Inequality and Organizational Practice

This chapter aims to discuss the key elements of the first volume and highlight the main areas for exploration. It provides an evaluation on the meaning of hidden inequalities in modern organisations with particular emphasis on issues around work and welfare. It seeks to debate current organisational practices and provide a new thinking as to how hidden inequalities could be addressed to improve the quality of work and individual welfare in the workplace. This volume shows that more needs to be done to promote work and welfare and most importantly remove hidden inequalities from the workplace. The chapter provides a review of the volume’s structure, objectives and context with the scope to enable the reader to briefly assess the main issues covered in the first volume.

This chapter offers a critical evaluation of the British legal framework and how the law has been used to address discrimination in the workplace. The equality and diversity legal framework policies go beyond the employment and prohibit any form of discrimination in the workplace. The chapter provides a critical analysis of the current legal framework as we attempt to assess how organisations have adopted the legal obligations in an attempt to establish fair working practices. Analysis shows that there is a need to advance further our knowledge on the role of hard and soft laws and assess whether the current legal framework might create sources of ‘hidden’ inequality in the workplace.

This chapter explores the development of a mid-range theory that can be used in organisations when considering how to engage multiple stakeholders in a project that requires expert input. The case study presented here is concerned with a ground-breaking approach to integrate heritage, culture and social benefit through the medium of archaeology and heritage. The findings indicated that the ‘expert’ as a leader of the project created hidden inequalities in the team, preventing the longer-term social outcomes of the project from materialising. A realist evaluation (Pawson, R., and N. Tilley, The coming transformations in evaluation. Evaluation for the 21st century: A handbook. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1997) protocol was developed which created an ‘intervention’, enabling the non-linear complex interactions between multiple groups and multiple stakeholders to be observed and evaluated. This allowed for the political, strategic, organisational, operational and individual perspectives to be addressed making it a suited evaluative approach to this type of multiple stakeholder project.

Older Australians and other older workers around the western world are being encouraged to re-enter the workforce and work later into their lives. As the workforce ages, organisations will need to develop strategies to encourage commitment and engagement of their older workers. Mentoring is a proven learning and development intervention that can be utilised to achieve this strategic objective. Mentoring is an interpersonal relationship between a more experienced individual (the mentor) and a less experienced one (the mentee). Older workers may need mentoring to enhance their learning and development. Mentoring practice, however, is synonymous with older workers mentoring younger ones. Thus, older workers as mentees may be viewed as a dysfunctional relationship. In addition, age discrimination pervasive in today’s contemporary organisations presents hidden inequalities that face older workers requiring mentoring. Focusing on Australia but with a wider international application, this chapter explores obstacles to older workers participating in mentoring relationships. Challenges presented by age discrimination which results in negative stereotypes, including societal norms, implications of matching mentoring pairs and generational differences are explored. The chapter concludes with theoretical and practical implications and recommendations. As the workforce continues to age, mentoring the older worker is a timely issue that needs urgent attention and intervention.

Despite the growing support for equality, diversity and inclusion in UK organisations, the transgender population has received insufficient attention in diversity management, legislation and research. Within this population are individuals who identify as ‘non-binary’ or ‘genderqueer’. These terms are used interchangeably to refer to individuals who challenge the binary gender expression of male or female as a fixed attribute and see gender identity as fluid (Butler, J., Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. London: Routledge, 1990; Carroll, L., Gilroy, P.J. and Ryan, J., 2002. Counseling transgendered, transsexual, and gender‐variant clients. Journal of Counseling & Development, 80(2), pp. 131–139). Such persons have to navigate the binary systems of society and are at risk of social ostracism and discrimination both in and out of the workplace (Lorber, J., Paradoxes of gender. New York: Yale University Press, 1994). These inequalities are the focus of this chapter. This chapter considers constructions of gender and identity (Oakley, A., Sex, gender and society. Aldershot: Gower, 1972; Butler, J., Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. London: Routledge, 1990, Butler, J., Bodies that matter: On the discursive limits of “sex”. London: Routledge, 1993; Lorber, J., Paradoxes of gender. New York: Yale University Press, 1994; Fausto-Sterling, A., Sexing the body: Gender politics and the construction of sexuality. New York: Basic Books, 2000) which challenge the current views of gender, to better understand the increasing societal awareness of non-binary gender identities. Following this, the authors critically examine the legislative protections, diversity management practices and limited management literature surrounding people with these gender identities in order to highlight the hidden inequalities that exist for them in these areas.

The career, as a concept, has been a subject of thorough research both in the past and nowadays. Yet, it has never been as popular as it seems to be in modern times. While formerly considered an idea synonymous with the initially chosen work, today it is widely accepted as a key concept that defines an individual’s steps in the workplace, and often refers to his/her aspirations and objectives. Owing to employees’ desire for career progression and work development, workplace training is considered a crucial element in assuring that such desires could be met. However, it is of particular interest to examine whether both genders receive the same opportunities in terms of workplace training. Gender-based favouritism in workplace training can be described as a hidden element of the wider issues relating to gender inequality at the workplace (e.g. women’s career development and progression, glass ceiling and pay inequality). Therefore, this chapter offers a thoughtful review of the relevant literature and research to inform academics and policy makers as to how to address relevant concerns at the workplace successfully.

Transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) people represent a population whose professional paths are often undermined by incidents of discrimination and violence that tend to become marginalising in work environments, which then become—or are perceived as—unsafe and unwelcoming (Davis 2009). Although direct and overt inequality is still present, many issues arise from indirect or invisible discrimination that can greatly affect people’s well-being and performance. This chapter advocates the need for a step change in the inclusion of non-binary perspectives and for the embracing of more nuanced understandings of TGNC identities within organisations. The particular needs of this population of professionals are generally still overlooked, silenced or neglected in the workplace, and as such require more visibility. We thus provide a brief overview of TGNC issues in organisations in order to highlight the main visible and invisible sources of discrimination for TGNC individuals in today’s workplace to understand what practices, policies and procedures reinforce a gender binary environment. We also propose alternatives to how organisations and individuals can support the specific needs of TGNC people through the consideration of both relational and practical factors. Bringing together findings from existing research projects recently conducted in Italy and the UK, this chapter contributes to the field of diversity management through (a) the development of an enhanced understanding of how the mainstream binary approach to gender identity affects the inclusion of the TGNC people in the workplace in both visible and invisible ways, and (b) an exploration of measures based on relational and practical factors that organisations can implement in support of the TGNC population.

This chapter offers insights into the relationship between talent management and hidden inequalities. To achieve this, it explores the concept of talent management, and presents the significant role that diversity management, organisational culture, organisational justice and performance management play in retaining and managing talent in organisations by describing a number of hidden inequalities that exist in organisational life. In addition, it explains how online talent platforms can be an effective tool in addressing hidden inequality, and it summarises key challenges for talent management. Finally, aiming to help organisations and human resource departments to gain a deeper understanding of this relationship and reflect on the lessons learnt, it presents four case studies that describe situations where hidden and overt inequalities can lead to discrimination, and where the recruitment and retention of talent management have been challenged.

This chapter tells the stories of two managers who each manage an employee with an autistic spectrum diagnosis, revealing how critical their role is in shaping the employment experiences of those who work for them. It explores why organisational practices and environments can make it difficult to manage, and provides some suggestions for organisations to acquire and transfer the knowledge and understanding about autism that managers and human resource specialists need. It seeks to raise awareness around Asperger Syndrome and provide support to organisations on how they should inform policy making at individual and organisational level.

For attracting, motivating and retaining their female workforce, organisations in India have been utilising the discourse on the business case for gender diversity to adopt various women-friendly initiatives. The non-existent regulatory environment provides a unique opportunity to explore what the discourse on the business case for gender diversity constitutes in the Indian context. However, it remains unclear whether the business case for diversity is effective in improving the status of women employees in Indian workplaces. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with top management representatives across 31 different organisations in the Indian information technology industry. Thematic analysis revealed that organisations value gender diversity owing to the different leadership styles, and higher commitment and productivity levels of the female employees. It emerged that leaders are using stereotypes associated with women while delineating the business case for gender diversity. However, they are inadvertently denying women equal opportunities for growth and treating them unequally as the merit definitions continue to uphold masculine attributes, and this chapter shows that hidden inequalities continue to persist in a gender-neutral industry.

Within the Caribbean region, disabilities are largely understood from the perspective of the medical model, where physical or mental impairments differentiate disabled, from non-disabled persons. However, when considered from the perspective of the social model, many societal attitudes, norms and structures create barriers to the success of persons with disabilities. Whilst this may be less apparent to persons without disabilities or otherwise not associated with this community, these barriers are, in effect, hidden inequalities. In the currently available Caribbean statistics in relation to the youth demographic, there is a trend of a greater number of boys than girls with disabilities, whilst for persons over 60, more elderly women than men have recorded disabilities, which specifically related to lifestyle choices and chronic diseases. This chapter uses secondary research to explore and assess the current state of employment inclusion and exclusion of persons with disabilities from paid employment in the islands of the English-speaking Commonwealth Caribbean. The chapter discusses the challenges faced by persons with disabilities within the region and the role which employers, social organisations and the legislature play vis-à-vis the current status of persons with disabilities. It also examines the heterogeneity of persons with disabilities and the hidden inequalities which currently exist in relation to this group.

There is a significant lack of racial diversity at the top of United Kingdom (UK) organisations. For sustainable change, organisations need to have racially diverse talent pipelines. In this chapter we explore the barriers and enablers to black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) employee career progression, and provide recommendations to help drive employer action in tackling the inequalities of opportunity. We draw on Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development UK survey research conducted with 700 BAME and 590 white British employees, to examine the employee perspective of what is blocking and enabling their career progression, comparing views both within and between groups. We found that discrimination is still a real issue within UK workplaces. A fifth of BAME employees whose career progression to date has failed to meet their expectations say discrimination is a factor limiting their career progression—significantly higher than the 11% of white British saying discrimination is a problem. BAME employees are also more likely to say they feel they need to change aspects of their behaviour at work to fit in. Overall, seeing that other people like you have progressed in the organisation, a greater diversity of people at senior levels and mentoring was reported to be more important career enablers for BAME employees than for white British employees. However, our research shows that, within the broad ‘BAME’ grouping, different minority ethnic groups face different obstacles to career progression.