Achieving Equal Opportunity in the Workplace - Essay Example

Achieving Equal Opportunity in the Workplace Student’s Name: Institutional Affiliation: Achieving Equal Opportunity in the Workplace Introduction It is an adage in these modern times we are living in today that the world is rapidly changing. Globalization and advancement in technology has contributed largely to the change in the world today. With these changes in the world, comes a different view of the world, as well as changes in language. For example, old terms give ways to new terms thus resulting to a different and a modern way of viewing the world. Many nations, not too long ago, moved from an Agrarian society that is concerned with compliance through a society that is concerned with uniformity and nationalism, to the present and modern society that is concerned with diversity within the global context. However, despite this global move by many societies, many people have not been able to fully embrace the new culture of diversity. This, though, does not stop the society from changing, people who are reluctant to embrace these new cultures are left as confused bystanders, and desperately hanging on their past. The needs of the 21st century call for people who are culturally sensitive and internationally focused and who are oriented towards the future and change rather than the past and conservatism. Worldwide, the demographic landscape is changing in that the corporate work place and work environment will be influenced by people of color. This is as a result of non dominant of the non white people who are sidelined and who are granted limited access to the societal rewards such as power, wealth, prestige among others, and whose value, as well as a contribution to the society is minimized exponentially. The era where people embrace diversity with both hand has arrived and color, race or creed no longer have a place in determining the status of one’s job or the position one holds in the work place or the society at large. Many countries and to some extent many organizations world have realized the benefit of the work force diversity and have embraced diversity fully. For instance, Australia workplaces are amongst the most diverse globally. Many generations and immigrants have enhanced this diversity through providing a wide range of cultural background in Australia. In Australia, the workforce is aging with more females employed. Additionally, more employees in Australian organizations come from non English speaking background and culture such as China, Japan, and India. Many people are also shifting from their occupations, as well as changing their employers something that give workers vast skills, knowledge, and experience. Therefore, all these aspects have enhanced work diversity in Australia. The question of whether employment diversity can be achieved through affirmative action, equal opportunity or legislation of anti discrimination still puzzles many people. Many countries have been able to apply one or two of these strategies to ensure diversity in the workplace. The purpose of this essay, therefore, is to place an argumentative discussion regarding managing diversity in the employment sector and in the work place as well arguing out whether in order to achieve equal opportunity in employment we require affirmative action legislation, anti discrimination legislation and management of diversity (Australian Government Department of immigration, 2011). In order to effectively achieve equality at the workplace, the application of the three measures is fundamental. Workplace diversity, anti discrimination legislation, and affirmative actions’ will enhance the achievement of equality at the work place. In my view, I can contend that in order to achieve equality or equal opportunity at the work place a mix of affirmative action legislation, anti discrimination action legislation, as well as managing diversity is essential. Equality is complicated to explain, and as a theory, it is difficult to make clear what it refers to in the society. This is due to its wide variety of meaning am numerous contexts used with the equality. For example, in the article of Jewson and Mason (1986), equality is expressed in liberal and radical approach. Equality In the liberal view exists when all individuals are freely able to compete freely for resources or social rewards such as wealth, power, and prestige without any discrimination with regard to color, social class, language or creed. In this case, the focus is on the individual, for instance, job selection should be on the basis of merits and not on grounds such as color or language. Therefore, the workforce in any organization should be formed by employees who are qualified in terms of skills, qualifications, and competence, and not employees with similar color or who share the same language. The other approach in regards to equality is the radical approach. Radical approach focus not just achievement of equal opportunity, but also equal outcomes. People working under the same terms and conditions may have different outcomes (Australian Post, 2010-11). For instance, in many countries men tend to be promoted more easily than their women counterpart at work. This is because they are believed to possess the ability to manage organizations at higher levels well as compared to female. Apart from salary, men in many organizations are given paid higher than their women counterpart. This amounts to gender discrimination at the work place. Equality, therefore, can be theorized from both liberal and radical approach (Bertone & Leahy, 2003). In the above regard of complexity of equality, to achieve equal opportunity at the work place or in employment is a complicated process. Therefore, it requires a mix of managing diversity approach, affirmative action legislation, as well as, affirmative action legislation. Therefore, in order to achieve equal opportunity in the employment, all the three approaches are required. Equal employment opportunity also known as EOO refers to prohibition of any form of discrimination at the work place. EOO attempts to make sure that all applicants regardless of their gender, social class, and color among other disparities are given equal and fair opportunities in hiring processes, in promotions, as well as, equal chances in training and development