Understanding and tackling gender pay gap from an ethical perspective

Background
In the UK regulations to publish data on the gender pay gap came into force, companies with over 250 employees were required from 2018 to publish figures on their gender pay gap.  In 2017 the then UK Prime Minister Theresa May called the gender pay gap a ‘burning injustice’. 

The gender pay gap is not about equal pay- the Equal Pay Act 1970, updated in 2018 ensures that it is unlawful employment practice for employers to pay less in wages, benefits, or compensation to members of a protected class for “substantially similar work.

The gender pay gap says something else about a company. It is a measure of the median wage – ie the difference between middle ranking men and middle ranking women. The simplest explanation of a difference is that there are more men earning more and more women earning less. But if people get paid the same for the same job why would this happen? This is your task to understand. You will be thinking about why it is that there are more high earning men in top positions, there are likely to be more women working part time and there are likely to be ‘gendered roles’ – when you think of a doctor who do you picture? When you think of a nurse who is it? Exactly. Why do all these things happen?

But – what should, could and can companies do about it?

Part 1
a) You should go to the government site noted above (https://gender-pay-gap.service.gov.uk/) and select a company you want to report on. Find its reported pay gap. You are now required to write a brief report to senior managers at the company of your choice from the perspective of an employee who has been asked to write a report for senior managers outlining the gender pay gap as an ethical issue . You will need to explore and write about a number of factors including - Why should the company be looking at this issue from an ethical perspective of ethics? How might this issue influence the public image of the company? What alternatives ways are there to think about a  business’ role in society? Who/what are the stakeholders impacted in the scenario you are reporting on and how are they impacted on? Where are there examples of business that act responsibly and ones that do not? You should illustrate this by including research you can find  e.g where is there research that shows good choices benefit companies and bad choices have a negative impact?. Finally you should conclude with some recommendations for what the company should do (here you may want to look at the reports noted above on ‘understanding your organisation’s gender pay gap’ and ‘Actions to close the gap’.

Part 1

This part of your assessment should be written as a report, but should be referenced in the normal academic way using Harvard citations and referencing.

For this part you should again use the case study – but this time choose TWO ethical theories (using ones we have looked at in class) and demonstrate that you can apply these to the case to show how your chosen theories lead you to a view on the ethics of the case. For example, if you applied utilitarian thinking to the gender pay gap question what would you need to consider and how might the issue look from that perspective? Or, what if you apply Rawls idea of social justice? NOTE – you do NOT have to use ‘opposing’ ideas, we are interested most in how you use theory, if, when you apply two theories they seem to give the same answer that is fine, if they seem to give different outcomes that is fine too. This section is written in a more academic style than the report.

Part 2
Part 2 is NOT related to the case study. This section requires you to discuss what makes an ethical leader and how you would, as an ethical manager, manage your business and/or others to a high ethical standard. 

You will need to think about personal ethics, about the conditions that bring about unethical organisations and practices, about organisational values and methods of compliance. This part can be written in a more reflective style, where the first person can be used.

Word Count

The word limit for this assessment is 3,000 words. This does NOT include any title page or bibliography.

You are allowed 10% of the word count (ie submissions can be up to 3,300 words_, submissions exceeding this will be subject to a penalty.

How the word count is used across the submission is up to you. A suggestion would be

Part 1
a)Approx. 1200 words
b)Approx. 1000 words

Part 2
Approx. 800 words

The exact proportions will vary and this is part of your challenge to write informatively and concisely across the required tasks.

How will we support you with your assessment?
• Assessment briefing Week 1 (lecture)
• Briefing material and guides in addition to the assessment brief (Please make sure that you read these)
• Dedicated seminar session on your formative assessment  - see LTAF for the weeks
• Prompt feedback session on your formative assessment and tutorial session to support the development of your summative assessment. 
• An assignment writing workshop in week 12
• Tutorial session to support the completion of your summative assessment in Week 13.

How will your work be assessed?
Your work will be assessed by a subject expert who will use the marking grid provided in this assessment brief.  When you access your marked work it is important that you reflect on the feedback so that you can use it to improve future assignments.

Assignment submissions
The Business School requires a digital version of all assignment submissions.  These must be submitted via Turnitin on the module’s Moodle site.  They must be submitted as a Word file (not as a pdf) and must not include scanned in text or text boxes.  They must be submitted by 2pm on the given date. 

Marking and feedback process
Between you handing in your work and then receiving your feedback and marks within 20 days, there are a number of quality assurance processes that we go through to ensure that students receive marks which reflects their work. A brief summary is provided below.

• Step One – The module and marking team meet to agree standards, expectations and how feedback will be provided.
• Step Two – A subject expert will mark your work using the criteria provided in the assessment brief.
• Step Three – A moderation meeting takes place where all members of the teaching and marking team will review the marking of others to confirm whether they agree with the mark and feedback. 

• Step Four – Work at Levels 5 and 6 then goes to an external examiner who will review a sample of work to confirm that the marking between different staff is consistent and fair. 

Step Five – Your mark and feedback is processed by the Office and made available to you.