Racial discrimination is still major public concern in the United States. Since the abolishment of slavery and end of American civil war, there have been many struggle aimed at ending racial discrimination in the country but the issues keeps on surfacing in the public limelight now and then. Racial discrimination pertains to segregation of individuals based on the color of their skin. It is a vice that has for long divided American society, especially in the perceived view of white ethnocentrism. Although the era of civil rights movements made tremendous progress in forcing enactment of antiracial laws like Civil Rights Act of 1964, there are many areas of weakness in the judicial process that are not clearly codified in the constitutions, and which have been bone of contentions. The recent case of New Haven Firefighters Affirmative Action has drawn mixed reaction. The main issue in this case was the ability of the employer to disqualify promotion test when it has been contested as being unfair. Although the final court ruling ruled in favor of the plaint, upholding that the cancellation of the test was in itself an act of discrimination, there are a number of managerial issues that arise from the case. This paper will look at the managerial issues arising from this case.
Yes. The city of New Haven acted reasonable to reject the result of the test since they lacked minority representations. It is evident that the issue on stake here was not much about the credibility of the exam but on the effects it may have on the diversity of the work force. There are many reasons why the city of New Haven can be said to have acted reasonably in rejecting the results of the test.
It is important to understand that the objective of any exam is to ensure that all candidates are given a fair ground to compete. Any exam cannot be considered to be fair if it does not provide a fair ground for competition of the candidate. According to Gardner theory of multiple intelligences, one of the most theories valued in education and management, individuals have different skills. People are gifted with different intelligences and very few can have intelligence in multiple areas. This theory has been applied on formulation of exams to make sure that it caters for the intelligence needs of all candidates. In this case, the test that was given to the fire fighters promotion candidates has been criticized for lack of fair ground of competition as far as firefighting is concerned. The fact that the exam was 60% multiple choice questions meant that it did not cater for different areas of intelligence (Totenberg, 2009). At the end, the example would give academic intelligent candidate rather that performance intelligent candidate.
From the start, it is therefore evident that the exam was not fair. It could not be give the expected fair results as far as job promotion in firefighting department is concerned. This means that by rejecting the test, the city of New Haven acted in the best interest of need to have a fair test for the candidates.
It is also important to understand that a test cannot be considered fair unless the candidates and the general public acknowledge that it was fair. While the candidates who did not pass the test could raise their concern and have nothing to do about it, the perception of the general public on the perception of the test will have a larger impact on the operation of the candidates who could have passed the promotions. When people perceive that individuals are promoted on unfair basis, this brings about conflict not only in the workplace but also in the general public (Slattery, 2002). This means that the city of New Haven had the duty to ensure that if there were people who were to be promoted, they had to be promoted through a fair means acceptable to all people. Acceptance of the test while it was being contested by some of the candidate would have dealt a big blow on the credibility to of the whole process and at the end the acceptance of the promoted candidates. The action by the city of New Haven was therefore meant to safeguard the integrity of the test and ensure the whole process was fair.
The action of the city of New Haven was fair in light of the need to have diversity if the work place. It should be noted that in a racially charged country like United States, workplace diversity is an issue that need to be considered if government and private institutions will be accepted by the public. It is common to note that every time an appointment is made in any institutions, it comes with racial backlash. Although this is not taken seriously by most people, racial perspectives in the workplace have a lot impact on delivery of services and acceptance by the public (Slattery, 2002).
The action of the city of New Haven could have been promoted by the need to have a workforce that reflects the racial demographic composition of the population. A public institution like Fire Fighting Department should reflected the face of the community. This means that its composition should reflect the racial demographic of the community since it represents the interest of the community. Perceived racial discrimination in the work place does not only affect internal environment of the organization but also external environment as well (CUPE, 1999). An organization that is perceived to be racially balanced is likely to get support from the public than an organization that is perceived to be racially skewed.
