The idea of diversity is applicable to various aspects of social relations, including workplace. Modern communities strive to develop rules and regulations that guarantee the equality of opportunities to people. However, many organizations fail to promote diversity, and in some cases, many groups of the population can be discriminated on the basis of their gender, race, or ethnic origin.
This paper is aimed at such discussing such a problem as glass ceiling which can be defined as the unofficial barriers that prevent women and minorities from rising in the workplace hierarchy (Farley & Haaga, 2005, p. 122). On the whole, it is possible to argue that glass ceiling can adversely affect the organizations in which these unseen rules exist. More importantly, people, who face this discrimination, become eliminated from others.
One can argue that glass ceiling can take many forms. For instance, many businesses fail to recruit women and the representatives of minorities (Schaffner, 2003, p. 231). As a rule, these companies prefer to select white males from the entire pool of candidates. Furthermore, this phenomenon is closely related to performance appraisal methods.
In some cases, senior executives can disregard the contributions of female workers or those people who represent racial or religious minorities (Schaffner, 2003, p. 231).
Apart from that, it should be mentioned that minorities or women can be asked to work on those tasks that does enable them to demonstrate their expertise or creativity. These are some of the discriminatory practices that prevent these people from reaching the upper levels of the workplace hierarchy.
There are many other aspects that should be overlooked. For example, women are less likely to be promoted if they have children. Very often executives believe that female workers cannot be fully committed to the organizational goals.
Certainly, there are no official rules according to which they can be denied promotion. Nevertheless, such a factor as gender can be taken by senior executives. Furthermore, in some cases, minority groups can be excluded from the decision-making. These manifestations of glass ceiling can also be very harmful for individuals and organizations.
Again, it is important to remember that modern governments prohibit this form of behavior. There are many laws such as the Glass Ceiling Act according to which companies are obliged to provide equal opportunities for employees regardless of their race, gender, religion, and so forth (Schaffner, 2003, p. 233).
Yet, even despite these regulations, business administrators may consider such factors as gender or race while taking decisions regarding a certain employee or candidate. Additionally, one should take into account that such policies usually adversely influence companies in which glass ceiling exists.
The problem is that these organizations fail to recruit and retain the most competent workers. In the long term, they can easily lose their competitive advantage. So, it is possible to say that diversity is important for the organizations that should ensure the competence of their employees.
Overall, it is possible to argue that glass ceiling is a very complex phenomenon that can affect a great number of people and organizations. Much attention should be paid to the attitudes of business administrators or managers who can be biased against women or minorities. More importantly, glass ceiling exists nowadays, even despite the adoption of laws that are aimed at promoting diversity.
Reference List
Farley, R. & Haaga, J. (2005). The American people: Census 2000. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Schaffner, H. (2003). Work in America: An Encyclopedia of History, Policy, and Society. New York: ABC-CLIO.