Analysis of Equality, Diversity, and Fair Treatment in Organizations

This report provides a comprehensive overview of equality, diversity, and fair treatment within public service organizations. It begins by defining key terms such as equality and diversity, and then delves into the intricacies of discriminatory behavior, including its origins and characteristics. The report explores unconscious bias, prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination, outlining the differences between them and their impact on organizations and society. It examines the causes and types of prejudice, as well as implications for public services. Furthermore, it discusses direct and indirect discrimination, institutionalized prejudice, and working practices to mitigate discrimination. The report concludes by analyzing the impact of discrimination and prejudice on public service organizations, including the treatment of the public and the effects on both victims and perpetrators. It also references key inquiries and scales related to prejudice and discrimination, offering a thorough analysis of the subject matter.

EQUALITY,
DIVERSITY AND
FAIR TREATMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Discriminatory Behaviour...........................................................................................................1
Unconscious Bias........................................................................................................................1
Differences Between Bias, Prejudice, Stereotyping and Discrimination....................................2
Impact of Unconscious Bias........................................................................................................3
Prejudice......................................................................................................................................4
Discrimination.............................................................................................................................5
Public Enquiries into issues of institutionalised Prejudice or Discrimination............................5
Working Practices.......................................................................................................................6
Impact of Discrimination and Prejudice on Public Service Organisations.................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Equality refers to the phenomenon where individuals belonging to a specific group or
society, experience same status within several respects. Furthermore, Diversity means the extent
to which people within a well-defined group are different from one another in terms of age,
religion, gender, creed, etc. (Thompson, 2016). The report below is based on understanding of
discriminatory behaviour within public service agency. It includes origins, importance as well as
impact of unconscious bias, prejudice as well as discrimination on public service operations as
well as public service sectors.
TASK 1
Discriminatory Behaviour
This type of behaviour refers to any sort of discrimination such as sexual or racial
harassment, on any ground like caste, gender, belief systems, etc.
Origin and Characteristics
Discrimination could be claimed as a practice where people treat, or propose treating
other individuals quite unfavourably due to either the personal characteristics of the person or
other social factors. As for origins, an individual could be said to have a discriminatory
behaviour when they start taking decisions that do not reflect equality and rather demeaning
towards the party of interest.
Characteristics of Discriminatory Behaviour are discussed below: Age: The first and foremost characteristics of discriminatory behaviour is age.
Discrimination is set to happen quite often on the basis of age of individuals, which is
one prominent characteristic which inflicts such behaviour in individuals.
 Gender: Another characteristics of this behaviour is gender. This behaviour is generally
seen in patriarchal and chauvinistic societies where females are discriminated due to their
gender.
Unconscious Bias
Unconscious Bias, also termed as implicit bias is termed as unsupported judgements in
either favour or against an event, person or thing as compared to another, in manner which could
usually be preferred as unfair. There are several aspects due to which, a person indulges in
unconscious bias, such as personal background or past experiences. As for the former, it plays an
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effective role as the kind of environment, culture and belief system which a person is grown into,
unconsciously develops several perceptions about certain practices and people. In context with
the latter, past experiencing such as physical abuse or torture by parents might develop an
unconscious rage in individuals against mothers and fathers around them (Sposato and et. al.,
2015).
Halo Effect
The most common type of unconscious bias which is seen in public services organisation
like National Health Service (NHS), is Halo Effect and it effectively occurs when a person
primarily emphasises on positive feature about other people. This turns individuals more perfect
than they actually are, as people often see them in an effective Halo light.
Differences Between Bias, Prejudice, Stereotyping and Discrimination
BASIS BIAS PREJUDICE STEREOTYPING DISCRIMINATION
Definitions
This refers to the
act of favouring
or being against
against a certain
person or event.
These are the
feelings, thoughts
and attitude
which an
individual
possesses against
a group.
These refers to
generalisation,
which individuals
indulge in about a
social group or
chain of events.
This refer to a
biased perspective
or negative actions
taken against a
thing or other
individuals.
Orientations
This might not
necessarily be
negative and
could induce
positive
behaviour as
well.
In terms of this
factor, it is
slightly different
than bias as the
term is often
applied at a more
extreme level by
individuals
(Kirton and
Greene, 2015).
