In the world of Human Resources
Management there are a variety of issues that arise on a daily basis. Every
company’s biggest asset is the people that it employs. That is why having a
strong and effective HR department is so important. Of the many current issues
related to HR, one that is starting to gain a lot of attention is income
inequality. Like with most things, everyone has their opinions as to why things
are the way they are, and things that can be done to reverse inequality. Some
feel that it is a policy issue. While others feel that it is a social issue,
and then there are people that do not think it is an issue at all. Income
inequality is an issue. It needs to be addressed, and change needs to happen so
we can end this epidemic.
First we should look into why inequality still plagues certain groups of people in the U.S today. Over the last hundred years American society has gone through a lot of major changes. The passage of the fifteenth Constitutional amendment February 3, 1870 prohibited the government from denying a citizen the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude (Parrott-Sheffer, 2013). Although this gave African American males the right to vote, many states enacted “Jim Crow Laws” to prevent them from voting, based on education, residence, and property (Parrott-Sheffer, 2013). So African Americans generally did not get to exercise their right to vote as a nation until the 1960’s. Women on the other hand, also had to come over adversity to gain their right to vote, but they did not experience the same opposition as the African American community. On August 27, 1920 the nineteenth amendment was finally signed into law, which gave women the right to vote (Levy, 2013). Obviously a significant amount of time has passed since these amendments were signed into law, but it takes time to change people’s perspectives, and a lot of issues that were present back then are still open wounds today. We as a nation still need to mend and heal these wounds that exist between the White and African American community.
The passage of the fifteenth and nineteenth amendments finally made everyone in the United Sates equal. In addition to these amendments there are also two acts that have promoted equal treatment for all people, they are the 1963 Equal Pay Act and the 1964 Civil Rights Act (Hill, 2013). In theory everyone is equal, on paper, but still today women and minorities are not being treated equally. According to the US Department of Labor's statistics, women’s wages in 2009 were about 80 percent of males (Hill, 2013). The wages for minority women are much worse. In 2009, the earnings for African American women were 68.9 percent of white men's earnings while Latinas' earnings were 60.2 percent of white men's earnings (Hill, 2013). Even though a gap remains between men and women's pay, the gap has been gradually closing since 1973 (Hill, 2013).
In today’s global economy the importance of diversity and multiculturalism is gradually growing. Diversity is defined as the differences between people (Dias, 2011, p 65). These differences can include race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, background, socioeconomic status, and much more (Dias, 2011, p 65). Multiculturalism goes deeper than diversity by focusing on inclusiveness, understanding, and respect, and also by looking at unequal power in society (Dias, 2011, p 65). If diversity is managed properly, it can greatly add value to the company. An article published in Business: Theory & Practice states that, modern social and economic trends shows that the demographic composition of the workforce is rapidly changing--population is aging; more women are joining the workforce, members of different racial and ethnic minorities are moving from country to country and changing the structure of the labor market (Senichev, 2013). As a result we can see that managing people with diverse characteristics is becoming a new challenge for employers (Senichev, 2013). Many organizations, particularly multinationals, realize that diversity is not an inevitable side effect of social changes, but a factor and reality, which can bring new perspectives and enhance the development of new products and services (Senichev, 2013).
Another aspect of multiculturalism is power and privilege. Multiculturalism looks at a system of advantages based on race, gender, and sexual orientation (Dias, 2011, p 65). Often time’s people do not realize their power and privilege that they have over another person, which is why sometimes it is called invisible privilege (Dias, 2011, p 65). Some examples of invisible privilege are race privilege, social class privilege, gender privilege, and sexual orientation privilege (Dias, 2011, p 66).
Through extensive research Dr. Nancy DiTomaso of Rutgers University, thinks that inequality is perpetuated through White favoritism rather than discrimination against Blacks (Smith, 2013, p34). Regardless of class, Whites’ networks are superior to those of Blacks, and most Whites are unaware of their privilege (Smith, 2013, p34). She writes that favoritism in employment, “job hoarding” among whites, is a key way in which Whites maintain their advantage and access to better paying and more secure jobs in the workforce (Smith, 2013, p34). African Americans are not being excluded from these networks, so there is no discrimination, but they are not being included either (Smith, 2013, p34). DiTiomaso believes that this is a public policy issue. She states, “We don’t have a consciousness of the extent to which our lives are segregated… This is a public policy issue because Whites have the most authority and the most money and are not starting from the same structural position as Blacks (Smith, 2013, p34).”
