Americans with Disabilities Act and Human Resources Management - Essay Example

The paper "Americans with Disabilities Act and Human Resources Management" is a delightful example of an essay on human resources. American with disabilities act is an extensive legislative measure that protects the rights of citizens having a major physical and mental impairment which hinders the performance of major life activity. Where this law appears holistic on the face of it, there are psychological aspects of its application that are ignored. This particular legislature protects the rights of Americans with disabilities in the provision of employment, utilization of public transport and accommodation facilities, it does ignore addressing the social stigma that these citizens may have to face and there are no potential guidelines to deal with coercive views of the general public. A recent example of it was published in a tabloid in which Smithsonian Museum had to face a lawsuit filed by a visitor.

The lawsuit was filed on the basis of a museum refraining two brothers out of whom one was on a wheelchair due to walking impairment, from using a flight simulator (Caraher n.p). a cursory analysis of this lawsuit indicates that the museum does not appear to be guilty as using such advanced simulation requires effective body functioning. However, the major part of this suit was a stereotypic behavior by the manager. It was found that the supervisor yelled at one brother, Jack who was in a perfectly healthy body state and was helping out his brother for the ride that Max (the disabled) brother can only use this ride if he can walk. An interesting part of this conversation was a presumption on the supervisor’s part that Max had compromised cognitive abilities due to which he did not even bother to communicate with him.

A critical analysis of this situation reflects on the lack of training given by employers to their workforce regarding the display of sensitivity and affection to disabled individuals. Most organizations have policies and codes of conduct in place that would ensure their compliance with ADA e.g. providing equal employment opportunities and facilitating such employees through the provision of utilities. However, this incident shows the need to introduce acceptance for disabled individuals in organizational culture.

There are various theories of HRM especially from the humanistic schools of thought that consider organizational culture and management’s principles to have a significant impact on behavior and ideology of workforces. Therefore, it is imperative that management and other organizational leaders act as role models in situations requiring the display of sensitivity and emotional intellect. Another important aspect of this issue is to make employees accountable for their actions and related repercussions on the organizational image. A cursory analysis may project this incident as an isolated event where employees’ actions do not reflect organizational principles. However, the display of insensitive behavior does indicate missing parts in organizational policies, code of conduct and employees’ training.  Where ADA protects the basic rights of disabled citizens, protecting them from socially insensitive behavior appears to be the responsibilities of employers, social groups and community representatives.

A comparison of this situation with clauses of ADA and its relevance to the Vocational Rehabilitation Act 1973 illustrates that the law mainly protects the rights of disabled individuals in the area of employment. As far as general attitudes are concerned, there is the limited application of the given legislature when two parties are not directly involved in an employment contract. The given situation gives rise to a need for a thorough law that protects the rights of disabled individuals in employment as well as general social scenarios.