Discuss (politely) the merits of and problems with using stereotypes in the workplace. How might it impact the organization?
Response to Students’ Posts
answers the two discussion questions then make one comment to classmates post in each discussion
Frist Discussion
Years ago a successful business owner said to me, “I only hire people who grew up on a farm, because they have a stronger work ethic than other people.” I said, “oh, so you grew up on a farm?” He burst out laughing and said, “no, actually, I grew up in the city!” I said, “so you wouldn’t hire yourself!”
As the textbook describes, there are a lot of reasons why people might use stereotypes in the workplace. They can apply to anyone, based on all types of characteristics from the more common ones like gender, race and age to ones we may not think much about, like job type or alma mater.
Discuss (politely) the merits of and problems with using stereotypes in the workplace. How might it impact the organization? Do you believe that people are generally aware of the stereotypes that they might have about others? If a manager wanted to reduce the use of stereotypes in their organization, particularly in areas like hiring, performance evaluations, and promotions, how could they go about it effectively?
- Jessica
- In my opinion the only benefit of stereotyping people comes from being able to fit everyone in a category quickly. For example accounting department, marketing department, etc. From there you can sort of divide and conquer tasks given to each department. It also helps that stereotypes stem from messages from media, like the book states, creating these beliefs that are almost universal or shared between large groups. Stereotypes help categorize people and assign them to a sort of bullet point list of expectations but there are many problems with this process. The main problem of stereotyping is that most people DO NOT FIT in the group they were lumped into. So if you stereotype people who are good at math as engineers, you will have some people who are good at math that have no idea how to be an engineer. The same stereotype runs the risk of demonstrating stereotype threat, that in order to be a good engineer you have to also be good at math. So if someone showed high math test scores and they were hired as an engineer solely on this, it could be a huge waste of time and resources if this person was a terrible engineer. By having this belief that only people that excel in math can be good engineers managers could also discriminate against engineers that struggle with math. This is just a basic example of how stereotypes can lead to unequal treatment of employees, be a waste of time and energy, and are an overall unreliable grouping in the workplace. I think unintentional bias happens a lot because people do not make it a point to be more aware of these preconceived ideals they have. It makes it hard to address and fix because management isn’t even aware that it’s a problem. Stereotyping could be addressed by simply trying to determine what stereotypes you already have, and trying to get to know people on a more individual basis. Like in the example above, that country people have a strong work ethic, but I have seen several people who grew up on farms that demonstrate no work ethic at all. In order to determine if someone has a strong work ethic you should instead ask them about their history. Learn more about their achievements and the timeframe in which they were able to get them accomplished. I’m sure that if someone was to look at my resume they would see that I have not had a “job” in a little over 4 years. This is something I worked really hard to be able to do, a lot of planning and effort was made to save enough for me to be able to stay home with my children until they start school. At first glance some might see it as lazy, no work ethic, etc when in reality I know the amount of struggle it took in order to achieve that goal. If management took the time to get to know me and my past achievements, they would see the opposite of the stereotype is true. By taking interest in the people that have interest in the company, I believe a lot of stereotypes could be avoided.
- Jin
- It’s so interesting to me the limits we put on people and ourselves. How those limits can seep into other parts of our lives. The problems with using stereotypes in the workplace are varied and vast. Limiting your employees to certain criteria due to age, race, gender, alumni, etc. can greatly limit the talent in the company. When you rely on only hiring people who are below a certain age you run the risk of leaving out someone who may have more experience and could be a vital asset despite the age. Discriminating by race, gender, etc. could negatively affect the workplace culture. Some of which could ultimately affect the productivity and profits of the country itself. I think that people are much more aware of their biases than they are comfortable with. It is just easier to ignore them or to pretend not to have them than to face them head on. I think the bigger problem are the unknown biases. The ones learned from childhood or picked up through life. Such as the subtle thinking that there are things that men can do that women cannot. Feeling like men should not cry or that their is a certain way that people should dress. A subtle difference in interaction between minority groups. For me the bigger issue are the subtle biases. The ones where you feel offended but are not sure if it was meant on purpose or not. I think that an effective way to reduce the use of stereotypes is to limit the information given. Give a resume that removes age, race, gender, even names. When doing evaluations or promotions then do the same. I think the only way to effectively eliminate biases and stereotypes is to go into things blindly.
- Kristin
- When I think of stereotypes I think of stigmas, judgement, and sometimes even prejudice. Because of these thoughts, I believe the use of stereotypes in the workplace has the ability to impact an organization in a more negative way rather than positive. Using stereotypes in the workplace can lead to such things as conflict, low morale, lower productivity and retention, and in more severe cases even litigation against the company or a specific employee.I believe that most people are probably not aware of the stereotypes they already have in place, whether it is a home, work, or social situations. Stereotypes can can easily form in our minds as part of socialization in our cultures from personal experiences. They can also come from the media, peers and our family. As we grow up, we learn rules and expectations regarding who is capable and who isn’t – I think this stereotype plagues workplaces the most, especially when dealing with group projects or shared responsibilities.As a manager, a way to reduce stereotyping in a organization for hiring would be to interview a more diverse group of candidates. For performance evaluations, look for ways to remove biases on leniency or by not allowing one good or bad trait to overshadow others. With promotions, be sure to really look at the performance of the individual, but also take into account other positive traits like mentoring ability, good communication skills, rapport with coworkers and clients. Look for the positive signs that show the promoted employee has earned it and even after succeeding will continue to represent the company the best they can.