Lately in the news there have been stories of affirmative action bills that are being overturned. This phenomenon is alarming, especially when statistical analyst paints a different picture. Women and minorities are not equal to the white male, so why are affirmative action bills being overturned? White people with the most to lose economically (those without college degrees, former and current union workers) have the greatest opposition to affirmative action (Smith, 2013, p34). Not surprisingly, the wealthiest Whites are more supportive of civil rights because they are not in direct competition with Blacks for opportunities (Smith, 2013, p34). This same viewpoint was present in the Klansville USA movie produce by P.B.S. Lower income Whites were afraid that the Blacks were going to take their livelihoods away, so they fought to prevent it. They never took into consideration that African Americans are people too, and that they need a way to provide for their families. No one is trying to take anything away from anyone. Women and minorities only seek to be paid equally to their white male counterparts. If each is doing the same job with the same credentials and obtaining the same output, it does not make sense for the white man to get paid more.
Many people seek the “all American dream.” They want to be a part of the land of the free where possibilities and opportunities are endless. All too often people realize that achieving the all American dream is just that, a dream. An article published in the journal, Law and Contemporary Problems, titled “Race, Economic Class, and Employment Opportunity”, highlights many of the issues pertaining to income inequality (Jones, 2009). In the United States, income distribution is highly concentrated at the top, with the top 1% of the population earning more than 20% of all the income and the top 10% earing almost half of all the income (Jones, 2009, p 57). The likelihood of moving from the bottom to the top is small, especially for those of color. Despite some progress, people of color still tend to earn significantly less than their White counterparts. They also tend to be segregated into lower-paying and lower-status occupations (Jones, 2009, p58). Blacks tend to be unemployed at a substantially higher rate than Whites, and they are twice as likely to be impoverished as Whites (Jones, 2009, p58). “These facts indicate that a sizable portion of the U.S. population exists in a state of frightening vulnerability, a condition that heightens during times of economic transformation, downturn, or recession (Jones, 2009, p58).”
Having to start from the bottom can lead to a very long journey to the top. Which brings up the next question, what can be done to help those who are struggling to get to the top? An article published in the journal, Governing, titled “The Big Squeeze,” gives a couple of suggestions as to what could be done in order to get rid of income inequality in America. In this article it suggests that cities could make more affordable housing and raise the minimum wage (Maciaq, 2014, p 56). Also a bigger focus could be put on investing in education by making job training, GED completion courses and higher education more readily available (Maciaq, 2014, p 56). This investment in employees is not only beneficial to the individual person; it also would positively affect society. The Human Resources Management department is responsible for the training and development of its employees. Training and development entails helping new employees develop skills needed for their jobs and helping current employees grow their skills (Dias, 2011, p39).
An article titled “Wage Dispersion as Key Factor for Changing Personal Income Distribution” published in; Psychosociolgical Issues in Human Resources Management offers a different perspective at ways to stop inequality (Herr, 2014). According to this article income inequality is a social problem. Market-driven wage dispersion is a central feature of income inequality (Herr, 2014, p28). It states that less attention should be focused on the technological changes and insufficient investment in education to explain increasing wage dispersion, and rather more attention needs to be shed on the other structural, social, and demand-led causes (Herr, 2014, p28). Namely, Keynesian theory suggests that wage dispersion is a result of weaker trade union power, a lack of wage bargaining coordination and an erosion of labor market institutions (Herr, 2014, p28). In the United States, 11.9% of people belong to a union, down from 20.1 percent in 1983 (Dias, 2011, p 393). The decline in union memberships can be attributed to many possible factors, including globalization, the want for individualism instead of collectivism, corruption, and company’s unwillingness to work with unions (Dias, 2011, p397). This article like the one before believes that a higher minimum wage would also help to improve income inequality, but unlike the article before it suggests that a change in tax policy could also help (Herr, 2014, p28).
