Addressing Racial Discrimination In The Workplace: Recommendations From A Case Study Essay.

Provide a quick summary of that brief -

1. Describe why you are sending this report to the CEO, outline the news story, and introduce your report.

2. List the issues that will be raised and then address them in separate sections. 

Key Issues Highlighted in Case Study

The news story which featured online highlighted the classic discrimination which took place in the matter of Emma Lacy. In this news report, even though there was no direct or apparent discrimination, an indirect discrimination was indeed suffered by Emma based on her skin colour, which is enough to show that Emma had been subjected to racial discrimination (Maslanka, 2017). In this case, there were certain key issues which were highlighted which have to be effectively addressed by Tesco for making certain that there are proper discrimination management systems installed in place. The key highlights which were presented from this case study were the oral/ written discrimination based on the race, the unprofessional usage of the position in order to avoid the potential implications for such racism and the irrational termination based on the race of the employee.

In the following parts, the key issues which were highlighted through the case study have been highlighted. This has been done to draw some recommendations for XYZ, which can help the company in staying away from such incidents, and where they take place, in effectively dealing with them.

One of the key issues which were raised in this new story was the oral/ written discrimination based on the race. The news story highlighted that Emma had been subjected to oral racial discrimination as her supervisor deemed her as a “Black Matriarch” which clearly depicts the racist mind of the supervisor. It was pretty clear that the supervisor deemed her as racially unbearable and that she was willing to initiate legal actions against her supervisor for the unprofessional behaviour undertaken by him (Maslanka, 2017).

Racial discrimination has been defined by Offermann et al (2014) as a type of segregation which takes place in an organization and which is majorly based on the racial background or the skin colour of such individual. They further believed that such discrimination discourages the employees in a major way which also impacts their overall performance. In the opinion of Barnes et al. (2008) racial discrimination has major consequences, which includes having a negative impact over the physical, psychological, as well as, over the work outcomes. Wilson (2005) observed that the Black workers having same credentials as white workers were dismissed from their jobs 33% more than the white counterparts.  

Settles, Buchanan and Yap (2010) were of the view that at times, the employees who do not perform well are given an artificial lift so that their poor performance is overlooked. In their view, this results in the decisions regarding promotion and retention being impacted. The use of terminology like ‘matriarch’ or ‘mammy’ was seen as a major stereotyping against black women in the view of Andrew et al (2017). They also noticed that this resulted in mainstream negative discourse which is a kind of moral weakness. Fernandes and Alsaeed (2014) studied the discrimination against the African Americans in the workplace and they evaluated a number of studies where it was found that African Americans, especially the females faced a lot of discrimination at workplace; and even when it is prohibited, it is persistent.

First Issue: Oral/Written Discrimination Based on Race

The case study given matches the literature which has been stated here. Emma was racially discriminated and the verbal example of this was present in her being termed as ‘Black Matriarch’ which is a term often used in context of black women. Even though the discrimination here was such that she was given favour over white counterpart, but it was discrimination nonetheless. Even after being a banned practice, the case study shows that the company indulged in it (Maslanka, 2017).

The case study and the literature presented here acts as an important lesson for companies like XYZ, where the company needs to make certain that the appropriate actions are undertaken so that no case of racial discrimination takes place in the company. There is a need to take the literature seriously and ensure that no form of verbal or written discrimination takes place. Some key recommendations which the company needs to adopt include:

• Implementation of a proper training and development program within six months, so as to make the employees aware of not indulging in such practices and the consequences of such practice (Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2014).
• There is a need to influence the management for undertaking the proper decisions, so that they are not biased in any manner, be it positive or negative.
• The company needs to chalk out a clear anti-discrimination policy, which then has to be properly adhered. This should be done in the next three months and also should be circulated across the company, at all levels (Seiner, 2015).
• There is a strong supervision to be implemented so that the successful implementation of the policy is ensured and this needs to be done at regular time period.
• Where such a practice is noticed, the key personnel of the company have to be given proper guidelines to handle the matter in a just manner and to ensure that such incident is not repeated. The work of Fernandes and Alsaeed (2014) can be cited for reference.

