Check 1: Identifying and responding to discrimination
Task:Read the following scenarios and decide what type of discrimination occurs. Then, suggest suitable strategies that could be applied to ensure the problem doesn’t happen again.
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Scenario 1 has been done to get you started.
Scenarios
Scenario 1A man in his mid 50s goes to an interview for a job as a salesperson.The interviewer, a young man, says, ‘On your resume you haven’t included your date of birth. Do you mind if I ask how old you are? It’s just a standard question.’ The man replies politely that the advertised position mentioned nothing about age and that experience and sales skills were surely more important factors. He then goes on to point out his years of experience and to outline his sales skills. The man is not offered the job and he later discovers that a younger man, with much less experience than him, is hired.
The man takes the case to the Anti-Discrimination Board, which discovers that:
- the company’s standard policy in interviews is to ask potential employees personal questions, such as interests and age, in order ‘to get a better understanding of the person’
- the company hasan ‘unwritten’ policy of only employing sales staff younger than 30
- the company has no policies or procedures related to any form of discrimination.
1What type of discrimination is this an example of?
Pregnancydiscrimination
Religious discrimination
Sexual harassment discrimination
Disability discrimination
Carer’s responsibility discrimination
Age discrimination
2What possible strategies could the companybe asked to apply to ensure this doesn’t happen again—eg, create/revise policies, provide training to all staff, model appropriate behaviour, provide mentoring, organise staff gatherings to recognise and celebrate diversity, monitor staff behaviour?
The company could seek advice and information from the Anti-Discrimination Board to help them to change their policies and practices. They could change the standard policy of asking people their age at interviews as this discriminates against people because of their age. They could develop other policies to prevent all forms of discrimination and provide staff with training. Finally, because this ‘ageist’ attitude seems to be a part of the informal organisational culture, the company would needto keep an eye on such behaviour and provide staff with feedback.Scenario 2
A male in his mid twenties begins working part-time as a barman in a restaurant. The manager, a male in his late forties, often comes behind the bar throughout the night to help out. One night the manager starts talking to the barman about personal experiences of a sexual nature. At one point, hesays that he believes most men think about having a homosexual relationship at some time in their life. He asks the barman what he thinks. The barman replies he doesn’t really know, but that personally he has never thought about it and that he is happy in arelationship with his girlfriend of three years. The manager keeps pushing the topic and later in the night touches the barman. The barman asks him to stop. The following week the barman’s name is taken off the weekly work roster.
The barman takes the case to the Anti-Discrimination Board, which discovers that:
- the restaurant does not have a policy for this type of behaviour
- similar behaviour has happened beforeand, in fact, many of the waiting staff in the restaurant had bets on how long it would take the manager to ‘hit on the new guy behind the bar’.
3What type of discrimination is this an example of?
Pregnancydiscrimination
Religious discrimination
Sexual harassment discrimination
Disability discrimination
Carer’s responsibility discrimination
Age discrimination
4What possible strategies could the restaurantbe asked to apply to ensure this doesn’t happen again—eg, create/revise policies, provide training to all staff, model appropriate behaviour, provide mentoring, organise staff gatherings to recognise and celebrate diversity, monitor staff behaviour?
Click theshaded box below to type your answer.Scenario 3
A female employee who has worked for the same company for eight years discovers that she has cancer. A few months later she becomes sick and takes a few weeks off work. She informs the company of her situation and that she may need to take time off occasionally.A month later her employee tells her that the company is restructuring andthat her position no longer exists. Later, a friend who works at the company tells the woman that someone is doing exactly the same job she used to do, only the name of the job has changed.
The woman takes the case to the Anti-Discrimination Board, which discovers that the company does not have a policy to prevent this type of behaviour.
5What type of discrimination is this an example of?
Pregnancydiscrimination
Religious discrimination
Sexual harassmentdiscrimination
Disability discrimination
Carer’s responsibility discrimination
Age discrimination
6What possible strategies could the companybe asked to apply to ensure this doesn’t happen again—eg, create/revise policies, provide training to all staff, model appropriate behaviour, provide mentoring, organise staff gatherings to recognise and celebrate diversity, monitor staff behaviour?
Click theshaded box below to type your answer.Scenario 4
A female employee begins wearing a headscarf to workas part of her religious beliefs. Previously, she had worn a hairpiece, which in her culture was considered an acceptable alternative to a headscarf.Some staff members start making rude comments to the woman. When she discusses the matter with her supervisor, he suggests she go back to wearing a hairpiece, saying that, ‘the headscarf makes people feel uncomfortable’.
The woman takes the case to the Anti-Discrimination Board, which discovers that the company has very clear policies to prevent this type of behaviour; however, when a number of employees are asked about these policies, very few know about them andthose that docannot say what the policies are or where they can find them.
7What type of discrimination is this an example of?
Pregnancydiscrimination
Religious discrimination
Sexual harassmentdiscrimination
Disability discrimination
Carer’s responsibility discrimination
Age discrimination
8What possible strategies could the companybe asked to apply to ensure this doesn’t happen again—eg, create/revise policies, provide training to all staff, model appropriate behaviour, provide mentoring, organise staff gatherings to recognise and celebrate diversity, monitor staff behaviour?
Click theshaded box below to type your answer.Scenario 5
A man in his mid thirties organises flexible part-time work with his employer so that he can help take care of his young child. The man’s supervisoris unhappy with this arrangement and believes the man is getting favourable treatment.On the next project, the supervisor excludes the man from work he has done previously. Instead, he gives him work that is well below his experience. When the man asks the supervisor about this, he says, ‘This project is pretty important. I thought you might have to run off and change nappies.’
The man takes the matter to the manager.The manager is not clear about the company policy and asks advice from the Human Resources department. He learns that the company does have a policy of negotiating flexible working hours for parents, but, until now, only female staff had taken this option.
9What type of discrimination is this an example of?
Pregnancydiscrimination
Religious discrimination
Sexual harassmentdiscrimination
Disability discrimination
Carer’s responsibility discrimination
Age discrimination
10What possible strategies could the companybe asked to apply to ensure this doesn’t happen again—eg, create/revise policies, provide training to all staff, model appropriate behaviour, provide mentoring, organise staff gatherings to recognise and celebrate diversity, monitor staff behaviour?
Click theshaded box below to type your answer.Scenario 6
A woman who is expecting her first child in four months applies for a promotion withinher company. She has worked for the company for many years and has been promoted twice already. At the interview she is asked questions such as, ‘And how do you think you will manage work and motherhood?’ and ‘Will you be taking any maternity leave after the birth?’ The woman answers the questions but feels uncomfortable. She later takes the matter up with the management, who agree that the questions were not appropriate and were not in line with company policy.
11What type of discrimination is this an example of?
Pregnancy discrimination
Religious discrimination
Sexual harassmentdiscrimination
Disability discrimination
Carer’s responsibility discrimination
Age discrimination
12What possible strategies could the companybe asked to apply to ensure this doesn’t happen again—eg, create/revise policies, provide training to all staff, model appropriate behaviour, provide mentoring, organise staff gatherings to recognise and celebrate diversity, monitor staff behaviour?
Click theshaded box below to type your answer.Feedback
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