The Equality and Management of Diversity - Essay Example

Human Resource Management (Insert Name) (Institution Affiliation) Human resource management is a task that has been long established within many companies management framework. The HRM task is a planned approach of managing people effectively that enables organizations to meet their obligations especially in seeking to secure commitment of the staff, be good employers and manage and develop staff to enable them give their best in helping the company serve the community better. The need to effectively respond to heightened customers’ expectations means that the task of staff management is more important than before since it is the staff who ensure that the services are delivered an also it is through proper staff management that consumer performance and service oriented culture is gradually evolved. This paper focuses on the equality and management of diversity and also the issues relating to employee resourcing and talent management. A real life scenario of a woman who got fired for being attractive is critically analyzed. The paper evaluates the application of various human resource management strategies in a practical real life situation. The human resource management department exists not only to recruit employees but also to serve the community and provide services that will help the company succeed while at the same time ensures the employees are fairly treated. In an article published by the daily mail on 22nd December, 2012, a married woman named Melissa Nelson was sacked for being too attractive (Reporter, 2012). According to his boss, Melissa had and irresistible attraction and despite the fact that she was never engaged in flirtation behavior or failed to perform her duties, he fired her for being a threat to his marriage. In fact he compared her to a Lamborghini that sits in a garage and the garage owner never divers it. The sacking of Mellissa on the basis of her physical beauty was neither fair nor legal. This act goes against the human resource management values of diversity and equality. HRM as a central element to the success of companies should protect the employees against such misfortunes. In the face of increasingly competitive and ever changing environment, the employees depend on the HRM to effectively function in safeguarding their rights and give the company a competitive advantage by placing the employees within the organization and drawing on their skills rather than in the physical appearance as in the case of Mellissa Nelson. HRM is aimed at recruiting and retaining motivated, talented and capable people, rewarding and managing their performance and develop the employee key competencies without fear or favor. It is out of fear that James Knight sacked his long term employee, Mellissa Nelson, without even considering the harm he was causing to her career. A key concept of HRM which he forgot is that a motivated, purposeful and contented workforce is crucial to sustained business success. The similar was he found Melissa attractive might have been the reason why some of his customers preferred his services. An effective Human resource management should be closely aligned to the business plan of the company. One of the best ways to achieve this is through branded talent development. There are various benefits that a company derives from being a perpetual branded talent developer. First, these companies have a greater chance of attracting, hiring and retaining the personnel with attributes and skills they require or they wish to develop (Younger, Smallwood, & Ulrich, 2007). Secondly, in most occasions the branded talent developers acquire the talents they need at a considerable lower cost as compared to hiring skilled personnel. Third, these companies are in a better position to pursue successfully an organic growth agenda since they strongly connect their business plans with the developmental activities while nurturing skills for the future as well as the present. While trying to address equality and diversity, companies must adopt the factors that differentiate a true branded developer, some of the factors of which are found to be consistently present in organizations considered to be branded talent developers include: employee development which is a crucial strategic element in the view of the branded talent developers since it is strongly linked to business plan. Secondly, growth from within is emphasized due to its cost advantage and the trust relationship which comes as a result of working together for a long time. Also, branded talent developers usually have a clear understanding of employee competencies and attributes since they participate in the development. Furthermore, they are usually relentless recruiters with an ongoing search for fresh talents. A point worth noting is that they recruit people and not positions. The Human resource management should provide a company with a career architecture which is simple and well developed in order to enhance equality and diversity. This when combined with the branded talent developers who are passionate when it comes to training and committed educators will ensure the company’s HRM department remains rigorous in performance evaluation and a little bit demanding when it comes to employee performance (Younger, Smallwood, & Ulrich, 2007). The HRM usually expect high performance and have high standards which are achieved through mentoring and serious management of coaching. Also, the branded talent developers must understand and appreciate the power of the alumni and maintain good relationship with former employees. Talent management is another field that has attracted the attention of HRM practitioners and academics in recent years in the quest of attaining diversity and equality. Identifying talent, selecting, recruiting and training new employees is usually a rigorous and expensive procedure. Thus many organizations are more concerned about their ability to retain the talented key employees (Allen, Bryant, & Vardaman, 2010). Talent management is usually perceived as