The next issue in this case study was the unprofessional use of the position for avoiding the potential implications of racism. The case study shows how the supervisor referred Emma as ‘Black Matriarch’. The supervisor used his position to appraise Emma’s work in an unfair manner and gave her merits just because of her skin colour and did not make any efforts in critically evaluating him by making him aware of her shortfalls. This is an unprofessional behaviour which is unethical as it was born out of racial discrimination (Maslanka, 2017).

As per Delgado and Stefancic (2017), a major role is played by the organizational ethics in keeping the diversity of the company intact. It is significant that every employee works in an ethical manner in whatever actions they undertake and they have to be focused on being ethical at all instances. Dietz and Kleinlogel (2015) used five different moral principles to highlight the discriminatory treatment under employment as being an unethical behaviour. They highlighted utilitarianism, righteousness of actions, ethics of care, distributive justice, and virtuousness and even reached the theme that non-discrimination was a fundamental human right. Dike (2013) highlighted that workplace diversity plays a key role in the companies but where these are not managed in an effective manner, it could result in a low productivity for the company. And thus, there was a need for regular improvements to be brought so as to manage the diverse workforce in an effective manner.

The case study highlighted that the supervisor failed in managing the diverse workforce and instead of treating everyone as equal, discriminated against Emma on the basis of her race.  This case was an example of unprofessional behaviour rising out of mishandling of diversity as the supervisor racially ignored Emma’s criticism and avoided talking about her due to her being as ‘Back Matriarch’ by him. There is a need for the organizational policies to be uniformly applied on the diverse workforce which the supervisor clearly failed to do. The supervisor did not go to Emma and give her criticism for her poor performance and instead preferentially appraised her by getting her undeserved high ratings as a result of which she got a merit pay raise. This was not only discrimination towards Emma but also towards all the other employees who performed better or at par with Emma and who did not get the same high ratings (Maslanka, 2017).

Second Issue: Unprofessional Use of Position to Avoid Potential Implications of Racism

Based on the case study and the applicability of the literature on it, certain key recommendations can be chalked out for this issue. These are:

• XYZ needs to have an effective organizational policy and needs to adopt proper organizational practices so that it can be ensured that the workforce diversity is utilized effectively, instead of discriminating against one race (Canas & Sondak, 2013).
• There is a need for all the policies to be implanted in a uniform manner and each employee to be given equal praises and criticism where they are on same level, with same performance and every other factor being same, apart from discriminatory elements like race (Tchibozo, 2010).
• There is a need to provide visual and auditory training so as to develop a workforce which is aware about ethics and this should be implemented in a period of two months. Further, this training should be continued in every two months cycle.
• There is also a need for regular counselling so that the supervisors can understand the issues and significance of ethics and discrimination (Seiner, 2015).

The third key issue in this case was the irrational termination of Emma on the basis of racial discrimination which is not a new thing. There have been several instances in which the reason for termination is the race of a person. In the case study, Emma was terminated from her job, instead of being sent for counselling for working upon her issues (Maslanka, 2017).

Under the statutory laws of nearly all the nations, including Australia and New Zealand, when a person is terminated, they have to be given the reason for their termination (Hor & Keats, 2009). Where the reason is not found to be just, the disgruntled employee can sue the employer for unfair dismissal/ termination. Stainback and Tomaskovic-Devey (2012) were of the view that a white man is often terminated with black people just to avoid the charges of racial discrimination. In the United States, the Civil Rights Act, 1964 is applicable, which is a landmark labour law, which gives rise to civil rights and it outlaws any and all forms of discrimination undertaken on the basis of nationality, sex, religion, colour, creed or race of an individual (Gold, 2011). This act condemns the termination of any person on the basis of race. And so, the companies have their operations in US have to follow this statutory law and have to give proper reasons for terminating an employee (Hasday, 2007).

