Managing Diversity Awareness Campaign - Essay Example

Managing Diversity Awareness Campaign Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Managing gender equality in the workplace 3 Part 3 Part 3 5 Part 2 9 Poster 9 9 Audio clip 10 References 12 Bibliography 14 Managing gender equality in the workplace Part 1 According to the author Player (2013), managing diversity in the workplace has been critical to organizational success. 21st century has witnessed a change in the traditional diversity in workplace and universities. Newer forms of legislations have been made as an effort to recognize the role of women in workplace. Following the change in management practices, women have become more independent economically and socially. Women account for 42% of the UK workforce and 55% of graduates. Despite such shift in workforce ratio, women have been subject to work bias than men. They are not given leadership roles as compared to their male counterpart. Such workplace stereotypes have resulted in unequal pay and pay gaps. Despite the effort of the UK government for bridging the pay gap by introducing new equal pay act, UK has witnessed high income inequality compared to OECD countries. The author also states that women on an average earn less than their counterparts by £140,000. The author proposed that out of every ten people nine people want equality in workplace through equal pay and job roles. He also says that culture has been a key factor that influenced the stereotypes present in workplace that led to income inequality and biased leadership roles. Our culture despises the changing work culture and holds it negative. Working women and home dads have negative repercussions in the society that lead to workforce bias. Not only has the society but organizations have also succumbed to such negative thought that resulted in such stereotypes. Government’s Equality Office (2011), describes that the general view is that men are more competent than women and are well suited for leadership roles compared to women. It is quite unlikely, for a woman, who is a mother, to find a job. This shows how workplace biases and stereotypes create gender gaps and leads to gender inequality. It also explains that reducing the gender gap in workplace will lead to increased productivity. It has also been observed through various researches that high ratio of female to male in organizations have led to increased financial performance than organizations with large gender gaps. Women could add as much as £150 billion to the UK GDP by 2030, if all women who aspire to work were provided jobs. According to the author Ridgeway (2011), managing gender equality will lead to increased productivity of organizations that will drive economic growth. UK faces an aging population which will lead to a shortage of skilled labour supply. This will push the wage rate upward if it is not compensated by employing more women in the workforce. Workplace diversity can be effectively managed by framing policies that are well suited for women. Greater work flexibility is required that will create new diversities that are favourable for women. Reducing pay gaps, fair access to jobs, promotion, and appraisal will create opportunities that will place women at par with their counterparts. Employee engagement in workplace will better address the issues of gender equality in organizations and aid organizations in implementing gender diversity awareness programmes. The author further says that organizations should frame work friendly policies and implement actions that will create flexibility and diversity in workplace. Organizations should implement equal pay programme for its employees and should not engage in workforce bias and stereotypes. It should ensure policies that ensure equality in hiring, training and promotion. Organizations should ensure work life balance for its employees. Management should focus on providing counselling sessions not only on career growth but also on family matters that will help employees maintain positive relationships with their family. It should create favourable work timings for women that will lead to employees spending adequate time with their family. This is aimed at creating better work life balance. Authors Williams and Dellinger (2010) describe the use of stricter policies regarding women safety and security. Organizations should take stricter actions and develop a culture that will deter any workplace harassment. Use of non discriminatory policies will lead to bridge the gap in workforce ratio, income inequality, etc. Organizations should establish a better and effective system that will inform the management about such issues that are prevailing in the workplace. Employee information exchange platform should be established that will help the management interact with its employees regarding issues that concerns their work, personal life, peer relationships, etc. Setting up employee feedback platform will help the management to redress any gender diversity issues that exist in the work place. Managing gender diversity will lead to increased employee satisfaction that will result in increased productivity of individual employee as well as contribute to organizational growth and success. Part 3 The diversity awareness programme includes posters and