Fair Treatment in the Workplace

Posted by Melda Research on May 7th, 2019

Question One

According to Player & Sperino, (2017), the forms of discrimination include

1. Discrimination in job advertisements whereby laws establish that it is illegal for an employer to be involved in the publishing a job advertisement that indicates a preference or discourages candidates from applying due to their color, race, regions or sex.
2. There is the discrimination that is involved in recruitment whereby it is illegal for employers to recruit new employees in a manner that is seen to discriminate against them due to their color, race, religion, nationality or even disability.
3. In term of application and hiring, employers are considered to discriminate when they use race, sex, disability, color, gender, nationality and even age in overlooking some applicants and favoring others.
4. It is additionally considered illegal for an employer to reach decisions on job assignments as well as promotions by relying on the color, race, sexual orientation, nationality, the religion of age of a candidate.
5. It is illegal and discriminative for an employer to take into account an individual’s color, race, sexual orientation, age and even gender identity in making decisions that relate to job referrals.

Through the evaluation of these forms of discriminations that are prohibited under the federal anti discrimination laws, it is evident that are benefits as well as costs an employer gets from the voluntary prohibition.

            On the side of the benefits, the employer stands to gain the most from the possession of a harmonious work environment that is characterized by respect and appreciation for one another. By prohibiting these discriminations, the employer sends the message that such will not be accommodated in the organization, acting as the foundation for harmony. There is the benefit related to increased productivity as employees feel appreciated by the management translating into superior dedication and commitment to the organization mission and objectives (Leblebici, 2012). There additionally will be a reduction in absenteeism in the organization as employees will not be worrying about the negative environment that they are going to face in the workplace. The ease in recruiting diverse talent will further be a benefit the organization will be realized as they will be able to attract talent without challenges of limiting them because of one factor or the other.

On the assessment of the costs that the organization is going to face, some are going to include the fact that the employers face the challenge of promoting inclusiveness and diverse pool of qualified applicants when relying on referrals. Further, there is an elevated risk of attracting unfavorable behaviors through the referrals as employees refer people they exhibit the same behavior. Poor execution of the affirmative action meant to resolve these discriminations leads to the emergence of miscommunication in the workplace and thus promoting the risk of cases of discrimination (Eyer, 2011). For all the employees to work together, it becomes imperative that there is the introduction of compulsory diversity training. The challenge, however, is the fact the mandatory training has the challenges of producing dissatisfaction among employees as there is the feeling that they are being forced to discard values as well as perceptions that are on demand.

Question Two

The federal laws have explicitly failed to protect the discrimination of overweight people in the workplace. The discrimination against the overweight individuals is seen in the policies and procedures that limit the ability of the overweight individuals to get jobs or access benefits that are provided at the place of work. Some of the benefits of prohibiting discrimination against the overweight in the organization are the fact that they will be able to attract that talent that could have been lost.

 Further, the organization is going to benefit from the increased diversity as employees will be able to appreciate the differences each of them brings to the organization (Martocchio, 2011). The costs, on the other hand, include the fact that the employer will be forced to make special accommodations for these individuals as chairs, tables, and toilets to accommodate them. These translate into more expenses for the organization. Further, there is the additional issue of job absenteeism due to the medical complications that emerge (Martocchio, 2011). The overweight individuals are prone to absenteeism due to such complications as diabetes and high blood pressure further affect the overall productivity and profitability of the organization.

Question Three

Hiring and promotion strategies that are adopted at the workplace are considered to exhibit numerous bottom line benefits to an organization. The adoption of these practices meant to promote diversity is based on the fact that employers have acknowledged strengths and weakness. Through the blending of the skills of different employees, an organization can create a diverse team that works together to realize a common objective (Shih, Young & Bucher, 2013). Some of the benefits gained from the introduction of these practices include the fact that they allow the organization to realize greater innovation.

These practices ensure that people hailing from different backgrounds as well as experiences can successfully come together, with the unique viewpoints being blended to create superior products (Podsiadlowski, Gröschke, Kogler, Springer, & Van Der Zee, 2013). Further, these practices promoting diversity offer employees with a larger talent pool from which they can draw. Through the numerous cultures, backgrounds and experiences that are advanced via diversity, it becomes the organization can access more talented people all over the world.

