Management - Managing People For A Competitive Advantage - Essay Example

Management Managing People for a Competitive Advantage 7/4 s I. Discrimination (A) Unfair Discrimination ‘Unfair Discrimination’ is the type of discrimination where aspects [of selection] which do not otherwise affect job performance or requirements criteria, or sometimes aspects which are often deemed as immoral is referred to as ‘unfair discrimination’ (Dale 202-246). Aspects such as gender, race, color, a disability (provided that the disability does not hinder job performance), glass ceiling or even political opinions normally fall under this criteria; as such factors have absolutely no effect in the actual work.

HR managers and evaluators often knowingly execute unfair discrimination, and such criterions are normally concealed from job seekers. A common and visible example of unfair discrimination is a company asking for women applicants to be over 40 (so as to avoid the loss incurring out of leave of absence due to child birth). (B) Fair Discrimination Discrimination usually carries a negative connotation, kind of a stereotype for the word. However, the term does have a positive note, discriminations such as ‘teens below 16 should not be allowed to drive’ is a positive stereotype for the term as it is rationally correct.

Fair discrimination is when the discrimination is (Featherman, Hall and Krislov 77-79) (Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration): (i) Mandatory by law (example: Children below 16 cannot drive) (ii) “Based on affirmative action” (Simon 3-7) (example: setting up quotas based on gender or race). The positive effects of affirmative action are quite controversial, Rai and Critzer (2000, p. 8-11) argue that government authorized or forceful discrimination (quotas) is also unfair discrimination as such an activity might allow a person with lower qualification get the ‘quota advantage’. (iii) Based on lack of sufficient qualifications or certain abilities that are inherent to the job or profile (example: someone with a poor eyesight cannot be selected to become a sniper or a pilot) (iv) Based on the lack of performance or output II.

Legal Compliance (A) EEOC v/s OFCCP ‘Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’ or EEOC is a federal agency that overlooks workplace discrimination at a generic level. It is also the prime authority to investigate in that matters of unfair discrimination. (EEOC) The ‘Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs’ or OFCCP is a division of the Department of Labor, and ensures that the suppliers to the government are distributing wages (compromised of government funds) to its employees without any sort of discrimination.

Deals which are worth less than USD 10,000 are exempted from complying with the OFCCP. (Millenson and Fortney) That is, the OFCCP has authority over government suppliers only, whereas the EEOC has complete charge over the remaining private as well as public sector within the United States. (B) Regulation over U.S. companies conducting business overseas EEOC has complete authority to prosecute employers working in American countries abroad provided that the employers are American Citizens (Starr).

The same goes for OFCCP, which states “companies shall not discriminate for work to be performed in the United States or abroad” (U.S. Department of Labor) under section 60-1.10. III. Work Environment (A) Hostile Work Environment Hostile work environment simply refers to hostility in the workplace, hostility here is mostly in the form of sexual harassment, although it may also refer to other “intimidating, threatening, odious, and/or oppressive atmosphere” (Tucker and Mosley 37) caused by an agent within the organization or outside the organization that may inhibit an employee from going to work. (B) Hostile Work Harassment Workplace harassment may be intentional and unintentional.

For example, an employee might tell a joke involving a particular gender or race and someone else might find it offensive (unintentional), or an employer deliberately trying to enforce more burden on an employee simply to get rid of him (intentional). Hostile work harassment need not necessarily be physical; if an employer constantly asks an employee to go on a date with him will also be considered as harassment. Essentially a hostile work environment is anything where employees are exposed to unwanted and unprofessional conduct or behavior of subordinates or seniors.

Most cases of workplace harassment are indeed related to sexual advances. (Appleby 113-116, 129) IV. Harassment or not No the said employee will not have been subjected to a ‘hostile’ work environment, assuming the same targets would have been placed on other employees bearing an equivalent rank. Also it is fair to assume that the supervisor’s targets were approved by the company’s administration as the supervisor is recommending a ‘performance improvement plan’ for which the standards must have been set by higher authorities.

Also based on the principles of ‘fair discrimination’ (Featherman, Hall and Krislov), an employee may be fired for lack of performance, and such a termination may not be deemed immoral or wrongful termination. V. Acceptable Discrimination It is not at all acceptable to discriminate based on any factor irrelevant to the job profile. Discrimination and preferential treatment are two terms that are quite alike, as both of these include the domination of one group over another. Even if ‘affirmative action’ is to be taken under consideration, the question still states “preferential treatment of minority group” and affirmative action would mean to select the best candidate without any concern for his ethnicity, gender, or any other classification irrelevant to the required profile.

Such an action is also illegal and a punishable offence according to the EEOC. (EEOC) Works Cited Appleby, Gavin S. Harassment and Discrimination: And Other Workplace Landmines. Entrepreneur Press, 2007. Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration. "Discrimination." CCMA Info Sheet (2002): 3-4. Dale, Margaret. Manager's guide to recruitment and selection. London: Kogan Page Publishers, 2004. EEOC. About EEOC. N.D. 4 July 2011 . —. Types of Discrimination. N.D. 04 July 2011 . Featherman, David L.

, Martin Hall and Marvin Krislov. The next twenty-five years: affirmative action in higher education in the United States and South Africa. University of Michigan Press, 2009. Millenson, Debra Ann and David S. Fortney. "OFCCP Fundamentals." ABA Philadelphia Labor & Employment Conference (2007): 1-41. Simon, David. Discrimination and Affirmative Action. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1998. Starr, Michael. Who's the boss? The globalization of U.S. employment law. 1 May 1996. 4 July 2011 . Tucker, Dennis C.

and Shelley Elizabeth Mosley. Crash course in library supervision: meeting the key players. Santa Barbara: Libraries Unlimited, 2007. U.S. Department of Labor. Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. 2011. 04 July 2011 .