re- package of the existing traditional human resource practices or disciplines. Diversity and equality usually make good business sense when they go hand in hand with enhancing self-esteem and dignity of all employees (Shen, Chanda, D'Netto & Monga, 2009). Due to the rapid change in technology, business environment is increasingly becoming competitive. Innovation, change and the ability to respond quickly are now the norm which depends on the effectiveness of the Human resource management. Companies that can identify and respond rapidly and creatively to the heightened customer demands and needs will have a competitive advantage. The wider the range of talent and diversity within the company, the greater the range of experience and talent and the more successful the organization will be. The principle role of human resource is to create a work environment that promotes diversity and equality through adoption of employment procedures that are fair, transparent and objective and that focus on merit and ability. This will ensure all employees are not discriminated and enjoy job security by making sure that every employee has the right to compete for jobs irrespective of the gender, subject only to their abilities, talent or competencies. Such diverse practices usually open the organization to a wide range of capable people which results in a work environment that is highly enriched. Apart from equality and diversity, talent management is also a key element of Human resource management that can determine the performance of a company. Talent management is a common term in the modern Human resource management setting yet it never existed in 1990s (Iles, Chuai, & Preece, 2009). Talent management is said to be crucial to the company success, being able to deliver a competitive advantage through identification, screening, recruitment, development and deployment of talented and gifted employee. For instance, the United Kingdom chartered institute of personnel and development believe that the talent management activities can affect the organizations bottom line positively. Talent management is projected to be the next key competency in the Human resource domain expertise. The management of high potential employees and senior managers has been identified as a core role of the corporate human resource management function. This is because talent management challenges the bureaucratic emphasis on structures and systems and also the egalitarian models of human resource management. From an executive perspective, talent management usually presents a highly differentiated view of dynamic workforce in which various talents are highly priced than others. Talent management is essential for any organization that is committed to create an inclusive dynamic workforce which operates in an environment that welcomes different new ideas, skills and experience. Potential and current employees differ in a number of ways, from variations in ethnic background, race, age, physical ability, gender, socio – economic background, intellectual abilities, marital status, academic background, family status and even nationality. The Human resource management should understand that embracing these differences is the key to enrich the workplace and a major contribution towards development of a dynamic multi- discipline work environment that accommodates various talents without discrimination. The talent management however should be conducted in a manner that will ensure diversity and equal opportunity whereby all the HRM’s employment procedure, practices and policies ensure equal, fair and objective treatment of all the employees. The human resource should thus aim at creating a work environment that is free from any form of discrimination and that positively develop and nurture the full potential of the company staff. Despite the significant law development and the emphasize by the human resource management on equality, diversity and talent management, many employers continue to discriminate on gender basis especially when it comes to pregnant women. More than thirty thousand women are sacked every year or coerced to leave their employment due to pregnancy. A good number of women also face other form of gender discrimination. A good example is Melissa Nelson who was fired for being too attractive. Women continue to be unfairly discriminated despite the law stating clearly that such act should never be condoned. The plight of women thus lies on the effectiveness of the company management and human resource management to fully implement the law. The employment Rights Act of 1996 protects pregnant women from: pressure to tender their resignation, insensitive remarks from co- workers or employers, unfair selection for redundancy, failure to carry out adequate risk assessment and refusal of promotion or training opportunities. In most cases, workplace resembles family; a place which requires people to with each other and coexist peacefully even though they have different religious believes, background, are from different race or ethnicity. It is usually expected that workmates will find it easy and straightforward and will be able to accommodate each other’s behavior and embrace challenges. However, many workplaces in reality are often fraught with various conflicts most of which is gender related with women as the victims (Devine, 2008). To ensure diversity and equality, the Human resource management must fairly resolve the work place conflicts that might jeopardize the efforts of talent development. Workplace conflict can be generally defined as the actual or perceived clash of expectations or interests between groups or individuals. These may include interest or expectations about how people should work, gender equity, how they should behave, how much they should be paid, for what they should be paid, the chain of command to be observed and sometimes job promotion (Axelrod & Johnson, 2005). These expectations usually interplay and the extent with which there is a clash in any of them determines the nature of the workplace conflict. Regardless of