Why Is Discrimination Considered a Problem for Society - Essay Example

Why is discrimination considered a problem for society, and what role should business play to avoid its impacts? Introduction:Discrimination has been one of the major problems in the society since a long time. It has been existent in many of the aspects including the business and its relation to its workers. Since there are many of the employees to interact with, there is often discrimination present between them. Discrimination means any superior power imposes their behaviors or restricts the actions of the inferior groups, and can be of many types which exist in businesses. The employees in a business, according to many of the examples and studies, are discriminated due to their race, gender or age. Long term discrimination; whether direct or indirect, can have severe impacts on the employees, the business activities and the society (Green, 2003, p. 94). Presentation of literature views: Discrimination may be direct and indirect. Direct discrimination is legally recognized as directly harassing or showing unfairness to an ethnic group, or people with disabilities etc. however, it is suggested that discrimination is merely not the issue of an individual or the business organization, rather it is influenced by the external conditions of the society in which the social relations are formed. The social attitudes and the characteristics of the society generate the hostility between groups present in one organization. Many of the times the discrimination is directly related to the less favorable treatment of an individual or a group because of a specific characteristic present in them physically or hypothetically (Appleby, 2007, p.76). Indirect discrimination is when some of the actions are linked to the government organizations and refer to the acts and policies that seem to be fair and neutral, but are actually not when investigated. It will include certain criteria in the job which would automatically or purposely exclude the ethnic groups from getting the job. For example including certain physical requirements in the job that old aged people or women will not do, or restricting the job applicants to certain superior groups. This form of discrimination may be more problematic as it is not certified and at times, may not be considered as discrimination (Craig, 2007, p.23). Political and social policies are often defined as the way that the nation creates an environment for the business organizations to operate. This is the government’s role to create the policies to be able to operate in the economy and industry. Thus, some of these ideologies define the relationship of the government and the business. Liberalism is one of the ideas associated with the interrelation of the business and government. This is defined by the ideas of Adam Smith who talked about the value of individual freedom. He linked the business not only with the economic prospective but also from the social perspective. He focused on the government intervention in the society to fulfill functions such as education, justice etc. and under this view he believed the society would gain the key to economic growth. Discrimination and inequality in the workplace is closely linked to liberalism. The presence of inequality in the workforce causes the organization to face many issues within the organization, which if prolonged may show its effects on the customers as well. Discrimination in the workforce means that unhealthy relationships within the workforce, eventually resulting in miscommunications and misunderstandings related to work and causing barriers in the cost effective and timely process of the production. Discriminating may take away the freedom of the individual and they may feel restricted to share opinion, degraded and discouraged to work. This may also mean that they might not show their full potentials which would create a problem for the business and the society as the ideology of liberalism states that under capitalist freedom of the individual and private property are essential for economic success (Barker, 2003, p.324). Discrimination is an overall problem for the society as it tends to have an impact on the individuals immensely and thus affecting the whole society. Many of the examples of discrimination go back to the history and are carried out since then. Discrimination in the workplace and in businesses is merely just a side affect of the discriminative attitudes that exist in the society, and discrimination in work would mean judging individuals and groups on the basis of their physical attributes rather than their capabilities and qualities. This would create a gap in the business production as well as in the society. This is where the government steps in to take a stand (Goodman and Foote, 2010, p.21) Many of the discriminative actions in the workplace are illegal as imposed by the laws. Certain types of employment discrimination are prohibited by the jurisdictions in almost all of the developed countries. The laws against discrimination have been set out in many legal systems highlighting the importance of human rights and rights of freedom to practice the religion and culture that the individual wants. Human rights thus, also exist in the employment rules where all the employees are tend to be treated equally despite their religion, race, gender or any other discriminating factor (Ogbonna and Harris, 2008, pp. 379). Discrimination may be intentional or unintentional. At many businesses, the discrimination may take subtler forms such as the wage discrimination. Many of the theorists have spoken against discrimination in the workplace and research shows how important it is to get rid of discrimination in the workplace otherwise it may have an impact on the whole society and may get difficult to be controlled. The CSR pyramid is the Corporate Social Responsibility pyramid which shows the four responsibilities that a corporation has towards the society. The first and foremost is the economic responsibility which says the corporation should be profitable. The second is the legal responsibilities which state that the corporation should obey the laws set by the society and the government. The third is the ethical responsibilities which state that the corporation has to be ethical towards the society and everyone associated with them for example the employees, and discrimination comes under this responsibility. The fourth is the philanthropic responsibility in which they have to be a good corporate citizen (Visser, 2006, p.55). There are many cases regarding employee discrimination that are seen in various organizations and often they reach the courts, sometimes decided fairly and sometimes not. This case is about an organization XYZ which was involved in a controversy for breaching the ethical responsibility they had towards the society. The business hired workers on the basis of equality and fairness shown in the organization, and then broke their own agenda. When the researchers studied the business, they believed the workers were discriminated against their color and race and the government intervention was least in this matter. The business was a manufacturer of garments and the place was where the produced garments came