This activity just
works on the belief
system of an
individual about
certain groups or
events.
These are purely
negative and unlike
stereotyping and
prejudice, involves
negative actions
taken again
someone.
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Impact of Unconscious Bias
Unconscious Bias have quite an impact within a workplace which could influence the
overall environment of an organisation as well as on the society. This impact of this type of bias
is mentioned below:
Impact on Organisation Recruitment: In context with recruitment, unconscious bias has a huge impact as such
type of bias could skew the judgement of manager recruiting individuals. In case these
managers are highly influenced by their expectations, assumptions as well as preferences,
it would highly impact the organisational recruitment procedures (What is Unconscious
Bias in Recruitment?, 2019). Less Diverse Workplace: Unconscious Bias could lead the managers in choosing similar
type of people, who would be possessing similar knowledge, same level of expertise, etc.
Thus, it would restrict the organisation into employing diverse range of employees which
is quite challenging.
Impact on Society Racial Discrimination: One of the biggest impacts which society has due to unconscious
bias is racial discrimination. Sometimes, due to past experiences or personal background,
people tend to favour individuals belonging to a certain race and even are biased against
the ones which are perceived negative according to their culture and personal
background. This rises discrimination in societies against specific races, which is not
beneficial for a collective growth. Less Harmony: Due to unconscious bias, there are high chances that there is lesser
harmony within the society as everyone would be getting a different and unfair treatment
based on the unconscious preference or disfavour of individuals.
Mitigating the Impact of Unconscious Bias Raising Awareness: Such form of bias is very important to be mitigated and is essential
for public services organisation like NHS as well as for the society. To attain this, the
organisation as well as society must indulge in activities and organise several seminars to
raise awareness about the same and promote equality and diversity (Killen, Elenbaas and
Rutland, 2015).
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 Developing a Mindful Approach: Another way through which its impact could be
mitigated is by encouraging people within an organisation as well as in society to develop
a mindful approach and be fair and effective in their decisions.
Prejudice
Definition
The term prejudice could be referred to irrational as well as preconceived perceptions or
opinions which could lead individuals in providing discriminatory treatment along with a sense
of bias towards specific people.
Causes
There are several causes of prejudice which are explained below: Social Factors: One of the biggest causes of prejudice within organisations like NHS as
well as within the society is social factors. It is highly dependant on the socialisation
provided to an individual by their parents as well as peers that sometimes induces
prejudice among an individual as a set perception is developed through the people around
them. Inclination towards Media: Another cause of the same is that there is an effective access
of people towards technology. Moreover, with more digitalisation, media is
overpowering perceptions of individual using compelling content which develops a firm
or prejudiced mindset amongst individual about other people or events.
Types
Prejudiced too has several types, some of which are mentioned below: Classism: One of the most prominent types of prejudice is Classism, which refers to
prejudice on the basis of a social class or socio-economic factors associated with a
person. For instance, there are several negative perceptions associated with impoverished
people and it is an effective example of classism. Sexism: Another type of prejudice is related to gender of an individual. This is based on
the belief that people belonging to a specific gender are not superior to the other gender.
A prominent example in this world today is the prejudice people hold against people
belonging to LGBTQ communities (Nair and Vohra, 2015).
Implication for Public Services
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There are several implications associated with prejudice for public services. For example,
with respect to healthcare provided by public sector organisations, it is highly likely that
prejudice within professionals in the organisations lead to effective and completely different
treatment of people belonging to high earning and better socio-economic status than that of
individuals belonging to lower social class. Another implication within the same is the attention
which is provided to higher social class patients due to their active and effective status within the
society.
Discrimination
Direct and Indirect Discrimination
Direct discrimination refers to the action which is taken when individuals treat others in a
negative manner than others. This happens due to few reasons which are mentioned below:
 When an individual possess an effective protected characteristic.
 When another person is of opinion that other individual possess this characteristic.
 When an individual is effectively associated with another person possessing such
characteristic.
On the other hand, indirect discrimination is an activity which occurs when certain
happening applies in a similar manner, however, proves to be disadvantageous to a specific
group of individuals possessing protected characteristics and a person is often disadvantageous
just for being part of that community/group (Ashley and Empson, 2016).
