Introduction
Diversity is one of the most important aspects of a workplace. It is evident that the modern American society is more diverse than ever before. As a result, the workplace is required by law to incorporate a staff of a diverse nature. This practice is not always the case as many organizations will usually prefer workers of a particular ethnicity in certain high-ranking position while the others are left to the low-ranking sectors. Diversity is not only concerned with race and ethnicity, it also incorporates other minority groups including women, LGBT, and disabled peoples. In the entertainment industry, the issue is of great concern as many of the corporations do not enforce its practice. The following paper will identify the state of diversity in the entertainment businesses, its importance to the stakeholders, how HR management can improve it and the current levels in a particular company.
Status of Diversity in Entertainment Businesses
The entertainment businesses have received negative backlash following the realization that more whites than any other races are in the industry. This realization was first brought into focus by the social media trend on Twitter through the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. This trend initially sparked after numerous ethnic minority actors, producers and directors were overlooked by the awards show in place of the white majority (Hunt, Ramon, & Tran, 2016). This controversy brought about many of the ethnically diverse individuals to boycott the event altogether. The reports show that indeed the entertainment business is less diverse than should be the case. The report by Smith, Choueiti, & Pieper, (2016) provides an analysis of 400 TV shows and films where over 21000 characters and behind the scenes workers are assessed. The study shows that not only is there a diversity problem, an unforeseen issue of inclusion is present. In this case, nearly 33.5% of speaking characters are women while 28.3% of the speaking characters are non-whites despite representing more than 50% and 40% of the total population respectively Hunt, & Ramon, 2015).
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Importance of Diversity to an Organization, its Employees and its Customers
Diversity is an important subject not only to the organization but also to its employees and customers alike. The practice of diversity is an important factor towards developing a successful entertainment product. In this case, the organization could benefit as has been the case for highly diverse television shows such as Empire, Black-ish, Jane the Virgin and Fresh Off The Boat . These TV shows significantly receive positive criticism for the diversity employed resulting in more earnings for the organizations involved in their production (Hunter-Gault, 2015). Film is depicted to lag behind due to high risk involved in its production. If movies included the use of more diverse workers it is evident that this would significantly encourages more individuals to seek recruitment (Hunt, & Ramon, 2015). The films and TV shows that depict people of color and diversity in gender are better received in society as they influence its customers to practice similar ideologies in their interaction and businesses.
Steps of HR Management to Improve Organizational Diversity
There are various ways in which organizations and entertainment industries can employ to increase diversity of the staff members. To begin with, the writing of films should incorporate more women and people of color in preparation to the films. According to research on gender diversity in films, only 13% of the writers in films are women while the number is more than double in broadcast and cable TV shows where the creators are 29% and 23% respectively (Hunt, Ramon, & Tran, 2016). Through this practice, it is evident that more of the TV shows significantly increase diversity. The Hollywood film executives are also depicted to be primarily white up to 94% and 100% male. This practice should change as a means of increasing views of women and people of color in the films produced. The Bechdel test is depicted as an effective measure of improving diversity in the film particularly among characters where the main rules are there are at least two women in the movie who speak to each other on anything other than a man (Robehmed, 2016).
Current Diversity Levels and Issues: 21 st Century Fox
In the recent research, the 21 st Century Fox organization, is among the few that advocate for diversity in the workplace. Nevertheless, it is evident that the organization has a long way to go before it realizes the standards of other industries. Out of the 24 executives in the company only five represent women and only a single individual from non-white groups (Littleton, 2014). The organization fails to appropriately represent the gender and ethnic minorities at the highest level of the organization where majority of the decisions on films and TV shows production are made. The formation of Audience Strategy is a department established in Fox where the TV and Film decisions are made to establish a diverse consideration (Littleton, 2014). It includes, African-American, Asian American, white, gay, straight, male and female members to increase diversity in its strategies of creation of entertainment products.
Conclusion
The above discussion indicates the severity of the issue of diversity in the entertainment industry. Women and ethnical minority groups are under-represented both on screen and in the behind the scenes hobs. The film sector of the industry is depicted to be worse off as it favors a more masculine perspective than the feminine one. As a result, women will feature less frequently on these films as lead actors, directors, writers or creators. This is evident in the Fox media company that has presented minimal minorities at the top level of the organization instead seeking to enforce diversity in the lower levels. Through this presentation it is evident that the entertainment industry should make significant efforts of becoming more diverse.
References
Hunt, D., & Ramon, A. C. (2015). Hollywood diversity report: Flipping the script . Ralph Bunche Center, Retrieved from http://www.bunchecenter.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/2015-Hollywood-Diversity-Report-2-25-15.pdf
Hunt, D., Ramon, A., & Tran, M. (2016). 2016 Hollywood Diversity Report: Business as Usual? Los Angeles: Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA. Retrieved from http://www.bunchecenter.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2016-Hollywood-Diversity-Report-2-25-16.pdf
Hunter-Gault, C. (2015, Sep. 30) Why Greater Diversity is Good for Hollywood’s Bottom Line . PBS Newshour, Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/greater-diversity-good-hollywoods-bottom-line/
Littleton, C. (2014, Jan 15) TV’s Diversity Dilemma: A Candid Conversation with Fox Execs . Variety, Retrieved from http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/fox-meets-diversity-dilemma-head-on-1201056056/
Robehmed, N. (2016, Jan 21) Hollywood's Diversity Problem Begins in The Writing Room, New Study Shows . Forbes, Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2016/01/21/hollywoods-diversity-problem-begins-in-the-writing-room-new-study-shows/#5cc2b199164f
Smith, S. L., Choueiti, M., & Pieper, K. (2016). Inclusion or Invisibility? Comprehensive Annenberg Report on Diversity in Entertainment. Report. USC Annenberg.
