*Administration and Society
Title: The Human Element; Bureaucracy, Gender and Race
Introduction
Do high management level employees make decisions or should the front line workers have a say? Should women be looked down upon because historically men are dominant? Does color determine how intelligent or ethical a person can be? These are questions that sadly many individuals cannot truly answer in our society today. It is the year 2015 and we have dramatically grown as a whole society, but are we starting to fall back into our old ways?
Main Points
1. Bureaucracy- Decisions made from the top given to the bottom in the workforce in a business.
2. Gender-Not being given higher level jobs because they are women.
3. Race-Not given equal opportunity
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This can be very successful or unsuccessful in the workforce. The reason stated in the article “The lack of movement and proficiency of the working environment from upper level management makes it extremely hard to make decisions that will not affect them, but to be respectful the front line workers.” (Box,2015) The decisions being made from up top cannot be 100 percent accurate or efficient without the input from the actual workers where new rules and implications are going to directly affect them. To resolve this issue the best approach is allowing “Corporate movement”) higher level employees who make the decisions to create surveys, small tests, and allowing input from all employees to see what new types of idea or regulations would best benefit the business. (Rosen & Gayer, …show more content…
“Although race relations are generally believed to be better now than they were decades ago, claims of a “post-racial” society appear premature.” (Box,2015) The battle of race in our society is becoming another factor and affecting the workforce. It seemed that the early 2000’s has brought back the terrible racist conflict between races because of major events from 9/11 to the Baltimore riots. Just like the article explains “post-racial” is something that can be possible if our society keeps going the way it is in 2015. Without a diverse workforce the lack of ideas, development, growth and movement will ever be established. We are the “melting pot of the world and right now we are cooking each other instead of cooking
Through William Julius Wilson’s work, More Than Just Race, a reader is presented with explanations of race from both a structural and cultural standpoint. Wilson begins by explaining a more race-neutral structural issue that American society faces. The issue of advanced technology affects not only African American individuals, but individuals of all races. However, as Wilson points out in his work, this issue is more prominent in the lives of African Americans. As a result of these technologies, new and highly skilled jobs are created.
This resurgence highlights the continued importance of discussing race in the context of social inequality, discrimination, and violence. As social scientists have argued, race must be retained and utilized in our explanations of these phenomena. The reemergence of race as a key concept in contemporary popular culture suggests that there is still much work to be done in terms of creating a more just and equitable society. Only by acknowledging and addressing the ways in which race impacts our society can we hope to move towards a more equitable future. It is crucial, then, that we continue to explore and engage with the concept of race in order to better understand and challenge the systems of power that perpetuate social inequality.
Changing is inevitable when traveling through life. Usually people, countries, or societies will evolve to become better than they once were. The 2000’s has seen a decrease in racism and more fighting against racism, than in the 1800s or the 1900s. In James Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time”, Baldwin writes, “We can make America what America must become” (10) to his nephew, the future generation. Baldwin means that America must become more accepting, “For this is your home, my friend, do not be driven from it” (10).
Racial issues are sometimes dismissed as history; they are thought of as issues of the past. People sometimes believe that since the government preaches equality, that most racial issues are resolved. This is not the case in today’s society, as racial issues are still prevalent in everyday life. Not only facing discriminatory practices in the job market, minorities face racism in many different aspects of everyday life. In the world we live in today, people tend to judge a whole group of people based on the actions of only a few.
Race is the social construct of social identities. We distinguish the uniqueness of individuals in such ways that our genotype and phenotype are closely associated to classifying these individuals into a particular race. Our culture, physical characteristics, and ethnicity separates us into five different categories of race: Black/African American, Yellow/Asian (including Pacific Islanders), Red/Native Americans, Brown/Hispanic/Latino, and White/Caucasian. Throughout history, darker complexions were often looked down upon. White skin becomes more favorable and are seen to be more superior than the other colors, creating this ideology that justifies inequality.
