Hydraulic Parking System - Essay Example

Your Full Name: ------ Professor’s Name: ---- Subject: Hydraulic parking system Date: 11th February 2013 Workplace discrimination Barriers faced by disabled people in the workplace One of the barriers facing disabled people in workplace is direct and subtle discrimination in their work place despite having acts that strongly discourage this at the work place. Another relevant concern when it comes to the employment of people with disabilities is the actual situations in the workplace relative to their disability status, typically demonstrated in terms of reasonable accommodation. Employers and employees may treat the disabled colleagues in a different way from how they treat the other employees due to their disabilities (Ashley 713). Many employers and employees may openly show pity on the disabled persons, making them feel less fortunate and aware of their physical challenges. Indirect discrimination is portrayed through setting up company meetings that fail to consider the disabled employees’ abilities to attend or fail to put into consideration the communication challenges that may be a barrier to the disabled people. Failure to be provided with the necessary avenues for self-improvement is a great challenge in the employment areas of the physically disabled. This makes them feel socially neglected and it could amount to incompetence, as they will have a hard time in adapting to the ever-changing working environment as other group of employees (Roulstone and Warren 121-124). Managing diversity is becoming an important issue for organizations incorporating physically disabled into the workplace. In the past, diversity was considered a legal issue and discrimination against disabled was against the law. However, organizations have now realized that diversity can help build strong and competitive organizations by making use of the talents of a diverse group of people (Kirton and Greene, 125). Thus, modifications that allow an employee with a disability to demonstrate that he/she can perform the essential functions of a job are embedded in most of the disability policies. In practice the law provisions to maintain reasonable accommodation for people with disabilities in the workplace (Clark, Linda and Gribling 1058-1059; Barnes and Mercer 528). The first of these aspects include ensuring that there is an equal opportunity in terms of the application process. The second aspect that features reasonable accommodation in the workplace is enabling the qualified individual with disability to carry out the essential functions of a particular job (Williams and Smith 163). Equality and diversity management and discrimination of lesbians and gay men Discrimination and prejudice have been formed against various groups in the society. Racism, ageism, sexism or religious persecution though prevalent in the current society, significant measures have been adopted and implemented both socially and legally to ensure that these groups are accepted in the society. However, one group still endures unresolved and disturbing stigma on non-acceptance; not only within the UK but also worldwide, that is gays and lesbians. This is because discrimination against gays and lesbians stems from beliefs and values held by the society in relation to such social grouping. When an individual does not fit within this schema, the society labels him or her as deviant. They are in turn shunned and subjected to stigmatization, not just by the society but also by the job market (Noon 733). This implies that equality and diversity cannot help stem out this form of discrimination although the golden rule treat others as you would want them treat you offers an insightful platform in understanding how others would want to be treated. According to equal opportunity, policy all people should be treated equally regardless their race, culture, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, citizenship, and many others (Dickens 187). Diversity also requires accommodation of individuals with diverse differences. Cultures, for instance, have very insightful ideas and the more businesses embrace different cultures the richer they become in ideas and experiences (Kirton and Greene 183). The disparities that have shown towards lesbians and gays that are attributed to cultural and individual biases as well as day to day operations of corporations; implies that affirmative action policies may be required to remedy discriminatory practices and improve employment and promotion quotas of minority populations as opposed to equality and diversity management. It should be noted that if care is not taken, these policies cannot address the causes of employment discrimination or their effects and cannot therefore be viewed as a long term solution as for lesbians and gays. It is therefore prudent to accompany these positive discrimination policies with awareness creation strategies, geared towards uprooting any form of culturally rooted discrimination as well as ensuring that all social groups have the same access to resources and opportunities (Ward and Winstanley 197). Equal Opportunities policies and discrimination Equal Opportunities policies have failed to reduce discrimination because they advocate a special treatment for the minority groups, which is another form of discrimination to the majority. However, the ideal solution for addressing job discrimination is not by advocating for another form of discrimination but by ensuring that all populations are accessing resources equally. Promoting equal access to resources and opportunities creates an equal forum for economic and social competition. It is also prudent to note that to address cultural fuelled disparities; stakeholders must implement relevant laws and policies and accompany them with optimal awareness-creation programs (Woodhams and Lupton 209). The societal status of the women counts a lot in order for them to get an equal opportunity in the employment. Many men are afraid of the fact that women can hold the responsibilities of the biggest offices and get them to work. Most companies have established policies that regulate discrimination, which often manifests in many forms. Already UK laws consider discrimination as illegal. All people should be treated on equal opportunities. Employees should not be harassed based on their race, culture, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, citizenship, and many others. Policies against discrimination should be equally applicable in all spheres of work