HUMAN RELATIONS IN A WORLD OF DIVERSITY

1. Chapter 16 HUMAN RELATIONS IN A WORLD OF DIVERSITY

2. A Diverse Society • The composition of a workforce will continue to change and diversify. • People with disabilities and diverse religions are more visible. • People need to look at the prejudices they learned while growing up. • People should know about different cultural biases, customs, and expectations of the diverse groups they will likely work with. • Companies now have diversity training programs, workshops, and other resources.

3. Prejudiced Attitudes • Prejudice is one type of attitude. • All attitudes have three parts: what one: • Thinks • Feels • does.

4. Prejudiced Attitudes • Stereotypes • One’s thoughts or beliefs about specific groups of people. • May be positive, negative, or neutral. • Usually oversimplified, exaggerated, and/or over generalized. • Potentially damaging as it lumps people into one group without recognizing individual characteristics. • People also stereotype tasks and jobs.

5. Prejudiced Attitudes • Prejudice • How one feels as a result of the stereotypes one believes in. • Undermines human relations; hard on productivity. • Disruptive and causes low morale. • Causes bias. • Can be negative or positive.

6. Prejudiced Attitudes • Discrimination • One’s behavior or what one does (or intends to do, or is inclined to do) as a result of stereotypes and prejudice. • Results in institutional prejudice. • The Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it illegal to discriminate against race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. • *Employer includes governments and other public institutions, schools and colleges, unions, and employment agencies • The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission(EEOC) was established to monitor laws.

7. Origins of Prejudice • Social causes of prejudice • People form prejudices to raise their self-esteem. • It helps people define themselves and feel accepted. • Conforming to a group’s standards also helps people feel accepted. • Many groups encourage us-versus-them feelings and behaviors. • *Institutional support systems unintentionally create institutional racism, sexism, or exclusionary policies.

8. Origins of Prejudice • * Cognitive causes of prejudice • Cognitive categorization is a process in which the mind quickly sorts information into categories to function efficiently. • This process allows one to categorize people quickly; this can lead to prejudice.

9. Origins of Prejudice • Emotional causes of prejudice – Ethnocentrism • A belief that one’s ethnic group is more normal than others. • People’s gut level feelings about how right their group is and how wrong they think other groups are. • *Scapegoating refers to the practice of unfairly blaming others when things go wrong • Not intentional. • Most societies are ethnocentric.

10. Origins of Prejudice

11. Types of Discrimination • Racism • Is prejudice and discrimination based on race. • Racial prejudice is difficult to overcome, the two factors to the problem being ethnocentrism and prejudice. • Discrimination because of racism at workplace reduces productivity and does not capture the employee’ skill and talent.

12. Types of Discrimination • Economic prejudice • Prejudice and discrimination towards people who are poorer/wealthier than one is. • One theory of prejudice is competition leads to frustration and aggression. • During economic crunches, prejudice often focuses on ethnic groups, even if they are Americans.

13. Types of Discrimination • Sexism • Prejudice and discrimination based on gender. • The feminist movement has made great progress in obtaining equal rights for women. • Though discrimination against women still continues at workplace, there have been changes in areas such as promotion, salary hike, flexiwork, and manageable work loads.

14. Types of Discrimination • Overweight people • Due to emphasis on dieting and fitness, overweight people have become targets of prejudice. • Court cases have ruled against this prejudice at least where hiring and firing are the issues. • Common belief that overweight people are to blame for most high healthcare costs.

15. Types of Discrimination • Homosexuals • *If homosexuality is a chosen lifestyle, it should not be a protected category. • if homosexuality is biologically or genetically caused, it should be a protected category. • Policies and laws are being created to forbid discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or sexual preference.

16. Types of Discrimination • The elderly • Until 1967, no law protected older people from discrimination. • The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) protects employees and job applicants from being discriminated because of their age. • Studies show that ageism is still prevalent. • Currently, employees who are aged 40 and older are covered under ADEA.

17. Types of Discrimination • People with disabilities • Prejudiced attitudes that are based on largely inaccurate information hinder hiring. • Disabled employees were protected by law from discrimination, originally under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. • *In July 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was introduced to allow people with disabilities to enjoy most of the benefits that everyone else enjoys.

18. Types of Discrimination • Religious groups • The EEOC reports a steady increase in complaints based on religion. • Members of religious groups often find themselves the objects of discrimination at work and in social circles. • Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids discrimination against members of any religion. • Employers are required to accommodate employees who express a need to practice religious beliefs at work.

19. Types of Discrimination • Pregnant women • Questions that probe whether a woman is planning pregnancy or is pregnant are illegal because they affect hiring decisions and hurt women’s chances for employment and advancement. • Even today, a visibly pregnant woman runs risks of discrimination.

20. Sexual Harassment • Sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. • This needs to be examined and resolved as women and men have started working together more often.

21. Sexual Harassment • Approaches to stopping sexual harassment: • *Just asking or telling the person to stop. • Telling fellow employees about the problem or threatening to do so is the second best. • *The worst response is no response; ignoring the problem hardly ever works.

22. Sexual Harassment • If in doubt as to whether particular words/ actions is sexual harassment, one can use his/her own reaction as a guide. • It can be prevented by people who know what it is, know the laws forbidding it, and know what to do when it happens.

23. Prejudice, Discrimination, and Self-esteem • *General observation about extremely prejudiced people is that they may suffer from low self-esteem. • As a person’s self-esteem improves, prejudices may eventually disappear. • Unless one has a firmly grounded, high self-esteem level, discrimination can lower one’s self-esteem temporarily or permanently.

24. Prejudice, Discrimination, and Self-esteem • Effects of being victimized by discrimination: • Blaming oneself. • Blaming external causes. • *A danger of discrimination is its tendency to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

25. Looking Ahead • Prejudging others seems to be inevitable. • Some negative feelings/behaviors can be eliminated. • A key ingredient for people to understand and appreciate members of other groups is contact (proximity).

26. Looking Ahead • The second ingredient is ensuring equal status for everyone. • The third is cooperation instead of competition between members of groups. • *When members of different groups cooperate and depend on each other to reach common goals (interdependence), conflict is greatly reduced.

27. Strategies for Success • Reducing sexual harassment: • Write a policy statement. • Post the policy statement in a public place. • Talk about the policy. * Conducting a poll on policy consensus will not reduce harassment.