of career. Equal employment opportunity is about ensuring that workplaces are free from any form of unlawful discrimination and harassment, as well as, providing provision of programs that will assist members of such groups like equal employment opportunities groups to conquer their past or present disadvantages. This in other terms refers to having work force or employment rules, regulations, policies, practices and behaviors that are fair to everyone and that do not disadvantage people or hinder people from exercising their full abilities or hinder them from pursuing a career path of their own choice. In such working environment, workers are valued and respected equally, and have equal opportunities to develop their talents and skills to the maximum, as well as, pursue the career of their dream (Navy and State, 1996). Equal opportunities groups are a group of people affected by the past or continuing discrimination or disadvantage in the employment sector. The groups of people, as a result, may most likely be unemployed or working in low paid jobs or poor working conditions. Such groups include women, members of racial, etho-religious minority groups, disabled people, to say the least (Skalsky & McCarthy, 2009). In Australia, there are national and state laws that cover equal employment opportunities. Employers are required by these laws to create a working surrounding that is free from any form of discrimination or harassment. Some of the examples identified in Australia as discrimination in the work place include, giving men higher salaries as compared to their women counterpart even though women are doing the same amount of task in the work place, making sexiest comments and remarks to women in the work places, preferring an Australian with European background over an Aboriginal Australian due to stereotype, and finally, planning not to interview applicants with a foreign sound name. According to federal laws governing human rights violation and favoritism that are administered by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, there are various laws that discourage any form of employees’ discrimination at the work place and govern the welfare of employees. Such laws include age discrimination Act 2004, disability Discrimination Act 1992, Human Right and Equal opportunity Commission Act 1986, race discrimination Act 1975, sex discrimination Act 1984. These laws aim at protecting people and especially workers from any form of discrimination in public. For instance, under the age discrimination Act, this law ensures that people are not given a less treat on the basis of age within employment, provisions of social amenities like education, and provision of goods and services. However, under this Act the law provides an act does not amount to discrimination if age discrimination in employment is on the basis that an individual is incapable of performing due to his or her age. Disability discrimination, on the other hand, aims at eliminating disability discrimination in employment. This Act promotes acceptance of people with disabilities in the workplace as equal, as well as, making sure that people with disabilities share equal right with everyone else in the workplace. Under the racial discrimination Act in Australia, it is unlawful to discriminate people on the basis of color, ethnic community, or race. Australia according to statistics taken and recorded in equal employment opportunity report of 2010-11, shows that Australia is ranked among the countries that protect the rights of minorities groups such as women, disabled people and children. For example, according to this report, Australia was ranked number one in female participation by the 2010 World Economic Forum. Australia, in 2010 primarily focused on gender diversity strategy through improving representation of women in the management and executive positions. In 2011, Australia took a decisive action to increase women in leadership positions. In the business field, women currently in Australia represent 39.8%, which is equivalent to 13,336 of the total workforce. Another key highlight in 2011 was the appointment of women in Australian Post Board. Initially, the Australian Post Board had only one female board member out of seven members, but now they are three women representatives. In the promotion of women to senior management position, Australia has also taken the lead. For instance in 2011, 379 women were promoted to senior, which accounted for 39.2% of the overall Australian posts. Additionally, in retail business, Australia, is leading in representation and promotion of women in senior positions. For instance, in 2011 alone, retail work force consisted of 3436 women, which is equivalent to 82.5% accounting for the biggest representation of women in Australian post. In general, the accumulation of these achievements signifies progress, as well as, a transforming Australian post. Such encouragement of equality in the work force has enabled empowerment of women, and has encouraged them to participate even in areas that were initially seen as taboo. In other words, Australia has strong laws that protect people from discriminations on the basis of their race. For example, in employment sectors, the law protects employees from any form of discrimination that would disadvantage them or any form of discrimination on the basis of race that would hinder them from excising their skills and abilities as well as pursuing their career dream. Therefore, we can contend that equal employment opportunity legislation is vital in ensuring that there is no favoritism in the work place or work environment. Diversity refers to the differences relating to gender, religion, age, physical ability to say but a few. With the world become a global village and with many migrations, as well as an increase in competition to hire, maintain and motivate the beat employees, organization worldwide must manage diverse workforces. According to L. Leveson, 2009 in the International Journal of Manpower, Australia is among the most culturally diverse places in the world. This study was carried out in 15 Australian companies regarding their attitudes towards management diversity. Managing diversity come along with vast benefits such as attracting and retaining qualified and competent staffs, improved problems solving, creativity, and