voice clips that will address the various issues faced by employees in the organization. Posters include various newspaper, articles, government journal clips that are aimed to stimulate and empower the employees. Employees are empowered by giving them quality information about the various legislations and government views on creating gender diversity in the workplace (Klarsfeld, 2010). The programme is aimed at only creating awareness among the employees but will do very little to actually implement changes that will result in creating gender diversity in the organization. Employees are not aware of their benefits and rights that lead to workplace conflicts (Mills, Franzway, Gill and Sharp, 2013). There are various government legislations that were formed for the welfare of employees working in an organization. Such legislations guide organizations in managing diversity in workplace. Management is often confused about managing diversity in organization. The awareness programme is aimed at providing insights to the management to tackle diversity issues at workplace. The awareness program will include clips about the management issues regarding income inequality, gender pay gap, work bias and stereotypes. Stereotypes at work place include gender bias in recruitment, hiring, training and promotion. The awareness programme will outline the effects of such workforce bias on employee morale and productivity. It will show various instances from various organizational practices that have successfully led to managing diversity in organization. It critically focuses on gender inequality in the work place. Usually empowering women to contribute to the workforce growth will be the major highlight of the awareness program. It will focus on the various issues women face in organizations and will outline individual roles in fighting against any injustice and the role of the management in understanding and implementing organizational change (Bell, 2011). Posters will include small case studies and instances which will show how successful organizations have implemented policies that have created diversity in culture, age, gender, pay, etc. The awareness campaign is aimed at implementing better management practices. It will be an interactive session where by employee and management views will be taken separately and will be kept confidential. Employees do not get time to research about various issues and their role when faced with inequality in organizations. The campaign will prove to be a guide to how employees especially women can do to inform the management about such issues (Ryan and Branscombe, 2013). It will make them aware about the various legislations like The Equal Pay Act (1970) – Under this act, both the genders i.e. men and women are entitled to receive equal pay for same work. It moreover gives right to individuals working in UK for equal remuneration. The sex discrimination Act (1975) – It gives equal opportunity to either gender in areas of education, resource sharing, training and development, promotion, etc. Maternity leave and pay regulations (1975) – This legislation entitles women to paid leave up to period of twelve months. Post the period of leave they can resume their job under the same conditions and benefits when they left (Office of the First Minister And Deputy First Minister, 2010). Paternity leave and pay regulations (2003) – This grants the male employees statutory paid leaves for a period of up to two weeks after the birth of a child (Office of the First Minister And Deputy First Minister, 2010). Flexible working regulations (2003) – This entitles employees to work under flexible work hours or opportunity for work from home. Such entitlements are offered to employees with child who has not attained the age of six. Flexible work includes reduced work hours, change in working hours, etc (Office of the First Minister And Deputy First Minister, 2010). Creating awareness among employees regarding such legislations will empower them with increased knowledge and information. This will also help the management to implement better and friendly policies that will create a positive organizational culture aimed at long term sustainability (Kaul and Singh, 2012). Moreover there are certain limitations of such awareness programmes. This is of a shorter time period and can only extend up to a day or two. This stops the work flow and reduces employee productivity as employees have to leave their work and attend such awareness programmes or be a part of the campaign. Employees may not be able to recollect all the information owing to high work pressure. Employees due to fear of termination may not share their experiences and views about the efficacy of work policy in the organization (Roberson, 2013). Such awareness campaigns would only give the management and the employees a stimulus to create diversity in work place that will reduce gender inequality, but it may not result in actual results, as the management might lack the initiative to implement such changes. Employee awareness about gender inequality should be supported by organizations actions that will lead to closing the gender gap in work place (Brewster and Mayrhofer, 2012). Part 2 Poster Audio clip Managing gender diversity has become the foremost challenge of various organizations