Running head: HR MANAGERS & MINORITIES 1
HR MANAGERS & MINORITIES 18
Pushing Back and Pushing Forward:
Problems and Challenges Facing Women and Minorities in Achieving Executive Positions and what Human Resource Managers Can Do to Help
Anthony S. Blair
North Greenville University: Masters of Business Administration
Pushing Back and Pushing Forward:
Problems and Challenges Facing Women and Minorities in Achieving Executive Positions and what Human Resource Managers Can Do to Help
Introduction
It is challenging trying to change the culture within in a business when the employees who hold all the power see no issue at all. This is the problem women and minority group members face every. It is difficult for their coworkers to understand their hardships especially all those they must overcome in achieving executive positions. They are attacked in each day on a subconscious level, through the use of microaggressions. Bigotry and hatred is so deeply intertwined within American history and society that it often goes unnoticed (Sue et al., 2007). The workplace is not exempt from these behaviors. Human resource managers have a much broader responsibility than simply making sure they are enough minorities represented in the composition of the demographic makeup. HR management is accountable for changing the culture within their company to be one of acceptance and support.
It takes two things to begin what may seem like an impossible change process: a push back and a push forward. The only way human resource management can alter the course of the company culture is to push against what may seem like the ordinary. HR managers must forbid the practice of any discriminatory behavior—from the most obvious done by an entry-level employee, to the subtle committed by the CEO. Secondly, they must push forward. Oppression and assembly breeds revolution (Hackman, 2013). If their employees do not feel heard, they will eventually rally themselves. It is better to come alongside and fight the social constructions of gender, race, and so much more (Hackman, 2013; Kimmel, 1994). It is unacceptable any longer for a woman to feel as though she must accept lesser role within a business. This normalized, oppressive behavior has to end. The idea of combatting a cruel company culture and freeing others to truly reach their full potential with a company may seem like too much to ask of human resource managers. Without human resource management though, no progress will be made within businesses. There have been great strides through Title I and Affirmative Action plans make the hiring process much more fair. And yet, there is improvement still to be made in the struggle to end oppression within the workforce. Ultimately, the goal of any human resource manager should be to level the playing the field within their company so much so that female and minority employees have just as much of a chance to achieve an executive position than that of...
