Effect of Workplace Discrimination

Aim

“To investigate the issues faced at time of managing gender equality in order to reduce workplace discrimination. A study on ASDA.”

Objectives

• To understand the concept of workplace discrimination.
• To evaluate the impact of high gender inequality over productivity of employees with regards to ASDA.
• To analyse different challenges faced by ASDA while managing gender equality.
• To recommend some measure for reducing gender inequality and improving productivity of company.

Research Questions

1. What is the concept of workplace discrimination?
2. What is the impact of high gender inequality on productivity of employees?
3. What are the different challenges faced by ASDA in managing and promoting gender equality?
4. What are some recommendations for reducing gender inequality for improvising productivity of company?

Literature Review

Concept of workplace discrimination

In the words of Taylor, (2018) workplace discrimination is defined as the difference which is being created at the workplace by the employer on the basis of gender, age, pay, income, knowledge, caste, race, religion, colour and many other differentiating factors. This existence of workplace discrimination is very popular within the workplace because of the reason that there are people of different qualities and temperament and all have different thinking relating to work. But in workplace discrimination also the major issue is the gender inequality which is very high at the workplace.

In opinion of Falk and Hermle, (2018) gender inequality is a concept which is prevalent in every business and company whether be it big or small does not matter. Gender discrimination is defined as the difference created on the basis of gender that is males are being given more preference than female employees in all measures whether be it work related, related to pay they get or related to the role they have in management and leading the business organizations. Struggling with your assignments?Order assignment help from our experts! 

As against of this Daly (2019) articulates that the discrimination can be on the basis of age as well because many companies and people feel that old employees are less competent as compared to the younger ones. This is majorly because of the reason that people have feeling that if the person has become older then they will not be able to perform their task in better way and will only increase the expenses of the company. Discrimination within the workplace is mainly based on the certain prejudices that occurs when an employee is been treated as unfavourably due to gender, race, religion, sexuality, maternity and pregnancy or the disability. In other words it means as an unfair treatment of the employees in term of unequal pay, incentives, caste, culture etc. It takes place when an employer or supervisor discriminates against employee with regard to work related decisions with an inclusion of such issues like hiring, promotions, firing and availability of the benefits. There are some state and the federal laws in a place for protecting an employee from the discrimination within the workplace. 

Impact of high gender inequality over productivity of employees

In the views of Polcuch, Brooks and Bello, (2018) the major impact of the gender inequality being practices by the company is on the productivity of the employees. This is majorly because of the reason that if the employees will be ill- treated then they will not have their concentration in the work. Thus, this will result in the decrease in the productivity of the employee and will result in overall decrease in the company’s profitability. Another important issue is the pressure which is created on the employees when discrimination is being spread over the employees then it creates negative environment and to sustain in that environment the employees goes under some mental pressure and this reduces their working capacity hence resulting in reduction of overall productivity.

But on the flip side, Van der Vleuten, (2016) states that another impact of gender inequality is that this will demotivate the employees as this discrimination will spread a negative environment within the workplace and every employee will not like the differences being made among the employees. Hence, this will also have an impact over the working capacity of the employees and in the end, it will result in decrease in the morale of the employees. Thus, if the employees will not be motivated then they will not perform in the intended manner. Hence, this will impact the overall productivity of the company and the profitability of the company will decrease.

Gender discrimination has a direct impact on the productivity of the workers as due to this they caused with mental issues. An individual who is been discriminated at the work might develop higher level of anxiety and are more prone to the depression and outbursts. This in turn results to adverse effect on the ability of the workers in performing their job or duties. Moreover, it increases the conflict at the workplace which shift the focus of the team from their respective duties to drama of office. It could fracture the team, with a single group siding with person discriminated over and one side for alleged discriminator.

This permeates the firm down towards significant activities which results fall in the overall morale and the performance of an enterprise. Thus, poor morale has the negative impact on the corporate culture and is directly felt by that of the customers. Furthermore, with an increase in conflict and the morale falling, productivity would diminish as well. As the business leader, managers must know that the employees who are motivated and comfortable at the work are the best performers. When the people try to avoid the negative behaviour of employees like experiencing or witnessing the gender discrimination, it could have significant effect on bottom line of business itself.

Employers must also be concerned with more than company's morale and the productivity at the time when it comes to gender discrimination. There are some legal issues which need to be considered, any sort of the discrimination involves gender equality which lead to an adverse type of legal actions. In case the company does not addresses discrimination actions and the accusations appropriately, disgruntled employee can bring lawsuit against company for not preventing or protecting their rights.

