Case Study on Rio Tinto Assignment

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Task 3: Action plan

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Company Overview.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction of Rio Tinto............................................................................................................1
Company's performance in relation to gender equality...............................................................1
Performance of mining industry Rio Tinto and the existing gap................................................3
Current Diversity practices at Rio Tinto..........................................................................................5
Current Diversity and inclusion practices in relation to gender inequality at Rio Tinto............5
Industry Benchmarks.......................................................................................................................6
Performance of Rio Tinto relative to its mining competitors in relation to gender inequality...6
Government legislation and Non-Governance Agencies.................................................................8
Relevant state and Federal legislation that affects Rio Tinto in relation to gender inequality. . .8
Non government agencies working towards improving outcomes for Gender inequality in
order to address this gap..............................................................................................................8
Recommendations............................................................................................................................9
Action Plan.....................................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12
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Executive Summary
Action plan is an outlining action of the plan that is required in order to reach a particular
goal. The requirement of this action plan is to overcome the gender based inequality in Rio Tinto
which is an Anglo American multinational company and is among the largest metals and mining
corporations that was founded in the year 1873, having its headquarter in London, UK. Report
have included an overview of the organisation and have identified the Company's performance in
relation to gender equality. Report also have analysed performance of mining industry Rio Tinto
and the existing gap so that proper action plan can be prepared in order to overcome the gender
based inequalities. It is also to required to identify the performance of Rio Tinto relative to its
mining competitors in relation to gender inequality so that respective action plan can be set to
bring competitive advantage to the firm so, report have included the same. Report also have
included relevant state and federal legislation that affects Rio Tinto in relation to gender
inequality and also Non government agencies working towards improving outcomes for Gender
inequality in order to address this gap. This study is conducted in order to improve the
organisation's performance by analysing the gender gap so that respective action plan can be set.
INTRODUCTION
Diversity in a work place is basically determined on the bases of similarities and
differences among the employees of the organisation and on the bases of their age, gender,
culture, race etc(Barak, 2016). Present study is based on the company Rio Tinto that is an Anglo
American multinational company and is among the largest metals and mining corporations that
was founded in the year 1873, having its headquarter in London, UK. Report will include
introduction of Rio Tinto and its performance in relation to gender equality. Further report will
include performance of mining industry Rio Tinto and the existing gap between the female and
male equality. Report will also include current Diversity and inclusion practices in relation to
gender inequality at Rio Tinto and its performance relative to its mining competitors in relation
to gender inequality. Report will also highlight the short falls in Rio Tinto current practice as
compared with industry leaders. Relevant state and Federal legislation that affects Rio Tinto in
relation to gender inequality will also be included in the report. Report will also include Non
government agencies working towards improving outcomes for Gender inequality in order to
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address this gap and finally the appropriate recommendation and conclusions will be included in
the report(Sartin, and et.al., 2018).
Company Overview
Introduction of Rio Tinto
Rio Tinto is an Anglo American multinational company and is among the largest metals
and mining corporations that was founded in the year 1873, having its headquarter in London,
UK. There are approximately 47,000 working employees and overall revenue that company is
generating is about US$40.522 billion. Company is operating in six continents and owns its
mining operations through a complex web of wholly and partly owned subsidiaries(Rio Tinto
Australia, 2019).
Purpose of diversity action plan
The main purpose of diversity action plan is to achieve the gender equality goals and
developing the leaders and managers capability to embed gender equity in team and departments.
It helps in increasing employee satisfaction and productivity.
It brings ideas for improving teamwork and internal and external relationship.
It helps in attracting the ability and retaining the quality employees.
Company's performance in relation to gender equality
In Rio Tinto Gender inequality is seemed to be high as number of male managers that is
about 15 are more than compared with the number of female managers that are only 5. If
comparison is done for non managers than also there are about 20 female non managers working
as full-time employees and 126 males are full-time non managers in Rio Tinto(Koskinen
Sandberg, 2017).
