Discrimination in the workplace, whether it be overt or subtle enough to elude detection can greatly harm employees’ work experiences. Not only can it hurt the work environment it can expose your company to litigation for violating federal or state laws in place to protect groups such as these. Discrimination against members of any minority group to include women, whether based on color, race or any other classification, occurs when members of a group are treated differently from other people or employees, solely because of this group affiliation (Biro, 2015). Minority discrimination can even exist in an organization with a diverse workforce. The term “glass ceiling” most often refers to female employees not able to advance beyond certain pay grades and levels, but this term also applies to ethnic minorities. This is a tough subject to tackle at times without looking like minorities are just complainers. The fact of the matter is that numbers don’t like and the facts are out there. It is the interpretation of these numbers that begin the dialogue of “what is really going on here?”
It’s a fact, women and minorities are significantly underrepresented in corporate America and in leadership positions in general. Apart from the belief that each and every race and gender deserves an opportunity, the facts are diversity impacts the bottom line.
In a report by, Senator Menendez, “Studies examining the relationship between racial or ethnic diversity, gender diversity, and financial performance have revealed that companies with more diverse teams outperform their less-diverse counterparts.” (Biro, 2015).
He cites a 2014 McKinsey report that researched hundreds of companies globally: “Companies in the top quartile of racial or ethnic diversity were 30% more likely to have financial returns above the national industry median.”(Biro, 2015).
Gallup has also done research that shows gender-diverse business units in retail have 14 percent higher comparable revenues; in the hospitality industry, that rises to 19 percent higher average quarterly profit (Biro, 2015).
So we have all heard that employee engagement leads to higher productivity and, as a result, profitability. These studies seem to also display that diversity leads to higher engagement among employees, thus profitability as well.
Reference:
Biro, M. M. (2015, October 29). The Harsh Reality of Diversity in Today’s Workplace. Retrieved July 29, 2017, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/meghan-m-biro-/the-harsh-reality-of-dive_b_8408654.html
Jasmine Branch-Sheppard says
Hello Joshua,
I think there is discrimination in the workplace as well. There are many legitimizing myths in society and one that runs parallel to discrimination in the workplace is the belief in the current power structure. This gets manifested in a particular psychological factor known as social dominance orientation where it measures how much a person believes that one group should be dominant over other groups (Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth, & Malle, 1994). This issue may arise with gender and racial groups in the workplace. White males make up the majority of most organizations so they will be more dominant over other groups in the organization. As a result of social dominance orientation, people are often motivated to protect their groups (Penn State University World Campus, 2017). In certain groups, they will engage in ingroup
favoritism, which is giving members of one’s own group preferential treatment (Penn State University World Campus, 2017). The other possibility is out-group derogation, which is disparaging or harming members of other groups so that one’s own group looks good in comparison (Penn State University World Campus, 2017). Both types of treatment can be seen in the workplace and illustrates how minorities and women are at a disadvantage compared to the majority of white males in the workplace.
References
Penn State University World Campus.(n.d.).Leadership and Diversity. Retrieved August 13, 2017 from: https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1848444/modules/items/22449260.
Pratto, F., Sidanius, J., Stallworth, L.M., & Malle, B.F. (1994). Social dominance orientation: A
personality variable predicting social and political attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 67, 741-763. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.67.4.741
cxg374 says
I agree that it can can be challenging to point out the challenges that women and minorities face in the workforce without seeming like it is complaining. This is a debate I have often observed regarding Affirmative Action and if it is in fact useful or just another handout.
Regardless of where anyone stands in that argument I think without question there will always be people who “work the system” or try to manipulate its intended purpose. This unfortunately puts a bad name on something that was initially put in place for reasons that should bridge the diversity gap in workplaces.
I don’t think everyone will ever completely agree on all of the diversity initiatives, however, it is nice to see that as a society, we are making progress and more women and minorities are growing into higher ranks in the workforce.