Challenges faced by companies in order to manage gender equality

With regards to the thinking of Leung, (2020) there are many challenges which the company faces in reducing gender inequality and promote equality among both the gender. The major challenge which the companies faces at time of reducing workplace discrimination based on gender is the cultural differences which is present at the workplace. This is majorly because of the reason that in different cultures there are different believes relating to working women and within company there are employees from diverse cultures. Thus, every employee at the workplace has different approach of treating a working woman differently.

In against of this Resnick, (2018) criticizes that major challenge in promoting gender equality at workplace is the acceptance of employees that women can work in competition to males. This is majorly because of the reason that most of the people has thinking that women are not much capable of working in corporate world. Hence, because of this thinking and mentality the people are not able to accept the fact that women work. Thus, this result in discriminating among the male and female and as a result of this the females are mistreated and provided with less opportunities as compared to males.

But in contrast to this Martinsson and Griffin, eds., (2016) states that another major challenge which is being faced by companies at time of implementing policies of gender equality is that many people think that women have less knowledge of the market and the corporate world and the are better at doing the household stuff. But this is not the reality and women also have good knowledge and education relating to the issues going within the market place. Thus, this also causes some challenges at time of implementing strategies of promoting gender equality at the workplace in order to decrease the workplace discrimination.

The challenges that are faced by the company in managing the gender discrimination within the workplace relates to conflict of ideas, culture and religion. Different people work with diverse backgrounds and culture so conflict in the decision-making and idea generation occurs because all the employees thinks as per their culture and everyone has different style of working. Thus, it becomes very difficult for the company to manage the gender inequality in effective manner or without any conflicts and therefore somewhere the discrimination within the work environment cannot be entirely removed. Company develops various strategies for managing the inequality but negative behaviour and attitude of the people leads to failure of such strategies.

Research methodology

Research type- Research type is defined as the method which is being used in order to continue the whole research in successful manner (Hennink, Hutter and Bailey, 2020). These are of two different types that is qualitative and quantitative research type. The quantitative research is the research which is based on the factual data that is numbers and figures whereas qualitative research is the one which includes descriptive data and the study of theory and models. The present research is completed by using the qualitative method as research wanted to do study of theory and not facts and figures.

Research approach- These are the process which are being used time of collecting the data and analysing and interpreting them. For this there are two approaches that is inductive and deductive where inductive is the one wherein patterns and observations are studied in order to draw some conclusion. Whereas in deductive approach the factual data in order to test the hypothesis being developed for the research topic. For the present study on issues being faced at time of managing gender inequality the approach used is inductive. This is being selected because of the reason that this assist the qualitative research to a great extent.

Research philosophy- These are the assumption on which the whole research is based and includes the different sources and areas wherein the research data is being collected. It is of two different ways that is positivism and interpretivism. In positivism the factual knowledge is more preferred and this is suitable with quantitative research and interpretivism is based on integrating human interest in the study. For current research user of interpretivism is made as this is more suitable for qualitative research (Bryman, 2016).

Data collection- This is the most crucial step for success of research because if data will not be correct and relevant then the research outcome will not be valid. Thus, for this there are two different sources that is primary and secondary wherein primary is the first-hand data which has not ben earlier used and secondary is the already used data. For this study combination of both primary as well as secondary is used because this provides a wide range of data and is better for the area of study.

Sampling- This is the selection of some samples on which the whole study is directed for better result (Lazar, Feng and Hochheiser, 2017). Thus, for the current study the sample of 20 employees of ASDA has been used and selected with the help of random sampling. This sample can be selected with help of two methods random and non- random sampling. In random sampling every part of population has equal chance of selection which is not in case of non- random sampling (Litosseliti, ed., 2018).

Data analysis- This is also a crucial task in completion of research in a successful manner because if the data will not be analysed in proper manner then the result will not be valid. Thus, for this researcher made use of thematic analysis because this help the researcher in presenting the data in more attractive manner with help of charts, graphs and tables. Need example assignments, Talk to our experts! 

Ethical consideration- This is also an important issue in the successful completion of the research as if ethics will not be considered then the research will not go in proper manner. The first ethical issue to be considered at time of research is signing of consent and ethical approval form by the respondent. This is because this gives right to the researcher in asking question to the respondent without any pressure. Another ethical issue to be considered is the data and its source this means that the researcher must use the correct and relevant data and the data must not be collected form irrelevant or unauthentic sources (Van de Ven and Poole, 2017).

