterpart in the past since there are numerous pieces of legislation that guarantee the equal rights to the people who belong to different minorities. As a result, if a person is faced with discrimination, one can always refer to a particular law and sue the company since its actions violate the applicable legislation .That is why diversity management provides the people with the necessary knowledge about their rights and how they can be treated properly. In other words, an essential part of the concept in question is to explain the range of abilities that employees are entitled to. Practical organisational examples Age discrimination It must be noted that different types of discrimination reflect the aspects which were mentioned while exploring the notion of diversity. In other words, a person can be discriminated again because of featuring a particular characteristic. For example, a company may be willing to employ young employees since they have a better physical condition, are generally better at adopting new technology and can find common language with the clients. With this in mind, some employers might be willing to dismiss employees only because they are “too old”. Thus, Debra Moreno was dismissed by her employers because the latter thought that she “sounded old on the telephone” (Lemov, 2013). Other than that Moreno was a great employee with outstanding record. She was able to document these remarks made by her employer and sue one for unfair dismissal. A similar case happened in the United Kingdom when a person was forced to leave the job, because he was considered to be to old; however, the person was much younger than Moreno: he was 42 (Wallop, 2009). Race discrimination This type is rather common for societies that are comprised of people belonging to different cultural background. As a rule, the people who belong to the majority provide the employees who represent the minority with worse working conditions and do not allow them to be promoted. In spite of the fact that there is no explicit mentioning that a person who qualify for promotion should belong to a particular race, it becomes obvious that some races receive better jobs and others – do not. A similar situation in a pharmacy store in the United State: the African American employees were often assigned to less desirable stores and had to work in conditions that were worse than their white counterparts ("Tucker v. Walgreen Co.", 2007). As one can clearly see the employer did not want the people from a different race to be successful on the job. Another example is found in the UK with a police office of colour being denied of promotion for racist reasons ("Police officer wins race discrimination case", 2015) Gender discrimination Nowadays, the equality of genders is something that is being widely promoted and is supported by the applicable legislation. In spite of the fact that a gender gap exists, it is closing slowly, but surely. Nevertheless, the cases when women are not treated properly at work happen a lot. For example, there was a case in the United States when women were denied to be promoted for a considerable period of time without any obvious reason ("Kraszewski v. State Farm Insurance Co.", 2015). Indeed, this reflects the peculiarity of patriarchal society: men hold all the power and are reluctant to share it with women. In spite of the fact that employers are fully aware of the legislation regarding the gender equality, many still practice it. The same can be found in England when an outstanding female employee was not give the promotion because of her gender (Cox, 2015). Sexual orientation discrimination It is remarkable that nowadays the minorities who have not even been identified before have the ability to have their rights protected. Thus, the governments of the countries all over the world include sexual discrimination in the list of characteristics that constitute diversity. Thus, in 2015 a man was dismissed by Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company because he was a gay and was taking a drug because he had HIV ("Doe v. Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company", 2015). As in other discriminatory cases, his had a great performance at work, but the employer thought that it was not acceptable to keep an HIV positive employee at work in spite of the fact that the virus did not put lives of others at risk. The man was able to prove that this was an unfair dismissal. Quite surprising, sexual orientation discrimination also occurs in the UK police force (Quinn, 2012). Disability discrimination At the present moment the technological development allows people with disabilities to live fuller lives, their role in the society changes as well: these people are able to participate more actively in the economic area. That is why the employers are expected to treat people with disabilities in the same manner as they would treat other employees. There was a case in the United State when two sisters applied for a job in an airline company, but they had a bad vision which could be reversed. The company rejected their application stating that they were not able to meet the physical requirements for the job ("Sutton et al. v United Airlines, Inc.", 1999). However, the sisters were able to prove that their lack of proper vision which can be corrected, not other abilities, affected the decision of the airlines. In the UK a person was dismissed after a stroke since the employer thought that one would not recover from it (Chamberlain, 2011). Religious discrimination As one can clearly see, many of the aspects which were mentioned above deal with physical aspects of the organism. However, there are types of discrimination that focus on non material aspects as well. For example, Abercrombie, a well known company, refused to employ a shop assistant who was wearing a scarf over her head according to her religious beliefs ("Abercrombie Settles Religious Discrimination Case", 2015). The company states that it violated the look policies that it designed and, therefore, rejected the job application. However, the girl who was looking for a job sued the company proving that this was a case of religious discrimination as we was willing to comply with other policies that did not violated her religious norms. As a result she was able to win the case. Christians as well can be discriminated for following their religion. For example, Nadia Eweida was able to win a case, suing her employer for prohibiting her wearing cross visibly (Pigott, 2013). Conclusion Having examined all the points that were mentioned in the paragraphs above, it becomes obvious that diversity management is a rather important part of the business world since it ensured that employees are able to work in the best conditions that a company can offer them. It may be important to take into account three elements that it consists of: the respect for diversity, the necessity to change the culture of the organisation if needed and empowerment of employees. There are numerous types of discrimination that can occur at workplace. They include age, race, gender discrimination, sexual orientation, disability, religious discrimination and many others. The most significant point that should be mentioned is that employees are able to refer to the applicable laws in order to protect their right to work and should sure the employers who violate it. Therefore one is able to come up with the following recommendation for managers: they should identify the aspects of diversity that are present in the company; make sure that the organizational culture is able to reflect the right treatment of the employee and amend it if necessary; empower the employees by familiarizing them with the pieces of legislation that protect their rights. References Abercrombie Settles Religious Discrimination Case After Supreme Court Ruling. (2015). Retrieved October 15, 2015, from http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2015/07/21/375891.htm Arredondo, P. (1996). Successful diversity management initiatives: A blueprint for planning and implementation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Chamberlain, L. (2011, July 11). Stroke patient awarded £400,000 in disability discrimination case - Personnel Today. Retrieved October 15, 2015, from http://www.personneltoday.com/hr/stroke-patient-awarded-400000-in-disability-discrimination-case/ Cox, S. (2015). £3m sex discrimination case winner: Everybody loses - BBC News. Retrieved October 15, 2015, from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-32514908 Doe v. Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company. (2015). Retrieved October 15, 2015, from http://www.glad.org/work/cases/doe-v-mutual-of-omaha Kraszewski v. State Farm Insurance Co. (2015). Retrieved October 15, 2015, from http://gbdhlegal.com/cases/kraszewski-v-state-farm-insurance/ Lemov, P. (2013). What It Takes To Win An Age Discrimination Suit. Retrieved October 15, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2013/04/30/what-it-takes-to-win-an-age-discrimination-suit/ Pigott, R. (2013). British Airways Christian employee Nadia Eweida wins case - BBC News. Retrieved October 15, 2015, from http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-21025332 Police officer wins race discrimination case against force that wouldnt promote him because of his colour. (2015). Retrieved October 15, 2015, from http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-21789-UK Cop wins race discrimination case/news.aspx Quinn, B. (2012). Gay black police officer wins discrimination case. Retrieved October 15, 2015, from http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/feb/20/gay-black-police-officer-discrimination-case Sutton et al. v United Airlines, Inc. (1999). Retrieved October 15, 2015, from http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/527/471.html Tucker v. Walgreen Co. (2007). Retrieved October 15, 2015, from http://gbdhlegal.com/cases/tucker-v-walgreen-co/ Wallop, H. (2009). 42-year old wins age discrimination case. Retrieved October 15, 2015, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6906484/42-year-old-wins-age-discrimination-case.html West, H. (2006). The Blackwell guide to Mills Utilitarianism. 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