Human Resource Management (HRM2001S) Assignment

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Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (HRM2001S)
Human Resource Management (HRM2001S)
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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1HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (HRM2001S)
Topic- Equality and diversity in the workplace
Introduction
This research report provides a comprehensive overview of equality and diversity in the
workplace and its growing importance in the 21st century. It has been that equality and diversity
is mostly defined as the action of promoting equal opportunity for all through diversity, which
means giving individual the chance to accomplish their potential. In general, equality and
diversity in the workplace can refer to many things because they can be about respecting the
employees of the organization for their individual characteristics. It could include employees’
age, gender, race, cultural backgrounds, career experience, and skills, religious, sexual
orientation, etc. However, apart from this general overview of diversity and equality, this
research report sheds light on the concept and practical implementation of diversity and equality
in 21st century.
Discussion
As the audiences or the consumers of all businesses or products across the world are
increasingly being conscious about social and ethical duties of brand, it is becoming tougher for
the brands to become competitive and fair in the mind and eyes of customers (Ruiz-Jiménez and
del Mar Fuentes-Fuentes 2016). Thereby, diversity and equality have literally been a mandatory
organization practice now days. However, Sharma (2016) argued that the concept and
application of diversity in the workplace is little vague in nature because corporates today are
justifying their diversity approaches by maintaining equality in genders and pay only, but those
two elements do not make up diversity and equality. In response to this statement, Hideg and
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2HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (HRM2001S)
Ferris (2016) stated that when it comes to diversity, organizations also need to consider the
external market factors like economy, geographic and demographic characteristics.
Before delving more into diversity and equality, it is important to focus on the information
related to importance of diversity and equality in the workplace in 21st century organisations. To
address the concern of why diversity and equality, Armstrong et al. (2010) mentioned that there
has never been a more perfect and relevant time to guide and help organizations succeed in their
efforts to strengthen diversity and inclusion. This fact further allows people to assume that
diverse organisations can be better equipped to serve consumers more effectively, reduces biases
and enhance the bottom line of maximizing the market share (Barak 2016). In this context,
Ozturk, and Tatli (2016) mentioned that philanthropic engagement from diverse communities is
not the challenge, the acknowledgement from the society surrounding it is what needs to shift.
Workplace diversity covers all different elements between people in an organization and this
sounds simpler but it can be mentioned but the diversity can encompass race, gender, ethnic
group, cognitive style, tenure, and many more equally important elements.
Benefits of a diverse workforce
According to the global recruiting trends 2018, importance of diversity is echoed in
several areas with 78% of organizations saying that diversity can be extremely important. Such
global reports also state the fact that almost 78% of the organisations tend to prioritize diversity
to enhance culture and almost 62% do so to enhance the financial performances (Morley 2018).
According to Pasztor (2019), there are some major forces, which are at play, and changing
demographics are diversifying the communities, shrinking talent pool for employers that do not
adapt. In addition to this, the increasing evidence that diverse teams can be more productive,
more innovative as well as more engaged to ignore. In this context, Hideg and Ferris (2016)
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mentioned that while gender remains the major focus for organizations in the diversity effort and
almost 71% consider it as the most relevant priority. In addition, others are being employed as
the most significant value of a diverse workplace and this trend is becoming more and more
recognized.
Diversity and inclusion enhances customer relationship
According to Deloitte review 2018, customer diversity and inclusion have frequently
been overlooked, while greater importance is given to employee diversity. In addition to this,
when customer segmentation is significantly considered, it is often done in relation to customers’
financial profile than the customers are as people. In this context, Wu and Cheng (2016)
mentioned that organisations should start preparing for Generation Z, a large percentage of both
Generation Z and millennial tend to make decisions regarding spending based on the values of
the company that manufactures the products they are sharing. According to Tomčíková (2016),
2017 Global Human Capital Trends produced by Deloitte, diversity and inclusion influence
how the brands are perceived.
Don’t Ask and Don’t Tell and Climate of Silence
As put forward by Carter et al. (2010) particularly in 2010 State of Union Address,
former president of United State, Barack Obama appealed the officials U.S military police on
homosexuality to implement the policy, “don’t ask, don’t pursue and don’t harness” . It can be
mentioned that this policy has been a clear expression of denying voice and other specific
requirements to be mute. According to this policy, it is noted that military service members are
discouraged from speaking their minority sexual orientation and others are known to be
restricted from identifying or asking individuals if they are gay. This was one of the significant

