Nature Of Equality And Diversity Programs

The role of the Public Services in promoting Equality and Diversity .The methods used by Public Services to ensure they have a diverse workforce

Business environments today display diversity, a numerical composition that reflects different kinds of people, such as men and women of different ethnic origins, educational experiences, and professional backgrounds (Beamish, Morrison, Inkpen, & Rosenzweig, 2003). A vast amount of organizations are emulating a diverse workforce. Fair treatment of employees is the responsibility of the human resource management team within a firm. Footsteps of past generations are the facilitating mechanism allowing today’s generation to participate in a safe and fair workplace. Specific rules and regulations assist in equal employment opportunities for every employee. The Equal Employment

Although issues relating to race and gender are what most people think of about diversity, the HR team must be more knowledgeable than just the obvious about diversity including additional legislation. For instance, the Age discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Family Medical leave Act are just a few of the legalities that HR needs to implement into their organization. Another consideration for HRM is modifications regarding recruitment strategy such as reaching out to historically black colleges as well as joining organizations that are exclusive to women. In order to stay compliant, they must develop distinctive record keeping to track affirmative action programs, which include analyses to support the company’s efforts to achieve diversity. Some states make diversity training mandatory, however, if this is not the case, HRM must still remain compliant with all applicable anti-discrimination legislation while remaining the leader in facilitating a culture where people from diverse backgrounds can work together harmoniously!

Creating and implementing Affirmative Action and Diversity policies is also imperative to improving diversity in a department. Affirmative Action policies can

Companies doing a particularly bad job in diversity management face costly litigations and an effective management of diversity can lead to big cost savings by decreasing the probability of facing costly and embarrassing lawsuits and the bad publicity that goes with it (Bauer & Erdogan, 2009)”.

Pamela Babcock reinforces Ross's with a statement in her article Diversity Accountability Requires More Than Numbers when she writes "that one of the 'critical misses' occurs when organizations fail to assess the entire culture system and infrastructure and processes surrounding the diversity and

This presents an opportunity to examine how our present culture, supporting policies, systems, practices, rules and procedures measure up to the standards of a diverse workplace. If focus groups results are less than favourable; an option is the establishment of a diversity committee. This committee would oversee diversity efforts, implement portions of the process, and serve as a communication link among employees, managers and union officials. The primary focus of this committee would be to align performance measures and targets with the organizations strategic and business plan objectives and the work being done on the front line (Plant & Douglas, Pg. 14). This committee would also link the high level decisions making processes with daily operations; in addition to hosting meetings to facilitate the measurement reviews and variations (Plant & Douglas, Pg. 14). In order to embrace diversity, an organization must have a supportive culture and policies/procedures in place that reinforce the workplace to be a respectful, non-judgemental place to work. This committee would help joint problem solve and remove workplace performance barriers (Plant & Douglas, Pg.

It is very well known that the only constant in the universe is change, and there is no better place to validate that claim than in today’s workplace. Diversity is the order of the day when it comes to recruitment and selection by public and privet recruiters, headhunters, and human resource (HR) managers. While many guidelines have been put into place to ensure diversity in hiring practices, such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which makes it illegal for employers to discriminate against job applicants on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin, and religion, there are still areas of discrimination that are not addressed in the act which can put hiring managers at risk.

In a recent report (1999), a Department of Education in America described managing and valuing diversity as a key component of effective people management, arguing that it focuses on improving the performance of the organization and promotes practices that enhance the productivity of all staff. Their dimensions of diversity include gender, race, culture, age, family/carer status, religion, and disability. The de nition provided also embraces a range of individual skills, educational quali cations, work experience and background, languages, and other relevant attributes and experiences which differentiate individuals. In the UK, managing diversity has only recently come into fashion and subsequently gained pace since the mid-1990s. To date there is a lack of critical evaluative research and literature to support a common understanding of the concept of managing diversity, what impact it has on equal opportunities and what this actually means in practice in UK organizations. Existing literature relating to managing diversity can be broadly categorized into two groups, the first of which can be seen as doing little more than reiterating the traditional arena of equal opportunities (see Cooper and White 1995; Copeland 1988; Ellis and Sonner eld 1995). The second literature group views managing diversity as going far beyond the conventional approach to equal

Over time the goals shifted from equality among the masses to diversity, which brings forth the issue at hand. Many have disputed and a clear point of view is still at bay. Does a systematic process of diversifying the workplace and universities truly bring equality?

Although large strides have been made to promote equal opportunities in the workplace over the past 50 years, diversity management and equal treatment can be improved. According to employment laws are put in place to stop discrimination, but it is the responsibility of people to put them into practice. By tackling diversity and promoting equality, is not only morally right but is ultimately a business advantage. Organizations are making themselves accessible to the talents all over the world and achieving a workforce that is representative of the actual population attracts even more of those talents. Companies that embrace diversity and become inclusive organizations are also able to achieve greater work productivity (Makower, 1995). Demographic changes and equal opportunity legislation call for constant review of HRM practices and improvements in recruitment, training, pay and promotion, positive action, and culture can help increase diversity in the workplace.

The impact of diversity programs on job satisfaction from the employee’s perspective: An empirical examination.

Kersten (2000) defined diversity management as a method to achieving equal treatments that encourages employers to utilize and acknowledge individual differences within their workforce. These differences include both visible, such as age, gender and race, and invisible, such as sexual orientation, work experience and some aspects of disability. However, she also argued that there is no single definition of diversity management yet (Kersten, 2000). This absence has caused multiple interpretations of diversity management from employers that lead to inconsistencies and the dominance of expediencies of its practices (Thorpe, 2014a).

Managing Diversity is often defined as a “management philosophy of recognising and valuing heterogeneity in organisations with a view to improve organisational performance” (Ozbilgin and Tatli, 2011). Hence recognising the wide variety of qualities possessed by people within an organisation and creating an environment that understands, values and utilises the differences within people. Due to the rapidly growing trends of a more diverse workforce, diverse market and globalisations of businesses, managing diversity is essential for business success through maximisation of utilization of a firm’s most important resources, its employees. This reflects two broad areas of investigation within managing diversity, one includes studies of the instrumental ways that diversity contributes to organisational performance; the other considers ethical and responsible ways that diversity at work can be managed. The Moral case has often been expressed in terms of Equal Opportunities, which has found manifestation in various pieces of legislation; the business case, instead, is often referred to in terms of managing diversity. However, it is hard to fully separate managing diversity in the workplace from the provision of equal employment opportunities, as legislation shapes the way in which diversity is managed found manifestation in various pieces of legislation; the business case, instead, is often referred to in terms of managing diversity.

- Management of diversity is related to equal employment opportunity; however effective management goes beyond the basic requirements. Management sees diversity s a positive and aims to harness it for business