Internally, racial discrimination can have a lot of impact on the performance of those who feel racially segregated. It is only when individuals feel that they are equal to other employees that they can increase on their performance. Ethnocentrism in the work place has been shown to have adverse performance effects from senior management to junior staff. Ethnocentrism is incubated in an environment where one race gains more managerial positions or comprise a larger percentage of the workforce (Slattery, 2002). Racial favoritism leads to dilution of organization culture leading to ethnocentrism. This is likely to affected work performance in the work place as it will create constant conflict between employees.
In the case of New Haven fire department, it should be noted that the test was meant to find individuals who were to be promoted. This means that those promoted were likely to take on managerial jobs in the organization. As an organization that has different races working together, it is important that this racial diversity in junior levels also be reflected in the senior levels (Slattery, 2002). If the result of the test showed that there was some race that was favored more than the other, it was likely to bring about negative perception of the whole process and rejection of the result was the right decision. In face of the doubts and racial discrimination accusation against the test, the city of New Haven would not have done anything better than reject those results to ensure that racial diversity is ensured.
One of the most important aspects in effecting of operation of the any organization, especially in provision of the government services is how it reaches the minority. This means that an organization or a government is likely to be judged by how it serves the minority. In case of New Haven fire department, ensuring that there is fair representation in the workplace was a step in ensuring it is reaching out to the minority. It was the duty of the city of New Haven to ensure that even in promotion, minority are given chances as well. What is more astounding is the fact that the fire department had given a test that was faulted by experts in the area of promotion test. If the promotion was to reflect the face of New Haven, then minority had to be given a chance in leadership position.
The most important work for management in the new era of globalization is to ensure that diversity in the workplace is well managed. While diversity presents a new era of growth in workplace performance, it is also a great challenge in human resource management. As was highlighted earlier, diversity in the workplace is reflected in the community and has a great impact in performance of the organization (CUPE, 1999). Many organizations have been going a step ahead, and some even incurring extra cost to upgrading skills of particular employees, in order to ensure that there is racial diversity in the workplace (Slattery, 2002). For the fire department workforce composition to reflect the face of the New Haven racial demography, there was greater need to take such stern actions in order to ensure acceptability of the promotion process. Therefore the city of New Haven did the right thing to reject the test since it lacked minority representation and it would have negatively impacted on the performance of the organization.
Conclusion
Racial discrimination in the workplace remains a major problem in the United States. Despite the enactment of various laws outlawing racial discrimination in the workplace, it has continued unabated. In the case of city of New Haven, the decision reached to reject the test was prudent because it could have negative impact on diversity in the organization. It was a fair decision considering the fact that the test had been criticized by experts in addition to accusations of racism.
Did the city of New Haven act reasonably in rejecting the test results based on the lack of minority representation?
Yes. The city of New Haven acted reasonable to reject the result of the test since they lacked minority representations. It is evident that the issue on stake here was not much about the credibility of the exam but on the effects it may have on the diversity of the work force. There are many reasons why the city of New Haven can be said to have acted reasonably in rejecting the results of the test.
It is important to understand that the objective of any exam is to ensure that all candidates are given a fair ground to compete. Any exam cannot be considered to be fair if it does not provide a fair ground for competition of the candidate. According to Gardner theory of multiple intelligences, one of the most theories valued in education and management, individuals have different skills. People are gifted with different intelligences and very few can have intelligence in multiple areas. This theory has been applied on formulation of exams to make sure that it caters for the intelligence needs of all candidates. In this case, the test that was given to the fire fighters promotion candidates has been criticized for lack of fair ground of competition as far as firefighting is concerned. The fact that the exam was 60% multiple choice questions meant that it did not cater for different areas of intelligence (Totenberg, 2009). At the end, the example would give academic intelligent candidate rather that performance intelligent candidate.
From the start, it is therefore evident that the exam was not fair. It could not be give the expected fair results as far as job promotion in firefighting department is concerned. This means that by rejecting the test, the city of New Haven acted in the best interest of need to have a fair test for the candidates.
