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Volume 18 Number 2/3/4 1999
HOW TO ELIMINATE
DISCRIMINATION IN THE
WORKPLACE
by Ratsamy Phomphakdy and Brian H. Kleiner
The basic federal law against job discrimination is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII makes job
discrimination illegal. Employers cannot use race, skin colour, age, gender, religious belief, or national origin
as their basic for hiring; nor can these be used as the basis for promotions, dismissals, pay raises, benefits, assignments, leaves of absence, or any other employment relationship beginning from the pre-hiring interviews
to the post-employment stages. However, discrimination still continues to exist within the workplace environment. Scan the newspapers, listen to the news, browse the periodical, survey the literature, and talk to a friend to
find example after example of organisations and individuals faced with the effects of discrimination in the
workplace.
Organisational leaders must be able to count on the loyalty and top performance of all employees to compete
in the changing business markets. A workplace freed from the effects of discrimination is the kind of environment able to enter the business market competition with the potential to successfully grow. Hellen Hemphill
and Ray Haines described four basic areas of discrimination (Hemphill and Haines, 1997, 2):
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Isolated discrimination: Intentionally harmful actions undertaken by a dominant group member
against members of a subordinate group, without that action being social embedded in the larger
organisation or community context;
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Small group discrimination: Intentionally harmful actions undertaken by a few dominant group
members acting in concert against members of subordinate groups, without the sanction of the
larger organisation;
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Direct institutionl discrimination: Organisationally prescribed actions that, by intention, have a
negative impact upon members of subordinate groups which are routine actions carried out by
large numbers of employees guided by organisational norms and culture; and
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Indirect institutional discrimination: Practices that have a negative impact upon members of a
subordinate group, even though the prescribed norms and regulations guiding these actions were
established with no intent to harm subordinate group members.
Hellen Hemphill and Ray Haines also described six main types of discrimination (Hemphill and Haines, 1997,
pp.17-27):
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Disabilities Discrimination: Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) took
effect on July 26, 1992 to prohibit private employers, state and local governments, employment
agencies, and labour unions from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities in
job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation, job training, and in other
terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. For many years, the definition of disability has
been limited to what is visible such as blindness, the use of a hearing device, or a wheelchair. The
definition is beginning to include invisible disabilities such as HIV infection, AIDS, cancer, diabetes, and the mental and emotional illnesses. The challenge these various types of disabilities
bring to both the employer and the employee is recognised.
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Age Discrmination: The Age Discrimination in employment Act (ADEA) was passed in 1967
and amended later in 1978 and 1986 to protect workers between the ages of forty and seventy.
ADEA applies to all private employers who employ twenty or more workers. The federal, state,
and local governments, employment agencies and labour organisations made up of twenty-five
or more members are also effected by ADEA.
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Equal Opportunities International
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Sexual Harassment: Sexual harassment was first recognised as illegal discrimination in 1977 and
upheld by the Supreme Court in 1986. Although no threat is involved, unwelcome sexual conduct
toward another person is defined as sexual harassment.
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Race Discrimination: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act declared race discrimination illegal in
1964. Race discrimination affects all those who significantly differ in colour and culture from the
dominant white male class in the United States businesses. Race discrimination affects African
Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics, Jews, Native Americans, recent immigrants, and all
others who are not of the white European descent.
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Sexual Orientation Discrimination: Some existing data on employment discrimination against
gays and lesbians is beginning to emerge. Data emerged from sources such as individual complaints brought into court or before state human rights agencies, surveys done by civil rights organisations on employment discrimination and widely gathering evidence of violence and harassment directed at people because of their sexual orientation. However, little data remain available about the discrimination against persons who are gay or lesbians because the workforce researchers have not focused on the “gay question”.
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Gender Discrimination: Women and/or a member of an ethnic, religious, or racial minority are
protected by the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In addition to discrimination based on
race, colour, sex, religion, or national origin, Title VII was amended in 1972 to include discrimination based on gender.
Discrimination hurts everybody in its path. Every path involves the abuse of power. Discrimination diminishes human capital while creating a hostile work environment for the employers and employees. Discrimination can cost millions of dollars for business owners due to lawsuits that are supported by the different laws
passed, particularly Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Denny’s restaurants paid $1 billion in wages and
revenues for discriminating against blacks (Hemphill and Haines, 1997, 2). Over the past twenty-five years,
discrimination suits heard in federal courts increased 2,100 per cent (Hemphill and Haines, 1997,3).
Each case of discrimination continues to perpetuate myths, stereotypes, and biases about the skills of every
human being in the workplace. Discrimination misjudges the competency of the working individuals. Discrimination in the workplace destroys the spirit of employees, erodes the quality of the workplace, and undermines the American belief in “liberty and justice for all” (Hemphill and Haines, 1997, 28).
The problems in the workplace arising from discrimination are clearly evident to everybody. The ways to
eliminate discrimination in the workplace have not yet been fully identified, although there have been several
attempts made by organisational leaders and business owners to effectively deal with discrimination. Many
organisational leaders and diversity professionals are caught up in conflicting solutions for the elimination of
workplace discrimination. Most government agencies and over 60 per cent of Fortune 500 companies currently
engage in some sort of diversity training, ranging from one-time lectures, including videos, to three-day “experiential” training workshops (Hemphill and Haines, 1997, 3).