where the power lies, the people in charge of an organization should always ensure that these expectations are factored out during strategy design in order to minimize risks associated with workplace conflicts and maximize opportunities. Pregnant women most of the times find themselves in the center of the workplace conflicts. Sometimes the co- workers many coerce the management to unfairly dismiss them especially if the pregnancy condition affects the work output. This dismissal may be unfair in two different situations: first case involves dismissal for pregnancy related issues of for being pregnant which happens either during her maternity leave or during the pregnancy period (Jackson, 2012). Such dismissals are unfair under the employment act section 99 but some employers do it anyway. Women dismissed due to this situation can seek legal redress. Second situation involves occasions whereby an employer refuses to allow a staff back after a maternity leave. This is an automatic breach of employment rights act and should be avoided by the human resource management. The human resource managers need to worry about employee dismissal as much as they care about recruiting the most talented and experienced staff. This is because wrongful dismissal of an employee can land the human resource management in trouble or cost the company huge sums of money (Cornelius, 2002). Wrongful employee dismissal is most likely to occur where: The company or individual dismissed an employee without proper notice or viable reason resulting in the breach of the terms of the employment contract. The HRM dismiss a company staff without payment in lieu of notice that the company is not contractually entitled to. Either of the above conditions can make the employee seek compensation. However, sometimes an employee gets unfair dismissal. Mellissa Nelson was a hardworking woman but was dismissed due to her irresistible attractiveness. In unfair dismissal, the victim may not sue especially if he or she has been in the company for a short period of time. The Human resource management must work relentlessly to ensure that the disgruntled employee does not claim for compensation for unfair dismissal. This can be achieved by making sure that there is a valid and fair reason for dismissal of any employee. Employee dismissal is lawfully justified by five fair reasons which include: the conduct of the employee; this includes misconduct and unsupported behavior, the qualifications or intellectual capability of the employee –which is relevant in long term absence or sickness cases or situation where an employee has limited skills making it difficult to perform his or her duties, illegality- for instance, if the employer finds out an employee used fake documents or is not permitted to live or work in UK, redundancy and lastly, any other substantial reason that is legally acceptable to justify employee dismissal. The Human resource manger should try to establish one of these five reasons while they seek to dismiss any employee. In conclusion, for any company to be successful and have a competitive advantage, it must have an effective human resource management strategy in place that will capitalize on diversity and equality and facilitate talent development, management and retention in a workplace. The values of diversity and equality and accommodation of talent management results in a dynamic work environment that is characterized by rich skills and ideas which is capable of rapidly responding to the heightened consumer demands. Granting equal access to men and women will only benefit certain women: those whose cultural capital, experiences, family circumstances and share of domestic responsibilities are similar to those of men as a group (Cornelius, 2002). The recruitment process should be based on competencies which include skills, experience and behaviours required for a job. The HRM should also be concerned about dismissal of incompetent or redundant personnel to avoid incurring extra expenses. Finally, the Human resource management must bring out the important values of teamwork, trust, encouragement, care and development which help an organization meet the core principles of being an ideal employer who is coveted by talented staff and motivates them to give their best. References Allen, D. G., Bryant, P. C., & Vardaman, J. M. (2010). Retaining Talent: Replacing Misconceptions With Evidence-Based Strategies. Academy of Management Perspectives , 48-64. Axelrod, L., & Johnson, R. (2005). Turning Conflict Into Profit: A Roadmap For Resolving Personal And Organizational Disputes. NJ: University of Alberta. Cornelius, N. (2002). Building workplace equality: ethics, diversity and inclusion. Cengage Learning Emea. Devine, E. (2008). Devine law at work. devine law at work , 4-8. Iles, P., Chuai, X., & Preece, D. (2009). Talent Management and HRM in Multinational companies in Beijing: Definitions,differences and drivers. Journal of World Business , 1-11. Jackson, A. (2012). Sacked for being pregnant? Know your rights! Retrieved March 11, 2013, from Accident Consult: http://www.accidentconsult.com/Legal/SackedforbeingpregnantKnowyourrights-1127.html Martín-Alcázar, F., Romero-Fernández, P. M., & Sánchez-Gardey, G. (2012). Transforming Human Resource Management Systems to Cope with Diversity. Journal of business ethics, 1-21. Reporter, D. M. (2012, December 22). The woman fired for being too attractive: Judges back dentist who sacked aide he described as a threat to his marriage. Retrieved March 11, 2013, from Daily Mail UK: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2252135/Melissa-Nelson-Judges-married-dentist-fired-aide-said-irresistibly-attractive.html Shen, J., Chanda, A., D'Netto, B., & Monga, M. (2009). Managing diversity through human resource management: an international perspective and conceptual framework. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 20(2), 235-251. Younger, J., Smallwood, N., & Ulrich, D. (2007). Developing Your Organization’s Brand as a Talent Developer. Human Resource Planning , 30 (2), 21-29. Read More