MT203: Human Resources Management – Unit 2
Comparing the labor laws of now to those of fifty years ago, one can plainly see that the laws have become more defensive for the worker than for the company. Fifty years ago there were no laws against discrimination of any kind. “To ensure that employment opportunities would be based on character or ability rather than on race, Congress wrote and passed Title VII, and President Lyndon Johnson signed it into law in 1964.” (Gerhart, Hollenbeck, Noe, & Wright, 2009). Title VII was the beginning of the change about to happen to the labor laws. Nowadays the labor law states that “[a]ll individuals have an equal chance for employment, regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin.” (Gerhart et al., 2009). General Motors (GM) met the legal requirements of the labor laws when they changed their tunes about promoting women and minorities into management positions. Their ideas about diversity changed the entire outlook of the whole company and its corporate leaders. “They have an impact because the company does not merely hire minorities, but also develops them, trains all employees to value diversity, and expects all its people to be fully engaged in helping GM ‘design, build, and sell the world’s best vehicles.’” (Gerhart et al., 2009). With this outlook on diversity, GM is serving its customers everywhere better than before. Legally, GM is not required to create a workplace that develops and trains its employees to diversity but in doing so GM has better workers that have a like mindedness than if they did not. They are also not required to have employee resources groups for unique minority groups, but in doing so; the employees can communicate and meet other people of the same minority as themselves. This, in itself, has earned GM outstanding kudos points from its employees. Being accepted at work as a person is a desire that most employees wish and strive for and since the general population is not cut from the same cloth, every person is unique in their own way. Labor laws cover most discrimination except for sexual preference. “[n]o national laws prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.” (Gerhart et al., 2009). This is always a big hurdle for employees who are lesbian, gay, and bi-sexual or transgender since they feel that they have to hide their personal lives at work. This sometimes poses a problem when other heterosexual employees talk about their spouses which are the opposite sex and the gay employee feels as if they cannot talk about their spouse since they are of the same sex. “GM managers who have benefited from the company’s attitude of inclusiveness assert that this environment frees them to contribute fully.” (Gerhart et al., 2009). Since GM is has a very diverse attitude, their employees feel that they can