Corporate Corruption and the HRM Function: Legal, Ethical, and Moral Perspectives
February 12, 2025
How Small Entrepreneurs face lack of access to capital In recent years, prominent among the revolutions in personal finance and savings has been the rise of microfinance or microcredit as it is also known as. To understand how this works, picture yourself as a small businessperson (you can be a farmer with a marginal landholding, […]
The scope of participative style of management certainly depends on the organization, its nature, functions and processes. Though associating employees at every stage of decision-making is not possible still regular exchange of information, ideas, consultations, thoughts, decisions and negotiations between employer and the employees definitely is a boon to the organization. Few of the world’s […]
The relationship between employees working in a common organization is called as employee relationship. Every employee should ideally be comfortable with others to stay motivated and stress free. No conclusion has ever come out of disputes; instead it is just a mere wastage of time and lead to a negative environment at work. The employees […]
Employee retention involves various steps taken to retain an employee who wishes to move on. An employee must find his job challenging and as per his interest to excel at work and stay with the organization for a longer period of time. The management plays an important role in retaining the talented employees who are […]
Why Competency Mapping Can Solve the Perennial Right Person for the Wrong Job Problem We often hear the saying, Right Person for the Wrong Job, being used to refer to people who are either too qualified or too competent for the job that they are assigned to. Conversely, HR (Human Resources) and Line Managers also […]
In recent years, organizations in all sectors have been aggressively working towards a concept called diversity of workforce. When you see a job posting that talks about equal opportunity, you might be wondering what it is all about.
To put it simply, diversity in employment means that the employer is actively pursuing what can be called non-discrimination of potential recruits on the basis of gender, ethnicity, physical constraints and the like.
What this means is that the employer or the organization adopts a policy wherein they do not differentiate between applicants on the grounds listed above and merit is the sole criterion when deciding the suitability of a potential recruit.
With the advent of globalization, it has become imperative for organizations to have a workforce that is composed of different ethnicities and with the maturing of the business paradigm; gender is no longer a constraint. This has prompted large scale changes in the way organizations recruit people. Further, in many countries the laws governing corporates have been legislated in such a way that makes the firms actively encourage diversity.
For instance, the US is the leading proponent of diversity with the adoption of the “Equal Opportunity Act”. This act mandates employers not to discriminate on any basis be it gender, color, lifestyle preferences or any other traits as mentioned in the act. This has given a fillip to the employment of women and people of color and has removed the barriers that were threatening to make these groups of people at a minority in the corporate world as well.
Though the laws mandate equal opportunity, in practice, the hiring of disadvantaged and minority groups is still lagging behind in relative terms when compared with the majority groups. For instance, it is not uncommon for employers to weed out resumes of women and people of color.
In India, there are still barriers to the hiring of people from certain states as was evidenced in news reports that emanated in the recent past. These practices are certainly undesirable and cast a cloud about the intentions of employers in embracing diversity at the workplace.
Further, given the spate of lawsuits about sexual discrimination and harassment on the basis of ethnicity, it becomes clear that more than laws that deal with these issues, we need a mindset change among the firms and the practice of diversity is something that has to be encouraged from the top.
Among the ways in which employers can encourage diversity is by promoting the concept of “blind resumes” that do not have the name, gender or ethnicity of the applicant mentioned.
This would ensure that recruiters screen the resumes on the basis of the applicants’ qualifications alone and other factors are secondary. Another way to ensure diversity is by sensitizing the workforce to gender and ethnic issues, and ensure that they are more tolerant of people who are unlike them.
In conclusion, one needs to understand the difference between having a policy of diversity and actually practicing it by comparing it to the adage about the difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. Only by ensuring that the law is followed in spirit as well can employers truly embrace diversity.
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