Sample HCCSSD205 Social Justice Research Report 3

HCCSSD205 Social Justice Research Report 3 Sample

Assignment Brief

For this assessment, you will be presented with 3 resources/articles where writers present their viewpoints on a separate social issue. Your lecturer will provide the links to these articles. They can be chosen from existing resources in the weekly Modules, or your lecturer may independently source other articles on 3 different social justice issues covered in the course. You are expected to:

1) Choose a particular opinion piece/article to engage critically with. Introduce and summarise the key arguments of the author. Justify your choice of article from among those available. What inspired you to engage with this particular article?

2) Engage critically with the key arguments raised by the author. Do you agree or disagree with their arguments? Is there evidence to support or contradict the views of this author? Are the views of the author highly controversial? Do you think the author is mis-informed or well- informed about the social justice issue? Are the author’s views divisive or constructive?

3) Present your own arguments on the social issue. What is your own take on the questions or issues raised by the author? What evidence do you have to support your views? Use research, evidence, case studies to present a compelling argument.

4) Present a convincing conclusion to the issue either supporting or critiquing the views of the author.

Other points to note:

- Double-space papers throughout

- Use APA 7th edition referencing guide

- Include a minimum of 10 relevant references

- Late papers will be penalised as per Torrens Assessment policies (10% deduction of final marks per day)

- Requests for extensions must be made before the due date of the assessment (see Torrens Assessment policies).

Solution

1) Introduction and Summarization of Key Arguments of the Author

The article of El-Amin delivers a comprehensive overview regarding the challenges and opportunities associated with the implementation prospects of effective DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) initiatives. However, the key arguments are included below:

- Systematic barriers: The existence of persistent lack associated with DEIB in organizations is mostly rooted in structural, organizational, institutional, cultural, systematic, and societal obstacles (El-Amin, 2022, p.213).

- Role of leadership to drive DEIB initiatives: Organisational leaders have an essential role in driving DEIB initiatives where they demonstrate a genuine commitment related to diversity and inclusion, allocate essential resources, and create a suitable culture to support diverse employees.

- Importance of data-driven approaches: Data-driven approaches are mostly effective in helping organisations identify the areas of improvement and measure the direct impacts of DEIB efforts deployed by them (El-Amin, 2022, p.218).

- Role of chief diversity officer (CDO): The CDO can be considered as one of the main assets of an organisation, especially for managing DEIB initiatives. This individual is responsible for eliminating barriers, strengthening the organizational culture, and promoting diversity & inclusion at all levels of the organisation.

Justification of the Choice of Article

This article has been selected here as it delivers a clear overview of a practical and actionable framework to improve DEIB in different organisations. The scholar, El Amin emphasized systematic barriers as well as the core need for effective leadership commitment to deal with the current challenges faced by most organizations to develop and implement suitable DEIB initiatives. It can be helpful for business professionals to gain an adequate perception of to what extent, leadership strategies must be modified to gain favourable outcomes. Apart from that, the strong focus of the article on the data-driven approaches for enhancing DEIB initiatives within organisations helps to enrich the knowledge of organizational leaders to use those approaches in the best possible way to handle the diverse employee base. The article also highlighted the importance of CDO in business firms to improve DELB perceptions and it can be beneficial for diversity officers to easily identify their influence on organisational betterment and commitment to promoting diversity. Hence, this paper has delivered the best possible understanding of DEIB initiatives and associated aspects that indicate the preference for this. Reasons of inspiration to stick with Article

One of the main reasons for sticking with the article is its potential for driving positive change in terms of DEIB initiatives within business firms. By getting a proper understanding of systematic barriers as well as the necessity behind strong leadership commitment, organisations can be able to understand the necessity of creating more inclusive and equitable workplaces. According to Vohra et al., (2015, p.354), inclusive and equitable workplaces are relevant to promote employee engagement, and innovation, attract a diverse talent pool, and increase employee retention by offering flexibility and a positive workplace culture. Hence, this type of in-depth valuable insight developed through the paper can help business leaders to deploy effective strategies for retaining their employees too for the long term. Furthermore, the emphasis of the article on “data-driven approaches” and the crucial role of CDO also provides practical guidance to implement effective DEIB.

2) Critical Engagement with Key Arguments

In the present era of globalization, it is necessary to maintain equality and diversity in the workplace so that employees from different cultures can work together and innovate new strategies to satisfy the stakeholders’ needs. As per El-Amin (2022, p.210), the lack of recruitment and retention of diverse employee bases due to the stereotypical mentality of HR managers led to inequality in the workplace. Moreover, leaders often discriminate against employees against their culture, tradition, race and ethnicity and it needs to be prevented so that organisational diversity can be maintained efficiently.

Figure 1

Factors based on which employee discrimination occurs (Self-developed)

The inclusion of a diverse employee base in a firm supports the development of modern work strategies that can assist employees in meeting organisational expectations. As per the research from secondary resources, it has been analysed that the increasing discrimination in the workplace does not provide equal opportunities for promotion to the diverse employee base. Moreover, employees felt dissatisfied in a workplace where their diverse needs were not valued and practised (Lee et al., 2021). Organisations, in the present era, often fail to develop a diverse workforce where open communication maintains transparency with employees regarding workplace policies and motivates them equally to perform efficiently. As a consequence, leaders should motivate the employees to improve their performance and work harmonically with each other to meet the organisational goals. As per the below image, it is analysed that lack of open communication and workplace discrimination leads to unstable relationships between employees and leaders for the assignment helpline Continuous conflicts between leaders and employees lower the organisational performance and it is necessary to prevent such inequality.

