Industrial and Organizational Psychology - Essay Example

? Industrial and Organizational Psychology Question Worksites in almost all parts of the world have been integrated by race/ethnicity and gender. This brings about the question of how far the stakes of line-managers and co-workers should be considered when deciding who should be hired. When conducting a recruitment drive, companies should carry out a job analysis for successful employee selection. Job analysis involves gathering of information about the tasks and competencies required by a certain job criteria. It also involves ascertaining the knowledge, abilities, skills and other features required to fulfill the job’s obligations successfully. Therefore, a company on a recruitment drive is able to deliberate to its existing employees the jobs that are best suited to perform and create room for new personnel. When employees are appraised of what a particular task requires, they are able to appreciate the fact that the task demands more knowledge and skills than they have (Aamodt, 2013). This helps the employees to understand the need for additional workers to close the gap created by lack of expertise needed to fulfill the requirements of a job. The stakes of line-managers and co-workers in the decision making process should be considered and taken seriously. This because they determine how well a new employee will get integrated in his or her new position, in the company. In the early 1960s, new employees who came from across the gender, race and ethnic divide suffered all sorts of atrocities committed to them by fellow employees. This is because line managers and co-workers possess larger stake when it comes to the human resource section of any company. Failure to consult them and include their views and opinions in the decision making process contributed to the occurrence of human rights violations in the work place. When carrying out a job analysis, companies should bear in mind that on-line managers and co-workers have the highest stakes in terms of job security and the overall productivity of the company. Evidence based practices should be employed, in the recruitment of new employees, to ensure that existing employees are dully promoted in order of experience, merit and ability. This helps eliminate development of discontent in the workforce. Question #2 In an American workplace, a test that reflects cultural literacy can be considered bias because of the diversity that exists in the American society. The dynamic nature of the American sociocultural environment makes it difficult for a person to be averse with all the elements that define that culture. A person applying for a job position can familiarize self with the unique features of the culture that exists around the firm they intend to work for, but a complete understanding and knowledge of the all the details is bias. This is because people come from different cultural backgrounds, and expecting a job candidate to be familiar with the immediate cultural characteristics is bias. It requires time to get to know people who are the mediums through which cultural practices and traditions can be transmitted (Spector, 2012). Job tests should be aimed at establishing the integrity and competence of skills, knowledge and ability of a worker towards successful completion of an assigned task in the work place. Employers are to some extent responsible for the opportunities that a job candidate might have or may not have. Job qualifications that employers demand for determine whether the job candidate qualifies for the job. Employers should endeavor to offer equal and fair career advancement opportunities to all prospective job candidates. Employers have the responsibility to ensure that all opportunities available in their workplace are fairly and equally available to all workers. This should be irrespective of race, gender or religion. With reference to this, candidates should also strive to be always prepared to seize an opportunity when it presents itself. A job candidate should always position himself/herself in a way that prepares them for the outcome of any eventuality. It is a job candidate’s responsibility to ensure that they have all the necessary job qualifications when applying for a work position. A job candidate should have some familiarity with the culture in which a job exists to facilitate easier integration with existing employees. A candidates’ awareness of the traditions and cultures, which exist in the environment of a workplace, enable them to establish workplace relationships easily. These relationships help the new employee to go through the transition of from being a “newbee” to an established employee who is averse with all the traditions of the workplace. A job candidate who is familiarized with the culture, in which a job exists, can easily integrate with the immediate surrounding community. This enables a candidate create rapport with members of the community who help in understanding their culture. Question #3 Comparable worth is the notion that supports equal pay across the gender divide basing this on skills and the value of an employee to the employer. Comparable worth emphasizes on eradication of gender discrimination when employers are setting up guidelines for structuring wages (England, 1992). The principle of comparable worth is best illustrated by comparing two jobs. Construction jobs are predominantly male dominated while secretarial jobs are female dominated, but there exists disparities when it comes to the wages individuals in the two jobs receive. Construction workers receive more pay than those in secretarial jobs, which can