Introduction
Discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity in employment opportunity is a “systematic” process which are embedded in the very structure and processes of organizations. The nature of refined racism is in the form of “colour blind” politics against racial minorities which takes the form of systematic discrimination which makes the minorities to remain behind the whites in many areas (Bonilla-Silva, 2006). Such lack of apparent knowledge and practice of discrimination often leads to almost no agreement regarding the prevalence of discrimination in the corporate world. Due to lack of consensus in this issue there are paucity of remedial policies and understanding of the practical implications. Even though there are several policies and enforcement responsibilities defined at federal levels of countries like the US, Canada, UK, etc. But in most of the countries there is no consensus regarding their effectiveness.
The ineffective enforcement of the federal policies has become even more blurred as the organizational policies are formed mostly by their structure and culture (Edelman, 1992). Laws related to employee and corporate relations and opportunities especially Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws are not resisted overtly by corporate rather are avidly analysed to use their weaknesses to fit their own interests (Edelman, 1992). In this paper we aim to understand the practice of ABC Inc. which is a multinational company with head office in Canada. The lack of equal employment opportunity available for Asians in this company vis-a-vis Caucasians is the area that we will research in the proposed paper. This paper will provide a policy direction for corporate social responsibility for companies which will help in keeping racial discrimination at bay.
Literature Review on Equal Employment Opportunity
Before undertaking the study it is important to understand the literature on racial discrimination of employment. This section will show how micro or macro discrimination in the labour force has been treated by prior works in the area.
Racial discrimination against whites and non-whites for employment opportunity has been discussed by various authors in different countries. Studies of social and economic status of minority groups and their accessibility to equal opportunity in employment was done by Daniels (1968), Jowell and Precott-Clacke (1970), Firth (1981) in the UK, Kennedy and Wissokar (1994), Darity and Mason (1998), Darity et al. (1996) in the USA, Riach and Rich (1991) in Australia, and Reitz and Banerjee (2006), Boyd (1992), Reitz & Breton (1997), Hum and Simpson (1999), and Beck et al. (2002) in Canada. Numerous studies have concentrated on the racial discrimination against blacks but studies related to discrimiantion against Asians are limited in number.
Racial discrimination is embedded in the system of the organizations today. They are not open as there are laws to prevent it. But the discrimination arises in covert form which takes the shape of a glass ceiling for the racial minorities to attain a job or higher positions. Such institutional practices endorsing racial discrimination are just means employed by organizations to exclude racial minorities on the pretext of negative racial stereotypes which become an unsaid justification for such discrimination. And these negative stereotypes may be “enforced by systematic exclusion of minorities, because such exclusion seems to confirm the belief that minorities are not qualified and simply cannot do the job.” (Beck, Reitz, & Weiner, 2002, p. 376).
Thus previous research shows that there exists racial discrimination in employment in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. But the studies considered the macro state of discrimination dealing on industry based understanding of the discrimination. But these studies did not try to ascertain the lack of equal opportunity in organizations and the micro reasons that many pertain to the same processes.
Systematic Racial Discrimination
Discrimination in all countries can be segregated into two parts viz. hidden or overt. As there are federal policies and laws against such overt discrimination on basis of racial ethnicity or sex, the discrimination that is practiced is usually covert. This discrimination leads to the formulation of unsaid employment rules which gets embedded in the institutional system. This concept has been put forth in the case of “systematic discrimination” which has been first defined as:
“[S]ystematic discrimination in an employment context is discrimination that results from the simple operation of established procedures of recruitment, hiring and promotion, none of which is necessarily designed to promote discrimination. The discrimination is then reinforced by the very exclusion fosters the belief, both with and outside the group, that the exclusion is the result of “natural” forces, for example, that women “just can’t do the job” (Abella, 1984, pp. 9-10).
Due to the deep roots of systematic discrimination in societal constructs, it is very difficult to ascertain such discrimination in organizations and very little work has been done to ascertain the same (Beck, Reitz, & Weiner, 2002; Hirschman & Wong, 1984; Darity, Guilkey, & Winfrey, 1996). Further even though there exists laws to ensure employment equity, they do not provide an all round protection against inequality. Bomilla-Silva (2006) argues that the so called laws of “equal opportunity” which hide behind the garb of political (meaning force will not be used to achieve social policy) and economic liberalism the majority white population practice racial discrimination in all socio-economic aspect.