Figure 2

Relationship between workplace discrimination and employee-organization relationship (Lee et al., 2021, p.9)

According to Khan & Javaid (2023, p.90), racism and discrimination against culture and ethnicity demotivated the employees to stay engaged in the workplace which lowers the overall productivity of the firm. Therefore, it is essential to provide adequate training to employees so that they can be aware of the importance of cross-cultural diversity. Cross-cultural training could improve the cultural intelligence of leaders and encourage them to maintain inclusion and diversity in the workplace (Kour & Jyoti, 2022, p.2). Moreover, each and every employee must be assessed based on their performance and given an equal chance of growth irrespective of their age, gender, culture, race and ethnicity. As per El-Amin (2022, p.208), key performance indicators could be established to track employee performance so they can be given promotions. Analysis of skills and competencies of employees also provides ample scope for providing personalised training that can support growth without being discriminated against in the workplace. Senior executives and leaders of the human resource department should gather data about the performance of employees and analyse information regarding their skills and competencies (El-Amin (2022, p.216). Data-driven insights help senior managers make decisions regarding the need for training to improve the skills of employees. Data-driven analytics prevents any form of biased reports from leaders who tend to discriminate against employees based on their culture and race. Therefore, it has been analysed that modern technologies play a major role in assessing the performance of employees in improving organisational productivity which supports their promotion to higher designations. As an example, the use of big data technology supported the automatic processing of millions of data related to employee performance (Garcia-Arroyo & Osca, 2021, p.15). Big data technology can also be used to keep track of the skills and competencies of employees based on which they can be promoted in an organisation without discriminating against race, sex, gender and culture.

A diverse workplace has a higher potential of innovating modern strategies to satisfy the changing market trends. As a form of social justice, equality must be ensured in a workplace so that every employee can enjoy basic human rights and work in an organisation without being discriminated against by their cultural and ethnic orientation (Portocarrero & Carter, 2022, p.3). Therefore, it has been analysed that maintaining equality and diversity in the workplace provides job satisfaction to the diverse employee base and improves the overall performance of the organisation as well. El-Amin (2022, p.211) argued that there was a need to modify organisational culture so that diverse employees could feel valued in the workplace. As an example, the author focused on the use of the Lewin Change Management Model to make it necessary in a workplace that can include a diverse employee base and provide them equal opportunities for growth in their career.

3) Presentation of Own Arguments on the Social Issue

Based on the perceptions of my own arguments, I must say that further exploration of the concept of intersectionality is most needed here. Thomas et al., (2021, p.9), stated that intersectionality helps to identify unique identities within individuals such as gender, race, and others through which organisations can be able to create a workplace environment where everyone feels safe, welcome, and valued. Moreover, to address DEIB most effectively, organisations have to consider these intersecting identities for shaping the experience and needs of individuals (Hogan et al., 2023, p.5). Moreover, I have to state that power dynamics can play a significant role in shaping DEIB outcomes as it has more influence on improving organisational policies and practices. Apart from that, a sustained and systematic approach is also required to ensure a long-term cultural transformation within the organizations.

In my opinion, I believe that the maintenance of workplace diversity assists employees in staying loyal to a firm. However, as per the social identity theory, individuals often prefer to communicate differently with people who do not belong to the same community as themselves. It is the natural tendency of a person to discriminate against others who do not belong to the same culture, tradition and religion as themselves (Brown, 2020, p.6). Therefore, as per HR policies of Google, it is essential to provide cross-cultural training so that grouping of employees according to their culture and ethnicity is prevented in the workplace and diversity is promoted throughout the organisation (Gupta, 2024, p.59). The analysis of several research articles has helped me realise the importance of providing equal opportunities for growth and development to employees in order to satisfy them. I believe that education regarding cross-cultural areas is necessary for leaders and employees to collaborate efficiently in a workplace. Similarly, the stereotypic mentality of leaders to discriminate against employees needs to be prevented so that open innovation can be conducted by the diverse workforce to improve organisational performance.

4) Conclusion

Overall, it can be concluded, that in the present era of globalisation, it is essential to maintain diversity, inclusion and equity within the workplace. Moreover, organisational performance can be improved when a diverse work culture is maintained. Lack of equality and social justice lowers the company's performance and leads to employee dissatisfaction. It has been evaluated from the research that many times, the diverse workforce fails to perform efficiently due to repeated conflicts with the leaders who have a stereotypical mentality against employees of different cultures and races. Therefore, cross-cultural training can be provided to the leaders so that their cultural intelligence can be enhanced and they can prevent any form of discrimination in the workplace against age, gender, culture and ethnicity. On the other hand, it has been determined that big data technology can be used for tracking the performance of employees and providing them with equal opportunities for promotion in designation. Data-driven analytics prevents any form of biased reporting from the leaders that encourages equal treatment of employees in a diverse workplace.

References