Ethnicity-Based Stereotyping in the Workplace - Coursework Example

Ethnicity-based stereotyping in the workplace Name: Course Tutor City/State Date Introduction Stereotyping, according to the Urban Dictionary, is when a group of people who are different based on personal opinions and/or encounters are judged. These assumptions are made regardless of the individual traits due to the association with the group. Stereotypes can be positive, negative or neutral, but that does not matter because stereotypes are to be used with care. Most of the stereotypes are derogatory and point to the negative traits of people based on colour, gender, age, career sexual orientation and ethnicity. Using stereotypes prevents people from interacting well based on individual assumptions that make a person unique. Such assumptions in the workplace deter a person from being productive in the duties of the organization because the co-workers are not from the same group. Getting to know each other in the workplace helps understand an individual better away from the stereotype (Marger 2014). This paper seeks to discuss the ethnicity-based stereotyping in the workplace. Ethnicity-based stereotyping Ethnicity based stereotyping is a classification of views about characteristic traits of members of a particular ethnic group, or population, culture and traditional norms. National stereotypes can be about their own people or about others. Categorising people in terms of ethnicity leads to mental simplification, causing people to overlook individual differences among group members (Marger 2014). In stereotyping, people form opinions about other people because they are not able to get the information they need about the group that will enable them make fair judgements on the situations. Therefore, spaces are filled in the absence of the information about a particular group or an individual. Such generalizations come from experiences or those that are read in books or in movies and related these to current situations (Koppelman & Goodhart 2011). When people form opinions about other people based on prejudice, these people are bound to feel that they are treated differently and this leads to discrimination. People make use of stereotyping to make conclusions about others in the workplace, usually without any information about the person or group. Unfortunately, a person who is being stereotyped is perceived for who they are rather than what they can add to the organization. There are numerous problems that arise along with stereotyping. Such problem impact the organization in many negative ways. Ethnic stereotypes puts a boundary in the ability of an organization’s management to make good use of the skills that the employees possess and ensure that they are able to acquire new skills (Koppelman & Goodhart 2011). An employer may see an employee from a certain ethnic background and assume that he may be valuable in an accounts department without exploring other skill that the employee may possess. At the end of the day, the employee may feel insufficient in the workplace and leave the organization due to untapped opportunities. The morale of employees is affected by the ethnicity-based stereotypes by affecting productivity. An employee who feels like they are being stereotyped in relation to his ethnic background may be forced to leave an organization if they believe that they are being treated differently (Marger 2014). The clients that are served by an organization where ethnic stereotypes are rampant may feel dissatisfied with the services offered by the organization. Consequently, the company suffers low revenues. Ethnicity-based stereotypes in the workplace form a communication barrier within an organization (Marger 2014). There is no open communication and teamwork in the organization as most of the employees refer to “us and them” when they are in groups where certain information is shielded by the members of the various groups. They use stereotyping as a powerful tool. Creativity is jeopardised and the skills of the stereotyped employees are not recognized. As a result, the company loses its problem solving abilities and become less competitive in the market. As much as stereotypes are negative, there are those that are considered positive, although any stereotype is offensive (Koppelman & Goodhart 2011). Stereotypes such as the one that Asians are smart at Math and sciences are considered positive. However, in the workplace once an employer has realized that an Asian employee is good at these fields, work may be allocated unfairly. This therefore, deters the possible career advancements of the particular employee. If an employer makes an assumptions that the employees of a given ethnicity are hardworking more than others, then that employer has a likelihood of making work assignments unfairly in the process of applying a two-way methodology of examining employee performance depending on their backgrounds. This approach by the employer is likely to ignore other skill of the employees and in the process lose sight of the true quality of the work that the employees deliver. On the other hand, stereotyping an employee as passive and antisocial may hinder the development of workplace relationships because other co-workers have an assumption about the employee (Koppelman & Goodhart 2011). This assumption will cost the said passive employees a chance at developing his career. Stereotypes such as the opinion that British people are sophisticated my seem positive but, in the case that one Briton goes against the set stereotype, no one will mention that the person is on the wrong because of the prejudged assumption. Even the stereotypes that seem positive in nature are hurting to the people they ought to be supporting since, they limit the opportunities of the said group of people or individuals. Unfortunately, we take glory in positive stereotypes personally and to those close to us while passing on the negative stereotypes to another group that is not close to us. Example and researches of Ethnicity-based stereotyping. Stereotypes Associations and Emotion