Anti-Discrimination through Diversity Management - Essay Example

Institute Management issue: Anti-discrimination through diversity management. Management style and structure has seen a paradigm shift in the last 2 to 3 decades, with management concept being more inclined towards human resource management. Human rights movements have spanned all over the world, and consequently resulted in human rights act, equal opportunity for all, anti-discrimination act and so on. However, discrimination of people still exists in some parts of the world, occasionally cropping up in organizations, government sectors, and even among general groups of people. Owing to the increasing awareness of human rights legislation and decline of social inequalities, more and more people are migrating to different places and opting for jobs at various levels depending upon their education and caliber. Vast numbers of mixed populations from different communities, groups, races, ethnicity and nationalities can be seen in large corporate organizations and in multinational organizations. News regarding law suits against some of the large corporations has spanned news papers, magazines and the websites, largely due to the huge settlements involved. For example, the largest known settlement for a racial discrimination lawsuit was paid by Coca-Cola in 1999. The company was sued by African-American former and current employees for racial discrimination under the US Civil Rights Act. The charges included unequal wages for African-Americans compared to the Whites; very few positions at top given to African-Americans; and certain policies that inhibited African-Americans from trying for promotions (Winter). Coca Cola had to face such charges due to the inappropriate diversity management policies and practices. In addition to the large sum, these charges resulted in reputational loss, which can further impact their competitiveness and sustainability in the market. Searches for current issues in management practice and organizations were conducted on the web, with maximum results obtained in the field of diversity management. A variety of issues were found, most of which included unequal opportunities at workplaces causing employees to revolt against management. Some of these include racial discrimination (as in the case of Coca Cola); minimal opportunities for women at top positions (Winter); unequal pay for women and men; and issues related to sexual harassment. Hence, a study of management policies at different corporations was conducted in order to learn how they prevented and handled issues related to diversity management. In addition, reasons for diversity management policies were also thoroughly understood. Business trend has vastly shifted from product specification and employment relations to consumer behavior and human resources management perspectives. The traditional trade union-employer concept has almost diminished, and a more specific as well as direct employee-employer relationship has emerged in the recent decades. Business management includes organizational effectiveness, human resource management, customer satisfaction and strategic perspectives. With globalization, competition has increased, and so have management practices. Hence, organizations have to manage diversity at workplaces in order to ensure sustainability and effectiveness. Organizations have to be committed to affirmative action policies in social, legal and organizational aspects in order to incorporate diversified workforce. In addition, organizational policies towards protection of human rights have to be strong enough to avoid exploitation of the workforce by any means. These are a few, but vital, components of business management that can ensure smooth running of the businesses. Discrimination has caused much harm to mankind ever since history was known. Large number of people working together in organizations towards common goals cannot afford such disturbances that may also have legal and political obligations, in addition to ethical and moral issues. Hence, diversity management emerged as a concept in management to tackle discrimination at workplace. Kosek and Lobel’s model adopts management of diversity through concepts of diversity enlargement, diversity sensitivity, cultural audit and strategies (Mor-Barak, 216). Organizations hire people from various backgrounds at various levels; organizations make policies that are applicable to and ensure to include all employees for all organizational changes and promotions based on other differentiating principles such as eligibility based on performance, caliber, and experience. One major potential discrimination issue that very often crops up is gender inequality. In spite of the legislation related to human rights and equal opportunities, as well as anti-discrimination policies, there seems to be a difference in the way men and women are employed, specifically in aspects of position, pay, and types of roles and responsibilities allocated. For example, 1.6 million women employees of Wal-Mart had filed a discrimination lawsuit against the company in 2001 for unequal pay patterns. This mass movement resulted in terming the lawsuit as a national class action suit and creation of ‘living wage law’ that enforced minimum wages concept for all employees irrespective of their age, gender, group, or any other classifications (Jackson, Schuler & Werner, 126). Conversely, circumstances and choice of female employees also contribute to the huge pay difference and promotion opportunities. As pointed out by Scheele (p.118), most of the employed women prefer to work part time for most of the period or at least for some time during their employment, which certainly impacts their salary advancement and progress in career. In relation with the legislation framed for equal pay, these choices may not be