Thus, there exists racial discrimination in the American and European workplace which is ingrained in the system and is usually hidden. As there are no provisions under the employment equity act to deal with such hidden prejudice and discrimination, these are widely practiced in several sectors against racial minorities. This leads to the discussion of the magnitude of the racial discrimination against Asians.
Racial Discrimination against Asians
Asians are the fasted growing minority in the American continent (O’Hare & Felt, 1991; Reitz & Banerjee, 2006). In Canada, US, and the UK minorities have a visibly lower household income than the Canadians of European origin (Reitz & Banerjee, 2006; Blackaby & Frank, 2001; Hirschman & Wong, 1984).
The countries where discrimination is inherently embedded, masses believe there is no discrimination (Reitz & Breton, 1994; Darity & Mason, 1998) (Darity, Guilkey, & Winfrey, 1996; Ransford, 1970). A study of the racial discrimination of employment conducted found that whites were more likely to receive job offers than candidates belonging to other racial minorities (Brown & Gay, 1994). For instance, attitude surveys show that Canadians are not “colour-blind” while considering inter-racial relations. Instead they show distinct preferences for racial hierarchy in personal, social and professional life. Studies show that there exists a preference for White skinned people than other racial minorities (Palmer, 1996).
Escueta and O’Brian (1995) found that there even though the population of Asians in America has increased considerably (7.3 million in 1990 to 3 percent of the US population in 1995) and their educational background as well as their acceptance as faculties in US universities has increased too, but the increase in tenure of these Asians were not at par with other Americans. Further, Asians have not received fair promotion in the US universities. This discrimination against Asian faculties in terms of discriminatory promotional practices is systematic discrimination.
A study conducted in the UK academics show that 12 percent of the academicians are Asians, and 41 percent of these minorities believe that they have faced discrimination (Blackaby & Frank, 2001). Another UK based study tried to find the incidence of discrimination against Asian and Black women officers in the UK police force (Holder, Nee, & Ellis, 2000 ). The study explicitly states that it is a “triple jeopardy” for the Black and Asian officers who face direct and structural racism as the black and Asian male officers. This shows the incidence of racism at the workplace in the UK. This study depicts systematic discrimination in terms of career progression. Apart from this, in the UK there exists a social discourse against Asians which can be gathered through the supervisor’s stereotypical attitude towards the Asian subordinate.
Beck, Reitz, and Weiner in their study of the existence of racial discrimination in employment opportunity in Canadian Health care industry have argued that even with existing policies and regulations like Canadian Human Rights Act and Equal Equity Act there has been a severe lack of proper following of these law even though apparently all the organizations were complying to the law. They argue that there exists hidden or covert racial discrimination in the employment sector.
A study was conducted to measure the incidence of discrimination against Asians operating in the Australian construction industry (Loosemore & Chau, 2002). The paper explores the degree and nature of racism and discrimination in the Australian construction industry. It further deals with the impact it takes on the stakeholders and the way the industry manages this discrimination. The study shows that it is the culture of the industry that aids in assimilation of the industry and largely ignores the needs of the ethnic minorities, thus failing to nurture an environment of multiculturalism.
Employment opportunities to different racial groups get affected due to the presence of such covert racialism in the country. The presence of racial discrimination in employment was first studied and demonstrated by “field trial” experiments by Henry and Ginzberg (1985). A study of the bullying of junior British doctors shows that more Asian and black junior doctors are more likely (45 percent) to be bullied than others (Quine, 2002). The study showed that employer treatment for candidates was different for candidates belonging to different racial groups. Research shows that Asians and black women nurses face racial discrimination in Britain which increases their job dissatisfaction and intention to quit (Shields, 2000). Though these studies pointed at the existence of racial discrimination and demonstrated their impact in employment sector but failed to ascertain the magnitude of the discrimination existing.
Discrimination can be hidden or covert and could come in various types (Henry & et al., 1995; Woo, 2000; Boyd, 1992; Gabriela & Rosenthalb, 1996). Racial discrimination in job opportunity to racial minorities as well as compensation differentials (Gabriela & Rosenthalb, 1996). One instance of discrimination has been portrayed in a study of Asian Americans at the top of an organization (Orcutt & Sanders, 2008). The study reveals that the Asians though are earning high salaries similar to whites, they face an “invisible glass ceiling” stops them to earn less than the non-Hispanic white men in America.