Recognition Research done about the Stereotypes Association and Emotion Recognition, had the mandate of studying whether stereotype associations between definite emotional expressions and societal groups motivate stereotypic emotion recognition preferences. It was found out that participants were able to decipher rage faster on Moroccan male faces than on white men faces. It was further noted that unhappiness on white male faces was deciphered faster than on Moroccan male faces. Consistent evidence was found that the participants’ stereotype associations predicted the strength of their stereotype effects in recognizing expressions. Two studies were done and results show that as the perceivers’ level of Moroccan anger and Dutch sadness associations seemed to increase and equally, the tendency to decipher rage faster on Moroccan male faces and unhappiness on white male faces increased. Therefore it is clear that the stereotype associations are linked to a certain social grouping and the extent depends on the perceiver (Bijlstra, Holland, Dotsch, Hugenberg & Wigboldus 2014). To date, however, no person has been able to exhibit straight associations between distinct dissimilarities in stereotypes of target groups and supposed stereotype-based preconceived notions in expression acknowledgment. On one hand, if the emotion acknowledgment in a sole-valence proportional perspective is predisposed by stereotypes, the outcome must be subject to the power of the perceivers’ stereotypic associations. The robust stereotypic associations amid the perceivers must lead to resilient stereotype congruency outcomes in expression classification preferences (Bijlstra, Holland, Dotsch, Hugenberg & Wigboldus 2014). Earlier research on the perspective dependence of stereotypic preferences in expression classification has been lead entirely with fixed looks. There is cumulative evidence that the phase of the facial expressions perform a powerful role in deciphering and answering back to expressions and that energetic expressions are basically more biologically effective. Inequality in organizations Berry and Bell (2012) show that apart from ethnic stereotyping is not only on ethnicity but also on gender. Further, they report that in the US women earn less than 80% to the dollar that men earn. Although, women of every ethnic background are segregated in the workplace, it is not a strange phenomenon in the US. In the US, Black and Hispanic women were seen to be segregated in the workplace as they worked in jobs that were considered to be of a lower status and in return had low incomes. It is less likely to see a black woman working as a secretary or a school teacher. The African-American women work on menial jobs with menial pay as nurses’ aides or cashiers while the white women work as secretaries and elementary school teachers. Likewise, women from Central America often work as janitors and household cleaners. Unfortunately, labour laws support such classifications. Women are more disadvantaged at the workplace in terms of stereotyping and discrimination in numerous ways (Berry & Bell 2012). Like most women, the flexibility to take care of children is a luxury most of them cannot afford because they are likely to get fewer benefits if is working part-time. She might need more to cater for medical care and other services that are important to her in taking care of her family. Women are less likely to get flexible jobs as opposed to men in the US, as it is hard for Black and Hispanics to get flexible jobs that the whites. Discussion Ethnicity-based stereotyping is severely harmful in the workplace as it causes tension among workmates and the company’s management (Marger 2014). In order for an organization to avoid any loss from stereotyping, employees must be trained on the effects of stereotyping and how they affect the hiring process in an organization. Ground rules on hiring need to be put and implemented by all organizations while diversifying the members of the human resources department. The employers should additionally focus on developing leadership programs for all their employees. In addition, in order to deal the effects of stereotyping, the management of organizations should implement workplace policies that guard against stereotyping amongst the employees. Training on diverse cultures is recommended to employees and managers to expand their learning objectives beyond tribe, colour, age and sex. Another way of dealing with the effects of stereotyping is to redistribute work in a rotational manner to ensure that the employees work together all the time as they get to know each other better (Koppelman & Goodhart 2011). In conclusion, it is clear that ethnicity-based stereotyping is alive in many organizations and it impacts on an organization in more ways than one. Ethnic stereotyping occurs because people do not know each other on individual levels but classify others based on the groups they relate with. Ethnicity-based stereotyping in the workplace makes a company’s productivity levels to dwindle leading to decreased revenue. Research on ethnicity-based stereotyping shows that both men and women are discriminated against in the workplace based on their position in the society. Organizations should therefore, ensure that their employees work together at all times to foster good relationships that will make it difficult for stereotyping to thrive in the workplace. List of references Bijlstra G, Holland R.W, Dotsch R, Hugenberg K, & Wigboldus Dh. (2014). Stereotype associations and emotion recognition. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin. 40, 567-77. Daphne Berry, & Myrtle P. Bell. (2012). Inequality in organizations: stereotyping, discrimination, and labor law exclusions. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal. 31, 236-248. Koppelman, K. L., & Goodhart, R. L. (2011). Understanding human differences: multicultural education for a diverse America. Boston, MA, Pearson/Allyn & Bacon MARGER, M. (2014). Race and ethnic relations: American and global perspectives. Belmont, Calif, Wadsworth Pub. Co Read More