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Uncategorized — 2 Comments
01
Apr 17

Bystander Inaction

Bystander Inaction
Like 7-Eleven assault, more likely with more witnesses, experts say

A phenomenon known as the bystander effect states that, “people are less likely to help in an emergency when other bystanders are present (Schneider, 2011).” This event occurs as a result of diminished sense of responsibility in the presence of other bystanders who witnessed the emergency occur. Traumatic events may trigger a period of inaction in a public setting where people typically do not involve themselves in situations if other people are present. In several cases, bystanders assume someone else will help and do not take the responsibility on themselves. Witnesses in these situations tend to remain lethargic, detached, and hesitant as they try to process what just happened.

Marques Gaines became the unsuspected victim of assault one early morning. He was found lying motionless in the streets of Chicago after being punched and knocked unconscious. Several people lingered over his stock-stilled body, but no one bothered to carry him out of the traffic-jammed road. No one helped him into a safer spot away from the road. Careless actions led to the preventable fatality of Marques Gaines, who was reported dead after a taxi driver ran him over.

What situational factors contribute to the diffusion of responsibility? Where people tend to not act out or speak up in crowds, because they are unsure of what to think about the existing conflict. In some cases, people do not want to involve themselves because they fear that their own safety may be put at stake. Everyone is going to be put in situations where they do not feel comfortable, but when it comes to being the witness of someone being victimized or in danger, I do not understand how people can sit back and not do anything to help. Too many people assume that other people will do something about it, and move on from the situation. What if you switched places with the person who truly needed your help? How would you feel if they walked away from you? Helping others is a feeling of achievement and pride that builds you into a stronger person. There should not be many exceptions as to why people should not want to help others, unless their life is truly threatened in that situation as well.

Taking moral responsibility for your own actions is important. Although, if you are with a group of spectators following an emergency situation, you should try to communicate with each other and figure out how each of you can best contribute to the situation. You can discuss your personal skills or resources that you may be able to implement to make the best out of the situation, as well as provide help to those who need it. In several cases, bystanders are all experiencing feelings of confusion and hesitance. It takes one person to step up and be a leader. You could possibly save a life one day, and that is one of the most rewarding feelings you could perpetrate (O’Connell & Lee, 2016).

APA CITATION:

Schneider, Frank W., Gruman, Jamie A.,Coutts, Larry. M. (2011). Applied Social Psychology: Intervention and Evaluation (Second Edition, pp. 247).

O’Connell, P. M., & Lee, W. (2016, April 23). Bystander inaction, like 7-Eleven assault, more likely with more witnesses, experts say. Retrieved April 01, 2017, from http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-bystander-effect-bartender-death-met-20160421-story.html

Uncategorized — 2 Comments
05
Oct 14

Workplace Conflict between Departments

Stereotyping in the work place isn’t always about the individual features such as gender or race but sometimes it is as simple as the department you work for within the company. In almost any work environment there is a hierarchy of management and under that, departments. Is one department really that much better than the other, I would think not since all departments are necessary to keep the company running. This idea does seem to escape some upper management views when handling conflicts in the workplace and discrimination can happen.

conflict

This may seem overly exaggerated but it really can be true and the discrimination of either favoring one department or disliking another can take its toll on the employees involved. It is stated that “prejudice is an attitude toward others based solely on group membership” and it’s fairly sad how it can be that easy to judge or worse treat someone based on their group affiliation (Schneider, Gruman & Coutts, 2012). In corporations there seems to be disconnect between sales type employees and service type employees not just between themselves but also how management can treat them as well. This negative stereotype between departments can lead to conflict which can cause employee dissatisfaction, decreased productivity and turnover which can cost a company in many ways.

There’s no affirmative action or laws to help support you because you work in service versus sales, as it’s an internal conflict between departments that happens in companies every day and no one sees the need to fix it. Some may be even blind to the idea that this discrimination is actually going on because it’s never been pointed out and those who feel it are often afraid to speak up.

blindfold

The theory of relative deprivation can help shed some light on this issue. The theory implies “that a person may feel deprived of some desirable thing” and this conflict can be based when a person has compared themselves against this standard and then assumed to be deprived based on their own perception (Schneider, Gruman & Coutts 2012). This could be the feeling of an inferior department in feeling but maybe not actually as in importance. A perceived idea or feeling is just as real so it can be just as damaging to the morale of personnel.

This type of discrimination leads to department conflict and the “lack of cooperation between work groups is a major problem in organizations” but how to help improve this conflict and move forward (Katcher, 2014). Katcher mentions some suggestions that might be worth bringing up in your place of business such as an employee satisfaction survey, rewarding cooperation between departments or even just recognizing the problem (2014). An idea I set forth in my business is having joint meetings with a representative from every department to voice all department’s concerns and trying to address the issues at hand as one unit instead of separately. Also when we make improvements to a process we take employees from all departments to get different points of view to help understand each other.

What it comes down to is it can be a really easy problem to solve and get rid of the department discrimination but calling attention to it in the first place may prove difficult. Those who feel deprived may not want to speak up and others may not want things to change. In my opinion for a company to really thrive this type of discrimination really has to be eliminated because without everyone’s cooperation it’s just pieces of a puzzle and no one can see the big picture. Most have the same goal but different ways we are asked to achieve it in a business but if we really could all be on the same team just think of the difference in our work place.

Team Of 8 Blue People Holding Up Connected Pieces To A Colorful

References:

Katcher, Bruce L., (2014). Improving the Workplace: The Difference between Heaven and Hell. Discovery Surveys, Inc. The Discovery Consulting Group, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2014 from https://www.discoverysurveys.com/articles/itw-109.html

Schneider, F.W., Gruman, J.A., & Coutts, L.M. (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (Second ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

 

 

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