Human Resource Management, 4th Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2004 OHT 7.1 The Nature of Discrimination Managers should not assume that discrimination means the same thing irrespective of the group concerned. Managers should not assume that a policy solution for one social group (e.g. women) will be appropriate or welcomed by a different social group (e.g. disabled people). Managers should expect that attitudes will differ within social groups (e.g. Asian employees and black employees).

Human Resource Management, 4th Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2004 OHT 7.2 Pros & Cons of the Business Case: 1 The pros: It is a better use of human resources. It leads to a wider customer base. It creates a wider pool of labour for recruitment. It leads to a positive company image.

Human Resource Management, 4th Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2004 OHT 7.3 Pros & Cons of the Business Case: 2 The cons: ‘Good business sense’ can justify not acting in the interest of particular groups Measurement of the effects (hence justification for the business case) is difficult Finding a meaningful measure Measuring in the short-term

Human Resource Management, 4th Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2004 OHT Points of good practice Develop a policy Set an action pan Provide training Assess the current position Review all procedures regularly Draw up clear and justifiable job criteria Offer pre-employment training Consider the organisation’s current image Consider introducing specific initiatives Develop local links

Human Resource Management, 4th Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2004 OHT 7.5 Table 7.1 Types of equal opportunity organisation Source: based on Healy (1993) and Kirton and Greene (2000)

Human Resource Management, 4th Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2004 OHT 7.6 Positive action Initiatives designed to encourage under- represented groups to apply for jobs or promotion within the organisation. Initiatives concerned with making changes to working arrangements to encourage the retention of employees by making the environment more suited to the needs they have that differ from the majority of employees.

Human Resource Management, 4th Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2004 OHT 7.7 Monitoring The process of systematically collecting and analysing data on the composition of the workforce, particularly with regard to recruitment and promotion.

Human Resource Management, 4th Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2004 OHT 7.8 Table 7.2 The arguments for and against monitoring

Human Resource Management, 4th Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2004 OHT 7.9 Two types of criticism of Equal Opportunity Policies EO policies are ineffective: –They often lack substance –They can be evaded or distorted –They do not prevent informal practices developing EO policies are unnecessary

Human Resource Management, 4th Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2004 OHT 7.10 Figure 7.1 The perspectives of ‘sameness’ and ‘difference’

Human Resource Management, 4th Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2004 OHT 7.11 Managing Diversity Ensures all employees maximise their potential and their contribution to the organisation Covers a broad range of people – no one is excluded Focuses on issues of movement within an organisation, the culture of the organisation, and the meeting of business objectives Becomes the concern of all employees and especially all managers Does not rely on positive action/affirmative action (according to Kandola & Fullerton, 1994)

Human Resource Management, 4th Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2004 OHT 7.12 Criticisms of Managing Diversity The approach: Tends to understate the extent to which people share common experiences. Ignores material similarities between social groups. Tends to emphasise the value of diversity in terms of the business sense arguments outlined earlier in the chapter.

Human Resource Management, 4th Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2004 OHT 7.13 Sameness & Difference It is important for managers to recognise that unfair treatment sometimes results from treating people differently when they ought to be treated the same, and sometimes from treating people the same when key differences ought to be recognised. Policies, procedures and attitudes within an organisation should therefore be based on recognising both the similarities and differences between people.

Human Resource Management, 4th Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2004 OHT 7.14 Institutional Discrimination Embedded in: –Processes and procedures –Workplace cultures Two problems: 1.Inertia to change 2.Blaming the system The need for radical change

Human Resource Management, 4th Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2004 OHT 7.15 Figure 7.2 The process of discrimination in an organisation Source: Adapted from Noon and Blyton (2002)