for packaging and supplying. Most of the work done in this section was labor work. When researchers talked to the workers of the ethnic group, they quoted that every worker got bonus, and despite working extra hours they never got bonus. In fact, they were also told that often they are given the work which is least important and which was associated with the lower working staff. They felt degraded and unimportant. Moreover, some of the workers never talked to them properly and treated them as the lower staff. They could not take action since their job was at stake, and prominently, this was not discrimination as mentioned by the business. In their management agendas, they used to highlight them as being just and fair with all their employees. The controversy in which XYZ got involved was after the results of the researched study was revealed to the public and government sought to take action against their policies. I believe this case shows the height of racism which is nothing new for these ethnic groups; they seem to be facing such discriminative affairs in their lives regularly. The discrimination mentioned above was indirect discrimination which tends to be unobvious when looked at from a distance but when it is investigated and looked at closely, it shows how immensely racist the events are. The management of the XYZ does not promise bonuses but they give them to the workers who they feel deserve it. Such issues are not legally called discrimination and are not valid thus the ethnic groups in the business can not legally claim for their rights. There are some actions of direct discrimination shown too by the other workers as they do not talk properly or show the willingness to work with the ethnic groups. These are events that are carried out by the other workers and not by the management of the XYZ. However, the behavior lowers the morale of the ethnic groups to work and show their capabilities as they are not motivated to work. They work because of they are needy of work otherwise they feel disregarded in the society and in the business. This is a general outlook of breach of corporate social responsibility in which the business corporation has to maintain their ethnic responsibilities towards the society and all the citizens. Although the affairs of discrimination against these groups is not prominent, it is the government’s role to carry out investigations and find out which corporations are not working under their policies of human rights and freedom of choice. No matter how small the ethnic group is, wherever there is discrimination, the government should take stand. In the US, as relevant to the case discussed, the 14th amendment states that all the citizens born in the US will be treated equally despite their religion, race or culture. Thus, the government should keep their policies in front of the businesses and take strict action against those who breach their policies and responsibilities (Heywood and Peoples, 2006, p.156). Liberalism as describes above can take stand here as it states that the employees should have the freedom to speak and they are important for the business. Here, since the ethnic groups feel ignored and unvalued, they do not tend to speak up for their right and suffer at the hands of the management and the other workers. The government should make policies that reach such small groups who are still afraid of standing for their rights. They should be encouraged to speak up for their position in the organization which is equivalent to the other workers in their position. Moreover, the XYZ also promotes their jobs by mentioning their fair and just policies and their opposition to discrimination which seems to be absolutely wrong as they do show discrimination if not direct then indirect. The way they show their business jobs creates a negative impact on the people of the society and then the ethnic groups who take the jobs face many troubles and mental torture in the workplace. This means they are creating a problem for the society where the ethnic groups will be misguided. This is also against the policy of the government (Sargeant, 2006, p.129). Thus, despite producing profitable goods and supplying to benefit the society, they are breaching their ethnic responsibility towards the citizens. XYZ should maintain their image by standing on their own claims about being just and fair with all their employees. This would rather get them more respect in the society and they can fulfill their targets by hiring more employees with capabilities. Furthermore, this would have a positive impact on the society and other businesses. In conclusion, I would like to suggest that discrimination is a problem that is commonly seen in the business workplaces and should be highly regarded by the government and the society. If it is ignored, it will only create an adverse affect on the society and the profitable businesses because sooner or later it will impact the society, the reputation of the business and the citizens individually. Discrimination only creates hatred and status consciousness amongst the people, and it should be avoided in businesses as it could be one of the platforms where people are judged by their capabilities and not their physical attributes (Daniels and Macdonald, 2005, p.197). Businesses can take a stand as they operate to produce goods that are profitable and that fulfill the society’s needs and wants. This is the business’s major aim and employing workers is to contribute in fulfilling their aim. Thus, these workers should be judged on the basis of their work that they give to the organization. Through this approach, the society will gain some boost to avoid discrimination elsewhere and have a positive impact. Hence, it can be said that business corporations are capable to take the initiative to end the impactful discrimination seen in various societies. References Appleby G. 2007. Harassment and Discrimination: And Other Workplace Landmines. London: Entrepreneur Press. Barker E. 2003. “The Changing Face of Liberalism in Workplace Democracy: the Shift from Collective to Individual Rights” Vermont Law Review 38(2), pp306-325 Craig R. 2007. Systemic Discrimination in Employment and the Promotion of Ethnic Equality. Texas: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. Daniels K. and Macdonald, L. 2005. Equality, Diversity and Discrimination: A Student Text. London: CIPD Publishing. Green T. 2003. “Discrimination in workplace dynamics: toward a structural account of disparate treatment theory”. Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 38 (1), pp. 93-157 Goodman, D. J. and Foote W. 2010. Evaluation for Workplace Discrimination and Harassment. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Heywood J. and Peoples J. 2006. Product Market Structure And Labour Market Discrimination”. NY: Sunny Press. Ogbonna E. and Harris L. 2008. “The dynamics of employee relationships in an ethnically diverse workforce” Human Relations, 59 (3), pp. 379-407 Sargeant M. 2006. Age Discrimination in Employment. Toronto: Gower Pub Co. Visser W. 2006. “Revisiting Carrolls CSR pyramid” in E.R. Pedersen & M. Huniche (eds.) Corporate citizenship in developing countries. Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School Press. Read More