Question 1

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Question 1

The racial minorities have increased in the workplace over the last two and a half decades because of affirmative action requirements. In spite of the progresses that the American workforce has made in terms of diversity, discrimination continues to exist. Among the issues include racial stereotyping, where the Black minority employees are still defined in terms of their racial characteristics (Thompson). For instance, the minority employees have to ‘suck it up’ during interaction with their more dominant counterparts. For instance, the white folks have often been seen to jump at the chance of translating or rephrasing their black folks’ idea. An addition key challenge is the practice of promoting employees on the basis of demonstrated competencies and abilities. Such incidents have made it seem that the white folks have appeared to understand each other better, despite speaking the same language with the same level of articulation (Jackson).

In regards to the racial issues at the workplace, I believe that the American organizations are doing much better than other countries, such as Australia, New Zealand, Britain and Japan. Indeed, employers in the United States are increasingly recognizing the importance of workforce, with each of them acknowledging the significance of minority employees. This is in reference to hiring employees from different cultural background, so as to make the organizations more diverse. It appears that current American workforce has rejected cultural ethnocentrism – which refers to the belief in domination of one race or culture over the other. This is because of the growing respect for cultural diversity and the American legal system that promotes nondiscrimination and equal opportunity at the workplace.

Question 2

A dramatic rise in the number of women in the workplace has been observed in the American workplace because of affirmative action legislations and equal opportunity actions, economic realities and feminist movement. Despite this, a number of issues still hold women back from attaining full equality status, compared to that of men at the workplace (Slaughter).

The lives of women differ from that of men, since they have the child bearing responsibilities; hence they have to reduce their full-time commitment at work, to take care of their families. This issue cannot be resolved since child-bearing is inherently the role of women and therefore cannot be substituted or shared with men (Thompson). In any case, the top executive can ensure that women’s family needs are addressed by initiating organizational child care and spouse relocation programs.

The glass ceiling also hinders the advancement of women. This comprises of an invisible barrier to movement, through the ladder to the top management level that result from discrimination at work, inability to penetrate the predominantly male-dominated workplace and the tendency of the management to promote those who are like them. Hence, despite the increased number of women executives and in top leadership positions, their transit to the positions has stalled.

Some myths that women are inherently not interested in jobs that require full-time commitment, such as travelling overseas, has also hindered their advancements. These issues can, however, be resolved as they mostly concern organizational cultures. For instance, companies can break through the myths that women may.............