Data analysis and interpretation

Theme 1: Maximum number of employees has been working for 12 to 18 years in the Asda company.

Interpretation: From the carried out research from 20 employees of the Asda company. Out of which 35% sought to determine the fact that, maximum number of employees has been working for 12 to 18 years in the Asda company. They tend to have high degree of knowledge according to which company carried out its operations in order to attain high degree of operational goals and objectives. This means company tends to recruit old employees who knows the in and out of the company.

Theme 2: Race, religion, colour, disability, gender and nationality are the key elements of workplace discrimination.

Interpretation: From the carried out research from 20 employees of the Asda company. Out of which, 50% sought to determine the fact that, race, religion, colour, disability, gender and nationality are the key elements of workplace discrimination. These factors in turn largely affects the way business works which in turn eventually leads to lower performance and growth of the company due to lower productivity of the employees.

Theme 3: Yes, maximum number of employees of the organization are aware about the concept associated with workplace discrimination.

Interpretation: From the carried out research from 20 employees of the Asda company. Out of which 65% sought to determine the fact that, large number of employees of the organization are aware about the concept associated with workplace discrimination. This is based on the certain set of prejudice which in turn tends to occur because of unfavourable treatment of employees on the basis of key factors and elements such as gender pay gap, religion, etc. of workplace discrimination.

Theme 4: Lower productivity of employees is considered to be the key impact of high gender inequality over productivity of employees in relation with ASDA.

Interpretation: From the carried out research from 20 employees of the Asda company. Out of which 35% sought to determine the fact that, high gender inequality in turn eventually leads to low degree of productivity associated with the employees. This in turn affects the morality of the employees which results in low degree of motivation. This eventually results in lower retention level of the employees. Other 30% said that, high gender inequality leads to lower growth of the organization which affects there business performance.

Theme 5: Strongly agree, Asda is incorporating effective practices in order to reduce workplace discrimination.

Interpretation: From the carried out research from 20 employees of the Asda company. Out of which, 50% (30%+20%) sought to determine the fact that, Asda tends to focus on effectively respecting various racial and cultural differences within the workplace. The management of the company focuses on familiarizing employees of the company with policies in order to act more responsibly. The company tends to condone harassment and discrimination in order to reduce workplace discrimination. Other 25% participant did not pass any valuable judgement related with this theme because they were not sure about their response.

Theme 6: Unequal pay scale is one of the top issue associated with gender inequality.

Interpretation: From the carried out research from 20 employees of the Asda company. Out of which, 45% sought to determine the fact that, unequal pay scale in turn is considered to be one of the top issue which is related with gender inequality. Male employees are paid higher than the female employees. This unequal pay gap to men and women who are working at same level  in turn demotivate female employees to perform with utmost accuracy within the organization. Other 30% said that, providing less growth opportunities to the women as compared to the men in turn is considered to be the major issue associated with gender inequality.

Theme 7: Workplace discrimination in turn affects the growth of the company by lowering employee's morale, productivity and increase in mental pressure and anxiety.

Interpretation: From the carried out research from 20 employees of the Asda company. Out of which 40% sought to determine the fact that, workplace discrimination affects the growth of the company by lowering employee's morale, productivity and increase in mental pressure and anxiety. These factors hamper the performance of the employees which in turn largely affects business operations and growth. This also leads to lower employee retention and in turn lower the better business outcomes and result.  Company who tends to have high degree of workplace discrimination and gender inequality in turn eventually affects the growth, credibility and reputation of the company.

Theme 8: Lack of knowledge among employees, is considered to be the key challenges faced by ASDA while managing gender equality.

Interpretation: From the carried out research from 20 employees of the Asda company. Out of which 45% sought to determine the fact that, lack of knowledge among employees, is considered to be the key challenges faced by ASDA while managing gender equality. Employees do not have complete knowledge and education about the work force discrimination which in turn hampers the business performance and productivity. Employees resisting accepting people of different culture in turn is considered to be as the key challenge in order to manage gender inequality. 

Theme 9: Determining the key laws associated with reducing workplace discrimination.

Interpretation: From the carried out research from 20 employees of the Asda company. Maximum number of employees sought to determine the fact that, Equality act, anti- discrimination law act, employment law, discrimination act UK, etc. in turn largely help in effectively reducing the workplace discrimination. Integration and compliance of these laws within the workforce in turn helps to reduce unfair treatment within the organization. These laws helps in protecting each individual from unethical components within the set organization in order to perform work with greater accuracy and productivity.