considered as apt. From an employer’s perspective, cost involved and/or returns obtained in employing part time workers is higher than full time workers; hence wages for part time workers are usually on the lower side. Learning from the mistakes of the past, most of the corporate organizations have adopted diversity management policies as tools to adhere to equal employment regulations and to address discrimination issues. For example, IKEA’s vision states, ‘To create a better everyday life for the many people’ (cited by (Regani, p.707). Business strategies in the same lines were created in order to provide equal opportunities for all its employees in terms of working hours, holidays, performance evaluation etc, which were driven through human resource management practices. For example, ‘flexibility’ in terms of holiday schedule enables employees to choose their holidays instead of following the traditional standard holidays that not all employees opt for. ‘Paddle Your Own Canoe” initiative helped employees in performing a self-assessment in terms of skills required for personal development, with guidance from managers. Another initiative, ‘Why Sayers’ and ‘Express Yourself’ encouraged employees to voice their concerns, question the management, or express their opinions irrespective of their status or responsibilities in the company (Regani, p.710). IKEA had many other such strategies to promote equal opportunities for all employees that also helped in enhancing the motivation and morale of its employees. Recently, New York Times published an article related to Xerox’s new Chief Executive Officer is noteworthy of organizations’ efforts in promoting the diversity and equal opportunities culture. Through this news, Bryant ( p.1) tries to highlight the two milestones created in American corporate history, that an African-American woman was named C.E.O of a major American corporation, and that it was the first time a woman succeeded another woman in the top position of a large multinational organization. While many organizations are attempting to promote equal opportunities, some specifically focusing on certain ignored social groups, evidences indicate that issues have arisen within such confines. For example, Cockburn pointed out that managers often find themselves in critical position in exercising discretion by using the diversity management practices. Although these practices are documented as policies, employees consider it as ‘special treatment’ towards specific individuals or groups; in turn, these notions spread messages of biasness and fear from dominant groups (cited Kirton and Greene, p.121). Successful implementations of human resource practices face a challenge when dealing with people from different cultures or cross borders. For example, when implementing a 360-degree feedback process, highly appreciated in the U.S organizations, managers need to be aware of the fact that people from other nations, like Taiwan, may not feel comfortable as they are not used to give or receive direct feedback (Cascio, p.187). While diversity management practices are important for organizations and employees, human resource strategies of multinational corporations need to be framed according to what suits the region best. In the sense, cultural influences on human behavior need to be assessed prior to finalizing on policies. The same policies in all nations may not yield same results, and may also create more people-related issues. When dealing with employees of cross-cultural regions, organizations need to enhance managers’ awareness of the sociocultural influences through specific training programs or workshops. In conclusion, the issue of discrimination in work place by way of gender, race, ethnicity, sociocultural group has long existed in most of the regions of the world. Changing nature of business, the paradigm of human rights, and competitiveness has left organizations with no choice but to employ a diversified workforce. Hence, promoting equality in organizations through diversity management policies and practices has become a political, social and a business norm. Organizations have learnt important lessons in the hard way, and are taking every step to adhere to these principles. Nevertheless, issues related to discrimination in various forms have been arising, posing greatest challenge for managers who are involved in implementing and driving the anti-discrimination practices. In order to address this, organizations need to take appropriate steps to help managers execute diversity management effectively. Works cited News Articles: Bryant, Adam. Xerox’s New Chief Tries to Redefine Its Culture. Business section. The New York Times. Published February 20,2010. Retrieved from, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/business/21xerox.html?pagewanted=1&sq=diversity%20management%20policies%20corporation&st=cse&scp=1 Winter, Greg. Coca-Cola Settles Racial Bias Case. Business section. The New York Times. Published on November 17, 2000. Retrieved from, http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/17/business/coca-cola-settles-racial-bias-case.html?sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink Books: Cascio, Wayne F. Stahl, Gunter K and Ingmar Bjorkman. Eds. Handbook of Research in International Human Resource Management. U.K: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006. Jackson, Susan.E, Randall S. Schuler, and Steve Werner. Managing Human Resources. 10th ed. U.S.A: Cengage Learning, 2008 Kirton, Gill and Anne-Marie Greene. The dynamics of managing diversity. 2nd Ed. London: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2005. Mor-Barak, Michalle E. Managing diversity: toward a globally inclusive workplace. California: Published by SAGE, 2005. Regani, Shirisha. Pearce (ed.) Strategic Management 10E. New York: Tata McGraw-Hill, 2008 Read More