Human Relations and Equal Opportunity
Introduction

Human relations is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on the intersection of communications, psychology, sociology, and management to better understand how individuals and workers interact and engage in personal and professional relationships. The field of human relations emerged in the 19th century when Industrialization was roaring in the West. Researchers focused on ways of maximizing potential, understanding human relations activities, and the various types of motivation. Frederick Taylor was a leading researcher who is today known as the father of the scientific management approach: he focused on maximizing efficiency, minimizing waste, decreasing the amount of required labor, and producing a streamlined approach to human relations that was more science-driven than the humane approach (Locke, 1982). While Taylor helped to introduce the idea that all human interactions could be understood by processing data and crunching numbers, the reality is that human relations are still complex and human beings require a great deal of empathy and sympathy, no matter what the numbers and statistics say. Today the core concepts, competencies and principles of Human Relations focuses on building and fostering relationships in order to create a healthy and dynamic work environment where people will want to be employed. In the 21st century there is a need for Human Relations because globalization and technology have made it possible for workplaces to be more diverse than ever before. With so much diversity comes certain challenges, such as how to ensure that there are no generational, gender, ethnic or racial biases permeating the workplace and causing divisions (Downey, van der Werff, Thomas & Plaut, 2015). Human Relations is needed today to ensure efficiency and healthy interaction among employees and stakeholders in the organization. To ensure such, there is a need to emphasize equal opportunity and to make sure there is an equal opportunity for employment and success for all workers. This paper will focus on Human Relations and Equal Opportunity Representatives (EORs) to show where they can improve and what needs to be done to advance the field of Human Relations this century.

Literature Review

Social change is the process of alteration by which a society’s culture, ideals, and behaviors transform over a given period of time (Perry & Perry, 2016). For example, in the 20th century in the U.S. significant social changes occurred regarding race, sex and gender: segregation ended as a result of the Civil Rights Movement, women became emancipated as a result of the Feminist Movement, and the LGBTQ+ community became celebrated as a result of the Politically Correct Movement. Traditional norms and values were replaced by values and norms focusing on promoting social justice and equal opportunity. As a result of these changes, new focus was need in Human Relations on how to approach teamwork and getting diverse people to get along.

There are numerous theories and models of how social change impacts workplaces and how those workplaces respond by focusing on building teamwork and respect for diversity, using the tools of the modern era. Various theories, for instance, show that human teamwork is impacted by social interactions, work environment, ecology, and technology (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2013). The human relations theory focuses on the human (O’Connor, 1999) and in terms of teamwork holds that “teams utilize the members’ capabilities and talents” (Sycara & Sukthankar, 2006, p. 1). In an equal opportunity environment, every individual is respected for bringing some set of unique skills and talents to the group. However, at the end of the day, it all depends upon creating a culture that reflects the importance of social change. As Henry Cloud has noted “if you are building a culture where honest expectations are communicated and peer accountability is the norm, then the group will address poor performance and attitudes” (Smith, 2018, p. 43). This suggests that culture is especially important in an organization and managers have to take notice of the way unconscious bias can impact the organizational culture. Otherwise, the culture will lack honesty and respect for others and instead will be animated by the unconscious bias of those who shape it. For that reason, harboring bias can be negatively impactful on the workplace culture and employees and managers should be mindful of doing what they can to reduce the risk of unconscious bias impacting their workplace environment and affecting workplace relationships. Equal opportunity employers have a responsibility to be non-biased in their hiring and to avoid discrimination in the workplace

The social psychology theory of teamwork holds that the way in which team members interact will shape the team’s performance. As Schyns and Schilling (2013) have shown, from a social psychological theory it is important that teams have good leaders who demonstrate positivity, because negativity such as a lack of likeability, a lack of communication, a lack of transparency, and a lack of empathy will all negatively affect a team. The social psychological theory of teamwork is very helpful in understanding how teams succeed. One concrete example of this theory in practice can be seen at the company of Southwest Airlines, where Herb Kelleher created a workplace culture that promoted positive interactions and friendliness, accountability and respect among team workers. Additionally, this theory focuses on trust. Without trust, there can be no working relationships in a team (Morgan, 2006). An organization is a big team and people need to be able to trust one another because in the end they are all going to be held accountable together. So making sure the team is filled with the right people with the right skills is important but so too is having a solid, positive social psychological framework to facilitate the performance of the company.

As an EOR it is important to consider how social change has created an environment in which diversity and inclusion issues are now more common in the workplace. Creating a positive and respectful culture is critical to being a good equal opportunity representative. As Smith (2018) points out, creating a culture where accountability is a norm is crucial to...…In the Western world, it is not socially accepted to harbor bias—yet many people do unconsciously because of the various environmental and social factors that impact them over time as they develop (Bandura, 2018). Thus, even without realizing it, individuals can impact those around them by having bias towards people who are different. This bias can become manifested in various ways: it can appear in body language, verbal communications, the amount of patience that one gives, the assumptions one makes about the skill level of a person of a different background, and so on.

Recommendations for Improvement

EORs have to be mindful of changes in society, the workplace and within themselves. This latter point is especially important because it is often overlooked. Bias is something that can creep in and not even be expected. Bias too can also creep into a workplace culture and not be noticed. Practices and policies might contain bias against individuals or groups of people and they might go unnoticed. In order to be more efficient and effective at the job, the EOR should be constantly combing for bias—bias in society, bias in the workplace and bias in oneself. This will put the EOR in the right mindset so that he can do the job according to the standards and norms expected of the EOR.

Critical Analysis of Learning

As a result of my multiple human relations courses and as a result of my internship and my degree program, I feel that my professional life has been informed in many ways: exposure to scholarly literature on EO and exposure to the real world working environment in which EORs live and work have both contributed to my understanding of the necessity of EORs in the workplace and on the importance that equal opportunity compliance plays in today’s world. In my own life I see myself constantly thinking about how social and cultural trends will impact the workplace and how we take certain things for granted now that might not be taken for granted in the future. For instance, with the trend in gender identity issues it is becoming more and more important to think about how we define gender and what impact that would have on the workplace. Restrooms that are based on gender identity may become a thing of the past because they could represent instances of bias that do not facilitate a healthy workplace that is inclusive of gender-fluid persons. This is just one example of the way I now find myself considering the world and the workplace as a result of these classes, readings and my experience. I also see myself cultivating my skills in emotional and social intelligence more often by trying to listen more frequently, pay attention to body language and observe how people hand responses so that I can tailor my own communications to meet the needs of others. EO is more than just about compliance, it is also about making oneself compliant to other people.