What is Social Business ?
Social business is a business that is aimed at addressing a social cause. The investment made by the investors is entirely with a vision of contributing to the social welfare and not profit entirely. The investor may however get back his money after a certain time and cover all the operational costs of the organisation. […]
Recruitment and Retention
The problem of retention begins with recruitment! In most of the organizations the recruitment function operates independently of the retention department. HR people have so far been naive to the direct relationship between the two and the resulting increase in employee turnover. It is therefore in the interest of organizations to understand how the hiring […]
Role of HRD in Determining Fit between an Employee and His/Her Role
The previous article on personality briefly discussed how organizations and the HRD function determine the fit between the employee and his or her role. This article looks at this topic in depth with specific reference to the role of the HRD function and the managers in this alignment. For starters, whenever an employee is hired, […]
The Hype and Realities of Networking in an Interconnected World and Leveraging Them
What is Six Degrees of Networking and How it Explains the Power of Interconnection We are told repeatedly that networking is the key to success in the corporate world and how many you know, who you know, and how you know them matters a lot. Indeed, right from the business schools who make a virtue […]
Preventing Relapse for a Training Program
‘People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well neither does bathing – that is why we recommend it daily’ said Zig zagler. One of the strong objections to the usefulness of training is that the impact of training programs doesn’t last longer and that employees get back to older ways of doing things sooner. This […]
How do you define social exclusion sometimes practiced at workplace with people of color or minorities which technically falls within the ambit of individual preferences? So if the manager does not extend an invitation to go golfing to all members of the team, how can you conclude it is a matter of discrimination rather than just innocent choices.
The first things that organizations needs to do is to do is to tackle the bull by the horn. The culture shift takes time and a lot of time it loses momentum and track because of people who are comfortable with the things staying as they are.
However, the changing business dynamics call for an action about the work culture of an organization much more than ever.
With the virtual working and virtual teams a norm, organizations are looking at tapping knowledge workers from across the globe. If an organizational culture is that of exclusion and disfranchisement, even a virtual set up will not prevent discrimination and disengagement.
The things have evolved and changed but at the heart of it unfortunately the unaddressed real issues are left simmering. People of color have to invest more time and effort to prove their competency at the job, more hours and more deliverables do not necessarily translate into promotions and career advancements for them.
During the covid pandemic, difficult choices like laying off and furloughing also had larger negative impact on the African American, Hispanics and ethnic minority communities. Some of the subtle discriminations have been so normalized that the people who suffer because of them hardly notice them to begin with.
Many organizations have an invisible glass ceiling for people of color and minorities. They may have them in healthy numbers at the entry level and mid managerial positions, but the senior managerial positions still remain a distant dream for many competent employees.
Is it all to do with appearances? Perhaps not, a large part of it is due to the perceptions promulgated by popular culture and media.
Though innocuous when portrayed on tv and movies, cliches take a toll when it comes to the real world. It means not just lost hopes for someone but also lost business opportunities.
It is worthwhile to mention Will Smith’s character’s journey in the Pursuit of Happyness and how it heartbreakingly describes the odds stacked against a person of color in the realms of business and outside world.
So what is the way forward? Do organizations who genuinely value diversity and inclusiveness have no way to address the racist obstacle?
Following measures are a good place to start but this is not a comprehensive list by any means.
To be able to make policies specific to one’s own organization, the human resources department will have to be observant, vigilant, brutally honest, and extremely self-critical. Only then something as subjective as racism can be addressed in terms of objective policies.
Such measures are just the steppingstones. Constant dialogues and communication from the top management to display commitment towards diversity will ensure that the culture gets reformed over a period of time.
For organizations it also means they become attractive as a place of employment for the new age workers who may come from another part of the world bringing in unique skill sets.
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