Definition of Stereotypes
Question:
Discuss about the Concept Of Stereotyping Process.
The concept of stereotyping can be stated as, “Stereotype is a means of simplifying the process of simplifying the process of perception and making judgements of other people instead of dealing with a range of complex and alternative stimuli.” It can on the other hand be stated that trusting stereotypes a lot might have a chance of leading to certain inaccuracies, overestimation or underestimation in different organisational situations.
Stereotypes are basically static as well as oversimplified ideas regarding a group or social category which strongly impact the expectations and behaviours of certain specific categories. Stereotyping does not actually symbolize an abnormality in the human social behaviours and standards as there is an observed predisposition regarding the recognition of social and physical differences in others. It is usually stated that it is human nature for people to form opinions about others based on no prior knowledge about them. Personal ideas and expectations about people are so much that it is believed that are already formulations regarding the characteristics of the specific persons (Rattan 2018).
In this connection stereotypes can be considered, where it is actually the procedure of obtaining information regarding the world around and making proper sense of it. It is basically involved with the decision regarding which information to observe and which to sort out that information and the way in which it can be interpreted within the framework of our existing knowledge, where there are shaping of opinions, decisions and actions. It can be defined as a cognitive procedure by which a person selects, organise and interprets stimuli into information which is meaningful and is connected to their environment. Perception therefore has a direct connection with the mindset and the prior understanding of the individuals (Kalokerinos, von Hippel and Zacher 2014).
It is seen that stereotypes occur at times when an individual is stereotyped depending on the group to which he or she belongs. Specifically when it concerns work, at times it is seen that for the effective interaction, there needs to be a proper supposition of what a particular person is likely to think and what the specific behaviours acceptable to them are. Stereotyping helps in this particular respect because at office there needs to be an idea as to what the other party is going to think. This idea is important in case of official negotiations and making or breaking deals in the workplace. Several managers also consider stereotyping to be important at the workplace. It is always better to make a certain percentage of background check on a particular individual to gather information about the culture of a person and to ensure whether the person likes a particular cultural profile or not. Having prior information about the managers a person is going to meet is always beneficial and makes a person better equipped to handle meetings with the person. In such cases stereotyping becomes necessary to make an idea about the person with whom the meeting is going to be made.
Importance of Stereotyping in the Workplace
There are stereotypes regarding a number of perceptions namely social perceptions, cultural and ethical concerns. Stereotyping might be positive with regard to certain aspects but it also is responsible for affecting the environment of the workplace. This is because of the fact that the concept of stereotyping might be responsible for the treatment of individuals in a particular way which is based on the pre-conceived ideas or considerations about a particular person or group. There are several factors of diversity including “ethnicity, race, culture, religion, age and gender” which all contribute to the “propensity of stereotyping” a particular organisation. Therefore it is essential to promote a non-discriminatory workplace with a certain openness and acceptance of individual differences. This assists the prevention of common negative effects (Jost 2013).
In case there is either active or passive stereotyping, the workplace becomes a place for probable abuse and mistreatment. Employees who have professional notions about people need to test the situations which are important for basic comments and actions. In case the employees sense a certain cultural discrepancy in the procedures this might correspond to problems in the workplace.
Another problem which arises as an effect of stereotyping is the low level of morale for individuals or potentially cause the workplace to become problematic. Employees who face “continuous comments, criticisms or other negative results” can experience a” loss of motivation and interest” in performing their jobs. Low morale is responsible for indirectly affecting workers and departments which are not involved with stereotyping of behaviours (Dipboye and Colella 2013).
There are several work scenarios which need team work and collaboration for the success of the company. In such scenarios, stereotyping is a major problem as this might cause preconceived notions to arise. Employees who consider stereotypes instead of having faith in the capabilities and efforts of group workers, can cause problems in the group progress. This can hamper the working condition of the employees. There might be problems in asking employees for groups and so on. In case people assume that a person cannot do a particular task without even approaching that person, it might cause them to not approach the person at all.
There might also be problems in case of allowance or acceptance of a person which can result in behaviours which can cause serious issues within the organisation. Some people can also be harmed by discriminatory behaviours and can sue them as well. In case there is a human resources department, there might be a failure in implementing and enforcing proper policies and practices which is a burden for the HR staff and other people as well. There might be lawsuits which might be responsible for ruining a specific business.
