7. the ethics of job discrimination

Chapter 7

The Ethics of Job Discrimination

Class: MAN3509 – Business Ethics

Instructor: Risa Virgosita, S.E., M.Sc.

Department of Management

Faculty of Economics and Business

Gadjah Mada University

Chapter Outline

2 MAN3509 - Business Ethics | Risa Virgosita, S.E., M.Sc.

What distinctions can companies reasonably make

between job applicants without engaging in

discrimination?

How widespread is job discrimination?

Why is it wrong to discriminate?

What is affirmative action and why is it so

controversial?

Key Concepts


Discrimination The wrongful act of distinguishing illicitly among people not

on the basis of individual merit, but on the basis of prejudice

or some other invidious or morally reprehensible attitude

Basic elements of discrimination in employment 1. A decision against one or more employees that is not

based on individual merit

2. The decision derives solely or in part of morally

unjustified attitude (false stereotypes, etc) against

members of the class to which the employee belongs

3. The decision has a harmful impact on the interests of the

employees

Forms of Discrimination


Intentional and Institutional Aspects of

Discrimination

1. Intentionally isolated (non-institutionalized)

discriminatory behavior

2. Intentionally institutionalized discriminatory

behavior

3. Unintentionally isolated (non-institutionalized)

discriminatory behavior

4. Unintentionally institutionalized discriminatory

behavior

Discrimination: Its Extent


Indication to estimate a discriminatory act in

institutions:

When a disproportionate number of the members of a

certain group hold the less desirable positions within the

institutions despite their preferences and abilities

Three kinds of comparison as the indication:

a. Average benefits

b. Proportion of the groups in the lowest levels of the

institutions

c. Proportion of the groups that hold more

advantageous position

Discrimination: Its Extent


Glass Ceiling:

An invisible, but impenetrable, barrier to further

promotion sometimes encountered by women or

minorities

Increasing Problems for Women and Minorities:

• Women and minorities make up most new workers

• Women are steered into low-paying jobs and face a

glass ceiling and sexual harrasment

• Minorities need skills and education but lack these

Discrimination: Utility, Rights, and Justice


Arguments Against Discrimination

• Utility:

Discrimination leads to inefficient use of human resources

A society’s productivity will be optimized if jobs are

awarded on the basis of competency

• Rights :

Discrimination violates basic human rights

• Justice: • Discrimination results in unjust distributions of benefits

and burdens

• Principle of Equality

Discrimination: Utility, Rights, and Justice


Criticisms on Arguments Against Discrimination

• Utility : • How if in certain situation, the public welfare would be

better if jobs are assigned on the basis of factors not

related to the job?

• Society may benefit from some forms of sexual

discrimination

• Rights : -

• Justice: • How to define precisely what counts as a relevant

respect/characteristic for treating people differently and

explaining that sex and race are not relevant?

Discrimination Practices


• Recruitment Practices

• Screening Practices

• Promotion Practices

• Conditions of Employment

• Discharge

Sexual Harrasment

Under certain conditions, unwelcome sexual advances,

requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical

contact of a sexual nature

Discrimination Practices


Besides race and sex, discrimination can be

based on

• Age

• Sexual orientation

• Transsexual status

• Disability

• Obesity

• Disease (AIDS, Hepatitis, etc)

Affirmative Action


Affirmative action programs are criticized as being

discriminatory by using nonrelevant characteristics –

race or sex- to make employment decisions.

Affirmative Action Program

A program designed to ensure the proportion of

minorities within an organization matches their

proportion in the available workforce

Affirmative Action as Compensation


Basis: The concept of compensatory justice

Compensation Argument for Affirmative Action

• Claims affirmative action compensates groups for

past discrimination

• Criticized as unfair because those who benefit were

not harmed and those who pay did not injure

compensation should come from the wrongdoers

to the ones who are injured, not to be generalized

Affirmative Action as an Instrument for

Achieving Utilitarian Goals and Equal Justice


Utilitarian Argument for Affirmative Action

• Claims affirmative action reduces need and so increases

utility

• Criticized on grounds that costs (e.g. frustation of the

majorities) outweigh benefits and that other ways of

reducing need will produce greater utility

Equal Justice Argument for Affirmative Action

• Claims affirmative action will secure equal opportunity

• Claims affirmative action is a morally legitimate means

Affirmative Action as an Instrument for

Achieving Utilitarian Goals and Equal Justice


Arguments Made Against Equal Justice

Argument for Affirmative Action

• Affirmative action programs “discriminate” against

White men (as the nonminority)

• Preferential treatment violates the principle of

equality

• Affirmative action programs harm women and

minorities the programs imply that women and

minorities need “special help” to compete

Implementing Affirmative Action and

Managing Diversity


Guidelines to an affirmative program when

minorities are underrepresented

1. Both minorities and nonminorities should be hired or

promoted only if they reach certain minimum levels of

competency or are capable of reaching such levels in a

reasonable time

2. If the qualifications of the minority and nonminority

candidates are only slightly less/equal to/higher than

those of the nonminority, then the minority should be

preferred


Managing Diversity (cont’d)



minorities are underrepresented (cont’d)

3. If both the minority and nonminority candidates are

adequately qualified for a position but the

nonminority candidate is much more qualified, then:

• If a performance in the job directly affects the lives

and safety of people or if performance on the job

has a substantial and critical effect on the entire

firm’s efficiency, then the more qualified nonminority

should be preferred, and vice versa


Managing Diversity (cont’d)



minorities are underrepresented (cont’d)

4. Preference should be extended to minority

candidates only so long as their representation

throughout the various levels of the firm is not

proportional to their availability

Comparable Pay for Jobs of Comparable

Worth


Comparable Worth Program

A program designed to ensure that jobs of equal value

to an organization are paid the same salary regardless

of whether external labor markets pay the same rates

for those jobs

Comparable Worth Program

• Equalize pay for jobs requiring equal responsibilities

and equal skills and of equal value to an organization

• Based on idea that equals should be treated as

equals

Source


Velasquez, Manuel G., 2006, Business Ethics: Concepts and

Cases, 6th edition, NJ: Pearson – Prentice Hall.

7. the ethics of job discrimination

Documents