Limitations of Stereotyping at Workplace-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Merits and Limitations of Stereotyping at Workplace. Answer: Merits and Limitations of Stereotyping at Workplace A stereotype is referred to a set of characteristics or a fixed general image that a significant number of people believe represent a specific type of thing or a person. In other words, it is any thought which is widely adopted about specific types of individuals or their behaviours to represent the entire group of such people or their behaviour as a whole (Inzlicht and Schmader, 2012). A stereotype did not take into consideration the personal characteristics of a person; it assumes things about a person because he/she belongs to a certain group. Stereotypes can be both positive and negative; however, both positive and negative stereotypes can be harmful based on a persons reliance on them. In organisations, stereotyping can lead employees or managers to treat a person or a group in a specific way based on preconceived notions regarding that person or group. Generally, diversity factors such as culture, religion, age, ethnicity, gender and race can contribute to stereotyping in a cor poration. Many managers use stereotypes while communicating and interacting with their employees from another culture in order to ensure that they did not mistakenly make any insensitive statement regarding their culture (Alter et al., 2010). However, heavy reliance on stereotypes can negatively affect the organisational culture in a company, and it can lead to causing conflicts between employees in the workplace. This essay will focus on analysing the impact of stereotypes in corporations. Further, merits and limitations of stereotypes will be discussed in the report by analysing different organisational behaviour theories and recommendations will be given. In todays competitive business world, the requirement of talented employees has grown substantially, and organisations hire qualified employees from all around the world. In order to retain qualified employees in an enterprise, human resource department focuses on maintaining a positive working environment which supports and promotes diversity in the workplace (Chrobot-Mason and Aramovich, 2013). The HR department focuses on implementing effective organisational behaviour theories to ensure that employees from different cultures, religion, race and gender are able to work in the office effectively. Organisational behaviour is referred to the study of the way individuals communicate or interact within groups. It assists in implementing effective human resource management (HRM) policies that promote diversity in the workplace (Wood et al., 2012). Multinational companies are requiring dealing with people from different cultures and religions while operating their business. Therefore, ma ny times managers or executives rely on stereotypes to effectively deal with people from different cultures and religions. In recent years, the importance of diversity management in corporations has grown substantially with the increase in demand of talented employees. Misuse of stereotyping can result in making employees upset or dissatisfied with their jobs which negatively affects their productivity. The insensitive behaviour of employees or lack of diversity management policies can result in increasing disputes between employees which affect their along with others performance which is negative for a firms growth. Effective diversity management improves a companys performance because employees are more likely to feel attached to the organisation and it contributes to creating a positive culture in the workplace (Ilmakunnas and Ilmakunnas, 2011). Therefore, effective diversity management is a key requirement for modern corporations since it provides them a competitive advantage over others. For example, Google Incorporations promotes and supports diversity policies, and the HR department maintains equ ity among employees. Recently, the CEO of the company, Sundar Pichai, fired an engineer, James Damore, because he issued a controversial anti-diversity memo in which he argued why men are better than women (Statt, 2017). The action of Googles CEO showed that the company is serious regarding its diversity policies, and they promote and support employees from different cultures, religion, caste, race and gender. There are a number of merits of using stereotypes which can be beneficial for managers while creating a positive relationship with employees. Firstly, it assists them in ensuring that they did not make any insensitive remark or comment that might affect their feeling. Having knowledge about employees culture or religion can ensure that the manager is able to interact with them more freely since he/she understands their customs (Heilman, 2012). Similarly, while dealing with customers, clients or partners from another country, stereotypes can assist executives in understanding their business customs. For example, in China, people emphasis on punctuality more than western nations and being late in meetings can often result in cancelation of the deal. Therefore, stereotypes can assists managers in ensuring that while dealing with employees in the organisation, they are not insensitive towards their culture. Many times, stereotypes help managers in filling the missing information regardin g a person, such as a non-observable characteristic of an employee that can only be apparent after spending a long time with him (Lottrup, Grahn and Stigsdotter, 