A meta-analysis of the Asian Americans at workplaces shows that they face various barriers like social, internal structural as well as governmental barriers at the workplace (Woo, 2000). The analysis revealed that in America there are (a) lower ratio of Asians who are promoted into administration or managerial jobs as compared to their participation in the professional work pool, (b) they het lower pay as compared to their education, (c) longer length of time required to attain managerial positions, promotions, as compared to Whites, and (d) Asians feel discriminated against during promotions. This analysis reveals that all the researches in the area have hinted at structural discrimination against Asians in American organizations.
A study of the historical census data in America of 1960 and 1970 showed that during the period the socio-economic condition attained a near parity with the whites primarily due to their high educational background (Hirschman & Wong, 1984). But the study revealed that covert forms of inequality still remained in the American workplace in place of the traditional “open” discrimination by employers. Thus there exists ethnic inequality, which can be seen in the differential access of the organizational settings and the study states that it may have increased.
Systematic discrimination is ingrained in the system of the organization. Prior research has shown that organizations can build barriers preventing the hiring, retention, or promotion of minority groups (Tomaskovic-Devey, 1994; Blackaby & Frank, 2001; Hirschman & Wong, 1984). These include an informal selection process based on unnecessary qualifications, or informal method of recruiting, or formulation of selection committees in which only few members may represent minority groups.
Case of ABC
Please insert the case of ABC inc. in this section with greater emphasis of its policies and realities in numbers.
Problem Statement
Previous discussion suggests that there exists racial discrimination in employment in predominantly white nations. What we will try to understand in the proposed paper is if there are such discrimination in ABC Inc. and if it does then what form of discrimination: overt or covert. Assuming it is covert discrimination, in what form the discriminations are. How the organizational structure, culture, system, and constructs ensure that racial discrimination in recruitment, retention, pay and perks, and promotions are attained without disturbing the law of “equal opportunity”. Thus, the problem in this respect is the presence of the inequality in employment and racial discrimination at ABC Inc. the problem that will be addressed in the proposed paper is the presence of covert and systematic discrimination in the employment opportunity provided to the racial minorities. In case of ABC Inc., we need to ascertain the informal and institutional practices which lead to discrimination. The problem is racial discrimination in institutional form that needs to be tackled.
Research Aim and Objectives
Why is this study important
This study is important to understand the institutional and informal characteristics of discrimination as practiced by ABC Inc. management. Thus it is important to understand racial discrimination against Asians who work at ABC Inc. or seek employment in the company. Such a study is important to identify the process of discrimination and to take adequate policy measures to avoid them.
What are the aims of the study
The study aims to understand the nature of structure and embedded systems in the organization that leads to such discriminations and the various institutionalized measures used by company management to demonstrate the various discrimination faces in terms of their pay, perks and salary.
Thus the objectives of the study are to:
- In order to understand the institutional form of discrimination ABC Inc.’s policies for promotion and pay hike and recruitment need to be understood.
- Then it is important to understand if the discriminatory practice is an outcome of the informal processes and systems of the organization. If the informal systems are the ones which lead to discrimination.
- If the discrimination is an outcome of attitude of the management and superiors towards fellow Asians which lead to discrimination against them.
Proposed Methodology
The main problem that is faced in determination of covert discrimination is availability of primary and secondary data. The main issue that is faced in this respect are how to estimate the magnitude of discrimination as employee data is difficult to attain from organizations and how the discriminatory character can be associated to the informal practices. As statistical data was not openly available, the method will encompass two areas:
- To understand the magnitude of discrimination, we will analyze the overall employee data in order to ascertain the percentage of employees in hierarchical levels and salary vis-à-vis their ethnic origin. This analysis will also comprise of understanding the gap in salary or the ratio of Asians holding middle and higher management level positions.
- To understand the response of the company to the Asian candidate hoax letters or actors will be appointed who can apply for the jobs at different positions, one posing as a white candidate and the other as an Asian candidate. This was done priory to analyse the racial discrimination in screening candidates (Brown & Gay, 1994).
- An employee survey to understand the nature of informal discrimination embedded in the system of ABC Inc. The survey form of identifying informal discrimination was used in previous researches on informal discrimination. The focus of the survey will be to understand the availability of access of career development opportunities, and also the procedure that helped in attainment of such development among various racial groups. This would help us find the development attitudes towards Asians and other white employees.
- Moreover analyzing the recruitment advertisements of ABC Inc. in selected newspapers, job portals, etc. will also demonstrate the company’s process of systemized discrimination against Asians. This process was used in discrimination studies on basis of gender and colour (Darity & Mason, 1998).
Using the above mentioned methods the proposed paper aims to understand the impact and magnitude of racial discrimination against Asians at ABC Inc.
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