Theme 10: Recommendable measures for reducing gender inequality and improving productivity of company.

Interpretation: From the carried out research from 20 employees of the Asda company. Maximum number of employees sought to determine the fact that, the management of the company must in turn focus on effectively reducing the workplace discrimination by creating a diverse workforce and effectively educating and giving training to the employees in order to reduce workplace discrimination. This in turn helps in reducing gender inequality and improving productivity of company. It has been recommended that, the Asda must also effectively comply with the various government laws, regulations associated with discrimination within the company. The company must also imply some organization policies which in turn helps in reducing workforce discrimination.

Conclusion and Recommendation

From the above carried out study it has been concluded that, workplace discrimination in turn is considered to be as the prejudicial treatment within the organization. Workplace discrimination is mainly associated with the key elements of discrimination such as race, religion, colour, disability, gender and nationality, etc. Furthermore, this study also summarizes that, high gender inequality in turn eventually results in lower performance and productivity of the employees.  Gender inequality is a concept which is prevalent in every business which in turn is usually based on the concept of discrimination between men and women. High degree of gender inequality within any organization in turn affects the overall performance and productivity of the employees. This study examines that, workplace discrimination in turn affects the growth of the company by lowering employee's morale, productivity and increase in mental pressure and anxiety. It has been concluded that, respecting both the gender and providing them with equal opportunities helps in reducing gender inequality and leads to higher growth and productivity within the organization.Lack of knowledge among employees and the mental set back of the people in turn is considered to be the key challenge which has been faced by the ASDA while managing gender equality within workforce. Ask for  Dissertation Writing Help  from our experts!

From the above carried out study it has been recommended that, the management of the company must focus on reducing the workplace discrimination by creating a diverse workforce and by effectively hiring diverse people from different national and culture. This way it helps in better knowing the other person who belong to the diverse culture, religion, race and nationality.  The management of the Asda must effectively educate and give training to the employees in order to reduce workplace discrimination. Imparting education and knowledge to each employees helps in reducing discrimination within workplace. The company must also effectively engage with various discrimination laws and regulations such as Equality law, anti- discrimination law act, employment law, discrimination act UK, etc. helps in reducing gender inequality and improving productivity of company (8 ways to prevent discrimination in your workplace. 2017). Dealing with the complaints and discrimination confidentially and promptly must in helps in reducing workplace discrimination. Appropriately enforcing workplace policies and effectively reviewing the policies regularly leads to lower discrimination within workplace. Training each and every supervisor within the company helps in effectively responding to the discrimination within workplace. Timely responding to the inappropriate behaviour in the organization helps in reducing gender inequality within the organization.

Reflection on effectiveness of research methods

With the help of the research on issues being faced by companies at time of managing gender equality I learnt many new things and different research methods. With the help of this research I was able to learn formation of aims and objectives and how the whole research has to be completed on the basis of the research. Also, with the help of research I learnt that choosing the sample is most effective because if proper sample will not be selected then whole research will go in wrong direction. Thus, sampling need to be very effective and for also the sources of collection of data needs to be very effective.

This is majorly because of the reason that if the data will not be collected from good and authentic sources then the outcome of research will not be valid. By the completion of the research I was able to develop many skills like communication, time management, interpersonal skills, researching skills, logical reasoning and critical evaluation of different aspects and many other different skills. All these skills are helpful for me in future as this will be used in other researches as well. Also, other than research these skills will be helpful in personal life as well. It is so because without communicating no one can live and also time management is very necessary for every task.

Alternate research methodologies

From the whole study it is analysed that some different research methods could have been used by the researcher. This is majorly because of the reason that some different method must have provided more practical and relevant research outcomes for the study. Like for instance, at time of research type instead of qualitative the researcher could have used quantitative research. This is majorly because of the reason that this will make use of numbers and will provide more realistic results of the research. Also, instead of using the inductive approach the researcher could have used the deductive approach because these are more suitable with the quantitative research and will provide more clear view of the data. In respect of collection of data also the researcher could have more focus over the secondary source of data because this data has already been used and this will provide more better result as compared to primary source of data. Instead of thematic analysis, the researcher could have used the SPSS and other quantitative methods of data analysis. This is majorly because of the reason that this will provide a clearer view in relation to the research topic.

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