ACCA
BUSINESS &
TECHNOLOGY
BISC TRAINING CENTER
Mr. Ha Long Giang, FCCA, CPA
[Link]
085 8822 168
training@[Link]
Business & Technology
PART D – LEADING AND
MANAGING INDIVIDIALS
AND TEAMS
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Business & Technology
Part D – Chap 13:
DIVERSITY AND EQUAL
OPPORTUNITIES
1. DISCRIMINATION AT WORK
Equal opportunities
An approach to the manager at work based on equal access and
fair treatment, irrespective of
Gender
Race
Ethnicity
Age
Disability
Sexual orientation
Religious belief
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1. DISCRIMINATION AT WORK
Why is equal opportunity an issue for employers?
Common decency and fairness, in line with business ethics.
Good HR practice, to attract and retain the best people for the job,
regardless of race or gender.
Compliance with relevant legislation and Codes of Practice, which are
used by employment tribunals.
Widening the recruitment pool in times of skill shortages.
Other potential benefits to the business through its image as a good
employer, and through the loyalty of customers who benefit from
(or support) equality principles.
2. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
Types of discrimination
Direct discrimination: Occurs when one interested group is treated
less favorably than another (except for exempted cases)
Indirect discrimination: Occurs when a policy or practice is fair in
form, but discriminatory in operation
Victimization: Occurs when a person is penalized for giving
information or taking action in pursuit of a claim of discrimination
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2. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
Applying the law
Obligation of non-discrimination applies to all aspects of employment,
including:
Advertisements
Recruitment and selection programmes
Access to training
Promotion
Disciplinary procedures
Redundancy and dismissal
Any exceptions for discrimination?
Positive discrimination: actions which give preference to a protected
person, regardless of genuine suitability and qualification for the job
Not permit in most legislation
2. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
Disability discrimination
It is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a disabled
person/employee:
In deciding who to interview or who to employ, or in the terms of
an employment offer
In the terms of employment and the opportunities for promotion,
transfer, training or other benefits, or by refusing the same
By dismissal or any other disadvantage
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2. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
Sexual orientation and religious beliefs
Employers may be held responsible for
conduct deemed offensive or harassing
(including inappropriate jokes) in regard to
discrimination and harassment on
grounds of sexual orientation and
religious belief
2. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
Age discrimination
Recruit on the basis of skills and abilities; refrain from using age
limits or phrases that imply restrictions (such as 'newly-qualified'
or 'recent graduate') in job advertisements; refrain from asking
for medical references only from older applicants
Select on merit and use, where possible, a mixed-age panel of
interviewers, trained to avoid decisions based on prejudices and
stereotypes
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2. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
Age discrimination
Promote on the basis of ability, having openly advertised opportunities
Train and develop all employees and regularly review training to
avoid age being a barrier
Base redundancy decisions on job-related criteria a fairly and ensure
that retirement schemes are applied
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3. THE PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS
Formulating an effective equal opportunities policy
Support from the top of the organization for the formulation of a
practical policy
A working party drawn from — for example — management,
unions, minority groups, the HR function and staff representatives.
This group's brief will be to produce a draft Policy and Code of
Practice, which will be approved at senior level
Action plans and resources (including staff) to implement and
monitor the policy, publicise it to staff, arrange training and so on
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3. THE PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS
Formulating an effective equal opportunities policy
Monitoring: The numbers of women and ethnic minority staff can
easily be
Positive action: The process of taking active steps to encourage
people from disadvantaged groups to apply for jobs and training,
and to compete for vacancies
Accepted in most legislation
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4. DIVERSITY
Diversity
The ways in which people meaningfully
differ in the workplace include not only
race and ethnicity, age and gender, but
personality, preferred working style,
individual needs and goals and so on
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4. DIVERSITY
Managing diversity
Tolerance of individual differences
Communicating effectively with (and motivating) ethnically diverse
work forces
Managing workers with increasingly diverse family structures and
responsibilities
Managing the adjustments to be made by an increasingly aged
work force
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4. DIVERSITY
Managing diversity
Managing increasingly diverse career aspirations/patterns, flexible
working…
Dealing with differences in literacy, numeracy and qualifications in
an international work force
Managing co-operative working in ethnically diverse teams
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4. DIVERSITY
Diversity policy
Step 1: Analyse your business environment
Internally
Externally
Step 2: Define diversity and its business benefits
Legal, moral and social benefits
Business benefits
Employee benefits
Step 3: Introduce diversity policy into corporate strategy
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4. DIVERSITY
Diversity policy
Step 4: Embed diversity into core HR processes and system
Step 5: Ensure leaders implement policy
Step 6: Involve staff at all levels
Educate the workforce through awareness training
Create a 'diversity handbook
Set up diversity working parties and councils
Establish mentoring schemes
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4. DIVERSITY
Diversity policy
Step 7: Communicate, communicate, communicate
Communicate diversity policy and initiatives clearly
Internally: updates, briefings, training, intranet pages
Externally: to boost employer brand and recruitment
Step 8: Understand your company’s needs
Step 9: Evaluate
Benchmark progress at regular intervals
Internally: diversity score cards, employee climate surveys
Externally: focus groups, customer/supplier surveys
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See you next lesson!
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