across the globe. Gender stereotypes have created inequality in workplace. It has led to income inequality, discrimination in regard to recruitment, hiring, training and promotion. Despite changing pattern of workforce organizations have done little to manage diversity in work place. UK gender gap is perhaps the highest among the OECD countries and accounts for 19%. Surveys have showed that over 2 million unemployed women showed interest in working if provided with an opportunity. Nine out of every ten people surveyed wants equal opportunities for both men and women and would also like women to take leadership roles. From where do such stereotypes stem? Women should shoulder equal responsibilities like their counterparts, but social and cultural influences have a strong role in shaping our perceptions that form our belief. The society would consider a working woman and a home husband. It is quite unlikely for a woman who is a mother to get a job and reduces the probability of her getting job by almost 70%. It is also believed that men are far more competent than women when it comes to work standard and performance. Traditional beliefs about women have created certain negative beliefs and unconscious stereotypes and biases. What are the impacts of gender inequality? The population of UK is aging and indicates that there will be a supply shortage if women do not fill up the gap in labour market. Supply gap in workforce will lead to increased wage rate. Researches made earlier showed the shortfall in total earnings of women, which accounts for £140,000 in UK. Economy’s growth suffers owing to less contribution from women. It creates long term micro and macro economic impact. How to manage gender inequality? Though there will be some inherent complexities in the work place when there is a mix of both the genders, so it cannot be eliminated totally, but can be managed. The organization should try to implement policies that will create a balance in the workforce strength and also lead to better resource allocation. It will lead to fair practices that will not give any employee or group unfair advantage over the other on grounds of sex, caste, race, religion, colour, etc. Management should try to reach out to its employees and ensure a better and secure workplace. Effective system should be established through which employees can share their problems and issues with the management. The organization should ensure better work life balance, equal pay and perks to all employees irrespective of their sex, remove work bias, provide counselling to its employees, equal access to jobs, etc. What are the benefits of gender equality? Studies have shown that organizations perform better with high number of women in leadership roles. Organization with high female representation showed increased level of return in equity, sales and invested capital. Increased employment of women will drive economic growth. According to Women’s Business Council, if all women were to be employed it would add nearly 10% to UK’s GDP by the end of 2030. References Bell, M., 2011. Diversity in organizations. USA: Cengage Learning. Brewster, C. and Mayrhofer, W., 2012. Handbook of research on comparative human resource management. UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. Government’s Equality Office, 2011. Addressing gender equality: “think, act, report”. [online] Available at: < https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/85569/think-act-report-framework.pdf> [Accessed on 13 May 2015]. Kaul, A. and Singh, M. 2012. New paradigms of gender inclusivity: theory and best practices. New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. Klarsfeld, A., 2010. International handbook on diversity management at work: country perspectives on diversity and equal treatment. UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. Mills, E.J., Franzway, S., Gill, J. and Sharp, R., 2013. Challenging knowledge, sex and power: gender, work and engineering. USA: Routledge. Office of the First Minister And Deputy First Minister, 2010. Gender equality. [online] Available at: < http://www.ofmdfmni.gov.uk/index/equality/gender-equality.htm> [Accessed on 13 May 2015]. Player, A., 2013. Gender equality: why women are still held back. [online] Available at: < http://www.theguardian.com/business/economics-blog/2013/dec/06/gender-equality-women-stereotypes-stop-progress> [Accessed on 13 May 2015]. Ridgeway, L.C., 2011. Framed by gender: how gender inequality persists in the modern world. USA: Oxford University Press. Roberson, M.Q., 2013. The oxford handbook of diversity and work. New York: Oxford University Press. Ryan, K.M. and Branscombe, R.N., 2013. The sage handbook of gender and psychology. UK: SAGE. Williams, L.C. and Dellinger, K., 2010. Gender and sexuality in the workplace. UK: Emerald Group Publishing. Bibliography Acker, J., 2012. Gendered organizations and intersectionality: problems and possibilities. An International Journal, 31(3), pp. 214-224. Knights, D., Kerfoot, D. and Ida Sabelis, I., 2015. Gender, Work & Organization. Journal of business management, 22(3), pp. 197-307 Stainback, K., Devey, T.D. and Skaggs, S., 2010. Organizational Approaches to Inequality: Inertia, Relative Power, and Environments. Annual Review of Sociology, 36, pp. 225-247. Read More