Has UK Anti-Discrimination Legislation Succeeded in Providing Equality in Workplace - Essay Example

202-18). This paper discusses whether UK anti-discrimination legislation succeeded in providing equality for all in workplace or not in a concise and comprehensive way. This research is based on the premise that the implementation of the provisions of these laws on employment falls largely in the area of operation of professionals in human resources (HR). These professionals responsible for recruiting, selecting and perform other labour practices affecting the recruitment and retention of workers with and without disabilities.

The purpose of this investigation has been to identify how HR professionals have responded to date to this legislation and what more can be done to support the critical role they play in minimizing discrimination against the disabled in workplaces. Sparrow (2000, pp. 202 18) mentions that workplace diversity appears to have a rather short history as a field in organisation studies if one locates its emergence only within contemporary scholarship. Issues that commonly fall within the study of workplace diversity have always existed. . Yet, early conceptualisations of organisations were rooted in universalistic approaches that largely ignored race, ethnicity, gender, culture, sexuality, and other social identities.

Race and gender in organisations gained some attention after the passage of equal employment legislation in the United States during the 1970s as well as in the UK (Sparrow, 2000, pp. 202 18). This work appeared under the rubric of women in management and in studies of the effects of affirmative action and workplace discrimination (Sisson, 1994, pp. 123-131).Substantive attention to workplace diversity in organisations is attributed primarily to the publication of Workforce 2000. This report forecasted a radical increase in the number of women and racial/ethnic minorities entering the United States workforce.

It seems this forecast was largely on target although some changes in the profile of the workforce were unforeseen, including an increase in the number of workers with disabilities and growing religious diversity. Women constitute 48 percent of the United States workforce. By 2020, 32 percent of the US labour force is projected to be ethnic minorities, and four of every ten people entering the workforce from 1998 to 2008 will be members of minority groups. Hispanics are now the largest minority group in the United States, surpassing African Americans.

Sisson (1994, pp. 123-131) urged organisations and decision-makers to identify ways to "manage" this growing diversity. Consequently, the field was initially practitioner-driven with scholarly attention lagging. Some would argue this accounts for the frequently lodged criticism that much of the literature on workforce diversity is atheoretical. However, in the last ten