including training, recruitment, transfer, promotion and numerations. All employees want to work in environments where their dignity is highly respected. In a global market, employees have to be treated equally for businesses to be successful. Alternatively, outlining the required skills for a particular job prior to recruitment can reduce complaints and lawsuits against the company over discrimination. Furthermore, the working situations in several organizations from the hospitality sector have inducted diversity in their systems (Kirton and Greene 2, 125). The cultivation of a culture of diversity in these organizations has resulted in equal management of staff at the workplace. Most importantly, it has involved the uplifting of minorities through the opportunities for their growth. The entrenchment of structures that guarantee diversity and equality has been of great success in the organizations. A number of factors have boosted the trend of affirmative action. These include future projections, which indicate an increase in minorities in the potential workforce category. Trade Unions play in reducing discrimination in the workplace Labour unions strive to get better wages, benefits, and rights for the workers. These unions function collectively and use ‘Collective Bargaining’, which is a system in which the members work collectively to bargain with the employer for a change in the working environment. Effective trade unions helps employee to achieve justice, equal treatment with respect to the services provided, it also helps in achieving equal playing field between the employees and employers. Collective bargain is an effective method of articulating the grievances of employees because they find more strength in numbers. In addition, collective bargaining often encourages the less confident and submissive employees to seek redress (Wright 24). When employee’ rights are violated, access to redress can help in promoting amicable solution and also help in improving the performance of employers and employees but in the absence of a coherent system they would engage in malpractices without minding about other employees reactions. Trade union helps in the prevention of unjustified, unfair and illegal practices, which affect employees who become victims of any harm caused by a given discriminatory practice (Ledwith 186). This means trade unions can be involved to reduce discrimination when discriminatory employers are pinpointed that they selectively discriminated against an employee, a difficult feat to accomplish. Trade unions cannot ignore the prevalence and effect of employment discrimination (Greene, Kirton and Wrench 185). These disparities have been attributed to cultural and individual biases as well as day to day operations of corporations; implying that affirmative action policies may be required to remedy discriminatory practices and improve employment and promotion quotas of minority populations. It is therefore prudent to accompany these positive discrimination policies with awareness creation strategies, geared towards uprooting any form of culturally rooted discrimination as well as ensuring that all social groups have the same access to resources and opportunities (Heery 532). Unequal treatment and discrimination thrive best where people are not equally valid; i.e., if the “otherness” matters more before the professional or social skills. Trade unions have a social protection function for all workers regardless of ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. They ensure that companies hire people without discrimination, and without conditions like instability of employment because of lack of involvement of a union in such decisions. Respect acts of employees who exercise their rights in a proper way and should not try to discipline or discharge such employee (Benett 512-516). Works Cited Ashley, Louise. Making a difference? The use (and abuse) of diversity management at the UK‘s elite law firms‘. Work Employment and Society. 24 (Apr. 2011) 711-727. Barnes, Colin & Geof Mercer. Disability, work, and welfare: challenging the social exclusion of disabled people. Work, Employment and Society, 19(3), (May. 2005): 527-545. Benett, Tony. Exploring the potential of the union equality representative’. Employee Relations. Vol 32 (5) (May. 2010): 509-525. Clark, Linda and Maria Gribling,. Obstacles to diversity in construction: the example of Heathrow Terminal 5‘. Construction management and Economics, 26 (Oct. 2008): 1055 – 1065. Dickens, Linda. Walking the talk? Equality and diversity in employment‘, in Bach, S. ed, Managing Human Resources: Personnel Management in Transition. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. Print. Greene, Anne-Marie., Gill Kirton & John Wrench. Trade union Perspectives on Diversity Management; A Comparison of the UK and Denmark‘. European Journal of Industrial Relations. 11(2) (Jan/Feb. 2005): 179-196. Heery, Edmund. Equality Bargaining: Where, Who, Why?‘ Gender, Work and Organization. Vo 13(6). (Jun. 2006): 522-542. Kirton, Gill & Anne-Marie Greene. The Dynamics of Managing Diversity. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, 2010. Print Kirton, Gill & Anne-Marie Greene. The costs and opportunities of doing diversity work in mainstream originations. Human Resource Management Journal, 2009 19,2(Nov. 2005):159-175. Ledwith, Sue. Gender politics in trade unions. The representation of women between exclusion and inclusion‘. Transfer: European Review of Labor and Research. 18 (2) (Mar. 2012): 185-199). Noon, Mike. The shackled runner; time to rethink positive discrimination? Work, Employment and Society, 24/4 (Jul. 2010): 728-739. Roulstone, Alan and Jon Warren. 'Applying a barriers approach to monitoring disabled people's employment: implications for the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 ', Disability & Society, 21(2) (June. 2006): 115 — 131 Ward, James & Diana Winstanley,. (2006). ̳Watching the Watch: The UK Fire Service and its Impact on Sexual Minorities in the Workplace‘. Gender, Work and Organizations, 13, 2(June. 2009): 194-219. Williams, Steve & Derek Adam-Smith. Contemporary Employment Relations: A Critical Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. Wright, Chris. What role for trade unions in future workplace relations?‘ ACAS Future of Workplace Relations discussion paper. Sept. 2011. 27 Jan. 2013 Woodhams, Carol & Ben Lupton. Analyzing gender-based diversity in SMEs‘. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 25/2, (June. 2009): 203 – 213. Read More