MANAGING PEOPE IN DIVERSITY

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGING PEOPLE Written by [writers name]

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MANAGING PEOPE IN DIVERSITY

INTRODUCTION
The evolution of the society and high rates of migration changed the course of the economic world significantly. Globalization has now created focus on the ethical issues pertaining to management of workforce and understanding the motivational aspects of each group to manage them successfully (Johnson, 2011). But culture remains only one dimension of the growing and diversifying workforce. With perhaps the highest percentage and ratio of women in the different levels of workforce, the organizations, particularly human resource departments must now consider specific challenges of the female workforce (Johnson, 2011). Promoting diversity is coupled with managing diversity and preventing perhaps the highest possibilities of discrimination and conflicts that the workforce can encounter (Johnson, 2011). This growing need has led to creation of socially significant legislations such as Equal Opportunity and Racial Discrimination respectively. Equal opportunity is a term that has attempted to overcome all societal dogmas associated with working of different people from different cultures, backgrounds, knowledge, sex and education (Employment Equality Regulations, 2003). It was created to address both direct and indirect attacks of discrimination against certain vulnerable groups in a given group or population (Peetz et al., 2008). Both direct and indirect discriminatory attacks can lead to severe ethical complications which can damage the credibility of an organization (Ellis, Franklin and Slingsby, 2010). Therefore, organizations must now be extremely vigilant of the different forms of discrimination that can undermine productivity of the workplace. It is here that the concepts of differentiation and decentration come into play. Differentiation is defined as the process whereby people distance themselves from their own subjectivity by experience, based on the identification of differences and diversity between their own way of understanding something from other ways, or other peoples ways, of understanding the same thing (Boud, 2006, pp. 95). Another similar concept is of decentration in which people critically validate their own assumptions to enable to perceptual reformulation of a previous point of view, shifting the given cognitive perspective (Boud, 2006, pp. 95). As both differentiation and decentration are a somewhat logical thought process of defensiveness, it is easy to comprehend how such thinking can find itself in various workplace situations. The managers of today

MANAGING PEOPE IN DIVERSITY

therefore, have to guard against these forms of conflicts and prevent them into becoming acts of discrimination (Boud, 2006, pp. 95). The application of these ethical guidelines requires much support from the organization itself, in the form of structures, policies, legislations and actions. Even more so, the organizations need to cultivate a culture of courage within its people, to allow them to stand up to what they believe is wrong and discriminating in the workplace (Sekerky, Bagozzi and Charnigo, 2009, pp. 565). It also requires the presence of trained personnel who in turn train and guide the people of the organization to identify when any form of discrimination is taking place and how to report it. To achieve this purpose the organization must define what constitutes discrimination (Sekerky, Bagozzi and Charnigo, 2009, pp. 566). It is in this context that globally organizations have been actively involved in creating Human Resource or HR policies that address these concerns. While the presence of policies and implementations may be visible in various written forms, it remains undecided whether equal opportunity does benefit at all. This in turn raises questions as to how HR can create research tools to analyse the presence of discrimination. This paper aims to address these concerns by focusing on two major workforce legislations implemented in the UK. These legislations have become a cornerstone in the various organizational policies. The two policies will be discussed in detail and implications of these policies on the managerial practices will then be explored. The paper therefore, aims to identify how managerial practices change or is influenced by various antidiscrimination policies.

THE EMPLOYMENT EQUALITY (SEXUAL ORIENTATION) REGULATIONS 2003

The Employment Equality Sexual Orientation Regulations 2003 was first made on June 26th, 2003 and was implemented officially on December 1st, 2003 (Employment Equality Regulations, 2003). This particular act was created to protect employees from various forms of sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying. It covers different aspects from sexual discrimination during hiring procedures to problems during vocational trainings (Employment Equality Regulations, 2003). This act also provided protection to the contract employees, thereby inciting many persons to opt for part time or flexi-hour working options (Wrench and Modood, 2000). This is one of the most comprehensive legislations that have taken under consideration all kinds of partnerships and business relationships (Employment

MANAGING PEOPE IN DIVERSITY

Equality Regulations, 2003). Since its implementation, reports and research display an overall reduction in the racial discrimination and disadvantage. Although some minority groups still fall behind in areas of education and occupational hierarchies, the researches show an important shift towards the positive (Wrench and Modood, 2000). The perceived allotment of low paid and low skilled jobs to certain minorities has also been addressed and reduced considerably. Alongside, the legislations have brought about a general awareness among the people of the UK, which has further propagated the cause of equality in workplace (Wrench and Modood, 2000).

THE RACE RELATIONS ACT AMMENDED ACT OF 2000

In light of recent racial and ethnic profiling in the UK, in 2000, the Race Relations Act was amended. This act strongly condemned any form of discrimination on racial grounds (Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2012). This act has been applied universally, preventing private functions or organizations to practice such activities. Based on an extensive line of control and accountability the Commission for Racial Equality or CRE are also empowered to take necessary actions to impose this law (Summary: The Race Relations [Amendment] Act 2000).

