Compatibility of Diversity Management and Trade Unions - Coursework Example

NАGING ЕQUАLITY АND DIVЕRSITY АT THЕ WОRKРLАСЕ University Student Id Course Id Introduction The human resources managers are looking for the best ways to make sure that the employees are made more productive through managing the diversity existing among the employees. They are coming up with the most effective strategies necessary for ensuring that the employees are motivated to work harder. Many organizations have managed to improve the productivity of their employees through coming up with policies governing diversity and equality management at workplaces (Aswathappa, 2005). Equality has been among the best sources of motivation as it ensures fairness in the management of human resources. The increasing globalization has led to increasing in diversity at the workplace as employees from diverse backgrounds are able to meet in workplaces. It is then important for the human resources managers to ensure proper management of the differences. Trade unions are also recognizing the issue of diversity management as it has great impacts on the achievement of the set objectives. The increasing diverse experiences of the workers and globalization has led to many changes in the workforce. As a result, trade unions are currently considering the diversity that is existing in the workforce (Brewster, et al, 2007). Trade unions are keeping pace with the changes taking place in the workforce technological changes are making employees increase their communication and movement. As a result, they are in a position to meet employees from different regions making them exchange their experiences leading to many changes that need to be considered by trade unions. This essay is exploring the extent of the compatibility of diversity management and trade unions. Compatibility of diversity management and trade unions Trade unions and diversity management are compatible as many trade unions are aware of the changes that have been taking place in the workforce. The labor mobility has increased due to the globalization and improvement in communication that has made employees from different ethnic backgrounds to meet (Köllen, 2013). The workers have different cultural orientation and practices that create difference among the employees that can result in organizational failure if not properly managed. As a result, trade unions are making the necessary adjustments to accommodate the issue of diversity in the workforce where the differences are managed to improve the performance of the unions. Diversity management of the workforce is considered important in the process of making sure that the differences among the employees are acknowledged and the necessary measures are taken to manage the differences (Amable, Ernst and Palombarini, 2005). Recognizing the differences existing in the workforce is important in the process of enhancing the management of the differences to achieve the aims of the trade unions. For instance, the primary aim of the trade unions includes improving the welfare of the employees and making sure that the employers provide the necessary working environment for the employees. The trade unions are then required to consider the trend that is taking place in the workforce to develop the necessary strategies that can help in achieving the set objectives. As a result, the trade unions recognizes diversity management as they have to manage the differences existing among the employees to create the necessary environment that can ensure successful management of the issues affecting the employees. The compatibility of the trade unions and diversity management can be demonstrated by the fact that the efficiency of the unions is primarily determined by the support of the employees (De Winne, et al, 2013). Trade unions are responsible for ensuring they address the issues facing the employees hence they operate as per the interests of the workers. Therefore, for the trade unions to receive the necessary support they must be in a position to offer solutions to the employees. Considering the increasing interaction of workers from different ethnic background there is the need for the resulting diversity to be properly managed. A diverse workforce is among the trends that trade unions need to consider in developing the necessary strategies for enhancing effectiveness and efficiency in the operation of the unions. For instance, the representatives of the employees in the trade unions are expected to consider the changes that have been taking place in the workforce to formulate policies that are able to achieve the set objectives. Besides, for the trade unions to ensure they meet the needs of the workers they are expected to engage the employees hence considering the diversity among the workers they represent (Pulignano, 2005). Diversity management in trade unions is important in making sure that the real and true needs of the workers are addressed hence making the services of the trade unions relevant. Trade unions that are not in a position to ensure enough and the necessary representation of the employees have considered irrelevant hence the need to make sure that trend taking place in the workforce is considered. The majority of the trade unions in various organizations usually consider the aspect of equality to be an issue in every organization but not the large multinational companies. Moreover, the trade unions are required to form an agenda which comprises of the both private and public enterprises, the non-profit sector and also the public services. In addition, the trade unions have the capability of increasing the role which is played by the social partners in addressing the issue of equality in both small and also in medium-sized businesses (De Winne, et al, 2013). However, the main approaches which are used by the trade unions are usually identified as the first approach is to look for the solutions in order to improve the situation of the groups that are disadvantaged. For instance, providing job opportunities to the ethnic minority workers and provide the necessary skills on workers through training. The second approach is usually the collective agreements whose aim is to eliminate any form of criteria which bring about any discriminatory effect in an organization. For instance, the age bars or even the age-based criteria (Pulignano, 