Figure:- 1
2

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Figure:-2
It is also been analysed that number of promoted male managers and non-managers are
more than compared with female that is there are about 6 female managers getting promotion
over 25 male managers that are getting same promotions. Men in Rio Tinto are more likely to be
promoted than the Women(Kılıç and Kuzey, 2016).
Figure:- 3
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Illustration 1: Rio Tinto report on gender equality
Illustration 2: Rio Tinto report on promotions
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In Rio Tinto it is been seen that for different occupations in the mining, there are only
5.9% females for the occupation of drillers, miners and short fires as compared with that of
males, that are about 94.1%. For different occupations, males ratio is high as compared with that
of females(Khan And et.al., 2019).
From all these analyses it is been interpreted that, company is lacking behind in terms of
gender equality and is required to overcome these gaps(Benschop, 2016).
Performance of mining industry Rio Tinto and the existing gap
Figure:- 4
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It is been interpreted that in manufacturing industries of Australia including Rio Tinto
there is a Gender gap between female and male, that is about 15.5%(Ozturk and Tatli, 2016).
Company is working on this gap and in 2018, the balance increased slightly from 22.4% to
22.6% within senior management. But the gap is huge and Rio Tinto have to take the effective
actions in order to cover the gap. Although the number of women in operations roles increased
from 5 to 15% but in the case of the total employee population, gender balance have decreased
from 18% to 17.7%. Committee of Rio Tinto have reviewed and endorsed the gender diversity
objective in 2019. Presently there are about 27% of board members as women and for the same
company signed up Voluntary code of conduct on diversity best practice and company is looking
to increase the female representation on the board as vacancies are seemed to arise(Cunningham,
2019).
On gender diversity it is been seen that overall percentage of female employees have
decreased by 0.3%. But the number of women in operations roles increased from 5% to 15% and
only 22.6% of senior management roles are taken by the women(Belas and et.al., 2015).
Gender pay gap in 2018 was seen 1% in favour of men overall. But the company is
working to substantially increase the number of women employed at all level. Company aims to
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Illustration 3: Gender pay gap comparison

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increase the graduate intake from 36% to 50% and also target in improving the proportion of
women in senior management by 2% each year(Marinova, Plantenga and Remery, 2016).
Current Diversity practices at Rio Tinto
Current Diversity and inclusion practices in relation to gender inequality at Rio Tinto
Rio Tinto is committing to increase the women representation in the mining and for the
same company have shortlisted 5 women in the Mining UK's 100 Global inspirational women in
mining project(Kakabadse And et.al., 2015). Not only this Rio Tinto is using different Diversity
and inclusion practices and this policy is helping to set expectations around behaviours needs for
an inclusive and diverse workplace. For the same company is giving equal opportunity to the
employer and do not discriminate the people on the bases of age, gender, race, language etc. The
different Rio Tinto policies include, Human Rights, Employment and Communities policies,
ESG framework and People and Business strategy(Inclusion and diversity policy, 2019). In order
to make sure that gender inequality is not there in the organisation, company is using the policy
of Human Right and Employment and Communities policies(Kakabadse And et.al., 2015).
Company is using the Human right approach that has an obligation to respect all the
people working in Rio Tinto, including the women and girls so that they can live adequate
standards of living(Keenan, Kemp and Ramsay, 2016). According to this policy, equality means
women and men must have equal access to employment opportunities in order to provide safe
working conditions and fair remuneration and also health services. Company have also signed
the UN Global Compact that draws Universal declaration of Human Rights and other
conventions. Generally, Gender inequality is recognised as the major obstacle that is eradicating
poverty(Lahiri‐Dutt, 2015).
A rights-compatible gender and diversity approach helps the company to increase its
capacity in order to minimise negative impacts of mining, maintain social silence to operate. Rio
Tinto is working for inclusive engagement and for the same company is ensuring that the women
and men from different social groups can participate in meaningful and influential
ways(Galbreath, 2018).