LITERATURE REVIEW
Britain has continued to develop various acts and legislations aiming towards removal of discrimination in its widely variable and rich cultural society. Now with the help of extensive research and demographic data accumulated, there is evidence available to show that these legislations have resulted in major changes in workplace diversity and equality. Various UK reports show that there is a constant improvement taking place in eliminating inequality in workforce. The range of varied age individuals has increased to 71.3% which depicts those from ages 16 to 64 (Labour Market Statistics, 2012). The ratio of women has increased significantly in the past decades compared to the 70s, with 48% of the women now working (Equality and Diversity, 2012). The ratio among different fields however, differs with respect to gender. Of the 8% of the ethnic groups currently constituting the UK population, the ratios in work, education, part time job, higher research opportunities and professional and support staff are also increasing (Equality and

MANAGING PEOPE IN DIVERSITY

Diversity, 2012). These show a progressive effect of the legislations on the workforce diversity. Many research reports now advocate that selection of personnel based on their qualifications irrespective of their sex, race, age, religion or sexual orientation lead to more business benefits and outcomes. This also translates into higher morale among employees, which then improves productivity and efficiency. The direct impact of equality policies and their execution result in 1. Improvement in the retention rate, thereby reducing turnover and the costs of recruitment and training. 2. Increased understanding and insight into the customers mind, target market and service provision quality. 3. Better management of skills and training of employees in similar fashion (TUC and CBI Report, 2008) The role of HR becomes evident as now HR is becoming a strategic partner in maintaining human resources and in leveraging them (Plessis, Paine and Botha, 2012). With the evolving role of change and talent management, HR becomes even more strategically involved in creating sensitive decisions pertaining to the growth and development of the employees. The practising of non-discriminatory practices becomes essential to ensure full productivity of an organization (Plessis, Paine and Botha, 2012). Even then, HR professionals need to continuously train and evolve themselves to become experts in managing many of the critical issues of workplace diversity and equality. They must become aware of how to align the different components of the business unit with the people, create internal motivation and create an environment of trust among employees (Plessis, Paine and Botha, 2012). These policies have resulted in creation of certain guidelines in HR recruitment processes regarding hiring, managing, training and evaluating personnel (French and Strachan, 2009). While improvements in the statistics have taken place, challenges remain for certain industries that are perceived to be male dominated. A case in point is the transport industry, which shows a global predominance of men in both the number of employees as well as the senior position management (French and Strachan, 2009). Mostly the grounds of discrimination include presence of mens clubs, prejudice, lack of career guidance, and the glass ceiling effect on women (French and Strachan, 2009). In other cases, the overall

MANAGING PEOPE IN DIVERSITY

consensus remains that women have benefitted tremendously with the creation of this legislation. The differences in the results may be variable from one industry to another, with certain male dominated industries showing lesser acceptance towards equal employment opportunities (French and Strachan, 2009).

THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE NEW LEGISLATIONS

With the application of the act in the UK, the persons protected in the Act cannot be discriminated against. BBC reports state that now mothers are able to work, which has narrowed the gap between women with and women without children has shrunk to less than one per cent (Job Gap Narrows for Mothers, ONS Figures Show, 2011). These changes are significant when comparing patterns with yester decades. For example since 1996, the percentage of mothers working full time has increased from 23.1% to 29% in 2010 (Job Gap Narrows for Mothers, ONS Figures Show, 2011). There is much evidence of the success of antiracist policies. The case of Oldham is perhaps the most significant, which was a location marred by extreme racial discrimination. The authorities in Oldham since 2001 put extensive effort to implement antiracist legislations and utilized various media and influential personalities to the effect. The results have been remarkable, with a significant decrease in the antiracist activities (Paul, 2012).

FACTORS TO GAUGE EFFECTIVENESS OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

Human Resource realizes that the true and actual form of evaluation must be quantifiable. While equal opportunity can be quantified by directly counting the ratios between males and females, different races and religions etc. the true discrimination taking place indirectly and after recruitment may be more difficult to pinpoint. One of the key performance indicators for this purpose can be to analyse overall employment segregation or pay equity (Peetz et al, 2008). However, a significant proportion of the population is now working part time and doing flexi-hours. Another concern is the critique recent reports have shown over the projected impact of diverse workforce on the quality of work and outcomes. It is very hard to identify the global impact of such policies when most of the countries do not keep statistical information or does not share it publicly within their own culturally sensitive domains. In other words, we know of the quality and efficacy of the diverse workforce in only a handful of countries (Peetz et al, 2008).

MANAGING PEOPE IN DIVERSITY

This highlight even further the need to have experts in HR who are able to apply their knowledge, communication abilities and analytical and observational skills in order to identify the different diversity and workplace equality issues. With the strong moral and ethical component involved, the necessary strength of character and conviction is also needed. However, HR requires the strong support of the system within which it operates. Therefore, HR cannot function without the support of the top management officials who place full dedication in addressing these issues.

CONCLUSIONS
The new legislations pertaining to Equality Employment Opportunities and Sexual Discrimination Acts have both resulted in a significant influx of deprived sectors of the UK society. This has resulted in more women becoming part of the working force, comprising almost half of the total percentage in some of the business sectors.

MANAGING PEOPE IN DIVERSITY

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