Introduction: In the past, American businesses did not value diversity. Handicapped people were not offered jobs, minorities were either not hired or offered only menial jobs, and women were largely relegated to clerical positions and were often sexually harassed by their male supervisors. The overwhelming majority of supervisors, managers and executives were white, college educated males. Over time, diversity found a place in the American workplace. Despite the fact that males make up the majority of the workforce, each year there is a higher proportion of female workers. Unfortunately, some barriers to equal employment opportunities are slow to fall. For example, despite the increase in employment of females, they hold a disproportionately low number of managerial positions. However, racial, religious and ethnic minorities are no longer excluded entirely from the workforce as they once were.
According to Martin Jenkins writing in Chain Store Age, these changes are largely the result of passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII of this federal law prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, color, religion and national origin in the areas of recruitment, hiring, wages, assignment, promotions, benefits, discipline, discharge, layoffs and almost every aspect of employment. This law is enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (Jenkins, 38). The human resources department is responsible for ensuring that the company follows all applicable labor laws including the Title VII requirements. In one sense, the role of the human resources manager in encouraging diversity manager is to monitor the company to ensure that it does not intentionally or unintentionally violate any labor law.
Workplace diversity has been achieved after a great deal of struggle. There are undoubtedly people who believe that the changes are occurring too rapidly, and there are others who feel equally strongly that the necessar...