2005). Moreover, the surveyed agreements comprised of various issues such as the; working hours which are flexible, recognition of the workers` religious practices, the creation of the equality plans for the ethnic minority, job protection for the old workers. In addition, a social dialogue which is effective always makes sure that there are more diversity measures and sustainable equality in the workplaces, in order to ensure that the workers get involved in the organizations` activities. Managing diversity The issue of diversity management has been great concerns globally as employees are able to share their experiences in their organizations. As a result, the employees are able to compare their working conditions with their counterparts hence forcing the trade unions to push for their employment terms and conditions to be at par with others. Considering the fact that the trade unions represent the interests of the workers are then forced to look for ways to ensure that the demands of the employees are addressed (Pulignano, 2005). Besides, the employee representation in the trade unions needs to consider the diverse experiences and values of the employees as failure can easily make the trade unions lose their focus. This makes diversity management important in enhancing the functioning of the trade unions while ensuring the interests of the employees are properly managed while ensuring equality in the management of employment issues at workplaces. However, the aspect of diversity can be used in different ways and therefore can actually refer to various issues concerning employee experiences. Some of these ways in which the concept of diversity is used include diversity acts as a neutral descriptor of the aspect of variation in a workforce. Another usage of the concept of diversity is that it usually denotes a specific policy approach whereby all organizations are supposed to put into consideration the workforce diversity so as to achieve success (Brewster, et al, 2007). Therefore, this makes an organization to focus more on the individuals as compared to the social groups and also position the concept of the diversity policy as the top managerial activity instead of engaging in unions. Also, the concept of diversity can still be used to refer to the theoretical approach which underpins the theories related to the disadvantage and also inequality which are actually different from the traditional liberal and the radical conceptions related to equality. The diverse workforce represented by the trade unions expects fairness in the way the unions addresses the issue of employees hence that can be possible through proper management of diversity issue in the workforce. However, even though the utilization of the concept of diversity overlaps, the usages can actually be separated in terms of views and also the theoretical conceptions concerning the diverse workforce. In addition, practically, there is actually no clear connection that exists between the theoretical understandings about the difference and the policy approaches (Pulignano, 2005). Moreover, in nowadays various unions do not have any problem with the concept of diversity being used as a descriptor, and therefore the majority of the unionists usually recognize the importance of representing the aspect of diversity within their members and also in the workforce. In accordance with the history, the unions have actually taken an approach which is more unitary as well as class based in order to identify the interests of workers and also their bargaining objectives. Besides, the idea concerning the common interests of workers in a given organization has been mostly used in establishing the aspect of solidarity among the workers. However, the idea about the common interests has greatly narrowed the bargaining agenda hence resulting in failure of taking into account the concept of diversity among the union members. In addition, the narrow bargaining agenda is usually described by the fact that the union structures for making decisions, in general, are not representative of the diversity for members, specifically of the minority members (Tatli, 2011). However, the importance of recognizing the plurality of interests among the union members has started to permeate into the union policy. Moreover, the approaches to the both equality and also the diversity are now being affected by the aspect of the multiple identities. For instance, a new union agenda for the feminist have been called for in order to focus more on the interests of the working class as well as the interests of the black women. In addition, an analysis was conducted which elaborated further about the concept of diversity whereby the individual lifestyle was recognized as part of the representation of the union (Godard, 2004). Moreover, despite the unions tackling the inequalities and also it`s weakened position, unions in various countries are currently comfortable with the equality agenda thus recognizing the difference elements. However, the majority of the trade unions usually appear to be reserved with the concept of diversity as their policy approach, because this is actually the area in which management seems as the driving force. In some situations, the trade unions can also reject the elements for the concept of diversity in case it is against the traditional equal chances. There are usually four major areas in the diversity management which are of great concern, and these areas include; the business case, individual emphasis, marginalization threat of trade union and also the negligence of the discrimination realities. However, despite the fact that there is a great decrease in membership in the trade unions, the union setting still put into account almost 45% of the workplaces which have more than 25 workers (Brewster, et al, 2007). However, in some sectors such as in the public services have actually high union membership as compared to the other sectors. Moreover, the collective responsibility usually gives the trade unions a lot of power which is largely independent of the membership militancy and also the unemployment levels. However, some of the trade unions do not actually have political legitimacy or even any institutionalized cooperation among its counterparts; thus, those kinds of trade unions are relatively weak as compared to the others. In addition, there is always existence of the