Policy approaches to diversity, ethics, and privacy in Richmond organizations

Virginia Department of Social Service

This is a paper discussing policy in Virginia Department of Social Service, deals with diversity, ethics and privacy issues in the work place. It has 10 sources in Turabian style.

Creativity, diversity and innovation define the health and wealth of a nation, a nation is of course not a single unit. It comprises of people of different races, the ideologies, the industries, companies and organizations which are run by intelligent people. In today's globalized world, the word nation has been deconstructed and internationalism is now a new nationalism. The mixing of races, ethnic groups, and nationalities at home and abroad is at a record level. In a world where technology has brought the people of far cultures to a global village, where individuals, organizations and entire countries draw strength and personality from places as near as their local neighborhood and as far away as a distant continent, the amalgamation is taking a new form the hybrid is hip. There is a deep transformation going on around the world, this change is not a passing fad, rather it is a deep change. Racial, ethnic, and national categories no longer impose the redundant barriers or unending traditions in organizations. There is a systematic deconstruction of all the categories and they do not vanish, but are given new meaning joining many pieces inside a kaleidoscope, presenting a different image from one instant to the next [Weisberg 1993]. Virginia Department of Social Services is one such organization that prides itself in becoming part of the social change and organizational change at the employee level.

Virginia Department of Social Services provides public assistance and social services information, program and local department supervision, institution and care facilities, licensing and social services staff training and development. The mission of the organization is to help people lead safe and productive lives. The organization is guided by and holds three organizational values as superior to all; they are Accountability, Integrity and effectiveness. The organization maintains a network that is both effective and good stewards of public funds and trust. The gingival and group actions demonstrates the highest ethical and professional standards and respective for the customers. The organization strives to maximize the resources and effectively meet the changing need of their customers.

Each division of the organization work independently yet collaboratively to promote responsibility and support the development of healthy families and communities. The joint effort of each division is intended to:

Regulate and promote quality care

Create opportunities for family-centered, community-based services

Strive for effective operations and procedures.

Work with all levels of government with a commitment to quality.

Coordinate legislative actions and information.

Provide timely and accurate benefits.

Handle media relations and provide public awareness.

Protect children and vulnerable adults in facilities and communities.

This paper examines how a an organization like Virginia Department of Social services deal with diversity, ethics and privacy issues in the workplace. How the policies of the organization affect the employee behavior and what are the issues concerning ethics, diversity and privacy of employees. For this purpose the researcher will examine various policies of VDSS and its impact on its employees. In the light of the various policies we will able to evaluate the organization and its performance.

At a top political and economic level, the structure of an organization and its policy regarding employees has a huge impact on its success. The policies of organization consequences of this on political and economic structure on local economies, human welfare and environment are the subject of an open debate among international organizations, government institutions and the academic world. In this global world the role of domestic organizations, the effects of a phenomenon as complex as globalization are not exclusively beneficial. As with any other economic and social change, there are risks as well as potential benefits in the economy. Certain risks result from a lack of social and environmental responsibility on the part of companies; others are a consequence of structural changes in the world economy. These large organizations have a huge impact on the local communities and affect the culture and politics of the community.

The principle obligation of an organization is to promote respect for human rights and freedoms by progressive measures to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance. The main purpose should be to achieve common standard of success for all peoples as a productive organ of society. This can only be done when organization take its primary responsibility as to promote and protect human rights, create a positive change and contribute in the social and economic well being of the country and adopt environmental policies which would ensure not only healthy environment for the present but also for the next generation. By acknowledging the universality, indivisibility, interdependence, and interrelatedness of human rights, including the right to development, that entitles every human person and all peoples to participate in, contribute to and enjoy economic, social, cultural, and political development in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realized [David, 1995].

VDSS is basically a social service organization, its main aim is to work hard to develop, strengthen and protect Virginia's communities. One of the key factors that influence the success of VDSS is collaboration and coordination of communities. The Department brings communities together for the enhancement of personal growth and resolution. The Community Service Block Grant Program (CSBG) networks over 20 community actions agencies, providing wide range of community-based services, to include: Day Care, Employment, Emergency Services; Housing; Transportation; and Adult and Child Education. Virginia Faith-Based & Community Initiative staff provide outreach to community organizations by responding to requests for technical assistance and conducting workshops on applying state and federal funding, successful collaboration and establishing volunteer programs. Also a directory of state faith-based resources is under development [VDSS, 2002].

The Office of Newcomer Service is responsible for the resettlement of approximately 2,000 refugees into the Commonwealth every year. These Office refugees and their families achieve economic self-sufficiency and successful integration into their new communities. Through the Virginia Neighborhood Assistance Program (NAP), VDSS has over 200 nonprofit participants and processes 1,500 business donations annually. Volunteerism collaborates or networks with statewide and local organizations on volunteerism projects and initiatives. Annually, 3.25 million volunteers are mobilized across the Commonwealth. AmeriCorps serves communities by addressing needs in areas of education, public safety and human needs. Approximately 7,000 individuals are served annually through AmeriCorps. The Family & Children Trust Fund provides support and development of services for the prevention and treatment of family in Virginia. The Economic and Employment Improvement Program for Disadvantage persons is designed to improve the employability of disadvantaged persons through education, skills and job training. Likewise the opportunity Knocks Program provides the same training for young adults; age 18-25 [VDSS, 2002].

