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Introduction
Over the last decades, the issue of ethical business performance has been widely discussed among individuals highlighting the importance of including moral actions, respect, and trust in everyday life of corporations. Whilst some firms keep performing in an aggressive manner, being focused on goal achievement, other companies develop their HR departments and realize in-depth analyses of human rights protection. As a result, concentration on societal aspects has attracted talented employees to the companies and has given the latter more possibilities to enhance the firm’s outcomes. On the contrary, slight attention towards human rights leads the corporation to many problems regarding their reputation, society’s opinions, and affected stakeholders. In this assignment, the issue of gender discrimination will be disclosed and analyzed based on how the deteriorated relationships taking roots from societal issues affect all sides of the conflict.
The Issue of Gender Discrimination and Who is Negatively Affected by It
Gender discrimination is a central issue in modern society, and it is fair to state that individuals of both genders are affected by it. Gender equality aims to reach equivalent payments, treatments, elections on the leadership teams, access to career-growing opportunities, and benefits (Carosella, 2020; Embroker Team, 2022). According to the recent World Economic Forum report on the global gender gap, it will take at least 54 years for Western Europe to close the gender inequality gap (World Economic Forum, 2020). Indeed, the question of gender discrimination stays up-to-date and affects a variety of individuals daily. For instance, an electric vehicle maker organization Rivian was sued for the unlawful firing of an employee, Laura Schwab, who stated she was routinely excluded from the company’s conferences (Lee, 2021). After raising concerns to HR about the gender discrimination she was facing, Laura was fired two days after (Lee, 2021). The question of gender parity keeps affecting businesses, non-profits, and their employees impacting companies’ incomes and performances.
To be more precise, gender discrimination directly impacts a company’s employees, managers, and leaders. Indirectly the question influences shareholders, communities, and governments by having different economic outcomes and lowered performance levels. Gender discrimination issue negatively affects employees’ motivation and commitment to the business’s goals, worsening the company’s productivity and the organizational culture. Shareholders can experience the negative influence of gender discrimination in the business through the decline in organizational performance and deterioration of financial performance. The government’s role in employee protection implies protecting employees’ rights and providing equal opportunities for all workers. Gender discrimination issues put the governmental performance of its primary functions under question. Moreover, communities are negatively influenced by gender discrimination issues as they allow the spread of gender behavior stereotypes and improper gender norms. Lastly, the media as a derived stakeholder is also impacted by the issue.
Analysis of Business and Society Relations
For Firms Associated with Gender Discrimination, How Salient are Stakeholders and Their Demands Relating to This Issue?
POWER Business and society are intersected with the question of gender discrimination. Female representatives are believed to suffer the most from the disrespectful and unfair working circumstances they are sometimes put in. As discussed above, Laura Schwab, the former Aston Martin executive and a recent Rivian vice president of the sales and marketing department, suffered from an unlawful attitude and an unfriendly working environment (Lee, 2021). Primarily, the stakeholder that is mostly affected by the issue is the staff which has requirements for a safe working atmosphere, respectful attitude, and equal access to career growth (Francoeur et al., 2019). For the firm, it is essential to show to the current and future possible employees the serious company’s attitude towards human rights and gender equality. The latter attracts talented individuals and provides them with a safe working environment, with the ability to perform openly, divisively, and at full capacity (Morni, 2020; Wooll, 2021). According to Morgan Stanley’s research, a more diverse workforce is interconnected with higher average returns (Trager, 2022). The smart proposition to business leads a corporation to increase healthy competitiveness, efficiency, and productivity by selecting the most talented and high-performing individuals.
Communities are indirectly affected by the gender wage gap as the problem leads to the lowered socio-economic status of women and their limited access to education, healthcare, and high standards of quality of life. As a result, the economic condition of the country deteriorates, and the indicators such as GDP per capita decrease as well. Local communities suffer from the lowered average income of their population and the higher development of mental and health disorders (Kubala and Villines, 2021). The local communities also experience increased costs on court cases and increased firms’ spending on fines regarding human rights incidents. The marginalization of any kind creates perceptions in society of limited access to career growth, success, and self-realization. This leads to fewer talented people striving to perform in their high capacities as they do not believe there can be a chance of succeeding because of ethnicity, gender, and other factors.
