Individual, Organizational And Societal Factors That Perpetrate Racial Bias In The Workplace

Previously it was described that some of the demographic factors, such as gender and social class can affect the likelihood that an individual will experience racial discrimination. There are also important elements that will influence whether an individual will mimic racial discrimination against others. Those individuals are more likely to take part in racial discrimination. There was an experimental test done by Ziegert and Hanges in 2005 that found when justification was given for discrimination by an authority, such as participants with a high level of unconscious racism, it rated black participants to be more negatively compared to those low in unconscious racism. Further, research by Norton, Sommers, Vandello, and Darley in 2006 demonstrated that participant often provide nonracial justifications for race-related decisions. This is especially true for individuals high on racial prejudice. A Social dominance theory has been offered to explain group based prejudice and discrimination. This theory suggests that some individuals may have more of a social dominance orientation, which is an individual’s tendency to support group-based hierarchies, including the support of higher status groups and their domination of lower status groups. Individuals with high social dominance orientation are perceived to have a set of beliefs or values that justify inequality between groups.

Another study by Parkins, Ishbein, and Ritchey in 2006 found that undergraduate students who were higher on self-rated social dominance orientation reported a greater likelihood to discriminate. Similarly, in an experiment completed by Umphress, Simmons, Boswell, and del Carmen Triana in 2008, found that undergraduate students who were higher in social dominance orientation were significantly less likely to say they would choose a more qualified black male candidate over less qualified white male candidates. The participants were directed to make their decision based on job qualifications. This bias was lessened, but remained significant. Another study found that undergraduate students who were higher in social dominance orientation made more negative performance expectation ratings for a hypothetical black candidate compared to those with lower social dominance orientation. The effect was significantly greater when individuals believed that the black candidate had benefited from Affirmative Action. The prejudice and the tendency to support inequality appear to have a significant effect in predicting who will engage in racial discrimination.

When examining employment discrimination and focusing solely on individuals, as sources of discrimination, obscures the roles and responsibilities organizations have in stemming racial discrimination. Discrimination and harassment also reflect power dynamics and differences in formal and informal status among those involved. The result this is the organizational status can influence the frequency of experiencing discrimination and harassment. High organizational status is protective across a variety of negative workplace behaviors, such as incivility and harassment. It has been communicated that low organizational status increases the likelihood that one will be more frequently targeted, especially in male dominated organizations. Most organizations understand their need to address actions and policies that arediscriminatory. Organizations often neglect more ways in which practices can result in disparities across groups.

Racial discrimination may occur under the saying “last hired, first fired” principle. In many occupational sectors and at higher organizational levels, minority workers are likely to have been integrated into the workplace recently. They are likely to be more recently hired and have less seniority than white workers. Organizations can perpetuate racial discrimination by relying on informal practices, such as, networking and mentoring. Informal social gatherings among colleagues may regularly fail to include ethnic minority employees. This will result in these employees having fewer informal resources. Organizational climate refers to an individual’s perception of the organization and itspolicies, practices, and procedures.

Although such perceptions may not always be accurate representations, they remainimportant because they shape the behaviors at work and their feelings about theorganization more globally. Researchers have focused on aspects of the organizational climate that are of particular relevance to racial discrimination. For example, Peterson (2002) found that employees were less likely to engage in racial or sexual harassment if they perceived their work organization as placing importance on complying with legal and professional standards and showing concern for employees’ well-being. Most relevant to racial discrimination is an organization’s diversity climate, or the extentto which an organization advocates for fair policies and socially integrates underrepresentedemployees. The research found that Black and Hispanic employees who perceived the organization as having a positive diversity climate reported higher sales performance levels than those who perceived the climate as having a less positive diversityclimate. Further, another study found that, although Black employees reported more absencesthan White employees, this difference was greater when the organization was perceived as notvaluing diversity.