Tanglewood Case 5: Disparate Impact Analysis

Recruitment and Selection
HRM 450

Current Needs Assessment Tanglewood prides itself on encouragement of diversity in the workplace. All hiring and promotion decisions should be made on the basis of character and quality of work. The ensuing lawsuit brings about a need to analyze Tanglewood’s selection strategies to ensure these practices are not hindering the promotion of diversity. In order to do this, it is necessary to study the flow and concentration statistics of the organization. Flow statistics are calculated by comparing the number of people hired and promoted in the organization with the total number of people that apply. These statistics are then divided into different …show more content…

The percentage in parentheses beside the selection ratio is the percentage obtained by applying the four-fifth’s rule. The four-fifth’s rule was not satisfied for African Americans hired both externally and internally for the Shift Leader position. It was also not fulfilled for African Americans in the position of Department Managers hired internally. The Assistant Store Manager position showed disparate impact evidence for both African Americans and Non-White employees. The Store Manager position had no African Americans filling these positions. It is important to note that the terms ‘white’ and ‘African-American’ refer to employees that are Non-Hispanic. The computations for concentration statistics also indicate there may be unintentional discrimination occurring in the promotion practices of the Tanglewood organization. There seems to be a much higher concentration of white employees in the upper management positions as compared to African Americans in upper management. The concentration of certain classes is computed by dividing the number of persons in a certain class for any position by the total number of individuals employed in that position. For example, the percentage of Shift Leaders that are African American is 1.81%. This can be compared to the percentage of Shift Leaders that are white, which is 84.06%. It is also useful to compare percentages of lower level employees that African American to the number of upper level employees