The Human Resource Department has a lot of influence over activities that go on within a business. They are also responsible for some of the most crucial aspects of business. They are not only in charge of hiring and firing employees, they set compensation standards, perform job evaluations, and much more. It is especially important that the HR department has the support from top management. Policies and standards that HR enacts are only words on a piece of paper, if no one stands up and in forces them.
There are a lot of things that the Human Resource Department can do to promote and ensure income equality in a business. One thing that could be done is the creation of a diversity plan. Within a diversity plan there are three main steps. The first step is assessment of diversity. When assessing diversity it is important to involve all workers so a useful plan can be created. The second step is to develop the diversity plan. The results from step one will be used to implement a series of attainable and measurable goals regarding workplace diversity (Dias, 2011, p73). The final step in creating a diversity plan is the implementation of the plan. Again it is of the upmost importance that executives and management are on board with the diversity plan. Once a plan is in place it is the responsibility of the entire organization to keep up with the plan, not just HR.
Another area that the Human Resource Department can promote and ensure income equality is through its job evaluation system. There are several ways to determine the value of a job through job evaluation. Job evaluation is defined as the process of determining the relative worth of jobs to determine pay structure (Dias, 2011, p171). There are several ways to perform a job evaluation. The type of job evaluation that is going to take place depends on the job type and industry. Some of the different types of job evaluation include, job ranking system, job classification system, point factor system, and hay profile system (Dias, 2011, p171-180). After job evaluations are complete the process of setting a pay scale is determined. There are many different pay systems. One of the best systems to use that promotes fairness and has little room for discrimination is to have a pay grade system that has a variety of pay grade levels (Dias, 2011, p181). Although an advantage of this system is fairness, a disadvantage is the possible lack of motivation for employees to work harder (Dias, 2011, p181). They know that if they do a job outside their pay grade they are not going to get paid any more than what they are being paid, unless they get promoted.
There are many issues that Human Resource Management has to deal with every day. Learning different ways to manage a workforce that is ever changing is very important. Income inequality still persists today. Women and minorities continue to earn less on the dollar than the White male. Law makers and employers need to make reversing income inequality a priority. They can do this in any number of ways through policy changes and initiates, and through social reform. Income inequality is an issue in America, and we need to fight this epidemic until we all are truly equal.
First we should look into why inequality still plagues certain groups of people in the U.S today. Over the last hundred years American society has gone through a lot of major changes. The passage of the fifteenth Constitutional amendment February 3, 1870 prohibited the government from denying a citizen the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude (Parrott-Sheffer, 2013). Although this gave African American males the right to vote, many states enacted “Jim Crow Laws” to prevent them from voting, based on education, residence, and property (Parrott-Sheffer, 2013). So African Americans generally did not get to exercise their right to vote as a nation until the 1960’s. Women on the other hand, also had to come over adversity to gain their right to vote, but they did not experience the same opposition as the African American community. On August 27, 1920 the nineteenth amendment was finally signed into law, which gave women the right to vote (Levy, 2013). Obviously a significant amount of time has passed since these amendments were signed into law, but it takes time to change people’s perspectives, and a lot of issues that were present back then are still open wounds today. We as a nation still need to mend and heal these wounds that exist between the White and African American community.
The passage of the fifteenth and nineteenth amendments finally made everyone in the United Sates equal. In addition to these amendments there are also two acts that have promoted equal treatment for all people, they are the 1963 Equal Pay Act and the 1964 Civil Rights Act (Hill, 2013). In theory everyone is equal, on paper, but still today women and minorities are not being treated equally. According to the US Department of Labor's statistics, women’s wages in 2009 were about 80 percent of males (Hill, 2013). The wages for minority women are much worse. In 2009, the earnings for African American women were 68.9 percent of white men's earnings while Latinas' earnings were 60.2 percent of white men's earnings (Hill, 2013). Even though a gap remains between men and women's pay, the gap has been gradually closing since 1973 (Hill, 2013).