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Second Discussion
The textbook discusses emotional labor and the emotional dissonance that results when employees have to pretend to feel differently than they do at work. Consider the following types of jobs: bartender, cashier, dental hygienist, insurance adjuster, lawyer, postal clerk, flight attendant, registered nurse, social worker, and television announcer. How would you rank these jobs in order of most to least emotional labor? Describe your reasoning. If you were a manager of employees who did a lot of emotional labor, what practical steps would you recommend to help them to reduce their emotional dissonance?
- MOST to LEAST Emotional Labor?
- Registered nurse
- Social Worker
- Lawyer
- Cashier
- Postal Clerk
- Bartender
- Flight attendant
- Insurance adjuster
- Dental hygienist
- Television Announcer
The reason that I ranked these choices the way that I have is in part due to the pandemic and some due to stress that a job inherently has. Right now, Registered Nurses have a very emotionally intensive job. With the strain on the hospital systems being overwhelmed, short-staffing, and concerns about contracting COVID-19 themselves many are at their wits end. I chose Social Worker because as someone who worked in mental health, social workers take on a lot of emotional baggage that comes from patients. Sometimes they see the rewards of their emotional labor, many their efforts fall on deaf ears. I chose lawyer as the third most emotionally labor-intensive job because they deal with the stress of defending people that they normally would not or seeking to ensure that an alleged criminal does not harm anyone else. Numbers 4-7 were difficult to rank because each of them entails working with the public, which can be very emotionally tasking. Add to the job the pandemic and the restrictions placed on them as well as their customers, it grows exponentially. Numbers 8-10 I feel have the lowest emotional labor. Insurance adjusting, dental hygienist, and TV announcer are positions that seem to have a lower level of stress and a lower emotional labor.Given the information from the text I would suggest that my employees first acknowledge that their emotional dissonance can be a way to demonstrate their skills and professionalism. There have been many times that I have been in a situation where I am being yelled at by a patient. Your initial reaction is to yell back, but that is patient abuse and not tolerated. We were taught to maintain a neutral reaction and use crisis communication.The text also indicates that it helps to take an approach whereby you put yourself in the position of the customer, patient, etc. In our safety training we were taught Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. If you cannot satisfy the basic physiological needs (food, shelter, water) the higher-level needs cannot be met. There were many times when I worked at the state hospital that I encountered a patient who had an outburst because they were not able to get a banana or an extra blanket. These individuals often came from situations where they lived on the street or in places where food and shelter were often in short supply.
- Jessica Cox
- 1. Registered Nurse
2. Social Worker
3. Lawyer
4. Flight Attendant5. Dental Hygienist
6. Television announcer
7. Insurance Adjuster
8. Cashier
9. Bartender
10. Postal ClerkI listed these professions by greatest to least, but I also grouped them according to their emotional labor as well. I feel like group one (numbers 1-4) have the most investment because their decisions can potentially effect someones entire life. They see people at their worst and still need to maintain certain display rules in order to get the job done in an unbiased professional way. They have to keep in mind they are making life-changing decisions for others as well as maintaining frequent and long term interactions with their clients/patients/customers. My sister is an RN and has worked at several hospitals in different states and they all always have a break room/locker rooms. I think this helps provide a “safe space” so to speak that all the nurses can go to and decompress. Sometimes just sharing a meal with a coworker and talking about your challenges together can be enough of a break (and learning experience) for nurses to get ready to get up and do it again. I think having this safe space to unload all of your burdens to a nonjudgmental group helps with emotional dissonance, it allows people to purge all of the emotions they are unable to display in front of their patients (in this case). I’m sure nurses everywhere have used the break room, like my sister does, as a place to cry, stomp, and laugh in order to be a great caregiver. So as an employer I would try to encourage group discussions, to try to lay the groundwork to build bonds between employees, in order to make them a team that feels comfortable to discuss things together even without it being an exercise. Knowing and validating your emotions are great ways to ensure you don’t feel alone in your feelings. By combining the whole teams experiences, I feel like finding the right solutions become easier for each individual.The second group of professions (numbers 5-10) I don’t believe engage in as high emotional labor as group one. If you have a bad experience with group two it most likely isn’t going to have long term effects like group one. Maybe you would have a bad experience that would cause a bad day, but nothing that you would remember a few years down the road (in most cases). I feel like they still need support to avoid emotional dissonance, but not at the large scale that group one needs.
Subject: Management
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