Discrimination, Diversity and Equal Opportunities

Women’s Average Pay as % of Men’s Earnings

Luxembourg 89

Norway 86

Ireland 84.5

Denmark 83.2

Sweden 82

Finland 82

Italy 81.7

France 80.5

Netherlands 80

Belgium 79.6

United States 77.5

Spain 76.9

Greece 76.2

UK 75.9

Germany 75.7

Portugal 72.6

Austria 67

ARE THERE OTHER GROUPS OF WORKERS WHO YOU THINK MIGHT BE DISADVANTAGED?

The Basis for Unequal Opportunities and Disadvantage?• Gender

• Race and Ethnicity

• Religion

• Disability

• Age

• Sexual Orientation

What Opportunities are Unequal?

• Earnings

• Occupational

• Sectoral

• Career development

• Promotional

• Involvement

Key Issues

• What are the arguments against inequality and for equality of treatment?

• What explains inequality at the workplace?

• What steps are and can be taken to deal with inequality and develop equality?

What are the Arguments for Equality?

• The Business Case- Better use of human resources- Wider customer base- Wider pool for recruitment- Positive image for company- Diversity leads to innovation

What Explains Inequality at the Workplace?

Inequality

Discrimination Structuralconditions

Situational centeredfactors

Person centeredfactors

What is Discrimination?

“To make a distinction”

Fair and Unfair Distinctions

Forms of Discrimination

Direct versus Indirect

The Cause of Discrimination

Discrimination

Psychological-personality types-personal insecurities-learned behavior?

Prejudice

Sociological-Stereotyping-Group insecurities-Difference in cultural norms

Economic- See structural

Structural/Economic

• Human Capital Theory- Labor market non discriminatory- If groups are disadvantaged, it is because they are less

productive- Difficult to test qualifications

• Segmentation- Horizontal (women in health, education, retailing)- Vertical (glass ceiling issue)

• Reserve army- Unemployment higher amongst ethnic minority groups

Person-CenteredExplanations

• Women are less ambitious?

• Women lack leadership qualities?

• Women are less self confident?

Situation CenteredExplanations

• Less Training

• Excluded from informal networks

• Poor Mentoring

• Poor appraisal ratings

• Lack of family friendly practices

Removing Inequality and Ensuring Equality

Equalityat the workplace

The State The Organization

The Trade Union The Individual

The State

• National Governments

- Constitutional rights

- Legislation

The Organizational Level

What actions would you suggest an organisation should adopt to help

ensure equal opportunities in general and in relation to a particular group

(select one of: women, ethnic group, older workers, those with particular

sexual orientation)?

The Organization

Equal Opportunities Managing Diversity

Liberal Approach Radical Approach (Jewson and Mason (1986))

Short Term Agenda Long Term Agenda

Equal Opportunities

• Focused on the needs of members of particular groups

• Treats members of a particular group as if they all share the same characteristics and experiences

• Uses special initiatives to focus attention on the issues affecting particular groups

• Emphasis on the more, ethical and social issues• Led mainly by HR specialists

Liberal Approach to Equal Opportunities

• Assumptions- Everyone should be able to compete freely on the basis of ability- This could and should be achieved by procedural impartiality

• Goal:- Equal treatment

• Practical implications- Put into place fair procedures- Remove all barriers to equal competition between groups

• Indicative Practices- Develop an equal opportunities policy- Ensure all practices (e.g. recruitment/selection, reward, career-advancement) do

not discriminate- Consider employee friendly policies and practices

Critique of Liberal Approach

• Retain assumption of existing (male) management style

• Ignore informality

• Runs of risk of just paying “lip service”

• HR job is not a line managers job

Radical Approach to Equal Opportunities

• Assumptions- Those for all group are the same (equally talented)- Differences in treatment must mean discrimination

• Goal- Equal outcome

• Practical implications- Direct action needed to deliberately make sure that those form particular groups

are treated equally• Indicative Practices (the short term agenda)

- Positive discrimination (quotas)- Use of targets- Retraining managers- Monitoring

- Legality of positivediscrimination?

-Efficiency concerns

-Resentments

Long term agenda

-Shift societal attitudes-Changing socialisation-Shifting educational choices-Providing more welfare support

Critique of the (short term) Radical Approach

Managing Diversity

• Recognizes that each and every employee is unique

• Aims to be inclusive by focusing on needs of all employees

• Values driven• More business-focused• Mainstreamed - part of all line managers’

jobs

Managing Diversity

• Ignores real patterns and causes of discrimination

• Contingent- business focus makes it dependent on bottom line contribution

• Part of everyone’s job/part of nobody’s job: no one to champion the issues