Chapter 16
HUMAN RELATIONS
IN A WORLD OF
DIVERSITY
McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2010
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
A Diverse Society
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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.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Prejudiced Attitudes
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Prejudice is one type of attitude.
All attitudes have three parts:
what one:
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Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Thinks
Feels
does.
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Prejudiced Attitudes
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Stereotypes
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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.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Prejudiced Attitudes
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Prejudice
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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.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Prejudiced Attitudes
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Discrimination
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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.
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* 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.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Origins of Prejudice
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Social causes of prejudice
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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.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Origins of Prejudice
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* Cognitive causes of prejudice
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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.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Origins of Prejudice
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Emotional causes of prejudice –
Ethnocentrism
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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.
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* Scapegoating refers to the practice of unfairly
blaming others when things go wrong
Not intentional.
Most societies are ethnocentric.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Origins of Prejudice
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Types of Discrimination
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Racism
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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.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Types of Discrimination
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Economic prejudice
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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.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Types of Discrimination
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Sexism
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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.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Types of Discrimination
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Overweight people
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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.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Types of Discrimination
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Homosexuals
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* 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.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Types of Discrimination
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The elderly
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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.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Types of Discrimination
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People with disabilities
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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.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Types of Discrimination
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Religious groups
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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.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Types of Discrimination
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Pregnant women
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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.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Sexual Harassment
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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.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Sexual Harassment
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Approaches to stopping sexual
harassment:
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* 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.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Sexual Harassment
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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.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Prejudice, Discrimination, and Self-esteem
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* 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 selfesteem level, discrimination can lower one’s
self-esteem temporarily or permanently.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Prejudice, Discrimination, and Self-esteem
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Effects of being victimized by
discrimination:
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Blaming oneself.
Blaming external causes.
* A danger of discrimination is its
tendency to become a self-fulfilling
prophecy.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Looking Ahead
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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).
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Looking Ahead
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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.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011
Strategies for Success
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* Reducing sexual harassment:
1.
2.
3.
Write a policy statement.
Post the policy statement in a public
place.
Talk about the policy.
Parts taken from Human Relations 4ed
Modified by Jackie Kroening 2011