gender segregation in the trade unions whereby the gender gaps in almost all the trade unions are similar. Also, there is the presence of the minority ethnics which have resulted into employment segregation in terms of race and ethnicity, whereby a higher rate of unemployment leads to low payment of the minority ethnic workers (Brewster, et al, 2007). Importantly, the legislation which outlaws the gender discrimination as well as the promotion of the equality between the men and the women in workplaces is actually long-standing in various countries. With concern to the race as well as ethnicity, the ant-discrimination legislation has been put in place, whereby the government has been providing the necessary resources for handling the issue of racism. Moreover, one of the reasons as to why the legislation was introduced was in order to settle down the problems of the industrial relations through cooperation. Trade union diversity management practices The human resource management comprises distinctive activities, processes and also functions whose aim is to attract, direct as well as maintain the human resources of a given organization. Moreover, the function of the human resource has rapidly been growing over the past years hence it is actually covering the entire management processes of people. The nature of the human resource management is usually viewed differently and also there are many varieties of the human resource practices which have been adopted by different organizations (Amable, Ernst, and Palombarini, 2005). In addition, some of the major practices for the human resource management are; the recruitment, training and also the management of the performance in a given organization. However, both the recruitment and the selection empirical evidence have made a suggestion that, the majority of the workers and also the managers usually view the diversity management as providing equal chances to the all people who are entering into the organization (Tatli, 2011). Importantly, the majority of the world-class organizations are actually effective in employing women and also minorities in order to reflect the rise in diverse markets and therefore attract new customers. Even though there has been the aspect of equality legislation and also a commitment to equal chances, there is a systematic discrimination which still takes place in the recruitment process. In accordance to the survey which was conducted by Tatli, (2011), it found that majority of the organizations made use of only one approach to equality instead of taking the measures which could make the climate of the organization to be more supportive. Organizations are required to make sure that, both the employment policies and also the practices establish developmental opportunities, provide mentoring to the disadvantaged groups, provide career planning and also reduce the work-family conflict. In addition, Avery, et al, (2007), made a proposal that the managing diversity should complement the strategies of the affirmative actions as well as the new policies of employment so as to address the issue of organizations failing to promote the ethnic minorities and also women into the high management levels. Furthermore, a large number of authors have proposed many techniques which can be used to improve the diversity management via the human resource management (Rayner and Lewis, 2011). A diversity management that is effective usually requires an inclusion culture which establishes an environment that nurtures teamwork, cohesiveness and participation. Additionally, a diversity culture should revolve around the organizational vision, business strategy and also the human resource management strategy (Parry, Dickmann and Morley, 2008). However, the establishment of the diversity culture usually requires a lot of commitment of both resources and the leadership. Furthermore, the measurement of the diversity management practices is always viewed to be the initial step in the diversity management of the human resource practices. However, the diversity capabilities of the organizations can be affected by the failure to pay attention to the documented policies (Colgan, et al, 2009). Moreover, the critical analysis of the recent practices of the human resource diversity which include the recruitment procedures, job criteria entry, performance appraisal and also the training programs are quite significant in all organizations. In addition, the periodic audits on the diversity management are quite necessary in the identification of the areas which need to be done improvement in order to manage the aspect of the diversity more effectively. In various countries, the trade unions have been fighting for fair employment opportunities and also against discrimination of the ethnic minorities. The representation of the ethnic minorities in the trade unions is still lagging behind. Therefore, there is a lot of efforts which are being made so as to bring changes to this kind of situation (Avery, et al, 2007). Through the trade unions, the representatives of the workers can influence the organizational climate in which the managers conduct their operations. In addition, majority of the trade unions usually provide training to the shop stewards and also other representatives in order to assist them to fulfill the set obligations for the union membership. Trade unions work towards making sure the differences among the employees are properly managed to ensure that the operations of the unions are relevant to the current workforce. This is an indication that the trade unions and the diversity management usually play distinctive roles. Conclusion This essay examines the extent to which diversity management and trade unions are compatible. The workplace diversity and quality are among the major factors that determine the working environment in any organization. The working environment is important in determining the level of motivation of the employees where the interests of the employees include a good working environment. As a result, trade unions are responsible for ensuring that the welfare of the employees is guaranteed through considering their interests (Godard, 2004). However, the diversity issues in the management of the workforce have great impacts on the ability of the trade unions to achieve their set objectives. 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