Further benefits include the fact that the organization can become more adaptable, as diverse teams and a brand to penetrate more markets than they would have accessed had they based their focus on specific demographics. Diversity has become the ideal means that an organization will be able to introduce flexibility to their operations via the use of a diverse team. The organization will be able to assign different tasks to employees based on their specific strengths (Podsiadlowski, Gröschke, Kogler, Springer, & Van Der Zee, 2013). The assertion follows that instead of compelling people to focus on their weaknesses, employers boasting of a diverse team can assign projects to people based on their strengths.

On the costs that an organization will suffer due to their promotion of diversity, one of them is that there is an increased likelihood the organization will leave in a state of perpetual conflict or confusion. The assertion is supported by the fact that even where diverse teams can work together; there are inherent annoyances that affect the overall performance of the organization. Further, there is the issue of increased administrative responsibilities because different people offer strategies and opinions that are based on their specific perspectives (Eyer, 2011). The implication of this trend is the increased inefficiencies in the organization as they seek to make corporate and production decisions, adversely affecting their bottom-line. There are other cases whereby the diverse teams are so different that it becomes impossible to worth together.

Question Four

Discrimination has become a common attribute in the contemporary workplace. Ethics, on the other hand, try to inform us of the manner in which we should be acting to uphold the overall moral grounding.  Via the voluntary adoption of the laws that prohibit discrimination, the organization via its management chooses to act morally. In this case, the ethical considerations of the failure to voluntarily prohibit the discrimination at the workplace include the fact that all job advertisements should be based on the moral grounding that all the qualified candidates should apply without discrimination (Wald, 2011). Further ethical considerations that should be addressed include the need for employers to assess the reputation issues affecting their organization.

Ethics in an organization start with the general assertion that all employees conduct themselves according to their moral guidelines and additionally conduct themselves appropriately in the work environment. Irrespective of the size of the organization, it is imperative that they appreciate the fact that unethical behavior can cripple their ability to attract clients, talented employees as well as get accreditations (Shih, Young & Bucher, 2013). Further, there are cases of unethical behaviors that will make it hard for the business to form partnerships with other players in the industry.

In the issue of diversity and ethical considerations, it necessary to acknowledge the fact that diversity at the workplace works towards ensuring that people from different social, economic backgrounds are comfortable working at the organization. Thus issues of promoting access to equal opportunities among all the employees should be considered.  Assessment of the no discrimination standards the organization is going to adopt should further be an issue that is addressed in the diversity and ethics to ensure adequate measures have been introduced (Podsiadlowski, Gröschke, Kogler, Springer, & Van Der Zee, 2013). Challenges that are going to affect the organization following the failure to adopt the diversity interventions will inform the greater component of this assessment.

Question Five

The success of any organization is based on the human resources they have in stock and the quality of their human resources. One of the prevailing attributes is the fact that discrimination has mainly been seen to make it hard and almost impossible for an organization to access the needed talent and additionally ensure that the talent is motivated to meet their production objectives. From the assessment of the protections mentioned in the early parts of the paper, the retailer needs to integrate all the protections in the organization. Through these protections, they will be able to promote the diversity that is needed for them to access the talent and innovation pool they need to succeed. They will additionally be able to enjoy services of motivated employees who are not afraid of coming to work as they know they will be treated fairly. The result is that these employees will be more dedicated to the organization which translates to superior productivity regarding both quality and quantity. Overall, introducing these protections offers the retailer an overall improvement in their bottom-line.   

References

Eyer, K. R. (2011). That's Not Discrimination: American Beliefs and the Limits of Anti-Discrimination Law. Minn. L. Rev., 96, 1275.

Leblebici, D. (2012). Impact of workplace quality on employee’s productivity: case study of a bank in Turkey. Journal of Business Economics and Finance, 1(1), 38-49.

Martocchio, J. J. (2011). Employee benefits: A primer for human resource professionals. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Player, M., & Sperino, S. (2017). Federal law of employment discrimination in a nutshell. West Academic.

Podsiadlowski, A., Gröschke, D., Kogler, M., Springer, C., & Van Der Zee, K. (2013). Managing a culturally diverse workforce: Diversity perspectives in organizations. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 37(2), 159-175.

Shih, M., Young, M. J., & Bucher, A. (2013). Working to reduce the effects of discrimination: Identity management strategies in organizations. American Psychologist, 68(3), 145.

Wald, E. (2011). A Primer on Diversity, Discrimination, and Equality in the Legal Profession or Who is Responsible for Pursuing Diversity and Why. Geo. J. Legal Ethics, 24, 1079.

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in affordable custom research papers. If you need a similar paper you can place your order from legitimate essay writing service services.