Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Organizational Policy - Paper Example

Explain the difference between equality, diversity and inclusion

Equality is the provision of similar rights to individuals to access services such as health despite their protected characteristics. The protected characteristics, in this case, include age, religion, sex, race, gender, sexual orientation and disability among others.

Diversity is the acknowledgment, respect and embracing others regardless of the differences. It is a situation where people of different backgrounds such as race come together and value each other's different while learning from each other.

Inclusion is the situation where there is the focus on eliminating barriers that would prevent an individual with a specific illness or disability from being able to participate in the society. It also ensures there is accessibility to rights, resources, goods, and services.

Explain the impact of equality, diversity and inclusion across aspects of organizational policy

The issues of diversity, equality, and inclusion acknowledge that people are different in many ways. Human resource department usually deals with the human resources in an organization. This means it is the primary department mandated to deal with the implementation of equality, diversity, and inclusion. Some other issues that the department might deal with include discrimination, racism, and harassment. Research has shown that such issues have significant mental and physical health implications. Such effects include anger, stress, frustration, depression, nervous breakdown and blood pressure. The long term implications in an organization can include loss of motivation, restricted opportunities, and limited access to various services. Inclusion in the work environment results to the feeling of acceptance has implication on satisfaction and commitment to the organization.

The Human Resource Manager is responsible for dealing with pay issues in an organization. They usually use factors such as education, experience, and expertise and duties allocation to an employee to determine what an employee should be paid. In an organization, policies should be put in place for the protection of workers from harassment and discrimination. The policies usually stipulate the consequence to be faced by those individuals who do not comply with policies and they should be stiff and costly. The policies outline the process employees should follow when filing and complaint. There are other policies that can be instituted to prevent similar grievances. For example, the Equality Act makes it illegal to discriminate. There is also the Sex Discrimination Act which prevents other to discriminate based on gender or marital status.

Explain the potential consequences of breaches of equality legislation

Non-compliance with equality legislations is like taking away an individual's basic rights. In an organization, it would lead to loss of trust from the staff. A legal action can be taken towards the organizations. The issues of equality, diversity, and inclusion are represented in the Equality Act 2010. The Act was enacted in October 2010 and replaced anti-discrimination laws, and this made is simpler and eliminated inconsistencies. The development of this modern single framework which is clear and streamlined helped on effectively dealing with issues of equality, inclusion, and diversity. People are covered in this Act through the outline of nine issues which include age, gender reassignment, disability, race, marital status and civil partnership, whether pregnant or not and maternity, religious alignment or belief system, gender and sexual orientation. If an individual is not treated right, the manager is the best person to contact to provide advice and support. The issue of equality and inclusion is the legal responsibility of the employer. This means that the HR is an important source of support and advice on equality, diversity, and inclusion. Non-compliance would lead to legal action for the organization or the individual, and the outcome may be fines, penalties, and hefty compensation payments. Other issues that might result include bad press and dented reputation which is hard to rebuild.

Describe nominated responsibilities within an organization for equality, diversity and inclusion

The Director in an organization is mandated with the responsibility of ensuring the practices and policies supported the delivery and implemented of equality, diversity and inclusion policies. It is the responsibility of the HR people to administer and deliver the policies and procedures. They also collaborate with the director in reviewing, developing and updating the policies and procedures. They keep inventory of relevant information concerning equality, diversity, and inclusion. The managers also implement and enforce the various processes and procedures. This ensures that the workforce and clients know their responsibilities. The knowledge of the presence of an open policy of reporting abuse is important as it ensures inappropriate behavior is addressed and the staff is imparted with the relevant training. The culture of hiding things should not be encouraged since it can implicate on team morale since it can encourage discrimination. The HR are responsible for developing a culture ensuring that the staff is responsible for operating in compliance with the policies and procedures of the organization. This ensures that the rights of other stakeholders such as staff and visitors are respected. It, therefore, leads to the creation of an environment free from prejudice and discrimination.

Explain the different forms of discrimination and harassment

Discrimination can be described as the less treatment of an individual in comparison to another based on one or more of the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. There is also harassment which is the unwanted conduct and in violation of an individual's dignity and therefore creating intimidation, hostility, and degradation. These are covered and in the Equality Act 2010, and there is the description of the different forms.

The various forms of discrimination include:

Direct discrimination: It is the unfavorable treatment of a person to their face or in away the discriminated person has knowledge about.

Associative discrimination: It is the discrimination of a person or a family due to related to a person with an unpleasant history.

Indirect discrimination: This type is usually unintentional by can affect a person when following the stipulated policies and procedures. For example, if a meeting is set and at that time there is a Muslim who should attend prayers session means one is not being granted the right to religion.

Perceptive discrimination: It happens when an individual is a direct discrimination since there are perceived to have a certain characteristic.

Forms of Harassment

Third party harassment: It is a situation whereby an employer can be held liable for harassment by customers.

Victimization: It is the bad treatment of person since they reported or supported others after they made complaints or reports of discrimination.

Describe the characteristics of behavior that supports equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace

There is need to have an understanding and respect one's beliefs to support equality, diversity, and inclusion. There need be open communication in which team can discuss and explore the possible sources of prejudice. It is important to be open minded and honest concerning the feelings of equality, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace. The staff needs to acknowledge and respect the different cultures and beliefs that we share. There is the need for the management to be consistent in discouraging any behavior that is not in line with organization's policies and procedures.

Explain the importance of displaying behavior that supports equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace

By determining how everyone in a team should act, the team members are taught on how to behave and the standards and morals are set for everyone in the team and the entire organization. This ensures the organization is fairer and a more comfortable environment is created. This promotes cohesion within a group translating to better performance and creation of an environment that the team wants to be part of. Performance is better in a group that promotes equality, diversity, and inclusion. Working in such a team ensures that all members are included and working as a term. This helps in making others know behaviors that cannot be tolerated. For instance, disability is not discriminated in that the staff work as a team where some staff pushes less able bodied clients. Working as a team in which there is the promotion of equality, diversity and inclusion results to reduced staff turnover. This because not team member is discriminated and this leads to a feeling of belonging.

References

Equality and Diversity Inclusion Policy | Current Staff | University of St Andrews. (2017). St-andrews.ac.uk. Retrieved 21 June 2017, from https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/staff/policy/hr/equalitydiversityinclusion/Equality, Diversity and Inclusion | British Council. (2017). Britishcouncil.org. Retrieved 21 June 2017, from https://www.britishcouncil.org/organisation/how-we-work/equality-diversity-inclusionOswick, C., & Noon, M. (2012). Discourses of Diversity, Equality and Inclusion: Trenchant Formulations or Transient Fashions?. British Journal Of Management, 25(1), 23-39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8551.2012.00830.x