If I had to sum up discrimination using only one word, I would pick stereotypes. More often than not, workplace discrimination occurs when we make assumptions about others who are different than us – by race, religion, gender, or national origin, to name a few.
In a workforce that increasingly reflects the demographic differences within the population, getting people from dissimilar age, gender and ethnic backgrounds to work together collaboratively can be a real challenge. Fortunately, the fields of psychology and organizational development can provide insight.
We all have assumptions, right? Even on occasion, I admit to having them too. But what exactly are assumptions and how do we go about changing them? Assumptions are like habits, because we pick them up and never question where they came from. In fact, assumptions are habits of thinking. I recently wrote about my assumptions of [...]
Paul Meshanko discusses the Road to Respect Continuum.
While the world watched the news coverage of Osama bin Laden’s death, I was thinking about a talk I heard on Friday at the City Club of Cleveland given by Dr. William A. Graham, who asked “How Do Islam & Civil Society Intersect?”
Many times diversity trainers find it difficult to connect with an audience comprised mostly of white males. Not surprising since white males who are in the majority are not used to being stereotyped like a minority – right? Kinda. While it is true that white males do not understand what it is like to be anything other than what they are – white males, they can understand what it means to be stereotyped. You – the trainer or executive – can help them remember, and in doing so increase their comfort level with and curiosity about diversity-related issues at work.
It started out like any other July morning. Well, any other July morning that’s 64 degrees - but that’s another story. Anyway, it was a great morning for a run, and I intended to get a good one in. I woke up at 5:30, got the coffee maker set for Kim, slipped on my shorts [...]