be attributed to the fact that the former is male dominated and the latter is female dominated. Comparable worth is determined by analyzing the value of the employee to the employer irrespective of gender. Comparable worth advocates for equal pay for comparable pay. Gender based discrimination in wage setting is a practice that has been inculcated into society and advocate for comparable worth strive to reverse this. Comparable worth supports the issuance of wages based on the value that an employee adds to the employer instead of focusing on gender bias. Comparable worth encourages the determination of wages on the laws of supply and demand. This enables everybody across the gender divide to compete, access the same jobs, and wage category because skills and competencies will be the determining factors. Comparable wage can be a double-edged sword that either supports or discourages discrimination. This is because the systems in place that promotes equity in attaining the same skill sets and opportunities are bias. Comparable worth promotes discrimination because women are forced to take career paths that allow them to bear children while men are not faced with the same predicament. Some jobs require women forfeit some liberties because of their gender while men do not need to go through the same vetting process. Comparable wage discourages discrimination by advocating for the elimination of gender bias in the work place. This is especially when it comes to the determination of what value an employee adds to the employer. Question #4 The issue of fairness, when it comes to girls 150 years ago and to immigrant workers who provide labor, is a concept that is not keenly considered by many Americans. This is because the American culture has constructed the notion of unfairness to girls or women into the fabric of their society. Gender disparity has been an encouraged practice by most societies in the world. This is because a few enlightened people who happened to be men thought of and devised a way to project the male gender as more deserving than the female gender. This went on to become a norm in most societies across the world. The girls, in New England textile mills or North Carolina tobacco fields, were not treated fairly because they were perceived as less deserving. In today’s world, and especially in America with regard to immigrant farm workers and domestic workers, Americans believe that they do not need to be fair to immigrant workers. This is because they think that by allowing immigrant workers to work for them, they are extending them a privilege (Pande & Weide, 2012). If one further investigates this issue, it would be established that most of these immigrant workers are females thus, explaining the lack of fairness in terms of wages and working conditions. If one compares the jobs that immigrant male workers get and those performed by females, there is a significant difference in terms of wages and work conditions. According to my opinion, this is because of gender discrimination where women and girls are offered jobs that are not well paying than men yet they all hold the same immigrant status. Gender discrimination can be attributed to the lack of fairness 150 years ago in the fields of New England and North Carolina. If there was gender equality or activism as there is today, then deplorable working conditions they went through could have been mitigated. Fairness in American society needs to cultivated back into the fabric of society through enhanced education and awareness campaigns of the benefits of gender equality. Question #5 The shifting demographics caused by cross-cultural familiarity have changed the American work place by creating new dynamics in the way that workers conduct their business. In the American workplace, workers are more aware of the existence of other cultural practices apart from theirs. This has seen adoption of new work ethics borrowed from different cultural backgrounds that enhance and promote their productivity. Through the interaction of people from different cultural backgrounds, American employees have been able to experience the benefits of cross-cultural integration. These benefits are characterized by improved global business relationships. Employees are able to relate and establish lasting business relationships with their global partners because there are reduced cross-cultural conflicts and misunderstandings. Cultural clashes are experienced where employees from different cultures experiences differences that are mostly brought about by communication disparities. For example, people from Japan are characterized taking a long time before responding to a question. This can be interpreted as hesitation or indecisiveness while according to Japanese culture; it is a virtue to pause before answering or responding to a query. When American employees are exposed to Japanese counterparts, they can learn the reasoning behind the pause before giving an answer. This puts the American employee, in a better position, to interact more successfully with Japanese business people in the future. References Aamodt, M. G. (2013). Industrial/organizational psychology: An applied approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. England, P. (1992). Comparable worth: Theories and evidence. New York: Aldine de Gruyter. Pande, R., & Weide, T . (2012). Globalization, technology diffusion and gender disparity: Social impacts of ICTs. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference. Spector, P. E. (2012). Industrial and organizational psychology: Research and practice. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. Read More