Career Relevancy

Political freedom is one of the most important things in a democratic society. On a personal and professional level, it improves our quality of life and gives us freedoms such as freedom of speech and freedom to hold marches and/or meetings. When a group does not feel like they are treated equally, they have the political freedom to exercise their right to express those concerns. In the workplace and in our homes that is essential. Equal opportunity in the workplace must be given with no regard to race, gender, disability, or any other discriminatory practices. This is important and means that everyone is given an equal chance to succeed and be who they want to be. Those in leadership must be particularly careful to treat each worker with the same level of respect and fairness they expect to receive themselves. To make a fair and equal workplace, everyone should follow the Golden Rule of treating others how they would like to be treated themselves.

Background:

The online Free Dictionary by Farlex (2018) defines political liberty as “one’s freedom to exercise one’s rights as guaranteed under the laws of the country”. While the Article 9 of the Human Rights Act provides protection for freedom of thought, belief and religion, so people could exercise their political freedom without being decriminalized (Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2018).

Freedom is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as the “freedom of the person in going and coming, equality before the courts, security of private property, freedom of opinion and its expression, and freedom of conscience subject to the rights of others and of the public” (Political Freedom, n.d.). There are many ways that the concept of personal freedom affects Americans in their personal and professional lives today. Here are just a few:

1. freedom from oppression;

2. the absence of disabling conditions for an individual;

3. the absence of life conditions of compulsion, e.g., economic compulsion, in a society;

4. freedom from “internal” constraints on political action or speech (e.g., social conformity);

5. sometimes seen as a negative, freedom from governmental regulation.

Political freedom, in general, is promoted as one of the basic foundations on which America is founded, and one of the freedoms enjoyed by Americans which might not be offered in other countries. Americans are provided the opportunity to participate in elections with the freedom to vote for the candidate of their choice without fear of retribution. On the other hand, they are not required to vote in an election, which also represents freedom of choice. In addition, freedom from oppression guarantees personal liberties such as freedom of religious choice, freedom of speech, and freedoms of self-expression. America today places very few constraints on the American public, especially in regard to self-expression and freedom of speech. Political rallies and meetings may be held with no fear of governmental intervention, unless violence becomes an issue, at which point a government entity such as law enforcement may intervene. Freedom from any governmental regulation at all could result in a break in societal interaction; thus, a fine line must be walked by the government to lead and govern without being oppressive.

Equality of opportunity is defined by The Free Dictionary (2016) as, “absence of discrimination, as in the workplace, based on race, color, age, gender, national origin, religion, or mental or physical disability.” In essence, equality of opportunity is taken to mean that all things are or should be available to the American people, regardless of their personal circumstances. According to John Goodman (2015), what America promises is only opportunity, not actual equality. Mr. Goodman (2015) cites a CBS News Poll indicating only 4% of Americans “consider income disparities as the most important problem facing the country.” Can this be taken to mean that Americans consider only income as an equalizing factor? Current racial discord would indicate this is not the case, as racial discrimination continues to exist, even though great strides have been made in this country to eliminate this type of discrimination. While America is touted as the “Land of Opportunity,” do those opportunities assume that every person is on an equal level, i.e., equal societal standing, equal education, equal income? Equal opportunity to succeed should be available to each person with no regard to race, creed, religious affiliation, or mental or physical disability; however, each person must make the most of the opportunity afforded him/her.

While equity and equality in the workplace are sometimes used interchangeably, there is, in fact, a difference in their meaning. In the area of work rewards, for instance, equity would mean team members were awarded proportionally based on their contribution, while equality would involve rewarding each team member equally, no matter their contribution to the project. There are numerous situations in the workplace involving equity and/or equality. Some of these situations include:

1. Gender

2. Disability

3. Race

4. Pay

5. Age

Gender equality in the workplace does not mean women and men will be treated the same, but that the opportunities available within the workplace will not depend upon whether the applicant is male or female. Gender equity refers to the fairness of treatment, whether male or female, In the same way, equality in regard to disabled workers would mean they are treated the same as employees with no disability, while treating the disabled workers in an equitable manner would require making changes in order to allow fair treatment; i.e. installation of wheelchair ramps or purchasing specific equipment in order to facilitate job performance. While great strides have been made in the American workplace to overcome any type of bias, efforts should be continued in order to phase out any and all discrimination.

Prompt

Write a 600-word minimum memo outlining the differences between equity and equality and explain why this is important and how the company will implement both in the workplace.

This memo should:

. Directly address your employees

. Define equity and equality

. Provide examples and non-examples of each

. Provide explanation of why both are important in your workplace

. Discuss how you plan to implement these policies in the workplace.

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SH

OR

T TITLE OF PAPER HERE 4

[Type Your First Name Last Name]

[Type Your Assignment Due Date]

HIS/220

[Type Your Title of Paper Here]

[Delete this text and insert your introduction paragraph here. Introduction paragraphs should include two or three sentences that briefly outline the main points you will cover in the paper.]

Labor Union Regulations in My State

[Delete this text and insert your first body paragraph here. Your first body paragraph should be focused on explaining labor union regulations in your particular state. Body paragraphs should be approximately four or five sentences long.]

The Role of State Government in Labor Conflict

[Delete this text and insert your second body paragraph here. Your second body paragraph should be focused on describing some the role of state government in labor conflicts. Body paragraphs should be approximately four or five sentences long.]

Stereotypes in Management and Leadership

[Delete this text and insert your third body paragraph here. Your third body paragraph should be focused on showing stereotypes in management and leadership. Body paragraphs should be approximately four or five sentences long.]

Conclusion

[Delete this text and insert your conclusion paragraph here. Conclusion paragraphs should be brief summaries of important information in the paper: approximately two or three sentences long.]

[Read the following tips and, then, delete the text on this page.]

Margins should be 1 inch at the top, bottom, left, and right of every page.

Do not justify the right margin, instead leave it ragged by using left justify.

Your entire paper should be double-spaced. Use Times New Roman font size 12.

Make sure you use in-text citations for all paraphrasing (summaries of information you have read/researched) as well as all direct quotations. ANY and ALL borrowed information must be cited.

Examples of in-text citations:

In your writing, it is important to paraphrase sources that are reliable (Jones, 2009).

OR

Jones (2009) argues that students should cite reliable sources.

OR

“Quote from reliable sources” (Jones, 2009, p. 45).

The period should always come after the parenthetical citation.

References

[Delete this text and insert your full reference citations here.]

Basic format for articles in periodicals (such as academic journals):

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages.

Example:

Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening. The New Criterion, 15(30), 5-13.

Basic format for Books:

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for proper nouns and the first letter in the first word after any colon. Location City and State/Country: Publisher.

Example:

Calfee, R. C. (1991). APA guide to preparing manuscripts for journal publication. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Basic format for an article from a website:

Author, A. A. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number. Retrieved from

http://www.journalhomepage.com/full/url/

Example:

Kenneth, I. A. (2000). A Buddhist response to the nature of human rights. Journal of Buddhist Ethics,8. Retrieved from

http://www.cac.psu.edu/jbe/twocont.html

(Note: The examples above show how your references should look. The examples were obtained from the OWL at Purdue APA Formatting and Style Guide. References should be alphabetized, have ½ inch hanging indents, and should be properly formatted based on the reference type.)