Critical Analysis of Ethical and Legal Dimensions of Workplace Diversity in HRM

Running Head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Topic- Critical analysis of the ethical and legal dimensions of workplace diversity in Human
Resource Management
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ABSTRACT
Diversified workforce increases workplace flexibility and also results in increased chances for
accomplishment of organizational goal. Ethics and diversity are two sides of the same coin and
legal dimension adds to increased organizational sustainability. Diversity, equality and inclusion
are incomplete without one another. In recent times a number of policies have been developed to
support inclusion and most influential among all policies are the legal and ethical policies in
regard to workplace diversity. It will provide new direction to HR practices and HR manager will
be able to accommodate diversified workforce in a more comprehensive manner. The purpose of
this study is to find the relevance of ethical and legal dimensions in accommodating a culturally
diverse workplace that ultimately helps in gaining competitive advantage and market
sustainability. It will provide direction of how effectiveness of policy implementation can be
improved and how challenges and issues can be mitigated holistically. The study will also help in
better understanding of the various areas a HR manager need to focus more that will help in
better workforce management on the part of the management in this competitive world.
Considering the process of this study the mixed method design has been used consisting both
qualitative and quantitative study. The primary data collection process is based on the both
survey and interview based data collection. In this research, online platform has been used for
survey and the semi structured interview has been used for interview method. Literature review
has been used this research as a secondary data collection method. For survey 50 ground level
employees have been surveyed in social media platform. For interview 5 managers of various
medium to large enterprises, have been interviewed. Ethical consideration of data privacy and
protection act and the willingness of the participants were the major concern of the primary data
collection process. Both descriptive and correlation statistical analysis have been used for survey
based quantitative data analysis. The thematic coding based data analysis was used for analysing
the responses of the interview.
From this research it has been found that social and racial discrimination can be even found in
the managerial level as well. Apart from that appropriate governing on the organisational
procedure irrespective of any designation related division can sustain the ethical environment in
any workplace. Moreover it has been found that diversity management policies should be
strongly incorporated within the core functionalities of Human resource management that

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includes job design and analysis, recruitment and selection, workforce planning, training and
development, performance management, compensation and benefits and other statutory and legal
aspects management in regard to employment. It has been found that ethical awareness building
through Training, enforcing stronger regulation can be helpful. Government should also take
significant part in it. From this research it has been found that Collaborative awareness approach
can be used through appropriate leadership strategy to make the employees aware of the
discrimination issue in a very integrated format. Enforcement of stronger regulation and more
strict governing policies will be very helpful. Workforce training can be also very helpful in this
case.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................7
1.1 Research background.............................................................................................................7
1.2 Purpose of the study...............................................................................................................7
1.3 Research objectives...............................................................................................................8
1.4 Significance of the study.......................................................................................................9
1.5 Research structure..................................................................................................................9
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................................11
2.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................11
2.2 Theoretical support..............................................................................................................13
2.3 Issues in workplace diversity management.........................................................................14
2.4 Evaluation and review of the Ethical dimensions from the perspective of a human resource
manager......................................................................................................................................17
2.5 Gaps in legal dimensions in diverse workforce and impact on business.............................21
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...........................................................................24
3.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................24
3.2 Research philosophy............................................................................................................24
3.3 Research approach...............................................................................................................25
3.4 Research design...................................................................................................................25
3.5 Process and Method of data collection................................................................................26

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3.5.1 Primary data collection.................................................................................................26
3.5.2 Secondary data collection.............................................................................................27
3.6 Population and Sampling.....................................................................................................27
3.7 Data analysis........................................................................................................................28
3.8 Ethical considerations..........................................................................................................29
3.9 Summary..............................................................................................................................30
CHAPTER 4: DATA FINDINGS AND INTERPRETATION 3000............................................31
4.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................31
4.2 Critical analysis from Survey..............................................................................................31
4.4 Thematic analysis of interview............................................................................................34
4.4.1 Perception about diversity management:......................................................................36
4.4.2 Legal and ethical dimension.........................................................................................36
4.4.3 Challenges in diversity management............................................................................37
4.4.4 Recommendations.........................................................................................................38
4.5 Discussion............................................................................................................................39
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS...................................................41
5.1 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................41
5.2 Recommendation.................................................................................................................43
5.3 Research Gap and Future Scope..........................................................................................44
APPENDICES...............................................................................................................................51