As gender discrimination is a significant economic challenge, governments are similar to other companies’ stakeholders impacted by the issue. Even though the impact is indirect, the state suffers from the increased number of unofficial employments, payments, and limited access of females to career growth. McKinsey & Company calculated that full closure of gender parity could add to annual GDP at least $28 trillion (Gupta, Hieronimus and Madgavkar, 2019). That means better opportunities and life quality for each member of society. The state is a policymaker, a source of some financial operations, a work issuer, and a gatherer of stakeholders who can create conditions for a proper job environment and gender equality.
Media participates in the information spread, impacts society, and partly forms their attitudes toward various questions. Media is a derivative stakeholder as the firm has no direct ethical obligations to it, but the media can impact the organization through its actions. Media is a mirror of society’s events, and it reflects the up-to-date problems in modern business companies and society. That is why a word of media influences people’s mindsets and general awareness of the issue and break gender-related stereotypes (IMS, 2020). With the media’s significant involvement, the firm barely manages to escape unlawful actions and court cases from it to become public knowledge.
What Institutional Pressures Do Firms Face on the Issue of Gender Discrimination?
According to institutional theory, the conduct of firms is dictated by their institutional environment or field. The constituents of the environment are the organization’s social context, activities, and communal relationships (Zhang, 2020). It can also be stated that institutional forces direct the performance of the corporation leading it to acceptance of social norms via external or internal forces (Roszhkowska-Menkes and Aluchna, 2018). External ones include the coercive and mimetic mechanisms when the firm reacts to norms and principles of community with the help of pressure or methods of conformation to other companies’ behaviors. For instance, the court case discussed above between electric vehicle maker organization Rivian and its former vice-president of sales and marketing, Laura Schwab is a brought example of coercive isomorphism (Lee, 2021). Rivian has to make changes according to the demands of society and its former employee’s reaction to her experience with the company. The changes Rivian is led to are initiated by external mechanisms, and since the firm did not agree on inappropriate conduct, it experiences coerciveness and pressure from the outside.
It is essential to highlight that the pressures the corporation experiences from society, media, and its employees regarding human rights and the issue of gender discrimination significantly depends on gender diversity in the institutional environment. Therefore, the company’s location directly impacts the human resource departments and the firm’s tactics for developing a comfortable and appropriate working environment for every member (Lewellyn and Muller-Kahle, 2020; Seyfried, Ansmann and Pohlenz, 2019). For instance, the changes large corporations in the United Kingdom, such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Deloitte and Ernst & Young, faced after the year 2018 are impacting the issue of gender parity (Agyemang-Mintah and Schadewitz, 2019). Even though the pressure mechanisms were external and initiated by the state, the large corporations were obligated to publish gender pay data (Gupta et al., 2019; Kezar and Bernstein-Sierra, 2019). Such changes in the country’s legislation lead to slow but important reorientations in gender stereotypes and the promotion of gender equality (Gartzia, 2021; Tyrowicz, Terjesen and Mazurek, 2020). After several years of changes by policymakers, normative isomorphism starts integrating into the organization’s performance as the social norms and values tend to shift as well.
For instance, most companies in Norway successfully implement normative isomorphism after several decades of state regulations and laws. Some examples of successful businesswomen in Norway include Anita Krohn Traaseth (CEO of Innovation Norway), Kristin Skogen Lund (Director of Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise), and Berit Svendsen (Vice president of Telenor Group). Before taking their current positions, these women also occupied positions in other large companies, such as Ericsson, Audi, Electromagnetic Geoservices, and Hewlett-Packard. After 2003, the country’s policymakers managed to correct the legislation on the issue of gender discrimination, and currently, 30% of companies’ directors are females (Fouche, 2019). There is still plenty of room for Norway’s further development in gender equality, but the country’s current progress presents a significant example for other countries.