decision making, as well as, improved overall performance. D. Pollitt carried out a survey of 3 million employees and found out that making an inclusive environment was a fundamental driver in employees’ commitment and engagement. According to Leveson, workers who perceived their leaders as committed to diversity also perceived the organization in a positively and they seemed more devoted to their organizations. Other studies show that effective management of the workforce and work place diversity is directly linked to organizational performance, efficiency, profitability, as well as, revenue creation. For instance, researches in Australia and oversea have shown that organization with more women directors on their boards had improved financial performance. In addition, survey reported that organizations that apply equality in their work place performs better and enjoy significance business benefits. Customers, stockholders and other organizational stake holders support organizations that apply equality or equal opportunity in their recruitments and employment practices and procedure. Diversity in the work force gives employees motivation to work since they know they are working in non discriminative environment. Employees feel free to express their concerns and contend since they have freedom at the workplace. On the other hand, the organization benefits largely from management of diversity. For instance, an organization that embraces diversity in its workforce gains a lot of support from stakeholders such as customers and employee. An organization also gains support from government, for example, Australian government support those corporations that practices equal opportunity and diversity in their work force. Such organizations are given grants and tax holidays that release them pressure of tax and other financial distress. Therefore, management of diversity in the organization is essential in ensuring equal employment opportunity (Dickens, 2000). Affirmative action legislation is a remedy that addresses past practices of discrimination. It was designed to streamline the playing field of women, minorities, as well as, individuals with disabilities. Minority groups in most cases include the Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, as well as, the American native Indians. Affirmative action does not call for managers to hire unqualified or incompetent employees, and, in addition, it is not an automatic act, but rather it is an order from a court of law and its implementation must await an order from the court of law. Therefore, affirmative action is in most cases implemented as a voluntary goal oriented program. Australian affirmative actions’ do not require specific actions apart from following the process of developing a scheme or substantial outcome, as well as, contain no power for any sort of privileged treatment in any situations such as application of quotas. Affirmative action is seen as a fundamental symbol of the societal judgment that encouraging measures should be taken against systemic discrimination. Affirmative action is the most contentious area of anti discrimination law since it involves direct application of challenged concepts of equality and fairness to men and women’s positions and natures. In Australia, discrimination is not as rampant as it was some years back. In many types of jobs women are well represented. Affirmative action program ensures that competent women and minorities are involved in the pool of potential candidates for skilled vacancies. Failure to recruit talented minorities and skilled women in organizations is a poor culture of human resource, and will eventually harm the workforce and the entire nation in general. For example, it is good for business to use all the available talents, and not just focus on talents and skills from men alone (Creighton & Stewart, 1994). Anti-discrimination legislation that governs equality in the work place has faced a lot of oppositions from many people in the recent past. Many opponents of this anti discrimination legislation contend that it creates additional and unnecessary costs, as well as, waste a lot of time. For instance, time and funds according to proponents is wasted during recruitment. To ensure that an organization achieve diversity in its work force without compromising the quality and competent of the work force is a main challenge to many organization embracing the new culture of diversity and equal opportunity in the work place. Therefore, many organizations tend to violate such anti discrimination legislation to look for quality and competence in the work force. For instance, in Australia the anti discrimination legislation is highly applied as a social and labor market mechanism (Australian Post, 2010-11). However, according to survey done discrimination during recruitment and selection process is still rampant despite anti discrimination legislation being in place. Despite the claimed high cost and a lot of time consumptions during recruitment, anti discrimination legislation if applied in the organization will have enormous benefits in the long run. However, to achieve this more proactive approach is required. Active monitoring of human resource practices in recruitment and exposure of research finding will facilitate effective implementation of this legislation in achieving equal employment opportunity (The FindLaw Team, 2012). In conclusion, the three approaches, managing diversity, anti discrimination legislation, and affirmative actions’ in achieving equal employment opportunities are applicable and of high benefits. Research from Australian as discussed above shows how these three approaches have enhanced equality in the employment sector. Women, people with disabilities among several other disadvantaged groups have gained power and independent due to application of this legislation in the work place. Therefore, the three approaches are promotes equality in the work place differently, and each have a large responsibility to ensure equality in the work place. References Australian Post. (n.d). Equal employment opportunity report 2010-11. Retrieved from http://auspost.com.au/media/documents/eeo-report-2011-web.pdf Australian Government Department of immigration. (2011). Workplace diversity strategy 2011- 13. 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