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Appendix1: Survey Questionnaires...........................................................................................51
Appendix 2: Interview Transcript 1...........................................................................................52
Appendix 3: Interview Transcript 2...........................................................................................53
Appendix 4: Interview Transcript 3...........................................................................................54
Appendix 5: Interview Transcript 4...........................................................................................54
Appendix 6: Interview Transcript 5...........................................................................................55

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Research background
Accomplishments, be it personal or professional should not have any colour and should be
based on diversity, equality and inclusion. Actually, diversity enriches the inbuilt company
culture. In order to win global market first and foremost, workplace need to be won. In this
regard every organization is diverse but there is need to uplift it from the bottom and promote it
by help of ethical and legal dimensional support. The workforce environment has changed
drastically over the years and now people are more reluctant to changes than before. Before
1990s the workplace was something very rigid where employees are conformed to some
standardized cultural norms like working from 9 to 5, follow formal dress codes, need to follow
manager’s directions and at the end of the year a performance review is conducted to measure
level of effectiveness of their worth. But modern-day businesses are a way more comprehensible
where work-life balance is most championed and company culture and diversity inclusion have
become an integral part and parcel of work ethics. Today’s’ workplace environment is a
reflection of blended workforce of collaborative employee participation where team performance
is valued over individual performance. Brambilla (2015), rightly defined Millennial employees
are Boomerang employees. Diversified workforce increases workplace flexibility and also results
in increased chances for accomplishment of organizational goal. Ethics and diversity are two
sides of the same coin and legal dimension adds to increased organizational sustainability. It is
mandatory that every organization have their own set of rules and regulations and have well-
defined ethical policies. Now the paradigm here is that, is ethical and legal dimensions define
diversity in workplace or workplace diversity is responsible for their changed dimensions. The
dissertation paper will try to analyze both prospects and will focus on holistic overview of
various ethical and legal dimensions and work place diversity management from the perspectives
of an HRM manager. For practical understanding of the issues and how that are sorted out the
example of the multinational beverage company Coco Cola is considered for study.
1.2 Purpose of the study
But in reality, the processes to be incorporated are not so smooth and easy. Diversity
management is a very complex term. More the increased workplace diversity more is the ethical
challenges and legal problems. That is, it is not easy for organizations to meet this paradox of

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change comprehensively. Challenges in ethical dimensions can be shifts in values, attitudes, and
behaviours. Theoretical dimensions of these challenges can be based on both organizational and
employee capabilities, social opportunities, virtue ethics, instrumental freedom and work
excellence. Equality is one of the main aims of these ethical dimensions. Considering the legal
dimensions, equal employment opportunity is what it focuses the most. Discrimination
prevention is the main objective of legal laws and policies. Generally, workplace diversity is
positioned either as a business necessity or as a fundamental issue of morality, equity and
fairness. The most recent problem is that diversity has widened up in business scenarios but
ethical and legal support is not in pace with workplace diversity. That it, upgraded polices are
there but they are not justified from workplace diversity viewpoints. Increased employee
harassments, gender discrimination at workplaces, racial superiority and inferiority basics and
other forms of workplace discrimination have forced researchers to have a deeper look into the
matter and in-spite of having a robust ethical and legal policy in organizations why
discrimination in the name of diversity is increasing day by day is also to be justified. In this
regard the paper tries to find out the various ethical and legal dimensions of workplace diversity
from the HRM perspectives in an organization.
1.3 Research objectives
The aims and objectives of the study is based on its underlying purpose of finding the
relevance of ethical and legal dimensions in accommodating a culturally diverse workplace that
ultimately helps in gaining competitive advantage and market sustainability. For better
comprehension of the study ethical and legal dimensions are separated and each is considered for
discussion individually. The final results will help in better workplace policy formulation based
on the significance of the legal and ethical dimensions. The SMART aims and objectives of the
study are as follows.
 To evaluate the legal dimensions that are required for accommodating a diverse
workforce from the perspective of a human resource manager.
 To understand the ethical dimensions of accommodating a diverse workforce from the
perspective of a human resource manager.
 To review the legislative measures prior to the accommodation of a diverse workforce.
 To review the ethical dimensions prior to the accommodation of a diverse workforce.