Acting Fairly in a Diverse Workplace: An Ethical Examination

This essay examines the critical issue of acting fairly in a diverse workplace, a concept increasingly important due to globalization. It defines workplace diversity as the acceptance and valuing of differences among employees, including race, age, and gender. The essay highlights the benefits of diversity, such as increased productivity and competitive advantages, while also acknowledging the challenges of managing diverse workplaces. It distinguishes between acting fairly and uniformly, emphasizing the need for transparency and fair treatment for all employees, especially in situations involving flexible employment contracts. The essay provides insights into the importance of ethical management practices and the potential risks of unfair treatment. It concludes by emphasizing the value of respecting individual differences and adapting to diversity to treat all employees fairly, not necessarily uniformly.

Running head: ACTING FAIRLY IN A DIVERSE WORKPLACE
Acting fairly in a diverse workplace
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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ACTING FAIRLY IN A DIVERSE WORKPLACE
Introduction
The increasing rate of globalization has turned most of the global work places into a
diverse one. No longer employees stay and work in the insular environment; rather now they
are a part of a work environment where they have to compete within the international
framework. Therefore the non-profit and profit organizations now required becoming more
diversified in order to remain in the competition. Moreover the capitalizing and maximizing
the diversity within the work place has become a major issue for the managements. Along
with that acting fairly has also been a major challenge for the managers (Scott et al. 2014).
Within this global environment, treating all the employees with adequate respect and dealing
with them in an open and fairly manner have been two most basic requirements for the
managers. This essay will trigger the issue of acting fairly and acting uniformly within the
work place.
Diverse workplace
Diversity within the work place can be defined as understanding, accepting,
understanding and valuing the distinct differences amongst the employees in respect to their
race, age, ethnicity, class, disabilities, gender etc. Within the era of globalization, the
organizations are required to embrace the diversity within the workplace and find the
methods of becoming the organizational environments that are inclusive of such
characteristics (Bhave and Glomb 2016). The diverse work places have more potential for
yielding greater productivity in work and the competitive advantages. According to Sue,
Rasheed and Rasheed (2015) the demographic changes has become more prevalent these
days, therefore the organizations are required reviewing their management practices and
developing more creative and new approaches for managing the employees. Outsourcing and
downsizing has affected the environment of the work places, especially the human resource

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management, to a great extent. The work places practices have changed as well. On one hand,
the diversity has been beneficial for both the managements and the employees, whereas on
the other hand there are several challenges within the diverse work places. In the era, where
creativity and flexibility are the two key components of facing competitiveness, diversity can
be very much critical to the success of the organization (Kirton and Greene 2015). However,
the consequences of having a diverse work place cannot also be overlooked. Managing
diversity can be crucial for the work places as in include identifying the value of the
distinctions, combating the discrimination and at the same time promoting the inclusiveness.
In such situations, the managers required to act in a fair way for all the employees as well
because negative behaviors and attitudes can act as huge barriers for the organizations and
this may damage the work place morale, working relationships and the productivity as well.
Acting uniformly and Acting fairly
Within the workplace, the managers are required to act in a transparent and fair way.
However, there are several organizations in the global framework which emphasizes on being
uniform in the work place, rather than being fair within the work place. There are several
managers who do not know the primary difference between acting fairly and acting uniformly
within the work place. However, this distinction is very significant, especially within the
diverse work place. In such work places, there are different kinds of employees, as there have
been huge changes within the working arrangements. As stated by Spence Laschinger and
Nosko (2015.), there has been a recent rise in the numbers of employees within the diverse
work places who are working in an organization for atypical contract or part time basis. In
most of the countries the availability of the part time or temporary workers has contributed to
a huge extent to the flexibility of the labor market. Therefore, these workers have also helped
in keeping the unemployment rate a lot down within the global market. Therefore, more and
more employers are getting attracted towards this flexible employment contracts. A recent

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research also indicates that mostly the women employees who are aged around 30 years are
more interested in such employment (Dastmalchian, Blyton and Adamson 2014). However,
for these employees, the management requires to act in a distinct way than they act for the
permanent employees. In these situations, it is more important for them to act in a fair and
transparent way that in a uniform way for all the employees. Moreover the employers and the
managers also require becoming aware of the potential ethical risks in such treatments as the
managers require utilizing the workers in a way which becomes mutually beneficial.
In such situations, if the managers are seen to prefer the permanent workers than the
part time or the atypical ones, it should not be considered as an unfair business. According to
Schilpzand, De Pater and Erez (2016) there are few rules in being transparent and fair within
the work place, such as, treating the employees in a transparent way and having no such
favorite employees at all. However the managers should also remember that they are
supposed to treat the people in a way that they are to be treated. There should not be any
unfair advantages; however, there should not any kinds of uniform treatment for the
employees who are not working the same hours for the organization. The managers are
supposed to model the behaviors and the rules differently for two different kinds of workers
within the global environment. As stated by Repa (2014) the rules can be changed in such
situations as well. There can be two different kinds of rules for the permanent and temporary
work force, yet the managers should ensure that both the workers are treated in a fair and
transparent way that can be beneficial for both the employers and employee.
Conclusion
The diverse work force is mostly the reflection of the fast changing market place;
therefore the teams working in such situations can also bring higher value to the
organizations. Furthermore, the organization management and the managers should also

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ensure that the individuals are respected and their diversities are admired in distinct ways.
The organizations should also learn adapting the diversities in a way that it treats all the
employers fairly, if not uniformly.

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Reference list
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