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How does diversity management differ from EEO or AA? Is not this just “old wine in new bottles”?

The EEO establishes the need for fair consideration in hiring, tasks allocation and benefits regardless of age, gender, race and marital status. In this case, discrimination of people in protected groups (classes of those considered vulnerable or minority) is criticized and prevented. Affirmative Action (AA) involves the laid standards of recruiting, promoting and hiring the minorities groups, women and physically challenged (Klingner et al. 168). In this case, AA focuses on uplifting the livelihood of the minority in the community as a social obligation while at the same time protecting their employment rights. Unlike in EEO and AA, diversity management focuses on increased performance and productivity through cultural, skills, knowledge and experience diversity. Also, while EEO and AA focus on fulfillment of external written compliance requirement, diversity management tends to focus on responding to the real-time organizational needs and customers’ demands (Klingner et al. pp.164-170). Finally, while the EEO and AA emphasize on recruitment, hiring and promotion, diversity management casts the net wider to include even employees’ benefits, education, and training. In this case, individuals belonging to dominant and minority groups are having a special position in the organization. For example, the white male in the case study will not have to leave the organization because the culture and skills he presents are important in the organization.

Based on differences, diversity management is more active than the other two since it covers wide concerns. In this case, it is more than just old wine in a bottle because the others concentrate on particular classes’ recruitment, promotion, and retention only (Klingner et al. 170). On the other hand, diversity management touches all personnel functions that determined effectiveness and productivity.

Why does diversity management require changes in our mission, culture, or values? It is just a personnel issue, right? Can we not just say we value diversity, and let it go at that?

Organizational mission, values, and culture have an important role in diversity management. These elements define the interaction between the employees despite their cultural differences. Also, these elements evolve according to the organizational needs and customer demands. In this case, diversity management is about adopting new interventions unlike in EEO and AA compliance, which struggles to adopt policies and programs (Klingner et al. 170). In this case, the values, mission, and culture of an organization will change with the evolution of clients’ satisfaction requirements and organization problems. As the task force learns new beliefs and ideas through experience, the ultimate result will be repeated success through new ideas, new assumptions, and new achievements that define a sustainable organizational culture. Besides, diversity management involves multi-cultural environment.

Diversity management can be of personnel issues since it is about accommodating the capabilities, skills, and beliefs a particular employee has over the other employees. However, integrating these differences in a common framework such as in a group avails a wide range of skills, capabilities, and beliefs each employee presents (Klingner et al. 170-171). Therefore, we can say we value diversity for it accommodates different beliefs and skills regardless of class, gender, race of physical deformities.

How will diversity management programs affect these specific areas of human resource management policy and practice: recruitment and retention, job design, education and training, benefits and rewards, and performance measurement and improvement?

Diversity management focuses on the availability of skills and beliefs that will increase the employees’ performance and productivity. In this case, managers will focus towards availing the required skills and culture through hiring recruitment and training (Klingner et al. 172). Also, it operates within the need for employee’s involvement and engagement, development and conflict resolutions. In this case, recruitment, retention, job design, and rewards will be planned based on improved motivation and participation, skills development, and overall productivity. Also, the measure of performance is based on the current problems requiring to be solved and the demands from the customers (Klingner et al. 172). The reason for this is that employees have different skills and capabilities (based on their technical or professional positions in the organization) that no standard measure can determine their contributions effectively.

In addition, diversity management will require the adoption of new strategies and diverse pool of candidates. The reason for this is that hiring strategy such as networking is insufficient in employing diverse people. Dudek (2) explains that networking hiring results to people of “similar minds” and therefore less diverse recruitment,ent. The training in organizations that values diversity management is highly valued. In this case, managers ensure that they train all employees to equip them with core skills in the company. Consequently, employees under diversity management appreciate being included and understood on the basis of their capabilities. More importantly, this training ultimately reduces bullying and harassment cases.

Finally, the job design and retention are influenced by the concepts of diverse management in that the organization ensures that it spread different skills and capability in all departments. In this case, as the manager's plan for the tasks, they ensure they include people not according to the office politics or discrimination but need to avoid clustering of like minds (Dudek 14-17). Even in proportion, employees will be happy because it will be based on hard work. Similarly, retention will be affected by customer and staff surveys

Will this put the AA office out of business? How will you ever sell it to them?

Clearly, diversity management will eliminate the AA from the business environment. While this can cause a dispute, the benefits of the diversity management are convincing. These include the availability of great skills and beliefs that are compatible with the organizational needs. Besides, diversity management will ensure that the rights of minority groups are protected while at the same time maintaining those of dominating class, race, and gender. For instance, the white male in the case study would have no need to leave the organization because his skills and beliefs will be essential.

In addition, diversity management stretches wider while at the same time maintaining the purpose of AA. That is to say, AA key concepts of discrimination prevention are valued in diversity management while the need for equality is approached in a highly effective strategy (Dudek 8). More importantly, diversity management is compatible with organizational change, unlike AA that tends to uphold no or less flexible rules. In this case, diversity management is more likely influence changes implementation than AA.

To successfully sell the idea, the manager should educate them on the scope of diversity management (including the benefits, motivation, hiring and training) as well as the advantages. In addition, it important to emphasize the flexibility and supportive nature of diversity management in implementing new strategies for improved performance and productivity while at the same time granting employees’ freedom to express their views in decision-making under diverse management

If we are going to do it right, what are the characteristics of a successful diversity management? Of an unsuccessful one?

