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Chapter 04 - Class, gender, race and equality.ppt
- 1. Work and Organizational Behaviour, 4th edition by John Bratton © Macmillan Education Limited Class, Gender, Race and Equality Chapter 4
- 2. Work and Organizational Behaviour, 4th edition by John Bratton © Macmillan Education Limited Introduction This lecture seeks to: • understand and explain how inequality affects organizations • describe some of the principal means by which equity issues are handled in organizational practices • compare and contrast the current status of gender, race/ethnicity, disability and class policy in organizational life in major English speaking countries • outline relevant areas where further investigation is needed relating to equity in the workplace
- 3. Work and Organizational Behaviour, 4th edition by John Bratton © Macmillan Education Limited Diversity in Organisations • Workplace Diversity: The ways in which people are similar or different from each other. Feature of a mixed workforce that provides a wide range of abilities, experiences, knowledge, and strengths due to its heterogeneity in age, cultural background, ethnicity, physical abilities and disabilities, political and religious beliefs, sex, and other attributes.
- 4. Work and Organizational Behaviour, 4th edition by John Bratton © Macmillan Education Limited Two Major Forms of Workforce Diversity Surface-level diversity Easily observed differences that may trigger certain stereotypes, but do not necessarily reflect the ways people think or feel such as race, gender, age, ethnicity, physical disabilities etc. • Deep-level diversity Differences in the psychological characteristics of people that are more difficult to see at first glance such as values, attitudes, beliefs, personality, work preferences, and decision making styles. Individuals often initially judge others based on surface-level diversity. Over time, this effect tends to fade and is replaced by deep-level traits such as similarity in values and attitudes
- 5. Work and Organizational Behaviour, 4th edition by John Bratton © Macmillan Education Limited Benefits of Workforce Diversity Increased Productivity-Brings in diverse different talents together working towards a common goal using different sets of skills. Increased creativity and Problem solving-Every individual brings in their way of thinking, operating and solving problems and decision making. Attract and Retain talent -Add a competitive edge to any organisation. Help to build synergy in teams and enhances communication skills- Brings in new attitudes and processes that profit the whole team. It increases market share and create a satisfied diverse customer base. UPS operates in 200 countries, including Italy where a boat is carrying packages on the Canal Grande in Venice. At UPS, 58% of all senior officers are women or minorities.
- 6. Work and Organizational Behaviour, 4th edition by John Bratton © Macmillan Education Limited Equity and Justice in Work Organizations • Organizational justice • Equity legislation can relate to: – Pay and employment – Human rights • Research in justice area covers three areas : – Distributive – Procedural – Interactional
- 7. Work and Organizational Behaviour, 4th edition by John Bratton © Macmillan Education Limited Equity and Justice in Work Organizations (2) • Justice is viewed as 'socially constructed' • It includes objective and subjective dimensions • Justice results in positive benefits: – Higher job satisfaction and greater commitment – Positive manager evaluations – Employee citizenship – Reduction in absenteeism, conflict and sabotage • Concept of 'justice' and 'equity' emerges only in context of systematic injustices and inequities
- 8. Work and Organizational Behaviour, 4th edition by John Bratton © Macmillan Education Limited Tensions in the Workplace • Tensions can be horizontal or vertical: – Horizontal tensions relate to group/organizational contexts – Vertical tensions relate to capital/labour relations • Vertical tensions relate to appropriation - private capital accumulation – They are unique to life under capitalism
- 9. Work and Organizational Behaviour, 4th edition by John Bratton © Macmillan Education Limited Social Class • ‘Class' is a difficult concept to define… – Classification can involve culture/status – including socio-economic or professional status Views of class categorization vary; theories include Marx’s, Weber’s and those from Cultural Studies – It is felt, however, that class differences are rooted in economic and employment differences – Class is not always apparent
- 10. Work and Organizational Behaviour, 4th edition by John Bratton © Macmillan Education Limited Unions • Unions express institutional interests of subordinate groups and pursue their interests • They resolve ‘vertical’ tensions but leave aside the team-based ‘horizontal’ tensions • They can alleviate difficulties of minorities and increase pay etc • US/UK reduced efficiency/influence of the unions
- 11. Work and Organizational Behaviour, 4th edition by John Bratton © Macmillan Education Limited Unions
- 12. Work and Organizational Behaviour, 4th edition by John Bratton © Macmillan Education Limited Intersectionality • Research into inequality has to an extent shifted from focusing on class to focusing on class, gender and race. • An intersectional approach is one that investigates the disadvantage that arises from combinations of two or more identities. • Class, gender and race all intersect with age, disability and LGBT+ identities.
