MGT 603 Operations Management: Fair Treatment at the Workplace

Answer:

Introduction 

The Value of Fair Treatment in the Workplace

Ethical treatment at the workplace is absolutely imperative if workers are to be valued and cherished at the organization where they are employed. Workers are not treated with any degree of fairness and who are discriminated against on the grounds of race, religion, ethnicity, or socio-economic status, will not feel motivated enough to give their optimum to the organization that has recruited them and this in turn will get reflected in their performance at work (Benschop, 2016). This report discusses the benefits that can be experienced by a large-scale nationwide retailer in prohibiting three forms of discrimination that outlined in anti-federal discrimination laws, analyzes the benefits of prohibiting forms of discrimination that are not covered under federal law, states the benefits of adopting hiring and promotion practices that are designed to diversify the workforce and evaluates the ethical considerations of not prohibiting voluntary the forms of discrimination that have been examined. The report concludes with some final recommendations on whether or not the retailer should ensure all forms of employee protection as discussed in this report.

1. 

The federal laws make it clear that discrimination that is carried out on grounds of race gender and disability are unacceptable at the workplace. If the owner of a nationwide retail business outlet decides to prohibit such forms of discrimination when recruiting employees, there are a number of benefits to be experienced upon doing so. For starters, such an employer will be able to utilize the talent and the potential that is offered by people belonging to different ethnic backgrounds (Blackstock et al., 2015). It is much better to hire a black man who is intelligent rather than a white man who may not be able to offer the skills and the expertise needed to run the organization successfully. When the employer recruits both men as well as women instead of only men, and gives both an equal salary, he gives the women population of the country the adequate representation they need at the workplace, gives them the opportunity to earn as much as the men folk and contribute to the workplace in a positive and nurturing way which women are known for. Even disability discrimination ought not to be practiced, not simply on ethical grounds but also because of the fact that disabled people are positioned to do the types of jobs that healthy people cannot, often due to their exceptional intelligence, thus benefitting the person who has employed them in the first place.

2. 

Employers are often reluctant to recruit pregnant women into well paying job positions largely due to the fact that such employees will require paid maternity leave over a considerable period of time, a time when they will be unable to offer the services that they have been hired for. However, there is a certain benefit associated with not discriminating against employees who are pregnant (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2014). For instance, a woman who is pregnant but who is hired anyway, and is given the same pay as that of her co-workers will feel motivated to stay on at the particular workplace, in this case, for the nationwide retail business, for as long as possible. She will feel grateful for the fact that she has been given paid maternity leave and will feel more secure doing this job than she has done any other job. Her desire to do her best for the company and give her optimum at her place of work is something that will be at an all time high. She will want to resume work at the organization as soon as the birth process is over, and the doctor gives her the release certificate that she needs in order to be able to resume her duties at work once again (Harvey & Allard, 2015).

3. 

There are quite a few benefits that are associated with adopting hiring and promotion practices that are designed to diversify the workforce. For one, a diversified workforce is one that will result in increased creativity. Work production will be far more innovative and creative when a diverse range of workers are employed by the nationwide retail business. Different minds will come together to create products and services of an amazing variety leading to good business in the long run. A diverse workforce will also lead to increased productivity and boost the reputation of the brand like never before. Fear and feelings of injustice will be reduced considerable and there will be an overall spurt in performance on the part of the employees (De Leon et al., 2014).

4.

Discrimination at the workplace is a practice that ought not to exist at all, as it goes against the basic tenets of human rights and human dignity. Every human being has the right to be employed and to get paid for the work that he does. If a person is disabled, belongs to a specific gender, or belongs to a different race than that of the majority population, this does not mean that he should be denied the opportunity to do the best that he can for the organization that he is looking to work for.

5. 

It is imperative and completely ethical to hire people from different ethnic or religious backgrounds or both, by the business, as this will not only lead to an increase in production and efficiency and even innovation at the workplace, but also it will make people from different backgrounds feel well represented at their place of work. Workers are likely to feel more included and feel more positively about an organization, where diversity is widely practiced and where tolerance is exercised towards people from different religions, cultures, ethnicities and of course gender.

Final Recommendations 

• It is imperative for the nationwide retail business owner to prohibit voluntarily the various forms of federal discrimination there are, especially discrimination on grounds of race, gender and disability. The employer should instead go all out to recruit women and members of the third gender into the organization, provided they have the skills and the expertise needed to do a good job. The employee should consider hiring handicapped people by designating certain jobs in the organization that are to be done by them only, giving the handicapped a chance to earn an income. Hiring people from different ethnic backgrounds will also help the business in the long run, making it more diverse, though no compromise should be made on the part of the employer where qualifications and experience is concerned.
• When it comes to adopting hiring and promotion practices that are designed to create a diversified workforce, efforts must be made to hire people from various cultural backgrounds and also hire people from different religions and gender, so that the workplace becomes more innovative, comfortable and unique in nature, standing out from organizations where diverse hiring practices are not exercised.

Conclusion 

A workplace is one that must always be ethical in its treatment towards employees, that is, the people who run the business in the first place. By making the workforce as diverse as possible and prohibiting any discrimination at the workplace on grounds of gender, disability and race, the owner of the nationwide retail business will ensure equal treatment and a good degree of fairness at the workplace, giving workers the motivation and the security that they need to do their jobs in the best possible way.

References

Benschop, Y. (2016). The dubious power of diversity management. In Diversity in the Workplace (pp. 35-48). Routledge

Blackstock, S., Harlos, K., Macleod, M. L., & Hardy, C. L. (2015). The impact of organisational factors on horizontal bullying and turnover intentions in the nursing workplace. Journal of Nursing Management, 23(8), 1106-1114

Carroll, A., & Buchholtz, A. (2014). Business and society: Ethics, sustainability, and stakeholder management. Nelson Education.

De León, J. A., Huynh, C. T., & Plaisance, B. E. (2014). DIVERSITY In THE WORKPLACE. Organizational Processes and Received Wisdom, 191.

Harvey, C. P., & Allard, M. (2015). Understanding and managing diversity: Readings, cases, and exercises. Pearson.

Martin, G. C. (2014). The effects of cultural diversity in the workplace. Journal of Diversity Management (Online), 9(2), 89

Taylor, S. G., & Pattie, M. W. (2014). When does ethical leadership affect workplace incivility? The moderating role of follower personality. Business Ethics Quarterly, 24(4), 595-616

Walumbwa, F. O., Hartnell, C. A., & Misati, E. (2017). Does ethical leadership enhance group learning behavior? Examining the mediating influence of group ethical conduct, justice climate, and peer justice. Journal of Business Research, 72, 14-23

Wang, Y. D., & Sung, W. C. (2016). Predictors of organizational citizenship behavior: Ethical leadership and workplace jealousy.Journal of business ethics, 135(1), 117-128

Zoghbi-Manrique-de-Lara, P., & Suárez-Acosta, M. A. (2014). Employees’ reactions to peers’ unfair treatment by supervisors: The role of ethical leadership. Journal of Business Ethics,122(4), 537-549