In today’s global economy the importance of diversity and multiculturalism is gradually growing. Diversity is defined as the differences between people (Dias, 2011, p 65). These differences can include race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, background, socioeconomic status, and much more (Dias, 2011, p 65). Multiculturalism goes deeper than diversity by focusing on inclusiveness, understanding, and respect, and also by looking at unequal power in society (Dias, 2011, p 65). If diversity is managed properly, it can greatly add value to the company. An article published in Business: Theory & Practice states that, modern social and economic trends shows that the demographic composition of the workforce is rapidly changing--population is aging; more women are joining the workforce, members of different racial and ethnic minorities are moving from country to country and changing the structure of the labor market (Senichev, 2013). As a result we can see that managing people with diverse characteristics is becoming a new challenge for employers (Senichev, 2013). Many organizations, particularly multinationals, realize that diversity is not an inevitable side effect of social changes, but a factor and reality, which can bring new perspectives and enhance the development of new products and services (Senichev, 2013).
Another aspect of multiculturalism is power and privilege. Multiculturalism looks at a system of advantages based on race, gender, and sexual orientation (Dias, 2011, p 65). Often time’s people do not realize their power and privilege that they have over another person, which is why sometimes it is called invisible privilege (Dias, 2011, p 65). Some examples of invisible privilege are race privilege, social class privilege, gender privilege, and sexual orientation privilege (Dias, 2011, p 66).
Through extensive research Dr. Nancy DiTomaso of Rutgers University, thinks that inequality is perpetuated through White favoritism rather than discrimination against Blacks (Smith, 2013, p34). Regardless of class, Whites’ networks are superior to those of Blacks, and most Whites are unaware of their privilege (Smith, 2013, p34). She writes that favoritism in employment, “job hoarding” among whites, is a key way in which Whites maintain their advantage and access to better paying and more secure jobs in the workforce (Smith, 2013, p34). African Americans are not being excluded from these networks, so there is no discrimination, but they are not being included either (Smith, 2013, p34). DiTiomaso believes that this is a public policy issue. She states, “We don’t have a consciousness of the extent to which our lives are segregated… This is a public policy issue because Whites have the most authority and the most money and are not starting from the same structural position as Blacks (Smith, 2013, p34).”
Lately in the news there have been stories of affirmative action bills that are being overturned. This phenomenon is alarming, especially when statistical analyst paints a different picture. Women and minorities are not equal to the white male, so why are affirmative action bills being overturned? White people with the most to lose economically (those without college degrees, former and current union workers) have the greatest opposition to affirmative action (Smith, 2013, p34). Not surprisingly, the wealthiest Whites are more supportive of civil rights because they are not in direct competition with Blacks for opportunities (Smith, 2013, p34). This same viewpoint was present in the Klansville USA movie produce by P.B.S. Lower income Whites were afraid that the Blacks were going to take their livelihoods away, so they fought to prevent it. They never took into consideration that African Americans are people too, and that they need a way to provide for their families. No one is trying to take anything away from anyone. Women and minorities only seek to be paid equally to their white male counterparts. If each is doing the same job with the same credentials and obtaining the same output, it does not make sense for the white man to get paid more.
Many people seek the “all American dream.” They want to be a part of the land of the free where possibilities and opportunities are endless. All too often people realize that achieving the all American dream is just that, a dream. An article published in the journal, Law and Contemporary Problems, titled “Race, Economic Class, and Employment Opportunity”, highlights many of the issues pertaining to income inequality (Jones, 2009). In the United States, income distribution is highly concentrated at the top, with the top 1% of the population earning more than 20% of all the income and the top 10% earing almost half of all the income (Jones, 2009, p 57). The likelihood of moving from the bottom to the top is small, especially for those of color. Despite some progress, people of color still tend to earn significantly less than their White counterparts. They also tend to be segregated into lower-paying and lower-status occupations (Jones, 2009, p58). Blacks tend to be unemployed at a substantially higher rate than Whites, and they are twice as likely to be impoverished as Whites (Jones, 2009, p58). “These facts indicate that a sizable portion of the U.S. population exists in a state of frightening vulnerability, a condition that heightens during times of economic transformation, downturn, or recession (Jones, 2009, p58).”