Diversity management covers characteristics and functions beyond those related to the protected classes. In this case, the employee participation, compensation, training and motivation are added to the AA’s functions in recruiting, promoting and hiring. Diversity management advocated for continuous assessment and evaluation to determine the progress as well as the required change implementation. It coordinates the job planning, design, and allocation towards the effectiveness and productivity (Klingner et al. 169-175). Finally, it presents the diversity within workforce as organizational policy instead as compliance requirements. The unsuccessful diversity management will fail to recognize the skills and beliefs diversity, fail to assess and evaluate its employees and of course see race, gender and classes as the compliance call.

Case Study #3: Workplace Violence— “In Hindsight, We Could See It Coming.”

In hindsight, what do you think the City could have done differently (if anything)?

One role of a human resource manager is to prevent violence. However, as for the case of the City, the supervisors failed to prevent the death of the six employees. From the beginning, the city was aware of McCree’s behaviors but did not give him formal counseling even after their friendly and informal counseling failed to correct his behaviors. Consequently, his behaviors continued years after he was removed from work. The city should have counseled him formally and kept the documents for use in his performance evaluation.

The reason his violence progressed was that there were no records for his bad conduct (“Workplace Violence: Awareness and Prevention for Employers and Employees” 13). Thus, his performance for nine years revealed no problems. Also, such documentation would have helped the supervisor discover his drug problem, provided him with rehabilitation and ultimately prevented the death of the employees.

Also, the city should have recommended a rehabilitation process when they drug test came out positive, rather than removing him from work. The reason for this is that stopping him from work only increased his stress and depression, something that counseling and perhaps rehabilitation could have solved and enabled him to resume work reformed. Managers should be not only concerned about workplace environment but also the social and cultural factors at home that undermine employees’ performance and productivity.

Under the standard of “foreseeability,” do you think the City can be held liable for failure to take more timely action against Clifton McCree?

Under the concept of foreseeability, the city can be held liable for not implementing correctional actions against McCree. The city was aware of McCree behaviors but did not take any action to correct him or at least remove him from work for he was a threat to the organization and other employees. In this see, they “foresaw” the risks he posed to the others, and this makes them ignorant and negligent ("Res Ipsa Loquitur" 8-9). In this case, under the clauses cause-in-fact and proximate cause, the city can face the charges in the court of law (“Res Ipsa Loquitur" 8-9). That is to say, but for the city’s negligence, the killing of the employees should not have occurred. Under the proximate cause, the city becomes liable for the harm since they could have foreseen the potential of McCree’s conduct and taken a correctional plan.

Also, the blame befalls even some of those victims McCree killed for they were part of the City’s workforce. Together, all the employees did not want to follow due procedure by friendship. In this case, all the employees failed to take logical care to avoid or omit damages they could reasonably foresee.

However, the City can mount a defense by arguing that the threat McCree behavior had posed before the new policy was implemented was not foreseeable. In this case, they did not understand how the damage he caused was foreseeable. Their prompt actions after the implementation of this policy can support this argument as it supports. That is, they acted responsibly after the concept of foreseeability and policy requirements became clear to them.

Did the City’s prompt and responsible action (to discharge Clifton McCree under its new workplace violence policy) in fact increase the chance of workplace violence?

Although removing McCree from work increased his psychological instability prompting him to kill others, the city’s responsible action did not, in fact, increase the violence. The reason for such extent displayed by McCree was that his psychological state had deteriorated all those years the city failed to formally council him, and implement correctional action. Simply put, had the city addressed his conduct in the early years, McCree’s drug problem and violent behaviors would not have developed. In this case, the city’s prompt and responsible action stopped violence at work. If supervisor kept silent about it, McCree’s violence would continue to harm the other employees.

However, on another point, one can argue that the city actions increased workplace violence as evident by the other killing of two lawyers after the enforcement of the new policy. The reason for this could be the act of removing people from work instead of rehabilitating and taking other friendly correctional plans. Clearly, firing people from work would only aggravate issues as evident by McCree depression after he was removed from work. In this case, the city should have put McCree in an employee assistance program that can help solve the drug problem and psychological issues (“Workplace Violence: Awareness and Prevention for Employers and Employees” 12). Such program would enable him to resume work after recovery instead of exposing him to the public without any chance to reform or find a job.

Human Resource Management usually takes place in communities affected by the racial or ethnic unrest, alcohol or drug abuse, and disgruntled employees with easy access to weapons. What can HR managers do to lessen the chances of these factors resulting in workplace tragedies such as this one?

Managers can take several steps prevent violence at work in communities exposed to racial unrest and drug abuse. For instance, management can assess their employees regularly for their behaviors, document and report every violent incidence at work (“Workplace Violence: Awareness and Prevention for Employers and Employees” 13). It will help detect any behavioral change that can lead to the identification of drug use, depression, and stress cases among the employees (“Workplace Violence: Awareness and Prevention for Employers and Employees” 15). Also, managers can design and implement anti-violence programs targeting to educate and create awareness on violence prevention, dispute resolution and risks of aggressive and angry employees pose to the organization. Finally, the managers can develop and implement programs for correcting and rehabilitating violent employees without the ultimate impact of losing their jobs or position in a company.