Equity Amid Human Resource and Management Essay

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Equity in Human Resource and Management

For a Human Resource Department to be successful at what it does, there is a need for the management to put in place policies, regarding rewards system, motivation, job design and equity. Job design, motivation and rewards systems are geared towards increasing the productivity of the employees at the workplace. The objective of having equity in the workplace is to make sure that there is a balance between what workers put in and the wages they get out of their efforts. Equity is also about making sure that if there are conflicts, they are resolved in a fair and just manner. It is obvious that conflicts occur frequently in the workplace. Therefore, there has to be someone who is neutral and can take care of the interests of both sides. This role falls squarely on the shoulders of the guys in charge of Human Resources Management. These guys are the link between the executives and regular employees. They help remind the upper management that the organization doesn't just exist to make money, but also to care for the needs of the workers. The companies that take the best care of their employees are also the ones that get rewarded with increased productivity. So, by drafting employee-friendly procedures and policies, and also standing by the employees when they have acted according to these policies, motivates them to work even harder. The significance of equity in the workplace is increasingly being felt in many companies, thus, there is a need for HR departments to focus on reducing discrimination since this has been found to boost productivity (Torrington et al., 2002).

According to researchers Torrington, Hall and Taylor (2005), human resource management is basically the act of hiring the right persons for positions most suited for their skills and abilities and then making sure that they work in the most productive way. One of the ways through which productivity can be increased is by promoting equity throughout an organization.

Background

In 1943, the U.S. Congress passed a legislation that called for equal employment opportunities in the workplace. This was perhaps one of the most open and formal actions that heralded the start of diversity and equity initiatives in the United States. However, many scholars agree that this legislation and the ones that followed the ones that were proposed in the next twenty years were by and large, non-starters. In 1948, President Harry Truman used his executive powers to desegregate the U.S. Army. Many academics have contended that Executive Order 9981 signed by Truman that year was the first true, diversity initiative in the American society. However, it has been pointed out that the order did not expressly forbid segregation; instead, it called for equality of opportunity and treatment in the Armed Service (Judy & D'Amico, 1987; McCormick, 2007). However, both Truman and the committee he had formed to oversee the implementation of the Order, used it to require desegregation of the U.S. Army. Real changes with regards to equality took place in the 1960s, when civil rights movements pushed and got legislations that prohibited discrimination on the basis of natural origin, sex, religion, color, race or age (McCormick, 2007). From the very day this legislation was proposed, many thought that the law should not mandate a particular racial composition of workers. However, Title VII doesn't require the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to promote equality with certain racial proportions in mind. Instead, it confines the commission's powers to correcting abuse (United Steel Workers of America v. Weber, 99 S.Ct. 2721, 2728, 1979; McCormick, 2007).

Equity in the Workplace

Individuals differ in different aspects, such as culture, ethnicity, race, personality, religion, sexual orientation, disability, social status, marital status, gender, and age. Many organizations have realized that by hiring individuals from different backgrounds, they benefit from the different skills, abilities and talents that are brought to the workforce by the employees. Different countries around the world have different predominant equity issues. All around the world, the most common equity issue is gender inequality. In countries, such as India and its neighbors in South East Asia, ethnicity and religion play a major role. In China, household status plays a great role in determining how far ahead one would get in the workplace. In Western countries, such as the UK, Canada, and France, the biggest equity issue has always been multiculturalism. Many individuals from diverse cultures and backgrounds have moved to these countries in search of better fortunes.

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In other countries, such as the United States and South Africa, the predominant equity issue has been ethnic discrimination (Shen, Chanda, D'Netto & Monga, 2009).

Many organizations have in the past used effective diversity management as a defensible position against accusations of discrimination. A company with a diverse workforce would argue that it is not guilty of discrimination if its workforce composition represents the local community. However, several scholars have argued that there is a difference between simply providing equal opportunities and managing diversity (Storey, 1999; Harvey and Allard, 2012). Many more companies are taking advantage of the increasingly multicultural nature of the American workforce that has been brought about by the globalization of businesses and workplaces. Equal opportunities initiatives are often driven by reasons or obligations that are external to organizations, for instance, government legislations, whereas diversity management initiatives start internally, via efforts to establish a workplace atmosphere of equality. Many companies hire individuals from diverse backgrounds so as to enhance their competitive edge. Apart from increasing productivity, companies are also increasingly hiring individuals from diverse backgrounds so as to increase flexibility and creativity, attract more employees and have better marketing space/capabilities (Harvey and Allard, 2012; Shen et al., 2009).

Current Industry Practices for Implementation of Equity

The world is increasingly becoming a "global village." This is in turn making the concept of workforce diversity a more common aspect of the day-to-day life in Western countries (Shore, 2004; McCormick, 2007). However, despite the increase in diversity, individuals from the majority races still face fewer barriers and have more influence than those from the minorities. Many organizations understand that different demographic groups work and communicate in different ways, and that these differences must be understood by all stakeholders before they make efforts to truly diversify their workforces (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2009).

Taking into account the different regional interpretations of Diversity and the range of cultural sensibilities entailed, multinationals have a tendency of leaving most of the execution of Diversity programs to managers at the national and local levels. The extent of decentralization varies with the parent organization's nationality. For instance, North American organizations assume a more centralized approach while Asian companies tend toward a more liberal attitude in Diversity associated matters (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2009).

In many regions across the world, the primary focus of Diversity efforts is on employing and promoting women. The main cause behind this is that women represent a large, untapped resource that firms require in the future as Baby Boomers start retiring. In addition, women are relatively easy to incorporate into companies, because (not considering gender issues) they have generally grown up in the same country as their male associates, and thus tend to share the existing cultural norms. A survey also supports this: when requested to mention at least three groups that need better representation in the organization, 79% of the survey population mentioned women, followed by 46% mentioning individuals above the age of 50 and lastly 39% mentioning ethnic minorities (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2009).

Equity Measures

Recruitment and Selection

For most companies, managing growth in workforce equity and increasing the representation of minorities and women is an important HRM tactic of recruitment and selection. Recruitment and selection should evade what is called 'the A-SA (attraction-selection-attrition) cycle' so as to develop numerous cultures in the firm. Human resource experts as well as line managers that recruit and interview job seekers in multicultural workforce need to know the ways in which the interviewers' opinions, outlooks, and stereotypes impact interview behavior (Storey, 1999; Shore, 2004).

Training and Development

One human resource function that improves the effective incorporation of diverse group members is high quality equity awareness and training. Awareness training develops a common understanding of equity's value, helping in building social unity so that it enhances personal as well as organizational results. According to research, 75% of trainees that took equity training left the training having positive equity outlooks, whereas just 9% of the trainees actually entered with nice attitudes (Harvey and Allard, 2012).

Appraisal

Effectual performance appraisal practices in the region of equity management need to be objective and not subjective, fair to all workers, and applicable to the job and organization. Inclusion of non-traditional managers on the appraisal panels could assist in the development of objective criteria and just performance appraisal practices. In the conduction of appraisals, the language used should concentrate on the performance of the individual.....

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