Public Enquiries into issues of institutionalised Prejudice or Discrimination
Lawrence Inquiry and Institutional Racism
Such inquire was related to murder to a person named Lawrence, who was eighteen years
of age when he died. The reason of is death has been speculated as a racial discrimination.
Moreover, his name defined institutional racism as a type of activity which is performed in
practice of social as well as political institutions. Certain officers of Metropolitan Police
department was named under this inquiry as well as police department faced quite a criticism.
Allport's Scale of Prejudice and Discrimination
Allport's scale is a measure which was suggested by psychologist Gordon Allport, which
reflects the existence and practice of prejudice within a society. The scale measures from 1 to 5
and each stage is reflected as Anti-locution, Avoidance, Discrimination, Physical Attack and
Extermination, depending upon the intensity of prejudice and discrimination within the society.
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Implications for Public Services
Such discrimination and prejudice have a drastic and negative implication of public
services due to its strict revoke from government imposed on individuals, communities as well as
societies. There have been several discrimination laws devised by political systems and any
organisation or community indulging in such an activity would be penalised or punished for the
same.
Working Practices
Provision of Information and Literature
One working process which public service organisations like NHS could adopt to
mitigate discrimination is the provision of effective literature and information to staff as well as
other parts of community as a part of public service. Through this, they would inform the
individuals about how appropriately they could operate without any sort of discrimination.
Training and Educating Staff
It is again necessary for organisations to educate and train their staff in a way that
equality becomes an effective part of their daily processes and they learn to provide people with
effective treatment irrespective of any factor (Barak, 2016).
Impact of Discrimination and Prejudice on Public Service Organisations
 Treatment of Members of the Public
One of the major impacts of discrimination and prejudice is witnessed on treatment of
members of the public. In case organisation discriminates or is prejudiced against individuals
belonging to a specific community or class, they might be ill treated in public health
organisations. Furthermore, another negative impact is that they might not be treated effectively
or provided adequate attention, thus, leading towards inefficiency and incompetence of the
organisation.
 Impact on Victims and Perpetrators
Another impact of discrimination and prejudice is witnessed on victims as well as
perpetrators. While the former is the person facing discrimination, the latter is the person
performing the same. For instance, if a public service professional discriminates a patient, the
victim might be negatively impacted due to the type of ill treatment they are facing. However, as
for the perpetrator, the professional would be indulging themselves in ethical breach, thus,
reducing their efficiency and scope of providing fair treatment to individuals (Dworkin, 2018).
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 Colleagues in own Organisation
If a colleague is being treated within their own organisation, discrimination could be
faced by other cases of immediate attention which might be ill treated as the attention is provided
to the colleague
CONCLUSION
Thus, it is concluded from the report above, that equality, diversity and fair treatment is
very important within public services. It is important to understand origin and characteristics of
discriminatory behaviour along with a detailed insight on unconscious bias, prejudice,
stereotyping and discrimination. Moreover, it is essential to analyse their impact, implications as
well as working practices which could be performed to prevent their impact and mitigate them
from happening.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ashley, L. and Empson, L., 2016. Convenient fictions and inconvenient truths: Dilemmas of
diversity at three leading accountancy firms. Critical Perspectives on Accounting. 35.
pp.76-87.
Barak, M.E.M., 2016. Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage
Publications.
Dworkin, R., 2018. Equality. In Political Philosophy in the Twenty-First Century (pp. 15-29).
Routledge.
Killen, M., Elenbaas, L. and Rutland, A., 2015. Balancing the fair treatment of others while
preserving group identity and autonomy. Human Development. 58(4-5). pp.253-272.
Kirton, G. and Greene, A.M., 2015. The dynamics of managing diversity: A critical approach.
Routledge.
Nair, N. and Vohra, N., 2015. Diversity and inclusion at the workplace: a review of research and
perspectives.
Sposato, M., and et. al., 2015. Diversity, inclusion and the workplace-equality index: the
ingredients for organizational success. Human Resource Management International
Digest. 23(5). pp.16-17.
Thompson, N., 2016. Anti-discriminatory practice: Equality, diversity and social justice.
Macmillan International Higher Education.
Online
What is Unconscious Bias in Recruitment?. 2019. [Online] Available Through:
<https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/types-of-unconscious-bias/>
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