LEGAL ASPECTS OF DIVERSITY ARTICLE REVIEW - Essay Example

The results of this, first, attempt was rather disappointing. Just 3 out of 20 companies accepted to provide information on the issues set by CNN’s researchers, i.e. the race and the sex of their employees; they were the firms Dell, Ingram Micro and Intel (Pepitone 2013). Trying to identify the necessary data the researchers addressed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). However, the above organization denied providing such data on the basis that such initiative would be against the law.

At the next level, the researchers decided to address another authority, the Department of Labor. The specific authority is obliged to provide such employment-related data when a relevant request is submitted. Still, in regard to this case, the above authority was able to provide the data requested only in regard to five of the area’s companies, those that are federal contractors. Even though the data retrieved was significantly less than expected, important assumptions could be developed for the strategies that Silicon Valley’s companies use for managing diversity; it was made clear that minority and women were clearly under-represented in this area’s companies.

The specific phenomenon has been justified by the firms’ managers using the following claim: that women and minorities are less likely to acquire a diploma related to technology. By its side, the Department of Labor had explained to CNN’s researchers that most of its attempts to retrieve employment-related data from the area’s firms had been unsuccessful. Because of the problems described above, it is suggested that the existing law protecting the issuing of diversity data should be alternated so that it is not used as a shelter for hiding unfair practices in regard to the management of diversity in the workplace.

The efforts of firms of Silicon Valley to keep their diversity data unpublished, as described in the above article of CNN, should be considered as rather expected. Indeed, the research developed on the specific issue has verified the extension of the problem: most of firms worldwide avoid publishing their diversity data. The lack of effective laws regulating this issue is the key reason for the above phenomenon. In addition, firms that operate in extremely competitive environments need to take into consideration a series of criteria when having to handle discrimination problems: a) the potential responses of their shareholders to the strategy chosen for securing diversity (James & Wooten 2006), b) the effects of the firm’s diversity-focusing strategies on the organization’s financial status; the cost of diversity strategies can be quite high especially when the operations of the organization involved are expanded worldwide (James & Wooten 2006); c) the practices used by competitors to address such problems need also to be taken into account (James & Wooten 2006); d) the long-term effects of the chosen diversity strategy need also to be carefully evaluated; if a diversity strategy is expected to discourage potential investors then this strategy should be avoided (James & Wooten 2006).

For example, a diversity strategy that led another firm to severe financial damage should not be employed since such decision would cause severe internal conflicts, as a form of resistance to the relevant plan. In other words, a diversity strategy is not only related to benefits but also to a series of challenges. However, if appropriately prepared diversity strategy