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Industry Benchmarks
Performance of Rio Tinto relative to its mining competitors in relation to gender inequality
There are different competitors of Rio Tinto and these mining competitors are giving
tough competition to the company. Alcoa Inc., Anglo American PLC, De Beers SA etc. are the
competitor and they are also facing challenges in relation to gender inequality(Conyon and He,
2017).
Alcoa is Rio Tinto's biggest rival, though Alcoa is generating $26.4 Billion less revenue.
If talk about the gender equality, Rio Tinto is having better practices from Alcoa though the there
chairman and managing director of Alcoa, Michael Parker have been named the national 2019
Gender Diversity Champion. But Alcoa is having about 7.7% total remuneration gap(Hossain,
Chapple and Monroe, 2018).
Figure:- 1
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It is interpreted from that Alcoa is having less number of working women than compared
with Rio Tinto. Male managers in Rio Tinto are about 15 and are more than compared with the
number of female managers that are only 5. And in case of Alcoa there are only 4 female
managers over 20 males. So ratio is somewhat balanced in Rio Tinto then Alcoa(Ali, 2016).
On the other hand female managers at Alcoa are getting more promotions than compared
with female managers at Rio Tinto. But the non-manger ratio is more in Rio Tinto.
So Rio Tinto is competing effectively with its competitors with respect to Gender
equality. But there is bench mark for the company as Alcoa is giving more promotion to its
female managers, so company have to work on this and have to give chance to its female
managers so that they can bring competitive advantage to the firm(Solakoglu and Demir, 2016).
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Illustration 4: Alcoa gender inequality
Illustration 5: Promotion ratio of male and female in Alcoa

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Government legislation and Non-Governance Agencies
Relevant state and Federal legislation that affects Rio Tinto in relation to gender inequality
There are different legislation that affects Rio Tinto with respect to gender inequality:-
Sex Discrimination act 1984:- According to this act company take care that the working
women are not having any issue related to sexual orientation, gender identity etc. women
can take action against action sort of misbehave they face during the working hours, for
which government will be taking serious action against the company and staff members.
For overcoming this Rio Tinto is providing a comfortable working environment to all the
working women.
Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012:- This act is promoting and improving the
gender inequality in Australian workplace in order to bring equal opportunity for women
in the workplace agency(Pearl-Martinez and Stephens, 2016).
Non government agencies working towards improving outcomes for Gender inequality in order
to address this gap
There are different non government agencies that are working towards the improvement
for gender inequality. These are as follows:-
National Council of Women Australia:- NCWA is taking on the responsibility of
implementing the gender equality and women empowerment agendas of the global
industries. It is a non-government umbrella organisation with broadly humanitarian and
educational objectives and its is having focus over the women and girls rights and also to
encourage the women in all aspects of community life. If any women is feeling inequality
at workplace, they are free to take help of this NGO to have their rights(Nakagawa,
2015).
CARE Australia:- It is another organisation that is taking strict action against gender
violence. This organisation is conducting different research with respect to rates and costs
of sexual harassment in different industries. Organisation is helping the women at
workplace by supporting them and making them strong to fight against the gender
inequality.
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Recommendations
There are more population of male managers as compared with that of female manager,
so Rio Tinto have to work in order to overcome these differences. Organisation have to
make its focus over the cultural and organisational changes in order to reduce the
inequality. For the Rio Tinto have put efforts for creating inclusive workplace. There are
more number of promoted male managers and non-managers than compared with female.
So Rio Tinto have to put efforts in order to overcome this gap. It is also been seen that in
this company overall percentage of female employees have decreased by 0.3% so
organisation have to overcome this by creating an environment where all women are
treated equally with the men. Female population for the occupation of drillers, miners and
short fires have to be increased and Rio Tinto have to take the effective actions in order
to cover the gap.
Organisation have to make the gender equality as part of the training and development.
Salaries and promotion should be monitored and evaluated on the regular basis in order to
treat the staff members equally without can sexual differences. Rio Tinto have to use the
power of networking, mentoring and coaching as it can help women build confidence in
them and they are able to develop a good career ahead. Rio Tinto have to put efforts in
order to identify and prevent the unconscious bias in the organisation(Mayer and
Barnard, 2015).