This sociological analysis paper will analyze the case of Monica Harwell, who is a female of African-American origin working at the Con Edison electrical utility company. She faced discrimination from her colleagues because of the color of her skin and the fact that she was a woman. Nevertheless, despite her qualifications and her hard work to the extent of even going back to school to better her career, which made her more qualified than most of her colleagues, Monica Harwell faced a lot of discrimination amongst her work mates, her case was so severe that she would even go urinating in the woods while at work, other colleagues would speak behind her back just to make sure that she does not progress in her career, she is even reported saying
However, in the past few years it has escalated to a point that has made race one of America’s top problems. While most chose not to believe it, there is such a huge split between the blacks and white, rich or poor it does not matter. There is still discrimination, stereotyping, and major degradation to the point of hostility among certain groups. There are some communities where race does not matter and blacks and whites are able to overcome their differences and create a neighborhood of peace. The American complication with race has multiple positions and outlooks.
This is the role of bureaucracy. Our organizations are continually concerned with efficiency. To some citizens, this search for efficiency compromises their individual freedom. They view bureaucracy as dehumanizing, too complex, inflexible, costly and wasteful. Many want to live a life free of bureaucratic control.
They are in a generation where they accept the logic of organizational power in short being a conformist. Even though a bureaucratic system is obvious in our government today we are still not made aware of it specially its complications and its consequences. Up to this date we still experience complications in a bureaucratic government also in a bureaucracy mandated business. A bureaucratic government isn’t all negative it has its pro’s specially being a well-organized government as well as a well-organized business organization. but in this paper were going to talk moreover on the negative or the cons of a bureaucratic government.
83% of Americans felt their bureaucrats tried to give equal treatment, where West German reported 63%, 53% in Italy, and 42% in Mexico. Granted this study is outdated, but it still gives a temperature as to how Americans felt about our bureaucracy (Knott & Miller, 1987, p. 118). In addition, its important to note that within reason, we should expect particular bureaucratic dysfunctions to appear. As an example, some bureaucrats experience trained capacity, where some do not experience it at all. Similarly, some organizations experience increasing rigidity, but some do not (Knott & Miller, 1987, p. 119).
The reading “Gendering Organizational Theory” written by Joan Acker analyzes the importance of implementing gendered organizations into the organization of public administration that integrate the role of women with neutrality. The author advocates for the usage of gender structures that advocates for gender-neutral character, job evaluation and the concept of abstract worker into the structure of complex organizations. Acker argued, “Jobs and hierarchies are represented as gender neutral, and every time such a job evaluation system is used, the notion of gender-neutral structure and the behavior based on that notion are re-created within the organization” (p. 425). The reading begins its discussion by mentioning the differences in treatment, society roles, and limitations and women face in their daily lives.
The term bureaucracy refers to a particular type and technique of administrative organization. In the 1930s Max Weber, a German sociologist and political economist; he wanted to find out why people in organizations obeyed those in authority above them. He wrote a validation that described the bureaucratic form as being the ultimate way of organizing government agencies. Weber’s study of business was centered on understanding the need for stability and consistency in achieving competence.
Today’s most business primary concern is retaining workforce diversity. Recognizing the importance of diversity in the organization and effectively manage to ensure the organization and its valuable diverse employees are growing hand in hand. Rising of immigrants’ employment opportunity, joint venturing business globally has equally brought an opportunity for shared values, exchange of cultures and intelligence to widen the opportunity for business enterprise and also a platform for employees to reach target goal.
Successful strategies link diversity progress directly to business results. (www.diversityinc.com/diversity-management) Diversity in the workplace means bringing together people of different ethnic backgrounds, religions and age groups into a cohesive and productive unit. Advances in communication technology, such as the Internet and cellular phones, have made the marketplace a more global concept. In order to survive, a company needs to be able to manage and utilize its diverse workplace effectively. Managing diversity in the workplace should be a part of the culture of the entire organization As a group we discussed diversity management and realized that the world is a big place and there will always be diversity.
The United States is currently facing an economical problem that involves males and female differences within the workplace. Males are given bigger and sometimes even better rewards for doing equal amounts of work as their female counterparts. Females are frequently not receiving the same wage even if they can complete the same job of a male. Also, females are less likely to get promoted within their job if they are competing against a male. A source states, “Women are now more likely to have college degrees than men, yet they still face a pay gap in every single education level,