- 13. Work and Organizational Behaviour, 4th edition by John Bratton © Macmillan Education Limited Gender • Women have made up 50% of workforce in capitalist countries since 1980 but: – Wage differentials have changed little – Effects of glass ceilings or from sticky floors • Gender harassment a feature of workplace discrimination
- 14. Work and Organizational Behaviour, 4th edition by John Bratton © Macmillan Education Limited Debates about Gender • Management styles – some argue new styles favour women, others argue this is based on stereotypical view of female and male traits • Business case against gender inequity • Greatest effect of discrimination is at level of ‘sticky floor’ – poor workers often in the developing countries
- 15. Work and Organizational Behaviour, 4th edition by John Bratton © Macmillan Education Limited Race and Ethnicity • UK ethno-racial minorities under-represented in senior roles; over-represented at lower levels • Differences exist within racial groups on other criteria such as age/disability etc. • Culture as important as racial background • Value of English language education in promoting mobility (Robinson) • Significance of training relative to applications in black applicants (Brief, Dietz, Cohen, Pugh & Vaslow)
- 16. Work and Organizational Behaviour, 4th edition by John Bratton © Macmillan Education Limited Race and Ethnicity
- 17. Work and Organizational Behaviour, 4th edition by John Bratton © Macmillan Education Limited Disability • Definitions vary between countries • Stereotyping and discrimination mean disabled people: – have difficulty finding work – effectively applying their skills and talents – keeping paid employment • In UK, Equality Act 2010 covers these areas • Disability increasingly seen as a problem that individuals face in society rather than one that they have.
- 18. Work and Organizational Behaviour, 4th edition by John Bratton © Macmillan Education Limited Age, LGBT+ and employment • Just as (potential) workers are discriminated against on the basis of their gender or race, so too are workers treated differently on the basis of their age. • Similarly, despite such discrimination being illegal in the UK under the Equality Act 2010, this is insufficient to prevent workers being discriminated against on the basis of their orientation or whether their gender matches that assigned to them at birth.
Notas do Editor
- The objectives of the lecture are related to those of the text chapter, and include to: understand and explain how patterns of inequality affect organizations describe some of the principal means by which equity issues are handled in organizational practices compare and contrast the current status of gender, race/ethnicity, disability and class policy in organizational life in major English speaking countries outline relevant areas where further investigation is needed in the many areas relating to equity in the workplace
- The area of organizational justice is an important aspect for the development of a theory of equity in the context of OB. It relates to the perceived fairness of outcomes, procedures and the treatment of individuals. Pay and employment equity-legislation is defined as laws intending to eliminate established inequalities in the pay received by women and members of minority groups working for a given employer. Different forms of this type of legislation exist across many countries. Another set of concerns revolves around 'human-rights legislation'. This includes a consideration of broader factors than pay and employment equity-legislation; including disability, sexual orientation and political/religious beliefs. This includes a consideration of a range of aspects of discrimination: conditions of employment, mental duress and legal expenses, etc. Valuable work has been completed on the issue of justice and the perceptions which surround it in terms of the actual behaviour of organizations. Research includes distinct types of methodological approach. Three lines of enquiry in the area of justice can be seen: Distributive justice, which refers to outcomes and allocations emerging from processes. Procedural justice, which refers to the procedures set in place to produce the perception of fairness. Informational justice, which refers to equitable access and sharing of information. Interactional justice, which refers to the interpersonal treatment of people within procedures.
- In this field of research, justice is understood to be socially constructed Concerns practices and organizational structures, policies and procedures that mediate them. However, it can also be understood in terms of having both objective and subjective dimensions. In the latter case, related to the notion of ‘fairness’; in the former to ideas of output or firm results. Organizational justice (or the perception of it) correlates highly with positive outcomes and experiences of work. With increased organizational justice we see: (a) higher job satisfaction; (b) higher organizational commitment; (c) more positive evaluations of managers; (d) enhanced organizational citizenship behaviour; (e) lower turnover and absenteeism; and (f) lower levels of workplace sabotage and revenge. The concept of 'justice' and with it 'equity' emerges and takes on relevance only in the context of the existence of systematic injustices and inequities. That is, it occurs in a system of tension and conflict. This relates to practices and organizational structures.
