The Value of Fair Treatment in the Workplace - Essay Example

Fairness is an important aspect of managing the workforce in contemporary organizations. With several federal, state and local legislations covering the need or fairness, many human resource managers have developed their unique strategies of implementing equality (Fratricova, & Rudy, 2015). However, given the present scenario, if the Supreme Court nullifies all laws pertaining to equal treatment of employees in the workplace, but grants the employees some leeway on how they can enact their own unique policies on how to manage equality, a huge Pandoras box is opened up (Mor-Barak, 2014). Many organizations will begin questioning their commitment of equality and fair treatment of employees. For instance, some employer may be forced to strike out their fairness policies in the hope that they will be able to save on costs (Fratricova, & Rudy, 2015). Alternatively, some organizations may consider investing a lot more in ensuring fair treatment of employees in the workplace if they believe in empowering, building, and strengthening their human capital to eventually enjoy the benefits that will be reflected in their performances.

Therefore, given such a scenario, it is important for each organization to assess its situation to determine the costs and benefits of investing in enacting policies that promote fairness and equality in the workforce (Anca, & Vazquez, 2007). As a consultant on this matter, my focus would be on helping the organization comprehend the ruling by the Supreme Court and its consequences on business operations henceforth. More specifically, I would focus on analyzing the situation to enable my client comprehend how fair treatment of employees in the organization is beneficial or costly, and thereby help my clients make the right choice that can ensure their successful operations in the wake of the court ruling (Wagner, & Hollenbeck, 2010).

To begin with, I would help my clients understand what fair treatment entails. Fair treatment in the workplace involves creating a workplace environment where every person receives equal treatment (Anca, & Vazquez, 2007). This involves enacting policies and strategies that discourage employee discrimination on any basis including sex, age, ethnicity, religion, culture, or race (Wagner, & Hollenbeck, 2010). Prior to this ruling, organizations were bound by the constitution, federal laws, and other regulations requiring them to desist from discrimination or unfair treatment (Anca, & Vazquez, 2007). However, after this new ruling, the court has opened a new era by stating that all federal laws on discrimination are unconstitutional (Fratricova, & Rudy, 2015). This implies that organizations are no longer mandated to comply with the established laws. Compliance with equality is now a matter of choice rather than legal requirement.

There are several benefits associated with complying with the federal laws on discrimination in the workplace. The federal laws on discrimination, which the Supreme Court has outlined include the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, and the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) of 1990 among others. These laws discourage or outlaw unfair treatment of employees based on their race, ethnicity, religion, or culture (Anca, & Vazquez, 2007). If an organization goes ahead to enact policies that ensure equality in the workplace, several benefits including having an engaged workforce, increased morale, employee satisfaction, enhanced teamwork, and ultimately improved employee and organizational performance (Kunze, Boehm, and Bruch, 2013).

When each employee feels appreciated, respected, and treated fairly, they will be bound to repay back the trust to the organization by working hard to meet their objectives (Kunze, Boehm, and Bruch, 2013). This will ensure the organization continues to be successful in the long run. In addition, fair treatment of employees in the workplace create more opportunities for the workplace to be more diverse, bringing together people of different races, cultures, nationalities sexes, and ages (Anca, & Vazquez, 2007). This is important for the organization because it facilitates informal learning, which stirs up innovation in the workforce in terms of solving emerging problems. Informal learning will occur when the diverse employees interact, share opinions, and learn from each other.

The downside of choosing to enact policies that promote fair treatment and equality sin the workplace include increased costs, time wasting, and delayed decision making. Implementing equality policies will require significant investment s in ensuring each employee in the workplace feels fairly treated (Kunze, Boehm, and Bruch, 2013). There is also bound to be time waiting in some aspects of the organization such as the recruitment and hiring processes (Fratricova, & Rudy, 2015). An organization is more likely going to spend most of its time looking for the right candidates who can make the organization more diverse (Kunze, Boehm, and Bruch, 2013). Furthermore, in cases where the organization has to take in the views of each employee in decision making to ensure each ones views are respected, the process may be slower.

On the contrary, disregarding the fair treatment policies will also have its own ramifications. After the Supreme Court ruling, disregarding such laws will no longer be illegal or unconstitutional; as the employer has been given the discretion. However, if an organization chooses to go in this direction, it is bound to encounter several benefits as well as challenges (Wagner, & Hollenbeck, 2010). Among some of the benefits of rejecting any tendencies of enacting policies on fair treatment include cost saving, time saving, and improved decision making (Fratricova, & Rudy, 2015). The organization can deviate its costs on other important aspect such as the production process, rather than focusing in fair and equal treatment of employees (Mor-Barak, 2014).

On the other hand, failure to enact policies and frameworks for safeguarding equal treatment of employees in the workplace has its challenges including decreased morale among the workforce, employee dissatisfaction, a disengaged workforce, and poor performance (Kunze, Boehm, and Bruch, 2013). A workforce where some individuals feel they are being unfairly treated is also bound to be disunited, thereby hampering the ability of such an organization meeting its objectives as a team (Fratricova, & Rudy, 2015). such an environment does not also promote team work, which is essential in meeting some of the organizations objectives as well as overcoming some of the contemporary challenges the organization may encounter (Wagner, & Hollenbeck, 2010).

Therefore, based on the arguments and analysis conducted above, I would recommend for my client to go ahead and enact policies that promote fair treatment in the workplace. This would result in creating a diversified workforce where people can work together as a team to achieve a common purpose. The benefits of implement fair treatment in the workplace far outweigh the lack of creating such policies and structures that can ensure fair treatment of individuals.

References

Anca, C.., & Vazquez, V. A. (2007). Managing diversity in the global organization: Creating new business values. Basingstoke.England: Palgrave Macmillan.

Fratricova, J., & Rudy, J. (2015). Get Strategic Human Resource Management Really Strategic: Strategic HRM in Practice. International Journal of Management Cases, 17(4), 149-155.

Kunze, F., Boehm, S., and Bruch, H., (2013). Organizational Performance Consequences of Age Diversity: Inspecting the Role of Diversity-Friendly HR Policies and Top Managers Negative Age Stereotypes. Journal of Management Studies, 50(3), 413-442.

Mor-Barak, M. E. (2014). Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Thousand Oaks : SAGE Publications.

Wagner, J. A., & Hollenbeck, J. R. (2010). Organizational behavior: Securing competitive advantage. New York: Routledge.