The study conducted by Giuliano, Levine and Leonard (2006) analysed race and gender difference as a key factor which affects the employees quitting, their dismissals and even their promotions at large retail companies. They found that these factors had statistically major impact over the outcomes of the employment particularly where there was a difference in race and ethnicity. The general impact of such discrimination was higher quitting and dismissals and lower promotions. However, they came across three cases where the results were opposite and a favourable treatment was given to the people of different race and ethnic groups. White (2015) was of the view that in order for the black people to survive in companies, they need to be twice as good as their white counterparts. And for even their smallest of mistakes, they could be fired. Couch and Fairlie (2010) also noticed a pattern of black people being terminated more often than the white people and even presented statistics to prove their point.

Third Issue: Irrational Termination Based on Race

The case study highlights how the supervisor discriminated against Emma. Instead of giving Emma the ratings based on her work, she was given high ratings for her race. Later on, she was terminated from the employment as she was a low-ranked employee. This would not be the case had Emma been given proper feedback by her supervisor instead of being given high ratings for poor performance. The termination of white male employee is not sufficient to show that the dismissal was not racial as the decision to fire Emma was charred by the earlier discriminatory decisions and was infected by it (Maslanka, 2017).

The issues highlighted above can help XYZ in drawing up an action plan based on the following recommendations:

• There is a need for training sessions to be undertaken on the legislations which relate to the discrimination in workplace and the same has to be done in a period of two months. Tesco is a global company having its operations in different nations, including United Kingdom, United States, Australia, India, Ireland, and many others (TESCO PLC, 2017). This makes it crucial for the company to up separate training sessions based on the statutory instruments and legislations which are applicable on the company based on discrimination.
• There is a need for the company to provide regular and timely work counselling with regards to race, religion, gender, age, cast, creed and other factors on which a discriminatory case can be made (Perlitz & Hutton 2010).
• There should also be a half yearly based appraisal of the employees, which is undertaken in an unbiased manner by a non-prejudicial supervisor or an anti-discriminatory panel.
• Lastly, there is a need for the company to implement diversity in their workplace by conducting regular and timely team meetings and also by organization some team parties and dinners so that the diverse workforce can interact with each other and merge with each other in a better manner (Seiner, 2015).

The present case study is an important guide for XYZ Company as it offers insights into the problems which can be faced by the company, if a similar case happens in this company. In this regard, the company needs to adopt the recommendations which have been stated here. And so, the Human Resource team of the company needs to work up on the policy and also to hold training sessions so that similar occurrences can be avoided and the company can respect its multicultural workforce. Where such an incident takes place in the company, the company needs to resolve this internally, in an effective manner, so that later on, such an incident does not disrupt the working environment in the company, apart from having a negative impact over its reputation and making the diverse workforce uncertain about the company treating its diverse workforce. The company should keep records of the workforce, particularly to ensure that people of different ethnic backgrounds or skin colour, are not discriminated against. Again, there is an utmost need to adopt the action plan drawn above.

To conclude the discussion undertaken in the preceding parts, the case study given shows a case of racial discrimination against Emma Lacy, where she was earlier given a preferentially favourable treatment on the basis of her race and was later on dismissed from employment as a result of her race. Apart from this, she was verbally discriminated by her supervisor whereby she was termed as ‘Black Matriarch’ and this supervisor did not Emma for her poor performance just because of her race. Tesco is a multinational company and has operations in different nations, as a result of which, it has a large diverse workforce. As a result of this, this case study becomes a key lesson for the XYZ Company.

Recommendations

The company needs to take stringent steps in making certain that the incident which took place in Tesco does not occur in the company. Further, the literature highlighted in the proceedings sections showed the manner in which black people are more than often discriminated against. Hence, the recommendations stated above need to be adopted by the company, so as to avoid the chances of such incident taking place in the company. There is a need for the company to analyse their present situation and undertake the recommend trainings and this needs to be done on regular intervals. This is crucial for the company to safeguard itself from not only unlawful activity but also from an unethical one. This would also help the company in creating a positive image in front of the different stakeholders as being a compliant and ethical company.

References

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