INTRODUCTION
‘Discrimination ' is the process of judging and treating people or proposing to treat someone unfavourably or according to particular criteria because of a personal characteristic protected by law. (www.humanrightscommission). Discrimination tends to become unfair based on stereotypes; Direct discrimination; and Indirect discrimination (Beardwell & Claydon 2007:197). An example would be of a 42year old employee of the CIBC being replaced by a "younger" employee on the basis of age discrimination (The Telegraph, 2009).
The essay talks about the emergence of Equality and diversity (E&D) practices and their importance within organisations, the benefits of having a diverse workforce mentioning the changing demographic trends and the …show more content…
For an inclusive employer, it is his duty to create equal pay opportunities and provide access to equal benefits such as incentives, paid holidays, promotional offers to all his employees. Despite complying with the Equality Act, it is further the minimum duty of an organisation to ensure equality eliminating discrimination starting from the application stage till the end of the employee 's career (www.inclusiveemployers.co.uk). According to Thibaut and Walker, in the UK and USA the focus of anti-discrimination legislation regarding gender and race has both shifted from distributive justice in the workplace to emphasis on procedural justice. Henceforth the light has shifted from eliminating social injustices by providing the EO to gain societal and business benefits to adapting the ‘Managing Diversity Approach ' (Foster and Harris 2005: 5). Kandola and Fullerton (1998) write that Diversity management considers that the diverse workforce consists of visible and non-visible differences including factors such as race, age, gender and working style. Noting that the inclusion of all these factors would result in a productive and effectual environment. Every employee would be valued; furthermore their skills and talents would be brought to full use to meet the goals of the organisation. Managing diversity is a relatively new concept in the HRM and personnel …show more content…
Nishii and Özbilgin (2007: 1883) argue that every nation 's understanding for diversity and difference are exclusive only to their context. Such as in Canada the emphasis isn 't on ethnicity or gender but on whether someone is English or French speaking. For an employer of some country, diversity might mean something totally different than to his employee of another origin, leading to conflicted thought processes. Secondly, Managing diversity theoretically can be difficult to attain due the sameness and difference perspective. In the case of managers adapting the sameness approach, they suggest everyone is treated in the same manner and follow the ‘Equality Approach ' or ‘Equal Treatment ' without differentiating. The limitation strikes back with the argument that a disadvantage ought to occur when treating people the same way without considering their differences (Noon 2010: 212). Speaking of the 'Difference perspective ', the guiding principle is ‘Special Treatment '. Two ways of achieving advantage within the difference approach are the Collectivist and the Individualistic strand as categorised by (Noon 2010: 213). The organisation should accommodate the needs of the group by valuing their differences to make a successful business case(Liff, 1999:71). Whereas the employer should also value diversity by treating individual differences of a worker
‘Discrimination ' is the process of judging and treating people or proposing to treat someone unfavourably or according to particular criteria because of a personal characteristic protected by law. (www.humanrightscommission). Discrimination tends to become unfair based on stereotypes; Direct discrimination; and Indirect discrimination (Beardwell & Claydon 2007:197). An example would be of a 42year old employee of the CIBC being replaced by a "younger" employee on the basis of age discrimination (The Telegraph, 2009).
The essay talks about the emergence of Equality and diversity (E&D) practices and their importance within organisations, the benefits of having a diverse workforce mentioning the changing demographic trends and the …show more content…
For an inclusive employer, it is his duty to create equal pay opportunities and provide access to equal benefits such as incentives, paid holidays, promotional offers to all his employees. Despite complying with the Equality Act, it is further the minimum duty of an organisation to ensure equality eliminating discrimination starting from the application stage till the end of the employee 's career (www.inclusiveemployers.co.uk). According to Thibaut and Walker, in the UK and USA the focus of anti-discrimination legislation regarding gender and race has both shifted from distributive justice in the workplace to emphasis on procedural justice. Henceforth the light has shifted from eliminating social injustices by providing the EO to gain societal and business benefits to adapting the ‘Managing Diversity Approach ' (Foster and Harris 2005: 5). Kandola and Fullerton (1998) write that Diversity management considers that the diverse workforce consists of visible and non-visible differences including factors such as race, age, gender and working style. Noting that the inclusion of all these factors would result in a productive and effectual environment. Every employee would be valued; furthermore their skills and talents would be brought to full use to meet the goals of the organisation. Managing diversity is a relatively new concept in the HRM and personnel …show more content…
Nishii and Özbilgin (2007: 1883) argue that every nation 's understanding for diversity and difference are exclusive only to their context. Such as in Canada the emphasis isn 't on ethnicity or gender but on whether someone is English or French speaking. For an employer of some country, diversity might mean something totally different than to his employee of another origin, leading to conflicted thought processes. Secondly, Managing diversity theoretically can be difficult to attain due the sameness and difference perspective. In the case of managers adapting the sameness approach, they suggest everyone is treated in the same manner and follow the ‘Equality Approach ' or ‘Equal Treatment ' without differentiating. The limitation strikes back with the argument that a disadvantage ought to occur when treating people the same way without considering their differences (Noon 2010: 212). Speaking of the 'Difference perspective ', the guiding principle is ‘Special Treatment '. Two ways of achieving advantage within the difference approach are the Collectivist and the Individualistic strand as categorised by (Noon 2010: 213). The organisation should accommodate the needs of the group by valuing their differences to make a successful business case(Liff, 1999:71). Whereas the employer should also value diversity by treating individual differences of a worker