It is also important to understand that a test cannot be considered fair unless the candidates and the general public acknowledge that it was fair. While the candidates who did not pass the test could raise their concern and have nothing to do about it, the perception of the general public on the perception of the test will have a larger impact on the operation of the candidates who could have passed the promotions. When people perceive that individuals are promoted on unfair basis, this brings about conflict not only in the workplace but also in the general public (Slattery, 2002). This means that the city of New Haven had the duty to ensure that if there were people who were to be promoted, they had to be promoted through a fair means acceptable to all people. Acceptance of the test while it was being contested by some of the candidate would have dealt a big blow on the credibility to of the whole process and at the end the acceptance of the promoted candidates. The action by the city of New Haven was therefore meant to safeguard the integrity of the test and ensure the whole process was fair.
The action of the city of New Haven was fair in light of the need to have diversity if the work place. It should be noted that in a racially charged country like United States, workplace diversity is an issue that need to be considered if government and private institutions will be accepted by the public. It is common to note that every time an appointment is made in any institutions, it comes with racial backlash. Although this is not taken seriously by most people, racial perspectives in the workplace have a lot impact on delivery of services and acceptance by the public (Slattery, 2002).
The action of the city of New Haven could have been promoted by the need to have a workforce that reflects the racial demographic composition of the population. A public institution like Fire Fighting Department should reflected the face of the community. This means that its composition should reflect the racial demographic of the community since it represents the interest of the community. Perceived racial discrimination in the work place does not only affect internal environment of the organization but also external environment as well (CUPE, 1999). An organization that is perceived to be racially balanced is likely to get support from the public than an organization that is perceived to be racially skewed.
Internally, racial discrimination can have a lot of impact on the performance of those who feel racially segregated. It is only when individuals feel that they are equal to other employees that they can increase on their performance. Ethnocentrism in the work place has been shown to have adverse performance effects from senior management to junior staff. Ethnocentrism is incubated in an environment where one race gains more managerial positions or comprise a larger percentage of the workforce (Slattery, 2002). Racial favoritism leads to dilution of organization culture leading to ethnocentrism. This is likely to affected work performance in the work place as it will create constant conflict between employees.
In the case of New Haven fire department, it should be noted that the test was meant to find individuals who were to be promoted. This means that those promoted were likely to take on managerial jobs in the organization. As an organization that has different races working together, it is important that this racial diversity in junior levels also be reflected in the senior levels (Slattery, 2002). If the result of the test showed that there was some race that was favored more than the other, it was likely to bring about negative perception of the whole process and rejection of the result was the right decision. In face of the doubts and racial discrimination accusation against the test, the city of New Haven would not have done anything better than reject those results to ensure that racial diversity is ensured.
One of the most important aspects in effecting of operation of the any organization, especially in provision of the government services is how it reaches the minority. This means that an organization or a government is likely to be judged by how it serves the minority. In case of New Haven fire department, ensuring that there is fair representation in the workplace was a step in ensuring it is reaching out to the minority. It was the duty of the city of New Haven to ensure that even in promotion, minority are given chances as well. What is more astounding is the fact that the fire department had given a test that was faulted by experts in the area of promotion test. If the promotion was to reflect the face of New Haven, then minority had to be given a chance in leadership position.
The most important work for management in the new era of globalization is to ensure that diversity in the workplace is well managed. While diversity presents a new era of growth in workplace performance, it is also a great challenge in human resource management. As was highlighted earlier, diversity in the workplace is reflected in the community and has a great impact in performance of the organization (CUPE, 1999). Many organizations have been going a step ahead, and some even incurring extra cost to upgrading skills of particular employees, in order to ensure that there is racial diversity in the workplace (Slattery, 2002). For the fire department workforce composition to reflect the face of the New Haven racial demography, there was greater need to take such stern actions in order to ensure acceptability of the promotion process. Therefore the city of New Haven did the right thing to reject the test since it lacked minority representation and it would have negatively impacted on the performance of the organization.
Conclusion
Racial discrimination in the workplace remains a major problem in the United States. Despite the enactment of various laws outlawing racial discrimination in the workplace, it has continued unabated. In the case of city of New Haven, the decision reached to reject the test was prudent because it could have negative impact on diversity in the organization. It was a fair decision considering the fact that the test had been criticized by experts in addition to accusations of racism.
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