If equality is there at the workplace related to gender than there will be better national
economic growth and also productivity of the nation rises. Not only this Rio Tinto will be
able to have stronger reputation of the company by building upon fairness and equal
rights. It also becomes better organisational performance as many women are having
better potential then what men are having.
For the same Rio Tinto have to put efforts in order to encourage the women to enter the
field of mining and take part in all the respective activities and operations of the business.
Women as a leadership role can play an inspiring role and recruiters have to work hard in
order recruit talented and driven women in their firm. In order to eradicate the problems
that women at Rio Tinto is facing is to increase the awareness about existence and
offering the same opportunities, salaries and positions as male workers are
getting(Jenkins, 2017).
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People at the workplace have to be aware about the different government and non
government agencies and there actions against the women inequality so that proper
measures are taken in order to overcome these inequalities. Rio Tinto is using different
policies that includes, Human Rights, Employment and Communities policies, ESG
framework and People and Business strategy. Organisation have to take these policies
seriously and have to train the staff members so that they can also follow the same.
Action Plan
For having equality at the work place and to reduce the gap the respective action plan will
be required with the help of Kotter's 8 step change model:-
Create Urgency:- In order to have successful implementation of change, there is
requirement to create an environment where individuals in Rio Tinto are aware of this
problem of inequality in the firm and directing the people in right direction. Getting
people aware about the problems that women are facing will result in positive action of
the staff.
Form a powerful coalition:- A change process have to be developed in order to
overcome the discrimination related to sexual differences. It is somehow difficult for Rio
Tinto to lead the whole change. With the help of Coalition, message can be spread
throughout the organisation, it also delegates the tasks and maximize the effectiveness.
So Rio Tinto have to make a powerful coalition having positive aspects in it.
Create Vision of change:- Any easily understandable vision have to be set by Rio Tinto
that emphasises over the gender inequality and different measures in order to overcome
them. The vision have to be set according to the rights of the women and by taking into
consideration of the legislation set by government on women equality(Cummings and
Galambos, 2016)
Communicate the vision:- It is required to communicate the vision to all the staff
members so that they are supporting the organisation for brining the change. The
respective legislation have to communicated to all the working staff and managers so that
they do not take any action against it. Leaders also have to take action on basis of the
vision only that is they have to fare enough for the promotion and salaries of the
employees.
Remove the obstacles:- In order to make the change effective it is required to remove
the obstacles that are coming between.
Create short term wins:- For the respective change process, short term goals have to be
set by the organisation as it helps in motivating and directing the employees of the
organisation.
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Build on the Change:- it is essential to set the goals and then analyse it on continuous
bases for the continuous improvement. It is essential to notice that all the people are
working with the respective change or not. Different policies that Rio Tinto have set have
to be enhanced so that they are able to increase the population of working women in the
firm.
Anchor the change in corporate culture:- These changes have to become the part of the
organisation for the same they have to make strict policies, not following which will lead
to strict punishments(Nakagawa, 2015).
Gender equality action plan have to applied that is as follows:-
Goal What Action
plan
How Where When For whom
Leadershi
p and
workplac
e culture
Gender
equality in
leadership
and all areas
of the
business
For the same
Rio Tinto have
to promote and
raise awareness
about the
importance of
gender based
equality in the
working
environment.
Senior
management
, Mining
operations,
Non-
managerial
staff.
July 2022 For the
development of
managers
organisational
culture
Gender
equality
in
leadershi
p
Maintain
gender
profile in the
organisation
and monitor
gender
ratios.
For the same,
proper research
have to be
conducted
Senior
management
, Mining
operations,
Non-
managerial
staff.
June 2023 For the women
working in Rio
Tinto
Innovate
for
gender
Develop and
promote
think
For simplifying
the work
process.
