Running head: INTEGRATION OF FAITH
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Integration of Faith
Jerry Joker
Liberty University
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Integration of Faith
Diversity in the Workplace
Workforce Diversity introduction
In the modern corporate environment, companies are adopting into their core ethical
principles a concept called Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). CSR is defined as the duty of
that company to “operate in an honorable manner, provide good working conditions for
employees, encourage workforce diversity, be good stewards of the environment” and be active
in the local communities (Thompson, Peteraf, Gamble, & Strickland III, 2020, p. 274). These
CSRs are often promoted and used as talking points when describing a company to potential
customers or potential employees. While on face value, all these CSRs look like good ethical
standards for a company to take. However, to understand them further, one must study the
practice of what a company does with these CSRs. Within the confines of this paper, the primary
CSR that will be examined will be the one that is often the most controversial and politicized,
workforce diversity.
Workforce diversity is defined as the practice that all types of people are employed by a
company. Workforce diversity is the new label for the old practice of affirmative action. A recent
study demonstrates most people of all genders, races, creeds and religions reacted negatively
when told a company has an affirmative action policy, however, these same people surveyed
showed positive feelings toward a company stating they “support diversity in the workplace”
(Fugere, Cathey, Beetham, Haynes, & Schaedler, 2016). However, an interesting part of the
study, is that none of the participants looked at the company’s actual policy and in some
instances the policies were virtually identical but just titled differently (Fugere et al., 2016). The
negative feelings toward the term affirmative action are reactions from people’s personal
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experiences in seeing people getting hired, promoted, selected for admission into a school only
because of being a minority of race, gender, sexual preference, religion or other non-performance
factor. (Fugere et al., 2016). Recent studies of the affirmative action policies of workplaces and
universities found these policies hurt the people they were intended to help. For example, a
minority student is accepted into a specific university based on an ethnic or race box checked on
the application and test scores and academic history is ignored. That student is then put into
academic situations he was not prepared for and cannot meet the standards that are expected and
either quits or fails out of school (Badge, Epple, & Taylor, 2016). This is not ethical for the
school or the student, and furthermore does not demonstrate the ethical practice of treating
people equally based on skill or talent.
Bible’s view on equal treatment
The Bible demonstrates in many passages that people should be treated equally and not
be given special treatment. “If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your
neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted
by the law as lawbreakers” James 2:8-9 (New Internation Version). The same concept can also
be found in the Old Testament where it says, “Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God
create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another?”
(Malachi 2:10). It can also be found in the verse known as the Golden Rule where the Bible
states “The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater
than these.” (Mark 12:31). Finally, the Bible even says that God Himself does not have favorites
as it says “But glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the
Gentile. For God does not show favoritism” (Romans 2:10-11). All of these verses demonstrate
that God says all people are equal and should only be judged by their talents. As can be seen in
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the Parable of the Ten Minas in Luke 19:11-27. To modernize this, the Bible is demonstrating
that people should be judged by their talents and actions by their employers, not treated
differently based on race, sex, religion, or other grouping identifying trait.
Equality in workplace with Biblical perspective
Martin Luther King Jr. said that he wanted to “live in a nation where people will
not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character” (King, I Have a
Dream Speech, August 28, 1963). However, it is believed that in the fifty-six years since MLKs
speech, this nation is still judging people not by content of character but by race or another
identifying trait. However, MLK was applying what should be applied in today’s standards, a
Christian worldview of equality. A Christian world view of diversity in a workplace would be a
workplace where all people were hired based on nothing but their talents regardless of their race,
sex, or religion. This Christian worldview put into practice would automatically balance all other
identifiers if people were selected on their talents alone. Following this established Christian
worldview would be much more ethical and equal to all people and create a more harmonious
work environment for all. This Christian worldview put into the ethical practice would give
companies the perfect diversity CSR they could desire, all people treated equally.
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References
Badge, S., Epple, D., & Taylor, L. (2016). Does affirmative action work? Caste, gender, college
quality, and academic success in India. American Economic Review, 106(6), 1495-1521.
http://dx.doi.org/10 . 1257/aer.20 140783
Fugere, M. A., Cathey, C., Beetham, R., Haynes, M., & Schaedler, R. A. (2016). Preference for
the diversity policy label versus the affirmative action policy label. Social Justice
Research, 29(2), 206-227. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11211-016-0265-y
Holy Bible - New Internation Version
Thompson, A. A., Peteraf, M. A., Gamble, J. E., & Strickland III, A. (2020). Crafting &
Executing Strategy: The quest for competitive advantage, concepts and cases (22nd ed.).
Retrieved from mheductation.com/highered