Having to start from the bottom can lead to a very long journey to the top. Which brings up the next question, what can be done to help those who are struggling to get to the top? An article published in the journal, Governing, titled “The Big Squeeze,” gives a couple of suggestions as to what could be done in order to get rid of income inequality in America. In this article it suggests that cities could make more affordable housing and raise the minimum wage (Maciaq, 2014, p 56). Also a bigger focus could be put on investing in education by making job training, GED completion courses and higher education more readily available (Maciaq, 2014, p 56). This investment in employees is not only beneficial to the individual person; it also would positively affect society. The Human Resources Management department is responsible for the training and development of its employees. Training and development entails helping new employees develop skills needed for their jobs and helping current employees grow their skills (Dias, 2011, p39).
An article titled “Wage Dispersion as Key Factor for Changing Personal Income Distribution” published in; Psychosociolgical Issues in Human Resources Management offers a different perspective at ways to stop inequality (Herr, 2014). According to this article income inequality is a social problem. Market-driven wage dispersion is a central feature of income inequality (Herr, 2014, p28). It states that less attention should be focused on the technological changes and insufficient investment in education to explain increasing wage dispersion, and rather more attention needs to be shed on the other structural, social, and demand-led causes (Herr, 2014, p28). Namely, Keynesian theory suggests that wage dispersion is a result of weaker trade union power, a lack of wage bargaining coordination and an erosion of labor market institutions (Herr, 2014, p28). In the United States, 11.9% of people belong to a union, down from 20.1 percent in 1983 (Dias, 2011, p 393). The decline in union memberships can be attributed to many possible factors, including globalization, the want for individualism instead of collectivism, corruption, and company’s unwillingness to work with unions (Dias, 2011, p397). This article like the one before believes that a higher minimum wage would also help to improve income inequality, but unlike the article before it suggests that a change in tax policy could also help (Herr, 2014, p28).
The Human Resource Department has a lot of influence over activities that go on within a business. They are also responsible for some of the most crucial aspects of business. They are not only in charge of hiring and firing employees, they set compensation standards, perform job evaluations, and much more. It is especially important that the HR department has the support from top management. Policies and standards that HR enacts are only words on a piece of paper, if no one stands up and in forces them.
There are a lot of things that the Human Resource Department can do to promote and ensure income equality in a business. One thing that could be done is the creation of a diversity plan. Within a diversity plan there are three main steps. The first step is assessment of diversity. When assessing diversity it is important to involve all workers so a useful plan can be created. The second step is to develop the diversity plan. The results from step one will be used to implement a series of attainable and measurable goals regarding workplace diversity (Dias, 2011, p73). The final step in creating a diversity plan is the implementation of the plan. Again it is of the upmost importance that executives and management are on board with the diversity plan. Once a plan is in place it is the responsibility of the entire organization to keep up with the plan, not just HR.
Another area that the Human Resource Department can promote and ensure income equality is through its job evaluation system. There are several ways to determine the value of a job through job evaluation. Job evaluation is defined as the process of determining the relative worth of jobs to determine pay structure (Dias, 2011, p171). There are several ways to perform a job evaluation. The type of job evaluation that is going to take place depends on the job type and industry. Some of the different types of job evaluation include, job ranking system, job classification system, point factor system, and hay profile system (Dias, 2011, p171-180). After job evaluations are complete the process of setting a pay scale is determined. There are many different pay systems. One of the best systems to use that promotes fairness and has little room for discrimination is to have a pay grade system that has a variety of pay grade levels (Dias, 2011, p181). Although an advantage of this system is fairness, a disadvantage is the possible lack of motivation for employees to work harder (Dias, 2011, p181). They know that if they do a job outside their pay grade they are not going to get paid any more than what they are being paid, unless they get promoted.
There are many issues that Human Resource Management has to deal with every day. Learning different ways to manage a workforce that is ever changing is very important. Income inequality still persists today. Women and minorities continue to earn less on the dollar than the White male. Law makers and employers need to make reversing income inequality a priority. They can do this in any number of ways through policy changes and initiates, and through social reform. Income inequality is an issue in America, and we need to fight this epidemic until we all are truly equal.