2013). Also, stereotyping helps managers in organising information more efficiently by placing employees into predetermined categories. Although it has seen that most stereotypes are based on true facts, there are a number of errors and distortions in them which may lead to employment discrimination. It is very unlikely that a person perfectly fits the stereotype category because each person has specific traits and characteristics (Von Hippel, Sekaquaptewa and McFarlane, 2015). Therefore, if a manager is relying on stereotypes, then he/she is assigning traits to an employee that is untrue. The use of stereotypes makes it difficult for managers to alter their belief about an employees characteristics and traits which conflict with the stereotype. If a manager himself uses or all others to engage in stereotyping, it can result in increased abuse and mistreatment in the workplace. If a manager did not stop employees from using stereotypes, then employees can sense that he/she promotes open displays of mistreatment or discrimination which can result in establishing a negative working culture in the organisation. It incre ases conflicts and disputes between employees and managers which negatively affect the performance of others as well (Posthuma and Guerrero, 2013). If collaboration and teamwork is a necessary requirement in a corporations success, that use of stereotypes can result in causing bad working relationships between employees. For example, based on the stereotypes, a man may not prefer to ask a woman help while working because he might feel she is incapable of understanding or performing the task. Another problem with stereotyping is that it causes low morale for individuals or group which make a toxic working environment. The managers find it difficult to motivate employees to improve their performance if employees have low morale. According to the Equity theory of motivation, employees feel motivated if their output is equal to their input (Lazaroiu, 2015). Based on stereotypes, a manager can discriminate between two employees and provide more benefits and opportunities to only one. In this situation, it is difficult to motivate the employee who is discriminated against and it is more likely to affect his performance negatively. Similarly, ERG theory divide basis needs of an employee into three categories. Existence includes physiological and safety needs, relatedness include social relations needs, and growth refers to self-esteem and self-actualisation needs (Caulton, 2012). This theory categorised the five needs given by Abraham Maslow in Hierarchy of needs theory. If man agers use stereotyping, then it is difficult for them to fulfil relatedness needs of employees. If managers are continuously discriminating employees based on stereotypes, then it can negatively affect their performance, and it makes it difficult for managers to motivate them. Following actions can be taken by managers in order to avoid stereotyping in the workplace which assists them in establishing a positive and supportive working environment which effectively manages diversity in the workplace. Firstly, managers should implement workplace policies that discourage stereotyping and discrimination between employees and embrace diversity in the workplace (Lamont, Swift and Abrams, 2015). In Australia, the government has implemented anti-discrimination laws based on age, disability, race and sex of employees. Organisations should comply with regulations of these acts to ensure that they avoid stereotypes. The firm should also provide diversity training to managers, supervisors and employees to make them learn about others religion, race, nationality and culture. Managers should schedule meetings between them and workers to discuss the way to prevent employees from stereotyping, and they should avoid making assumptions or creating labels for employees (Dugui d and Thomas-Hunt, 2015). Managers should ensure that employees respect each other and difference between them by implementing strict diversity policies. In conclusion, stereotyping has its merits and limitations however in order to promote diversity management, managers should avoid using stereotypes. Stereotyping assists managers in ensuring that they are able to fill the gaps while interacting and dealing with other employees in order to create a positive relationship with them. It assists them organising information more effectively by placing employees into predetermined categories. It also ensures that managers did not make any insensitive remarks that might hurt employees feeling. However, there are many limitations of stereotyping which result in establishing a toxic environment in the workplace. It promotes discrimination in the workplace which causes low morale among employees. Stereotyping also makes it difficult for managers to motivate employees and improve their productivity. Various recommendations are discussed in the report for avoiding stereotyping such as strict diversity policies, effective workplace relationships, avoiding of assumptions, and diversity training. These policies can assist managers in avoiding stereotyping and creating a positive working environment in the workplace which promotes and supports diversity among employees. References Alter, A.L., Aronson, J., Darley, J.M., Rodriguez, C. and Ruble, D.N. (2010) Rising to the threat: Reducing stereotype threat by reframing the threat as a challenge.Journal of Experimental Social Psychology,46(1), pp.166-171. Caulton, J.R. 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