- Tensions that emerge from individual participation in group, team or organizational contexts have a close relationship with what organizational theorists call the horizontal tensions. Tensions that arise in the context of the employer/employee (or capital/labour) relationships involve tensions inherent in the individual and group-organizational relationships, but provide a distinct set of further tensions more or less unique to life under capitalism. These tensions revolve around a specific class-based form of what could be called vertical tensions. Vertical tensions relate to the phenomenon of ‘appropriation’ – this relates to the placing of capital accumulation relative to the firm in private hands.
- Each of the dimensions we discuss in this lecture involves substantial proportions of the population, relationships of social class underpin the most damaging effects of each of them. Class involves hierarchy and its generation. Also, distinct levels of power, control, resources, sensibilities, comportment and forms of practices. Arguable that the most damaging aspects of other features of discrimination also have a locus in class issues. Class can be defined variously in terms of culture, status, or through segmented classifications based on socioeconomic or occupational status – these terms arising from cultural-studies theory, from Marxist theory and from Weber’s theoretical influence within sociology. Class differences are rooted in economic and employment experiences. Certain categories can be subordinated by the class process – though it is arguable that this process is distinct to that of other forms of marginalization such as gender. Inter-relationship of class marginalization and other forms of marginalization are frequent.
- Because class relationships are so fundamental to the institution of work under capitalism that they have effectively become invisible. However, class is discussed in a wide range of indirect ways – perhaps most prevalently in discussing the role of trade unions. Why should this be the case? Trade unions are an institutional expression of the class interests of the subordinate groups. Workers’ unions may be viewed as the only consistent vehicle for bettering conditions and increasing 'democracy' within the realm of work. It can be argued that unions pursue the issue of resolving ‘vertical’ tensions but leave ‘horizontal’ issues apart – i.e. they do not support the case of specific disadvantaged groups (they for instance were slow to support gender inequities historically and other groups of an ethno-racial nature have been slow to realise change through union-initiated reform). Recently, a shift towards a greater involvement of unions in these matters is felt. It is expressed by us that unions are vital for alleviating some of the difficulties of minorities. Evidence for this perspective is present in terms of the lesser ethno-racial and gender pay inequity, due to union activity, in the US, the UK and Canada. Authors’ view is that high unionization is compatible with good economic and employment performance (International Labor Organization, 2001). Unfortunately a view tends to exist that unions vitiate such performance and this derives from some mainstream economic theory (see for example the influence of Keynes and Thatcherism).
- Discourse that focuses on class, as a form of oppression, neglects other such forms – to the detriment of that discourse and analysis. McLeod and Yates (2008: 348): “To only analyse class (or gender or race) is now understood as a political and analytical act of exclusion”. Rather than merely analysing the disadvantages faced by those who occupy particular class positions, an intersection analysis would (for example) attempt to understand the disadvantage and discrimination faced by Muslim women, gay men, working-class women, disabled women, and so on.
- Aspects of vertical and horizontal tensions present a useful framework for a consideration of a variety of areas, including gender. Over the last 30 years, women have come to account for approximately half the labour force in most G10 capitalist countries. However, the wage gaps between men and women have hardly narrowed. Status of women in the workplace described as: that of the 'glass ceilings' in which, despite equal or greater educational training and performance, women remain systematically excluded from top corporate jobs; and the idea of 'sticky floors' on which women workers appear to be disproportionately glued to low-paying jobs with little or no opportunity for advancement (Kim 2002; Hirsch & MacPherson 2003). A frequent phenomenon related to the glass ceiling is the low percentage of women with high employment status, especially in corporate leaders’ positions. Gender harassment is a feature of workplace discrimination. Gender inequities in the workplace have effects on the overall health of women. These issues are probed and discerned by research but are rarely that visible in the employment relationship at its inception.
- Significant amount of research over the last decade has looked at the dynamics of gender and management. Gender inequities in the workplace have recently been shown to have important, and under-examined, effects on the health of women. New managerial styles seem to favour women, but we should consider to what degree these claims are based on gender stereotypes that may or may not be warranted (Wajcman, 1998). The qualities usually associated with being a successful manager are ‘masculine’ traits such as drive, objectivity and an authoritative manner. A question has arisen as to the reality of a female style of management – though perceptions of difference persist (Wajcman). A contrasting case is developed by Meyerson and Fletcher (2000), who argue that much managerial change is in response to legislation. They suggest an incremental approach of what they call 'small wins' within firms. In Canada, authors Falkenberg and Boland (1997) recommend government-led education programmes as a reaction against the masculine reassertion of values which challenges employment-equity programmes aimed at creating gender equality. There is a clear business case against gender inequity that makes the persistence of discrimination even more complex. This relates to a challenge to the utility of male-dominated group work (LePine et al, 2002). It is also reported that inequity leads to a decline in morale and performance levels. But the market cannot be relied to ‘weed out’ weak firms on this basis, it seems (Ngo, Foley, Wong and Loi). Despite the high-profile nature of the ‘glass ceiling’ inequity issue, gender inequity is in many ways most strongly felt by female workers who are stuck to the 'sticky floor', such as Chinese garment workers in the USA or, internationally, domestic workers (a notable recent study was by Parrenas in the Filipinas).
