Strategic Issues in HRM (MBTMD3SHR)

Broadstairs Campus
Semester 2

Equality and Diversity

Agenda
• The nature of diversity
• ‘Equal opportunities’ approach
• ‘Managing diversity’ approach
 Introduction
What do we mean by “Diversity”?
• The term ‘diversity’ is used to refer to social
categories such as gender, ethnicity, age, disability,
etc., which indicate groups who have been
historically subjected to discrimination in society
and at work (Crawshaw et al, 2014)
• ‘Equality’ refers to the need for “fair & equal
treatment” of these social categories, which
should remove discrimination at work and in the
society.
 How diverse are we in the UK?
Diversity in the UK labour Market (CBI, 2008)
Million Percent

Total UK Population 61 mio 100%

People of non-christian religious beliefs 4.2 mio 7%

Gay or bisexual 3.6 mio 6%

People in work or actively seeking employment 31 mio 50.8%

• Women 14.1 mio 22.9%

• People with disability 7 mio 11.4%

• People of minority ethnic background 4.6 mio 7.5%

 Forms of Discrimination
Direct and Indirect Discrimination?
• Direct: unfair treatment based on: gender, race, religious belief,
age, sexual orientation, etc.
• Indirect: when a requirement applies to all, but in actual fact
places certain groups at a disadvantage

Institutional Discrimination?
…reflects open expression and tolerance of discrimination within an
organisation so that it forms part of the culture and formal /informal
policies and practices.
Examples:
• Dress codes that prevent people from practising their religious beliefs
• Use of word of mouth methods for recruitment
• Promotions based on informal recommendations
 The ‘Equal Opportunities’ Approach (1)
• …focuses on achieving equality through the application of principle
of “equal treatment” (‘social justice argument’)
• Equal chance (having the same chance for opportunities, e.g. in training, etc.)
• Equal access (having the same opportunity to enter an organisation)
• Equal share (having proportionate representation within all groups at all levels)
• …is dominated by use of anti-discrimination legislations

• Anti-discrimination framework is based upon

three principles (Fredman 2001):
– Neutrality: sameness of treatment to provide fairness
in workplace decision-making
– Individualism: judging people on their merits rather
than their social group membership
– Promotion of autonomy: freedom to exercise own
choices
 UK Anti-discrimination Legislation
• Equal Pay Act 1970
• Sex Discrimination Act 1975
• Race Relations Act 1976
• Disability Discrimination Act (1995, amended 2005)
• Employment Rights Act 1996
• Employment Equality (Sexuality and Religion and
Belief) Regulations 2003
• Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006
• Equality Act (2010)
 The Equality Act (2010)…
• …consolidated and replaced all of the existing
equality opportunities legislation, and introduced
some new elements
• …made it unlawful to discriminate against persons
in any of the “protected characteristics” (i.e. age,
disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or
belief, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, etc.)
• Provides exceptional conditions under which
discrimination may be lawful

Question: Under what exceptional conditions is

discrimination based on these “protected
characteristics” allowed?
 The Exceptions
• Section 83 of Equality Act (2010) provides exceptions and
allows discrimination based on “protected characteristics”,
where any of the “protected characteristics is “Genuine
Occupational Qualification” (GOQ)...
Examples?
– Gender GOQ in Entertainment (acting or modelling) industry
– Race GOQ in Entertainment, front-house jobs in restaurants, etc.

• Section 158 of Equality Act (2010) provides for “Positive Action”

that may involve treating a ‘group with protected characteristics’
more favourable than others.
✓ There must be genuine disadvantage, which the action
would eliminate or reduce
✓ It is “voluntary”
Inequality still exists ….. Despite legislations

“While we have made substantial progress to

fight these injustices over the past decades,
inequality still scars our society and holds
back too many individuals from realising their
full potential”
(Commission for Equality & Human Rights, 2007)
 Inequality still exists – Evidence
• Professional women are still blocked by “glass ceiling”
(Women & Work Commission Report 2006)
• The average male in an executive role earned a basic
salary of £40,325 compared to £30,265 for a female in
the same type of role. (CMI Survey 2012)
• 50 per cent of males at director level receiving bonuses
compared to 36 per cent of females (CMI Survey 2012).
• Disabled men earn 11% less than non-disabled men,
while disabled women earn 22% less than non-
disabled women (Equality and Human Rights
Commission)
 Criticism of ‘Equal Opportunities’ Approach
• Limited impact of the legislation.
• Inadequate in changing underlying attitudes (Liff, 1999)
• Emphasis on sameness reinforces negative and narrow
view of individual difference.
• Fails to reflect changes in an organisation’s environment
– Composition of the workforce population
– Different patterns of working
– Alterations to consumer markets.
 The ‘Managing Diversity’ Approach
• …focuses on ‘creating a working culture that
seeks, respects, values and harnesses differences’
(Schneider 2001: 27)
• Differences between people should be valued
and can be sources of productive potential
• Enables the organisation to obtain business
benefits from recognising individual differences;
• MD is often presented as a ‘business case’ for
tackling inequality
 Business case for managing diversity
HRM outcome/benefits
• Ability to recruit, retain and
motivate the best available
talent
• Reduction in the incidence and
cost of negative ER outcomes
• Employer branding – ‘employers
of choice’
• Creation of a ‘culture of
inclusion’ (CBI 2008)
• Source of employment flexibility
through creation of policies and
practices that are innovative and
adaptable
Wider business benefits
• Enhanced creativity and
innovation
• Responsive to the needs of a
wider and more diverse range
of clients, customers and their
needs
• Improved public image
• Enhanced ability to respond to
changing market demography
and to identify and take
advantage of new
opportunities
• Organisational sustainability in
different cultures ( particularly
for global organisations)
 Issues/debates in ‘managing diversity’
• Implementation issues
– How does an organisation ensure legal compliance to the
equality laws which are underpinned by the notion of
neutrality?
– How does a busy line manager recognise individual differences
but avoid feelings of inequity amongst his or her workforce?
– How can individual requirements be met when resources are
limited?
• Performance link
– Lack of empirical evidence demonstrating a direct link between
diversity management and performance outcomes
• Absence of clear definition of diversity management