Mimetic isomorphism is also met in developed countries with modern business structures that strive to enhance the corporate social responsibility consulting industry and promote by their actions codes of best practices and management systems. Mimetic isomorphism implies the process when organizations deliberately make changes to their structure to imitate the structure of another organization which they perceive as more beneficial for the achievement of their goals. Mimetic isomorphism can also refer to a business’s tendency to integrate standard or common approaches in cases of indecisiveness. The behavior of corporations that implement social responsibility is mimetic as it copies and adapts to up-to-date business ethics. Thus, the companies involved in so-called mimicry prioritize competition and timely responses to their peers’ actions in the field.
To What Extent Are Firms Successful in Addressing the Gender Discrimination?
The success of corporations in addressing gender discrimination can be measured by their approach to solving the issue and their motivation to integrate strategies. Companies that follow legislations to provide a protected working place free from gender bias and inequalities attract more stakeholders and are appreciated by society. The firms that rely on professional opinions when solving a social issue are normatively isomorphic, and that makes their performance highly skilled, free-minded, and, in a positive way, similar to their competitors (Roebig, 2020). Normative isomorphism successfully implemented by a firm leads to unbiased attitudes and integration of socially rationalized structures (Jaja, Gabriel and Wobodo, 2019). The results of these integrations do not bother the representatives of the firm if the company’s actions are deteriorating from their practices in the corporate social responsibility field.
Members of the organization that performs in the principles of normative isomorphism view the issues and phenomena from the same perspective. It is indeed essential to state that the change initiated by the government and its policymakers plays a significant role in leading people’s mindsets toward these perspectives. However, after the modern changes in law and social norms, the standards for various jobs tend to deviate from old, stereotyped perceptions. Moreover, the homogenization of modern businesses does not refer to mimic isomorphism as, most of the time; companies behave and perform with confidence and success. For instance, Zappos and Bol.com both have similar operational departments, operating models, and fields of performance (Oukes, 2018). Both companies are successfully performing in the fields of logistics and IT, and their strategies are similar, which is explained by the normative isomorphism theory.
Furthermore, considering the companies’ successful implementation of strategies targeting gender discrimination, Zappos utilizes a more friendly application process for all employees. The company favors the development of diversity among employees as diversity is perceived as one of the main components of good customer service. The company utilized a new hiring strategy where applicants have an opportunity to provide their cover letter n the form of a video. Candidates are also welcome to share their social media profiles to ensure the hiring more diverse contingent of workers. Besides positive results in the fight against gender discrimination, Zappos also works in combatting age discrimination. Similarly, Bol.com company advocates for equality and diversity and even introduced diversity and inclusion management positions.
To What Extent Are Non-Corporate Organisations and Actors Successful in Holding Firms to Account in Addressing the Gender Discrimination?
Government and non-government organizations are directing firms and corporations towards appropriate and ethical behavior aiming to decrease gender parity. The state’s legislation and norms and the image of governmental companies’ conduct show society the importance of the problem and the gap between genders in the modern world. As an example of governmental legislation, the Japanese government set a target goal for companies to have at least 15% female representatives in the position of prefectural civil-service director roles in 2015 (Gupta, Hieronimus and Madgavkar, 2019). The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) is central non-governmental companies performing worldwide and issuing norms and statistical data on various societal problems. The AWID promotes corporate responsibility and tax justice to achieve unbiased attitudes towards females in employment (Wallace and Wilson, 2020). With the direction and support of state and non-government organisations, it becomes possible to address societal issues.
Conclusion
The current assignment disclosed the issue of gender discrimination related to business and society based on the example of a recent law case. The issue of the gender gap impacts significantly females worldwide and limits their access to equal payments, leadership positions, education, and unbiased attitudes from colleagues and individuals from the community. The paper investigated how the problem of gender discrimination directly impacts employees of corporations. It was further explained how other stakeholders, such as communities, governments, shareholders, and the media, were indirectly impacted by the issue. In the second part of the assignment, the analysis of the relationship between society and businesses is discussed. It is clearly stated that all stakeholders meet difficulties when addressing the issue. However, with the current tendencies of developed countries to change legislation, non-governmental companies to participate and influence the decision-makers, and the tendency of corporations to homogenization, some essential changes have been achieved.
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