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4HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (HRM2001S)
initiative taken for equality and diversity. For example, if the minority sexual orientation of the
individuals are known or revealed, military personnel of United State have taken the risk of
being discharged.
Role of technology in equality and diversity
As put forward by Meyskens and Carsrud (2013), technology is playing a great role in the
transformation to the future workforce, in which equality, diversity stands as the potential norm,
and it should not be an exception. For example, Robotics, AI sensor and Cognitive computing
have significantly gone mainstream with the big open talent businesses (Block and Keller 2015).
This scenario indicates the fact that businesses are not likely to consider the workforce to
become the most effective employee on the balance sheet but it can involve freelancers, robots,
sensors and gig economy workers. According to Hutchinson et al. (2011), almost 10,400
business and HR leaders across 140 nations in which 60% of the respondents have stated the fact
that shaping the organizations’ future to deal with rapid as well as disruptive changes that are
significantly important. This means that level of interest signify’ that a shift from hiring full time
employees to enhance organization as a whole to significantly developing ever-changing
organizational ecosystem and other networks.
Kirton’s diversity management framework
It can be mentioned that above presented discussion and views of scholars insist that
diversity is all about providing equal opportunity to all individuals irrespective of their
background, race, culture, gender, sexual orientation, etc, but there are several other important
aspects of diversity and inclusion that scholars often overlooked. According to Kirton’s
diversity approach, when it comes to diversity, the organizations should also consider the
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external environment where the business is running the operation (Kirton and Greene 2015). For
example, if Unilever has opened up a new plant in an economically emerging nation like India,
the brand has to consider the fact whether the operation of Unilever is at all contributing to the
economic and social development of the communities of India or the region. Thereby, the
diversity can only be claimed when the region where organization is operating is economically
developed with low employment rate. Nonetheless, this approach of diversity is hardly applied
by large incumbent players in the market. For example, Coca Cola in its sustainability report
published the fact that it has increased the percentage of women executives in board to 33% to
achieve its mission of 50-50% in board management. However, the organization Coca Cola
nowhere audit report mentioned about community development through diversity approach
(Mundy 2015)
Nonetheless, it can be mentioned that diversity and equality approach in general should
cover both internal and external environment of the business. This approach should come into
action with an appropriate objective. For example, the business may set a policy that it will
increase the percentage of employment opportunities for the community. It is worth stating that
business with a diverse workforce needs to have more ideas to resolve the service, source and
allocations of resource. It can be mentioned that employees from diverse backgrounds can bring
potential individual talents and experiences, which should be more flexible in adapting to
dynamic customer and market demands.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be mentioned that business should not include diversity and equality
framework just due to the legal compulsion; instead, business should find profits through an
effective diversity and equality approach. Particularly, in 21st century importance of diversity in
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business has increasingly been necessary because consumers of all sector across are conscious
about the brands that are socially and ethically responsible.
References
Allen, K., Quinn, J., Hollingworth, S. and Rose, A., 2012. Doing diversity and evading equality:
The case of student work placements in the creative sector. In Educational Diversity (pp. 180-
200). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Armstrong, C., Flood, P.C., Guthrie, J.P., Liu, W., MacCurtain, S. and Mkamwa, T., 2010. The
impact of diversity and equality management on firm performance: Beyond high performance
work systems. Human Resource Management, 49(6), pp.977-998.
Barak, M.E.M., 2016. Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage
Publications.
Block, F.L. and Keller, M.R., 2015. State of innovation: the US government's role in technology
development. Routledge.
Carter, D.A., D'Souza, F., Simkins, B.J. and Simpson, W.G., 2010. The gender and ethnic
diversity of US boards and board committees and firm financial performance. Corporate
Governance: An International Review, 18(5), pp.396-414.
Hideg, I. and Ferris, D.L., 2016. The compassionate sexist? How benevolent sexism promotes
and undermines gender equality in the workplace. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 111(5), p.706.

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7HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (HRM2001S)
Hideg, I. and Ferris, D.L., 2016. The compassionate sexist? How benevolent sexism promotes
and undermines gender equality in the workplace. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 111(5), p.706.
Hutchinson, J., Rolfe, H., Moore, N., Bysshe, S. and Bentley, K., 2011. All things being equal?:
equality and diversity in Careers education, information, advice and guidance. Equality and
Human Rights Commission.
Kirton, G. and Greene, A.M., 2015. The dynamics of managing diversity: A critical approach.
Routledge.
Meyskens, M. and Carsrud, A.L., 2013. Nascent green-technology ventures: a study assessing
the role of partnership diversity in firm success. Small Business Economics, 40(3), pp.739-759.
Morley, T., 2018. Making the business case for diversity and inclusion. Strategic HR Review.
Mundy, D.E., 2015. Diversity 2.0: How the public relations function can take the lead in a new
generation of diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives. Research Journal of the Institute for
Public Relations, 2(2), pp.1-35.
Özbilgin, M. and Tatli, A., 2011. Mapping out the field of equality and diversity: Rise of
individualism and voluntarism. human relations, 64(9), pp.1229-1253.
Ozturk, M.B. and Tatli, A., 2016. Gender identity inclusion in the workplace: broadening
diversity management research and practice through the case of transgender employees in the
UK. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(8), pp.781-802.
Pasztor, S.K., 2019. Exploring the framing of diversity rhetoric in “Top-Rated in Diversity”
Organizations. International Journal of Business Communication, 56(4), pp.455-475.
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Ruiz-Jiménez, J.M. and del Mar Fuentes-Fuentes, M., 2016. Management capabilities,
innovation, and gender diversity in the top management team: An empirical analysis in
technology-based SMEs. BRQ Business Research Quarterly, 19(2), pp.107-121.
Sharma, A., 2016. Managing diversity and equality in the workplace. Cogent Business &
Management, 3(1), p.1212682.
Tomčíková, Ľ., 2016. The most important human capital trends in stage of globalization in
current time. Economy & Society & Environment.
Wu, R. and Cheng, X., 2016. Gender equality in the workplace: the effect of gender equality on
productivity growth among the Chilean manufacturers. The Journal of Developing Areas, 50(1),
pp.257-274.
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