Organisational development interventions comprise of several actions, activities and events which are used for the improvement of organisational performance. There also needs to be a proper improvement of organisational culture. There are different aspects of organisational functions which comprise of individual, group and organisation as a whole. There are several interventions which have the capability of impacting the individuals working in an organisation where as some might affect the entire organisation. There are different types of interventions which are noticeable in organisations which might be “individual or interpersonal interventions”, “team or group level interventions”, “intergroup level interventions” and “total organisational level interventions” (Wagner and Hollenbeck 2014).
Negative Effects of Stereotyping in the Workplace
The concept of interpersonal level interventions comprises of a direct intervention or stress management. It is basically a sort of face to face or one-to-one interaction between the specific consultant and their clients. There are also stress management programs which are a part of employee assistance programs which are useful to help employees in the identification of their stress level and this can cause them to work at peace in their workplace as they might not have all conditions conducive for working there (Borkowski 2015).
The team or group level interventions comprise of those intervention which are applicable at the group level or even at the organisational level for that particular consideration. There need to be certain specific interventions for the team or group level which might focus on the synergy of the team or group. There are several stages of the survey feedback which comprises of data collection, feedback of information and follow up action. This is because of the reason that there might be instances where employees might be facing issues in their place of work which they might solve at a later date. Their problems are noted and possible modes of action are selected for the same.
Intergroup level interventions, is basically aimed at the identification and the diagnosis of inter-group relations as one groups works with other groups for the identification of the goals of the organisations. The third party interventions involve the influence of mediation to solve the problems of different organisations. This is aimed at achievement of a sense of peace in all workplace scenarios. This is not possible to be achieved in case there are existent stereotypes in a particular organisation (Hogg and Terry 2014).
“Total organisational level interventions” involve grid training, confrontational meetings, re-engineering technology of organisational structures and so on. These inventions not only target individuals but also the organisation as a whole. In certain cases there are organisational confrontation meetings which are arranged at times the organisations are facing any sort of negative traumatic issues in the organisation.
All in all it can be said that the given statement has both positives and negatives to it. Stereotyping might be essential under certain selective circumstances where people need to act according to the needs and requirements of the people around them. However, it is believed that workplace stereotyping is a silent destroyer of productivity. This is because of the reason that there is bound to be diversity in the workplace but judging people on the basis of such reasons, their backgrounds or culture is not really right. The concept of stereotyping might put a lot of labels on people who work in companies unnecessarily. Therefore it is desirable that people should not be judged before their competence and performances are analysed. There might be instances where problems might arise due to differences of culture or issues of change in origin, but it is not right to judge all individuals in a similar manner.
References and Bibliography:
Borkowski, N., 2015. Organizational behavior in health care. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Dipboye, R.L. and Colella, A. eds., 2013. Discrimination at work: The psychological and organizational bases. Psychology Press.
Hogg, M.A. and Terry, D.J., 2014. Social identity processes in organizational contexts. Psychology Press.
Inzlicht, M. and Schmader, T., 2012. Stereotype threat: Theory, process, and application. Oxford University Press.
Jost, J.T., 2013. Outgroup Favoritism and the Theory of System Justi?cation: A Paradigm for Investigating the Effects of Socioeconomic Success on Stereotype Content. In Cognitive social psychology (pp. 92-105). Psychology Press.
Kalokerinos, E.K., von Hippel, C. and Zacher, H., 2014. Is stereotype threat a useful construct for organizational psychology research and practice?. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 7(3), pp.381-402.
Karpinska, K., Henkens, K. and Schippers, J., 2013. Hiring retirees: impact of age norms and stereotypes. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 28(7/8), pp.886-906.
Kulik, C.T. and Olekalns, M., 2012. Negotiating the gender divide: Lessons from the negotiation and organizational behavior literatures. Journal of Management, 38(4), pp.1387-1415.
Rattan, A., 2018. When stereotypes collide. London Business School Review, 29(1), pp.38-39.
Wagner III, J.A. and Hollenbeck, J.R., 2014. Organizational behavior: Securing competitive advantage. Routledge.
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