- Research over the last three decades has confirmed that progress has been made of a limited nature in terms of greater equity. However, perceptions can be negative of what progress is being made and it is mixed in terms of its international effects. In the UK ethno-racial minorities are greatly under-represented in the highest positions, and over-represented in the lowest ones. Significant variation exists as between different categories in terms of income variations as between distinct ethnic groups (for instance in the UK) There are differences in the experiences of non-white groups but also of groups within categories of a single skin colour. Cultural background is an important factor in assessing ethno-racial work experiences. This can include looking at the origins of particular groups and their cultural heritage as well as spread (diaspora). More refined studies (e.g. Robinson) look at inequities that occur in different forms of OB behaviour. These include aspects such as a desire for social mobility and aspects of integration or marginalization. English language skills and schooling-experience factors can be determinants of success. Modood examines how different ethno-racial groups experience work differently. This includes looking at varying factors often less direct in nature – such as links to a host country, community cohesion of the ethnic group and the levels of hierarchy in a group. Recent case-study research has included that of Brief, Dietz, Cohen, Pugh and Vaslow. In these cases, look at application success amongst black applicants. The importance of training has also been highlighted in this research.
- Research over the last three decades has confirmed that progress has been made of a limited nature in terms of greater equity. However, perceptions can be negative of what progress is being made and it is mixed in terms of its international effects. In the UK ethno-racial minorities are greatly under-represented in the highest positions, and over-represented in the lowest ones. Significant variation exists as between different categories in terms of income variations as between distinct ethnic groups (for instance in the UK) There are differences in the experiences of non-white groups but also of groups within categories of a single skin colour. Cultural background is an important factor in assessing ethno-racial work experiences. This can include looking at the origins of particular groups and their cultural heritage as well as spread (diaspora). More refined studies (e.g. Robinson) look at inequities that occur in different forms of OB behaviour. These include aspects such as a desire for social mobility and aspects of integration or marginalization. English language skills and schooling-experience factors can be determinants of success. Modood examines how different ethno-racial groups experience work differently. This includes looking at varying factors often less direct in nature – such as links to a host country, community cohesion of the ethnic group and the levels of hierarchy in a group. Recent case-study research has included that of Brief, Dietz, Cohen, Pugh and Vaslow. In these cases, look at application success amongst black applicants. The importance of training has also been highlighted in this research.
- Important, understudied, although perhaps emerging area of equity studies in the workplace. Disability is defined differently across countries, but statistics confirm it is highly prevalent. Recent research suggests that people who are disabled have difficulty finding work, effectively applying their skills and talents, and keeping paid employment - largely due to stereotyping and discrimination (Loprest and Maag, 2001). Disability can be defined in terms of five sub-groupings: sensory disability, physical disability, mental and psychiatric problems, intellectual and developmental problems, and learning difficulties. In the UK, the Equality Act 2010 deals with these issues. Higher rates of unemployment can be found amongst these groups. Features of discrimination including stereotyping and discrimination, with many associated practical problems linked with work including the nature of flexibility of work arrangements. People, including academic researchers, are moving away from the view that 'disability' is a problem that an individual has rather than being a problem that these same individuals face in society. This view is exemplified in research and recent studies such as those of the Disability Studies (1993).
- Organisational workforces in places like Europe, the USA and Japan are ageing, as a result of the combination of lower birth rates and rising life expectancy. Age discrimination has much in common with other forms of discrimination: just as a woman may be assumed to be less capable than she really is, an employee may be taken to be less capable on the basis of their age. Both HR professionals and employees recognise that age-diverse teams have distinct benefits, and bring together a range of perspectives. There is a lack of research on how age, ethnicity and class intersect with each other. Discrimination against transgender individuals in the workplace is connected to ‘paranoid cognition’ – understood as consisting in hypervigilance, reflection and sinister attributional tendencies (Thoroughgood et al. 2017). The local context can have a detrimental effect on the implementation of inclusion policies (e.g., a large multinational firm may have LGBT inclusion policies, but the implementation of these policies may be complicated by features of particular national cultures, leading to continued discrimination.