To achieve their aim and to provide the community and individuals with best service possible VDSS uses the Executive Order of Commonwealth of Virginia issued by the Governor. The purpose of using this Order, as a guideline is to make sure that the organization has diversity and it integrates different people from different background and community. The VDSS specifically prohibits any kind of discrimination and is not biased or prejudice with regard to its employees and its organizational structure. To uphold its high standards, it has judged its employees on their talents and qualification rather than race or ethnicity. The organization has qualified and experts minorities in the top management and this clearly shows that to achieve high standards and to develop programs of social service and of top quality the company has always given priority to experience, talents and qualification rather than race, color, sex and nationality. This is the reason why the company has diversity in many aspects of its nature and is able to devise programs for all communities and for different kind of people who come from different background.

The structure and nature of an organization plays a significant role in being creative. The traditional concept is that a company is creative when its employees do something new and potentially useful without being shown or taught.. A conscious organization is not self-absorbed or an end-state where every employee has been certified "enlightened" and each and every segment of the organization, or division or bureau, or agency, or institution is spotlessly cleaned of any residual unconsciousness. A conscious organization is one which has a system of checks and balances within its framework, it re-examines, readdresses the issues, committing itself to become more conscious as it can. It cannot afford to be windowless and cannot tolerate for unconsciousness. It possesses the collective will to be vigilant, the collective commitment to continuous growth and evolution, and the collective courage to act. Once such conscious organization and those who are involved in it recognizes any degree, a quality, procedure or any other element of its culture which is not aware of the changing environment a rallying cry goes out and the organization's resources are marshaled toward "cleaning up" that area and making it more conscious. [Michael & Ronni 2000].

VDSS is an organization, which has committed itself to the service of the people, and to achieve that goal it has to be diverse. The reason for this is that VDSS unlike many organizations is a social service organization, solving, helping, supporting and providing assistance to dispossessed people. People have different kinds of social problems; the problems that VDSS deal with specifically are Community service, assisting neighborhood, education, employment and providing family funds. These problems or assistance need diverse solution, because though the problems are same it needs different solutions according to the particular makeup of the community, family and individual. Diversity in an organization more than anything breeds creation and innovation and for an organization like VDSS is it a necessity. It cannot afford to be homogenous because the result of that is stagnation and the end of creativity and innovation, which I think is the life blood for organizations like VDSS and of course for human progress. It is only working together, with diverse people and with mixed workplace that VDSS can achieve its goals. This is not true not only for VDSS but for other organizations and nations.

The Executive Order 1 of Commonwealth of Virginia, which serves as the policy of VDSS towards diversity, ethics and equal opportunity for its services and also for its employees, provide strong emphasis on diversity. The policy specifically prohibits discrimination on the bases of race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age or political affiliation, or against otherwise qualified persons with disabilities [Warner, 2002]. The VDSS has also put a strong emphasis on diversity and is impartial in providing social services and also about its employees. The VDSS has achieved these high standards because it has been tuned with the policy of Commonwealth and it has never compromised on low standards and always judged its employees on their qualification. Not only this, the organization prohibits discrimination of every kind, particularly on the basis of color, ethnicity, sex and race. The evidence for this policy is reflected in its structure, the majority of the workers in VDSS are female. This not only shows that the company does not discriminate on sex, color and race and also shows that it has not compromised on mediocrity and has employed qualified employees which devised quality programs and provide the best possible service. Another aspect of its strong emphasis on diversity is that the structure of organization is composed of different workforce from different background and race. African-Americans represent a large part of the workforce and though they are not in top management, still these employees have considerable numbers in the organization. Other minorities and ethnic group like Latin American and Asian-American do have positions in top management. How innovative an organization is reflects its richness, diversity and its progress in this technological era. More than ever diversity rewards those who are willing and bold enough to exercise it. VDSS not only has a diverse workforce but its programs its assistance and help goes to diverse communities and people. The company does not discriminate on the basis of color and race and provides its assistance and help to whomever it sees necessary. The company through its volunteers and other assistance has helped making connections between cultures, the mixing of different races, ethnic groups and nationalities and has worked in debasing the distinction of race, color and ethnicity [Sparkes 1995].

The Executive Order 2 also emphasizes the recruitment of qualified minorities, women, disabled persons, and older Virginians to serve at all levels of organizations. It also protects the privacy of employees in the workplace. In many organizations over fourteen million employees in United States have their privacy been violated in one form or another. Due to this privacy issue the Virginia Commonwealth has also put the strong emphasis on privacy of employees and ethics. Workers in United States are exposed to many types of privacy issues, including monitoring, tracking and holding personal information. In addition these abuses include drug testing, closed circuit video monitoring, Internet monitoring and filtering, E-mail monitoring, phone monitoring, personality and psychological testing a keystroke logging. These privacy abuses not only are against the constitutional laws but also diminish employee moral and dignity and increase their work stress. [Benner 2001]

The VDSS has a strong policy regarding employee's rights and is against all kinds of abuse and discrimination against the employees. It is the policy of that company that personal information about the employee and citizen is collected only to the extent necessary to provide the service or benefit desired and that all employees and citizens understand that the reason information is collected.

The organizational values of workplace, social interaction, work cooperation, sharing are important pillars of any organization and necessary for its growth. Above all and to the conclusion of our discussion a diverse, mixed, environment plays a significant role in organizational creativity, on individual and organizational level. There has been little evidence of a sustained growth by any organization that discriminates on the bases of race, color and ethnicity in today's world. To increase growth and success in this global world, where different cultures are coming together and for any organization to survive, it has to cater and understand different cultures and behavior of the people. In this highly advanced technological era organization also has to arm themselves not only with latest technology but also with diverse workforces to ensure innovation, creativity and to compete in this ever-changing world and diversity is the best method to increase creativity [Makower 1994].