Workplace
Psychological Theories Addressing Bias In The Workplace
Dakota Lupton
Southern New Hampshire University
07/02/2016
Discrimination based on gender, race, and ethnic background is a common occurrence in the workplace. Workplace bias by employers, top management, and fellow workmates reduces productivity since discriminated workers do not exploit their full potential. It limits their skills and experience (Shrivastava, 2015). As such discrimination should be discarded in the workplace so as to improve productivity by ensuring employees are comfortable thus utilizing their full potential. However, the emergence of psychology in the workplace has improved flexible governance thereby reduces the instances of workplace bias. There are various psychological theories which have been applied in the workplace that have reduced discrimination in the workplace. The disparate treatment theory has seen a change in operations such as the ‘equal employment opportunity’ whereby the selection process during employment gives all applicants equal opportunities. Another psychological theory, the behaviorist theory has brought about the reorganization of the workplace by enacting rules which prohibit any form of discrimination.
The disparate treatment theory conceives discrimination as an unfortunate decision made by a single person who has racial or gender beliefs on members of the victimized group (Frank, 2007). Discrimination according to disparate theory is motivated by conscious bias of the decision maker. As such the theory changes the normal mode of operation by ensuring all employees are given equal opportunities in the workplace. This prevents prejudice and reduces the minority effect in the workplace, therefore, preventing instances of conscious bias. The theory recognizes the brains’ mistakes may cause bias, it helps to mitigate those mistakes in the workplace. The disparate theory also advocates for fair treatment and respect during the screening of resumes, interviews of new employees and during performance evaluation to identify high performers requiring promotion and those who need to be terminated.
The behaviorist theory states that a viable relationship among employees and the management will tend to prevent discrimination in the workplace. The behaviorist theory reorganizes that the entire workplace by enacting rules that help combat conflicts within the organization among employees (Wok et al., 2015). This theory improves the relationship among employees the overall management by improving the internal workplace structure. Surveys are conducted to determine issues that may cause bias in the workplace and specific measures undertaken to discourage discrimination. The measures developed should improve the organizational efficiency and pursue equity in the workplace.
The issue of discrimination in the workplace can be solved by incorporating various perspectives from different psychologists. One such perspective is the replacement of individual-based work with team-work which heightens social interaction by involving many employees in decision making thus preventing bias (Frey, 2001). Another psychologist perspective is the interaction of different ethnic groups on equal basis in pursuit of similar goals results in productive inter-group relations which help to fight discrimination in the workplace. The workplace should account for their patterns in gender, race and another basis such as minority so as to ensure no discrimination occurs in the workplace. However, in the creation of action plans to eliminate workplace bias, ethical implications should be accounted for. The plans should not affect the normal operation of the workplace. The plans developed should also be in-line with the labor laws and complement the work done by employees. Lack of discrimination in the workplace has various ethical implications. Employees are comfortable at work which enables them to exploit their full potential, therefore, maximizing on their skills and experience.
References
Earl, C. & Taylor, P. (2015). Is Workplace Flexibility Good Policy? Evaluating the Efficacy of Work, Aging And Retirement, 1(2), 214-226. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/workar/wau012
Frank Jilenk. (2007). The disparate treatment theory. International Journal Of Adult Vocational Education And Technology, (63/64), 131. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/20076299
Frey, B. & Jegen, R. (2001). Motivation Crowding Theory. Journal Of Economic Surveys, 15(5), 589-611. http://dx.doi.org/10. 11/1467-6419.00150
Handbook of organizational health psychology: programs to make the workplace healthier. (2009).Choice Reviews Online, 36(10), 36-5776-36-5776. http://dx.doi.org/10.5860/choice.36-5776
Shrivastava, H. (2015). Harassment at the Workplace, Powerlessness and Identity: Experiences of Women Civil Servants in India. Journal Of Gender Studies. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/097594280
Wok, S. & Hashim, J. (2015). The Moderating Effect of Employee Relations on Networking Towards Workplace Happiness. Procedia – Social And Behavioral Sciences, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.11.039
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