Senior
management
, Mining
July 2023 For the workers
and staff in order
to improve the
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equality differently
and work
effectively
approach in
Rio Tinto
and review
the retention
and
development
of
management
practices.
operations,
Non-
managerial
staff.
performance
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is been concluded that Diversity in a work place is basically
determined on the bases of similarities and differences among the employees of the organisation.
In Rio Tinto Gender inequality is seemed to be high as number of male managers that is about 15
are more than compared with the number of female managers that are only 5. Not only this,
number of promoted male managers and non-managers are more than compared with female
ones. There are 5.9% females for the occupation of drillers, miners and short fires as compared
with males that is 94.1%. Report also concludes that overall percentage of female employees
have decreased by 0.3% and Gender pay gap in 2018 was seen 1% in favour of men. Overall Rio
Tinto is committing to increase the women representation in the mining and for the same
company is giving equal opportunity and using different policies that includes, Human Rights,
Employment and Communities policies, ESG framework and People and Business strategy.
Report also concludes that Alcoa is having less number of working women than compared with
Rio Tinto. There are different legislation that affects Rio Tinto with respect to gender inequality
that is sex Discrimination act 1984, Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 and National Council
of Women Australia, CARE Australia.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Ali, M., 2016. Impact of gender-focused human resource management on performance: The
mediating effects of gender diversity. Australian Journal of Management. 41(2). pp.376-
397.
Barak, M.E.M., 2016. Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage
Publications.
Belas, J. and et.al., 2015. Approach of the SME entrepreneurs to financial risk management in
relation to gender and level of education. Economics and Sociology.
Benschop, Y., 2016. The dubious power of diversity management. In Diversity in the Workplace
(pp. 35-48). Routledge.
Conyon, M.J. and He, L., 2017. Firm performance and boardroom gender diversity: A quantile
regression approach. Journal of Business Research. 79. pp.198-211.
Cummings, S.M. and Galambos, C., 2016. Theories of Aging and Social Work Practice with
Sensitivity to Diversity: Are There Useful Theories?. In Diversity and Aging in the Social
Environment (pp. 21-42). Routledge.
Cunningham, G.B., 2019. Diversity and Inclusion in Sport Organizations: A Multilevel
Perspective. Routledge.
Galbreath, J., 2018. Is board gender diversity linked to financial performance? The mediating
mechanism of CSR. Business & Society. 57(5). pp.863-889.
Hossain, S., Chapple, L. and Monroe, G.S., 2018. Does auditor gender affect issuing going‐
concern decisions for financially distressed clients?. Accounting & Finance. 58(4).
pp.1027-1061.
Jenkins, S., 2017. Gender, place and the labour market. Routledge.
Kakabadse, N.K. And et.al., 2015. Gender diversity and board performance: Women's
experiences and perspectives. Human Resource Management. 54(2). pp.265-281.
Keenan, J.C., Kemp, D.L. and Ramsay, R.B., 2016. Company–community agreements, gender
and development. Journal of Business Ethics. 135(4). pp.607-615.
Khan, M.S. And et.al., 2019. Health Policy More talk than action: gender and ethnic diversity in
leading public health universities.
Kılıç, M. and Kuzey, C., 2016. The effect of board gender diversity on firm performance:
evidence from Turkey. Gender in Management: An International Journal. 31(7). pp.434-
455.
Koskinen Sandberg, P., 2017. Intertwining gender inequalities and gender‐neutral legitimacy in
job evaluation and performance‐related pay. Gender, Work & Organization. 24(2). pp.156-
170.
Lahiri‐Dutt, K., 2015. The feminisation of mining. Geography Compass. 9(9). pp.523-541.
Marinova, J., Plantenga, J. and Remery, C., 2016. Gender diversity and firm performance:
Evidence from Dutch and Danish boardrooms. The International Journal of Human
Resource Management. 27(15). pp.1777-1790.
Mayer, C.H. and Barnard, A., 2015. Balancing the scales of gender and culture in contemporary
South Africa. In Psychology of gender through the lens of culture (pp. 327-349). Springer,
Cham.
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