Equality Diversity and Inclusion in Society Organizations - Desklib

This essay discusses the problems faced by British Airways related to equality and diversity, the Disparate Theory of Discrimination, and how British Airways dealt with the situation. It also suggests ways in which the company could have avoided the incident and how they can improve their policies to promote equality and diversity. The subject of the essay is Sociology, the course code is SOC101, and the college/university is not mentioned.

ESSAY EQUALITY, DIVERSITY
AND INCLUSION IN SOCIETY
ORGANIZATIONS

Table of Contents
ESSAY EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS.......1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
PART-1............................................................................................................................................3
Problems faced by British Airways related to equality and diversity .........................................3
The Disparate Theory of Discrimination.....................................................................................3
The way British Airways dealt the situation................................................................................4
TASK-2 ...........................................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Equality and diversity can be defined as treating each and every individual equally by
providing them equal opportunities and safeguarding them against the discrimination. The
present report is based on the study of British Airways and aims to determine how the company
managed the charged faced by them in relation to equality and diversity.
MAIN BODY
PART-1
Problems faced by British Airways related to equality and diversity
It has been determined that British Airways compensated a passenger who was
humiliated by their staff just because he sat beside a child. The incident happened in the year
2009 when a man with his wife was travelling from London to Luxembourg. The lady was
pregnant and therefore, she asked her husband to swap the seats with her as she wanted to take
the window seat. As soon as the man swapped his seat and shifted to the middle seat, one of the
staff member of British Airways humiliated the man just because he sat beside a child (BA
compensates man 'humiliated' over child seat policy., 2022) . While explaining, the staff said that
they do not allow male travellers to sit beside solo child travellers. On which, the defendant said
that there policy is discriminatory. Later, British Airways apologized to the man stating that they
have admitted sex discrimination in this case and paid compensation to the man for the same. It
has been identified that the organization has the similar policy since long and has faced a similar
allegation in the year 2001 still the company did not change their policy and is facing problems
within the organization leading to diversity and inequality and is affecting the brand image of the
British ways negatively.
The Disparate Theory of Discrimination
The Disparate Theory of Discrimination states that the individual who has been treated
inappropriately has the right to make a complaint against the employer in case of an employee or
against the organization in case of a client, only if, they have certain proof that states that the
individual has been discriminated and treated badly on the basis of gender, race, age, culture or
any other trait for that matter (Potvin, D.A., and et.al, 2018). Similarly, in the above mentioned
case that happened with the British Airways, the client did file a complaint against the British
Airways for the reason that they conducted discrimination on the basis of the gender. The British

Airways need to make changes in the policies that have been practising within the organization
in order to maintain the equality and diversity with the enterprise.
The way British Airways dealt the situation
In order to deal with the complexities of the situation, the British Airways tried to explain
the man that they do not know that he was travelling with his wife and swapped his seat because
of a particular reason (Engeli, and Mazur, 2018.). They told the man that their policy do not
allow single men to sit beside children who are travelling alone. But the man felt quite insulted
because of the treatment he received from the employee of the British Airways. He clearly stated
that he felt humiliated in front of all other clients as he was treated like a molester in front of
everyone. He stated that he wants the British Airways to change this policy as they do not treat
the women sitting beside children in this way, then, why treat a man like this. Later, British
Airways compensated the man by paying him £2,161 in costs and £750 in damages in order to
settle the case (British Airways: A breakdown in trust., 2022.). According tom a report, it has
been determined that the British Airways discontinued the policy for the children under the age
of 12 years in the year 2016.
TASK-2
The British Airways could have avoided the happening of the whole incident if there was
not a policy which can be used to discriminate between the employees, or clients on the basis of
their gender, caste, race, culture or any other characteristic for that matter. If they wanted to
protect the children who are travelling alone, they should have a particular section for those
children in which only such children can sit and there should be a male attendant as well as a
female attendant could handle their queries and help them in their journey at all times (Abt, and
et.al 2021. ). They should not formulate such policies that gives rise to gender inequality or
diversity issues within their organization and should not treat their customers in a similar way.
The statement through which they apologized for their behaviour with the man and
provided him with compensatory charges with the damage they did to his reputation was a kind
gesture (Báez, and et.al, 2018.). But, soon after the incident they should have taken down the
policy but it took them around 6 years to discontinue the policy. This affected the brand image of
the British Airways negatively.
In order to avoid happening of the situation, the British Airways should have preoccupied
a specific portion of the flight specifically for the sitting of children who are travelling alone.

This could have helped the company in avoiding this particular situation. The organization has
currently recovered from the negative impact of this particular incident, but they need to be
aware of the policy they implement within the organization in order to avoid such circumstances.
The situation faced by the British airways in the year 2010 states that the company had a
management problem within the organization in relation to customer services. If the organization
is capable of formulating policies which gives rise to inequality and discrimination within the
clients, they can also formulate such policies in between their workforce (Chairmanship, 2021.).
The British Airways need to take certain steps in order to remove such policies within the
organization and provide a healthy, safe and happy environment to both the employees of the
company and the clients of the organization.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that the British Airways have faced
allegations on the basis of gender discrimination between their customers. They have faced a
similar allegation twice due to its policies. It has affected the brand image of the organization.
Therefore, it is important for the British Airways to formulate only those policies within the
organization that do not promote inequality within the organization.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Potvin, D.A., and et.al, 2018. Diversity begets diversity: A global perspective on gender equality
in scientific society leadership. PloS one. 13(5). p.e0197280.
Engeli, I. and Mazur, A., 2018. Taking implementation seriously in assessing success: The
politics of gender equality policy. European Journal of Politics and Gender. 1(1-2).
pp.111-129.
Abt, G., and et.al 2021. Equality, diversity, and inclusion: Policy statement. Journal of sports
sciences. 39(24). pp.2847-2849.
Báez, A.B., et.al, 2018. Gender diversity, corporate governance and firm behavior: The challenge
of emotional management. European Research on Management and Business
Economics. 24(3).pp.121-129.
Chairmanship, I., 2021. Gender Equality in the Arctic, Phase 3.
Online references
BA compensates man 'humiliated' over child seat policy., 2022. [Online]. Available through <
https://www.bbc.com/news/10401416 >
British Airways: A breakdown in trust., 2022. [Online]. Available through
<https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53023563 >
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