Scott Sherrie - Equal Employment Opportunity

Introduction 

Diversity has become very important in the workplace and the community at large. Currently, it is the mandate of every human resource managers to ensure that their organization is free from discrimination of any kind. The organization management and entire employees "are required by law to maintain a diverse workplace by not discriminating against applicants or existing employees by race, religion, age, gender or for any characteristic or class protected by the law" (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). With the equitable employment opportunity as a regulation in place, the employees are currently finding it very possible to work in different countries around the globe without any discrimination based on gender or disability. It is upon the management of the organization to embrace this fact since the consequences are never appealing and can be diverse in regards to organization image in public. For this reason, it is very fundamental to the organization management to acclimatize themselves with the equal opportunity employment aspects to avoid its adverse consequences. 

Article summary 

Scott Sherrie is the author of this article. Scot has vast knowledge in the field of business and the labor laws. Apart from this article, Scott has published many other articles which are related to the area of business. His knowledge in this field coupled with his education background makes this article credible. The article is located in the Chron. com which is one of the most reputable business issues sites. The article title is Equal Opportunity Employment? The article gives us a glimpse of what the article is all about. The article provides more information on what equal opportunity employment is and its aspects. 

The article begins by giving a brief definition of the equal employment opportunity. According to the article, equal opportunity employment enhances equity within the working environment. It "provides all employees fair access to employee benefits such as insurance, disability accommodations, compensation, promotions and job responsibilities." (Sherrie S, 2017). The article further states that any employer who discriminates any employee or who treat a worker in any unfair manner is therefore in violation of this kind of right. That particular employer, thus, should be a victim of the federal disciplinary action. 

The article introduces us to different topics within the equal employment opportunity. The first issue which is given weight in this article is the equal employment opportunity laws. It briefly take us through some of the rules which the human resource managers and any other organization need to be aware of as they deal with their employee to ensure that they are on the right side of the EEO law. It gives focus on the Title VII of the civil rights Act of the year 1964 which "makes it illegal to discriminate against someone by race, color, religion, national origin, or sex" ( Sherrie S 2017). Many other laws are related to this topic. The next topic is the equal employment opportunity Commission (EEOC). According to this article, this is a commission which ensures that the federal laws which protect employees against discrimination are enforced. "The commission is responsible for investigating harassment and discrimination allegations, and also handles complaints filed by employees." This is the same commission which provides training to help employees know their rights, enforce and interpret labor laws and many others. The next topic given weight is the employer responsibility. According to Scott, the employers are charged directly with ensuring that the employees are not discriminated. “They must maintain certain employment records, especially if they have been charged with discrimination.” They also must protect employees, clients and many others. The last topic given weight is the employee responsibility. The article insists that "although equal employment opportunity laws protect most employees, they are also responsible for ensuring their safety in the workplace." 

Chapter Connection and Critical Analysis 

Human resource manager has a role in ensuring that human resources are managed appropriately and efficiently to achieve the organization's goal. HR ensures that within the organization, a peaceful environment for work is provided to all the employees despite their ethical and racial background. They have a responsibility to ensure that all the workers within the organization treat each other with a lot of respect despite their skin color, language or origin. This, therefore, means that the human resource managers should ensure that equal employment opportunity is integrated into their daily role in the organization. In the organization, HR has the following functions; first, they recruit employees, train and ensure developments of workers, the formulate workers policies within the organization and much more. 

It is the role of the Human resource managers to ensure that as they select and recruit new workers within the organization, the process is done based on the merits and qualification of every individual. The HR should not rely on the issue of race, color, gender or any other disadvantage to disqualify or qualify a worker as this will be against the EEO laws. Furthermore, HR is very responsible in creating a culture within the organization. It is their mandate to ensure that they create and enhance the culture of equity in the organization. They ought to act as an example in this case by providing that every activity within the organization is done equitably. They should also deal with the issue of discrimination among workers in an appropriate way without leaning on one side and take advantage of workers' background, economic stability or any other advantage to judge them unfairly. During training and developments, equity should be the core and every worker who deserves to get an opportunity should get based on their performance within the organization. Moreover, it is their role and responsibility within the organization to ensure that every employee knows their rights and also knows how to protect themselves. In simple term, the role of HR to ensure that employees are trained well in their respective areas on their rights and how well there can evade or protect themselves from discrimination instances ( Meredith Belbin, 2011). These are inclusive of training on how to identify discriminatory situations; they also include how to report such instances, they should know the Equal Employment Opportunity laws and much more. This will be very important in enhancing the employee's role in the equal employment opportunity laws and how well they can use them to protect themselves. 

Conclusion 

In conclusion, equal employment opportunity aspect as discussed in this article is critical. The HR has a significant role to play in ensuring that every law concerning equity in employment is adhered to. They have to ensure that these rules are integrated within their functions to ensure that equity within the organization is achieved to the maximum. In this manner, they will reduce discrimination of workers within the organization. 

References 

Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice . Kogan Page Publishers. 

Meredith Belbin, R. (2011). Management teams: Why they succeed or fail. Human Resource Management International Digest , 19 (3). 

Sherrie S. (2017), What Is Equal Opportunity Employment? . Smallbusiness.chron.com . Retrieved 24 October 2017, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/equal-opportunity-employment-895.html