The initial purpose of diversity training was to help women and minorities adjust to the workplace culture
and to help the workplace adjust to them. Diversity training had the intention to increase human consciousness
and to reduce discrimination practices toward women and minorities. Training programmes hoped to eventually be able to eliminate discrimination in the workplace.
Helen Hemphill and Ray Haines concluded that diversity training programmes have failed due to several
factors, which were discovered through their discussions with over 500 organisation executives, managers, and
directors; conversations with more than 100 inside and outside diversity consultants and trainers; an in-depth
search of workplace literature; and examples of media coverage on diversity issues over a five-year span (1997,
5). The following is a list of what their resources revealed regarding diversity training programmes:
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Participants found many training programmes divisive, disturbing, and counter-productive;
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Diversity trainers were often inexperienced and ineffective;
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Minority groups; expectations were raised and then disappointed;
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Volume 18 Number 2/3/4 1999
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White males were stereotyped and blamed;
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There was reverse discrimination and reverse stereotyping;
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A nationwide backlash occurred against diversity training programmes;
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Sensitive and personal issues were brought out in hostile public settings;
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Workers experienced unnecessary anxiety and emotional upheaval;
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Increased distrust was engendered;
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Many workers were resistant to attending further diversity training programmes; and
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Little or no transfer of learning took place about differences to changing discriminatory and harassing behaviours.
According to Hemphill and Haines, the solution to discrimination in the workplace demands a strong definition
on accepted human rights practices and supportive workplace relationship skills training (1997, 57-58). This
includes:
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A zero tolerance policy for discrimination practices.
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Baseline workplace behaviour standards expected of all employees.
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Supportive workplace relationship skills programme training.
Four main steps are involved to achieve a solution that emphasises the concepts listed above. These steps will
define the ways to eliminate discrimination in the workplace. Company leaders must first stop denying the fact
that discrimination exists. Discrimination is part of the behaviour pattern so entrenched within the social structure that it frequently is an acceptable part of the company norm. Inappropriate body language, verbal slurs, devaluing, excluding, and negative labelling are all seen as part of daily social communication. But when targeted
toward a specific person or group of persons, the acts are considered to be some illegal form of discrimination.
Denial of these kinds of acts can no longer be tolerated. A zero tolerance policy must be enforced within the
workplace.
The second step requires the removal of the diversity label. The term diversity indicates negative experience
and a minority agenda to many employees. The business community offers no general agreement on the definition of diversity. Narrow definitions generally track federal equal employment opportunity law, which defines
diversity in terms of race, gender, ethnicity, age, national origin, religion, and disability. On the other hand,
broader definitions incorporate values, personality characteristics, education, and background characteristics
such as geographic origin and economic status. Most people accept the narrower definition of diversity. Some
companies are beginning to use the term differences rather than diversity to comply with the second step to
eliminate discrimination in the workplace.
The third step requires an organisation to focus on behaviour. Employees bring their technical and functional
skills to the workplace in order to fulfil the goals and objectives of the organisation. Therefore, organisations
must require employees to exhibit appropriate interpersonal behaviour skills. A focus on the acceptable and unacceptable behaviour practices in the workplace will help reduce discrimination in the workplace.
The fourth step requires a commitment to a plan of action. Just like every incident in life that involves a
change to improve a situation, commitment is the key to the elimination of workplace discrimination. A plan of
action includes the implementation of a top-down strategy, the realignment of the organisation’s vision with respect of the mission statement, and the integration of workplace relationship skills training into all business initiatives. Leadership modelling from the top level with the board of directors and senior-level management to
the lower-level management and employees is the top-down strategy. Top-down strategy is vital to bring about
the cultural change necessary to eliminate discrimination. Mission statements should be posted in highly visible locations to alert employees and customers alike of the intent to maintain a discrimination free workplace.
By integrating workplace relationship skills training into all company initiatives, all employees are not assumed to be at the same skill level. Everyone stands equal if employees are measured against workplace behaviour standards expected from all.
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Equal Opportunities International
Discrimination has a bad effect on every one and every place. A workplace can be polluted with discrimination. A careful attempt must be made to effectively proceed to eliminate discrimination in the workplace. A solution to the workplace dilemma demands a zero tolerance policy for discrimination. Companies must develop
workplace behaviour standards of acceptable and unacceptable practices, with a supportive and integrated
workplace relationship skills development and training programme. A course of correction is implemented
through the following four steps: Stop the denial, remove the diversity training label, focus on behaviour, and
commit to a plan of action. The action plan includes implementing a top down strategy, revisiting the organisation’s mission statements, and integrating workplace relationship skills training into all business initiatives.
Reference:
Hemphill, H. & Haines, R. (1997). Discrimination, harassment, and the failure of diversity training: what to do
now. (2nd Ed.) (pp.2-3, 5, 17-28, 57-58). Westport, CT: Quorom Books.
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