Module 05 Diversity Management Project - Final Proposal

Author Note

This paper is being submitted on September 14, 2016 for Managing a Diverse Workforce Class, Section 06 Online Plus, 2016 Winter Mid-Quarter.

Diversity Management Proposal.

Introduction

Many organizations currently face the problem of managing the many diverse cultures of their employees. It is for this reason that the topic of diversity management within the organization is currently essential to many organizations. Employers are bound to certain legal terms concerning diversity which they should ensure to abide by. A good example is the requirements that all employers should ensure that they do not discriminate upon people while selecting employees about their ethnicity, gender or physical conditions. The organizations that therefore do not abide by this rule and choose to discriminate are taken to court where they are forced to adhere to the law’s requirements (Cihon, & Castagnera, 2016). Currently, many organizations have been involved in court cases due to this issue. A good example is the Apple organizations, which is currently well recognized as a prominent company concerning the development of technological devices like the iPads and the iPhones. This paper provides a proper description of this problem existing within Apple and provides alternative solutions through which this organization can address the problem in question. Comment by Michael Heard: This installment was to be a memo addressed to the decision makers of Apple.

Discuss the problem

Discrimination and harassment in the workplace refer to the act through which a certain employee or an employment candidate of an organization is treated unfairly mainly due to the state of their his or her national origin, race, color, gender or disability among other factors. This problem is a major issue that has been taking place in the United States, bearing in mind that within the country there are a large number of people with extremely diverse cultures. Many cases have been held where many employees file claims that the main reason why they were denied a chance of obtaining an employment chance within the organization is due to their ethnicity or color, and not the issues concerning their qualification or ability to tackle the job that the organization was offering.

In Apple, Inc., the problem of workplace discrimination begun earlier, when the majority of the managements began preferring white employees over others. The organization has currently obtained the belief that the employees of an organization are the major determiners of its success. For this problem, therefore, the organization’s management has been striving only to hire the employees that are found to be the best and most appropriate for any employment position and vacant that the organization has. It is on this basis and the beliefs of the management of the organization that the problem of discrimination has fully affected the organization. Many incidences clearly reveal the problem within the organization. Comment by Michael Heard: Proofreading ends here. Be sure to review your work for errors and try using Grammarly.

The first incidence is when a certain lawyer that belonged to the organization made the claim that he was fired by the organization because he is a Muslim. The law requires that all employees and organizations should not discriminate on people about their color, gender or religion. It is due to this reason that the lawyer decided to sue the company for not accepting his religious beliefs (Roberts, 2016). Another case of discrimination associated with this organization is when a certain individual claims that he was denied promotion by the organization mainly because he was too old. It is definite that an organization should not discriminate due to the age of people, and thus the case was created by the organization (Claburn, 2010). The other case is when together with Dan Riccio, the organization was accused of having denied an African American individual promotion, mainly because he is African American. Although it is possible that the organization might not be guilty in some of these situations, it is also possible that ion some of them the organization is guilty. With this understanding, therefore, it is definite that a problem exists within Apple Inc. Relating to discrimination and unfair treatment of employees that should be addressed.

Alternative solutions to the problem

There are certain ways through which the organization can solve these problems. The first solution is formulating strategies that can aid the culture of the apple organization concerning hiring and discriminating employees to be changed and improved to ensure that all employees are treated equally without any form of discrimination. The Apple organization is a significantly large entity, with many stores. Each of these stores has their management and operates independent of other organizations, except the influence of the main organization’s management. The culture that the management of the main organization utilizes is similar to the culture that all these other organizations utilize. It is for this reason therefore that any discrimination incident found in any of the Apple Inc.’s stores is directly associated top the main Apple Inc. organization.

The culture of the organization concerning discrimination can be changed through the regular implementation of anti-discrimination practices within the organization. Since all the Apple Inc. component organization have adopted the culture where they prefer obtaining the most appropriate employee about their beliefs, these beliefs are the main factors that the organization requires to change to fully implement a change of the discriminating organizational culture. From the scenarios that have been reporting and the cases of the organization’s discrimination upon employees, the first belief that formulates the culture is that the elderly people are not capable of operating in positions of more responsibility within the organization. This belief is demonstrated by the case where an individual accuses the organization of denying him promotion due to the old age.

The second belief that the organization has that leads to the many discrimination cases is that employees who belong to the Christian religion should be preferred over those of other religions. This belief is clearly demonstrated by the case of the individual who accuses the organization of having fired him simply because he is a Muslim. This clearly shows that the organization believes that all individuals that are of the Muslim religion should not be preferred for employment within the organization. A change in all these beliefs could simply eliminate discrimination within the organization since, without the belief that old people may not be able to handle position with much higher responsibility for the example, the organizational management would not have any problem with promoting a fully qualified old individual to a much higher position in the hierarchy.

The second alternative, on the other hand, is utilizing people that the organization discriminates upon to demonstrate to the organization and all its decision makers that these individuals are highly capable of increasing value for the organization and enabling it to acquire gains. Like all other organizations, Apple Inc. aims at maximizing its profits through the utilization of highly skilled employees. In case the organization is thus able to understand that a certain employee is likely to increase its value and increase its gains significantly, therefore, it would not in any way refuse to higher the employee. In this alternative, therefore, employees like the African Americans whom the organization discriminates upon are utilized. The organization is convinced to offer them a chance, and they are thus provided with an option to which they utilize their skills to convince the management that they organization loses a lot for discriminating upon such employees.

The selected alternative

Among these two alternatives, I select that first alternative, where the organization should be convinced to change the specific beliefs that it has regarding discrimination. I select this alternative because to begin with, unlike the second alternative, it is easy to implement. The second alternative requires highly skilled employees that are discriminated upon by the organization to assist in proving that the organization’s discrimination is a major liability that makes the organization lose gains that it would have obtained in case it was not deeply rooted in discrimination. This implies that in case the employee selected to clearly demonstrate to the organization the abilities that employees like him or her have skills which the organization does not utilize, is not able to make a proper demonstration or lacks the required skills in the assigned tasks, the organization is not likely to obtain the intended view of the issue. For the case of the first alternative, however, convincing the group to abolish the discrimination beliefs with the presentation of proper facts is simple, which would easily result in a complete elimination of discrimination within the organization.

Discuss any follow-up to determine effectiveness of decision

The decision of implementing the second alternative is highly effective. Through it, the culture of the organization can change significantly and thus; as a result, the organization would manage to eliminate discrimination completely. With this understanding, therefore, the decision of changing the organizational culture by eliminating the beliefs of the organization that leads to discrimination is a highly effective decision.

Conclusion

Discrimination is a significantly negative issue within any organization. It does not only cause the organization to demotivate even its other employees that are not being discriminated upon, but also tarnishes the image of the organization and causes it to have many legal issues that in most cases end with the organization having to lose some money. All organizations, therefore, have the obligation of making all attempts possible to eliminate discrimination of any form within them. Apple Inc. is among the main organizations that are significantly affected negatively by this issue, but could utilize certain solutions to eliminate it (Cihon, & Castagnera, 2016).

References