Equality And Diversity Procedures Followed In A Business Environment

What the tangible and intangible benefits for an organization that has diversity as a core value?

If invested in and developed, employees are more likely to feel their social needs are met by being part of a team are well regarded and appreciated for their skill set and therefore motivated to work harder to reciprocate which leads to higher production and efficiency. People are able to realise their abilities and potential, take on more responsibility or variety of tasks which improves versatility and prevents boredom leading to demotivation. Staff feel happier if they feel valued and are likely to stay within the organisation.

This means that policies should be calibrated on the real employees’ needs and expectations, balancing sameness and diversity approaches and distinguish also between social or group-based diversity and individual diversity. For example, it is important to use sameness approaches for recruitment, treating people the same regardless their gender, race or age, while it is important also to recognize diversity in other needs like training or work flexibility; or, moreover, group-based needs like religious needs (Kirton and Green, 2016). For that reason, it is important to involve employees in the choice of practices in order to achieve equity rather than equality.

This helps in maintaining a friendly relation with the members later on. This in turn, helps in the motivation of employees which result in the firm’s success.

6. Briefly explain the benefits of making sure equality and diversity procedures are followed in a business environment. Your answer should include one benefit for the employer, one benefit for the employee and one benefit for the overall organisation.

The philosophy of the primary school where I work is that every child's unique needs and abilities should and must be honored. Children's different learning needs and styles are incorporated into the curriculum. On an informal level, teachers are encouraged to make use of lesson plans that utilize different types of media and methods of evaluation. Lesson plans often make use of visual and kinesthetic aspects of the learning experience as well as more traditional methods that emphasize mathematical, spatial, and verbal intelligences.

6. Briefly explain the benefits of making sure equality and diversity procedures are followed in a business environment. Your answer should include one benefit for the employer, one benefit for the employee and one benefit for the overall organisation.

This will create a true equal work environment that provides the same benefits opportunities to all regardless of sexual orientation, gender or race. In "The Holistic Approach to Diversity Management it is pointed out that companies that practice diverse management and reflect it in the work culture and public image become more attractive to potential talent and also garner the respect from counterpart businesses. Investing in diversity is translated into stability in the market and create true long-term value (2009, p

* Image of the company; Organisation with a positive image and diverse workforce will have more chances of attracting, recruiting and retaining the talent. Negative image leads to loss of trust from employees current and potential, as well as all business partners or customers.

Workforce diversity has enabled organisation to gain competitive advantage in terms of improving service, effective organisational culture and employee satisfaction (Bradetitch, Rahman, Reynolds, 2013). However, the success rate of diversity training is dependent on the level of engagement and commitment of the management and the employees as the nature of the global economy have reversed the homogenous society to become the heterogeneous trend (Willard, 2003, Mor-Barak, 2005).

The general line of reasoning is that if we learn to incorporate each other’s diverse traits and characteristics in the workplace, we can then use these differences to foster an innovative environment, which will give the company a competitive advantage over the competitors that do not accept workforce diversity. According to the Allied Academies International Conference, “Diversity is rapidly becoming a common practice among companies due to the increasing number of minorities entering the job market today. As these groups become more prevalent throughout companies, upper-level employees are facing numerous challenges when determining what changes must take place to create a positive working environment for everyone. Management is responsible for the development and implementation of effective policies directly relating to diversity to ensure the acceptance of minorities into the workplace and to aid in minorities’ success through equal opportunities and treatment.” (Marcia L. James, 2001, Academy for Studies in International Business Proceedings)

Managing diversity and equality effectively in the workplace is the core responsibility of any organization in the contemporary business world. Shen, Chanda, D’Netto and Monga (2009) conducted a survey whose results revealed the massive diversity within the British society in terms of ethnicity, nationality and religion. As a result, the Equality Act of 2010 was formulated and became law whose provisions focus on legal protection against discrimination based on gender re-assignment, marriage, civil partnership, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, pregnancy and maternity, sex and beliefs (Monks, 2007). Therefore, managing diversity in the workplace is critical towards the achievement of equality and discrimination free working environment. Bhatia (2008) observed that the ability to understand, accept, value, acknowledge and celebrate differences among people with respect to race, sexual orientation, religion, age, ethnicity and mental ability within an organization is crucial in eliminating discrimination. Discrimination refers to the tendency of denying equal treatment to people believed to be members of the same social group (Ozbilgin, 2009). In other words, discrimination in the work place is related to denial of equal treatment in terms of promotion, compensation, career development, training and empowerment. Therefore, managing diversity in the work place is crucial towards the achievement of a discrimination free working environment and the

The employees feel that they have greater responsibility and trust put on them, this can generate greater participation, commitment, and a better job performance.

Managing diversity within organisation is about ‘recognising this range of differences in people and valuing people as individuals, respecting their differences and their differing needs. It is also about accommodating differences wherever possible so that an individual can play a full part in the working environment’ (Daniels and Macdonald, 2005)

The employees feel that they have greater responsibility and trust put on them, this can generate greater participation, commitment and a better job performance.