Discrimination at the Workplace Essay

Discrimination is described as an illegal treatment because of prejudices based from a number of factors, such as gender, sex, religious beliefs, disabilities and many more (Goree, 2007). In the case of Julie’s friend, Bandu, the prejudice and discrimination given to him was based on his ethnic roots, being an Indian-born in an American region. The application was then rejected without him being called for an interview or a test of some sort. For someone like Julie, an employee who knows the capabilities of her friend, her boss’s decision is something that is unethical and inappropriate for the present day of the employment world. But there are many factors that should be considered before deciding the appropriate action for a case like this. There are two sides, that of the employer and the about-to-be employee that should be understood and thought over. Each has their own points and thesis that must be incorporated to get a win-win situation. Firstly, Julie should be as professional as possible and not be biased just because the rejected applicant is her friend. There should also be no trace of favoritism on Julie’s side, because that would just add another unethical instance. Favoritism happens when a certain advantage is held by someone having an edge because of certain factors (Goree, 2007). Bandu is Julie’s friend, and even though Julie is not the employer, there is still that possibility that she might influence the decision of her boss in favoring her friend. This potentiality of favoritism can be avoided by marking the line between referencing and heavy influencing. References are people which the employer can call or talk to ask information about the employee (Doyle, 2008). In the case of this event, the connection is strictly professional and the information relayed would be useful in deciding whether the application would be rejected or given a chance. For the company, it is obvious that they must start to be open to diversity and begin to embrace the thought of hiring people from minority groups. To do this, they must first learn more about the advantages of diversity. These concepts, such as friendly competitions between employees, exchange of ideas or information, and total growth of the company have been proved by many researchers (Goree, 2007). It is therefore something worth trying for a company that hasn’t got any bad feedbacks from this technique. The employers can then begin by accepting applications from any group and giving equal chances to all. If the company’s employing division is really that picky, then they could schedule pre-interviews to applicants. Additional interviews or pre-tests can then be administered to further filter down the applicant. The important thing is all applicants, regardless of gender, race, or affiliations, must be allowed to join the preliminary screening procedures that is of course once they reached the required qualifications. One possible problem that Julie’s company might experience is the difficulty in hiring employees of a minority group because they haven’t done it in a long time. Referencing, as discussed above can be a lot of help in here. The information taken from the listed references must be included in the criteria of selecting new applicants, not just their background race. In order to be effective, the company must also demolish any style of stereotyping based on races, or any variables that could affect the connotation of a group of people. This would ensure that there will be no discrimination in the workplace itself, not just on the application and hiring process. The rest of the employees must accept each other freely and avoid negative outlooks on the newly hired minority workers. By following these steps, one can guarantee a healthy workplace, where diversity becomes a great help in improving the company as a whole.