The first example the authors note is what they call the paradox of democracy on

Question

The first example the authors note is what they call the paradox of democracy on p. 3, that citizens have many civil rights in the conduct of public affairs, but employees experience precious few such rights in organizations. The note the irony in how of American culture stresses individualism, diversity, equality, and participation, while HRM emphasizes conformity, uniformity, inequality, and submission to authority.

For discussion this week, give it some thought and offer your own paradox in HRM and explain why is it paradoxical. An example that comes to mine would be the famous "you have to spend money to make money"- and the example would be costs associated with employee assistance programs, in-house childcare or other benefits actually create revenue for the organization by increasing productivity and decreasing employee turnover. Essentially, the money spent to keep employees and keep employees focused on their jobs is a money-maker if without these expenditures, the organization would lose more money in vacancies, recruitment and training.

Explanation / Answer

Before quoting another example, let us be reminded in brief about the Title VII of the Civil Rights. The Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, 1964 came in force on 02 July, 1964 establishing the civil rights and US labor laws. The most important Title governing the discrimination was the Title VII that made any employment discrimination illegal on the basis of gender, race, nationality, religion or color. Title VII of the act created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to enforce laws that prohibit discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or age in hiring, promoting, firing, setting wages, testing, training, apprenticeship, and all other terms and conditions of employment. Race, color, sex, creed, and age are now protected classes. Title VII is administered by EEOC. The commission or its designated representatives have the rights to administer the same.

However, coming to the example, in terms of the Civil rights connected to ‘Equality’, there is a paradoxical situation experienced here as well in Corporate world. For example, in terms of the overall employment opportunities given to both, the Blacks and the Whites, the condition of the Blacks, although improved from the past, still lags behind when it comes to narrowing the wealth gap between the Blacks with that of the Whites. There is still a persistent significant rate of the Blacks who remain unemployed in the market. On the face of it, Title VII is taking care of the inequality but in reality, there is still need to be a change in the mindsets of many of such employers and that of the HR members as well who put the obstacles before the Blacks without offering them a fair chance to sail through the employment process.  

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse T
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.