*Apologies for cross-postings*
Hello everyone! We would like to invite you to the following PDW session on comparative employment equity with a focus on Canada, India, South Africa and the United States. In this PDW, we hope to be able to meet and interact with other researchers interested in research on comparative work on employment equity, equal employment opportunity and affirmative action, public policy on equal treatment, and fairness in the workplace. We also aim to identify future research in this area and form collaboration opportunities with participants during the PDW session.
Program Session #: 13
Scheduled: Friday, Aug 12 2011 8:00AM - 10:00AM at Grand Hyatt in Presidio B
In this session, participants will provide a brief outline of efforts made by 4 countries, listed below, through their own research and personal experiences concerned with fairness and bias. It will focus on India, South Africa, Canada and the United States. Reservations policy (or affirmative action) in India for schedule castes and "scheduled tribes" is part of the Indian Constitution since 1948 (Jain & Ratnam, 1994). The Indian government is contemplating applying it to the private sector firms; so far the reservations policy applies only to the public sector, higher education etc. Canada has had Employment Equity (Affirmative Action) legislation since 1986, South Africa Employment Equity legislation since 1998, and Affirmative Action policy applying to federal contractors in the USA has been around since the early 1960s. The primary objective of this PDW is to discuss, debate, and share information regarding this important topic. For most countries covered in this PDW, Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) is a very important part in the school curriculum; professors, researchers, consultants and managers attending this PDW will gain insights on the critical issues, (i.e., pros and cons) in this important area. This issue is also important because in examining it, we learn something about the impact of multinational corporations (MNCs) on the ability of the central governments to implement social welfare policies. Jain, Sloane and Horwitz (2003) noted that empirical research has generally shown the EEA to be effective at achieving basic employment equity goals among Canadian companies (Horwitz and Jain, in press; Mathew & Jain, in press; Ng & Burke, 2010). However, foreign owned companies have not been specifically investigated. It will be important to generate discussion on how to further this investigation at the PDW.
Chair: Harish C. Jain; McMaster U.
Participant: Eddy S. Ng; Dalhousie U.
Participant: Rana Haq; Laurentian U.
Participant: Frank Horwitz; U. of Cape Town
Participant: Waheeda Lillevik; College of New Jersey
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Ed Ng, PhD
Associate Professor, Organizational Behaviour
Dalhousie University