Stereotyping in the workplace is happening more often that you think. When you make assumptions about your co-workers based on gender, culture, religious or physical attributes, you are stereotyping them. In other words, placing labels on coworkers and making assumptions can result to high tension in the workplace. It’s important for people to have an understanding that stereotyping happens more often than you think, and that you should be mindful to avoid it at all costs.
When I first started working at my employer, I would recognize that I was being stereotyped from a variety of different avenues. If I wasn’t stereotyped for my blonde hair, I was stereotyped for being a single female, and if I wasn’t stereotyped for that, I was stereotyped for being a young employee who didn’t know what she was doing. Since “being judged” became a part of my everyday work routine, I didn’t know how to interact with other employees, nor did I know how to change how they felt about me. Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014, explains that there is surface level diversity and deep level diversity. Surface-level diversity represents an individual’s visible characteristics, such as age, body size, race, or sex. While deep level diversity is non-observing characteristics such as attitudes, beliefs, and values (Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014, p. 177). While I was living in this stereotypical environment, I knew that something had to change.
As time had went by working at my company, I had noticed that the stereotyping had started to diminish. Human resources had put forth mandatory training’s on workplace diversity and respecting others, which helped bring awareness to our workforce. Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014, explains that “Research has demonstrated that as the length of time increases when diverse group members work together, the negative effects of surface-level diversity decreases” (p. 177). Since I had built trust with my coworkers, they were able to have a better understanding of who I am (my deep level diversity) and apologized for the comments that they had made. “Breaking down, recognizing, and eliminating stereotypes begins with dialogue. Having conversations with other employees reduces bias because we learn more about each other and reach an understanding. Discussions also reduce preconceptions by educating us on misinformation and limits the spread of biases” (Gill, 2012, p. 1). The more you interact and work around your co-workers, the less likely you are to stereotype Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014, (p. 177).
It’s important to understand that having stereotypical views of others in the workplace is nothing but a setback for yourself. It impacts people’s lives and can truly cause lack of productivity in the workplace. “It’s important to recognize and remember that we all have stereotypes; it is part of the human experience. However, the first step is to be honest and recognize our preconceived notions about others and why we have formed them, and then take an active approach to educate ourselves” (Gill, 2012, p. 1).
References:
Gill, G. (2012). Avoiding stereotypes in the workplace. Retrieved from https://peopletalkonline.ca/avoiding-stereotypes-in-the-workplace/
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences (9th ed.). Oxford: Routledge.
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