Diversity And Levels Of Discrimination Among Minority Groups

Diversity is generally defined as acknowledging, understanding, accepting, valuing, and celebrating differences among people with respect to age, class, ethnicity, gender, physical and mental ability, race, sexual orientation, spiritual practice, and public assistance status (Green 1). Green, Lopez, Wysocki, and Kepner’s (2002) research proves that diversity issues within organizations are important, and are predicted to become even more paramount due to rising differences in the US population. Organizations need to concentrate on diversity and study ways to become completely inclusive because diversity has the potential to generate greater productivity and has competitive advantages. However, many organizations have yet to address the cause

Amaram (2011) studied the interrelationship between minority organizational members’ phenotypes and levels of discrimination within the organization. In his findings, he concluded that there is an inverse correlation, within phenotypes, between the amount of dissimilarity from the majority group and career outcomes. Those that look the most unlike the majority group, which is considered White people, perform worse than White people do. For example, non-Whites of light skin get along better in an organization than non-Whites of dark skin because their skin tone is closer to that of the majority groups’. It was also found that mono-cultural minority group organizational members have more negative career experiences than any other group. “There is evidence that strong identification with the majority culture enhances one’s career progression” (Amaram

Some of the by-products of cultural diversity that affect minority organizational members include discrimination, prejudice, and stereotyping. Discrimination is considered to be behavioral biases toward a person based on their group identity. This can also be affected by the size of a minority group. When a minority group’s representation is low, the majority group members tend to increase their discrimination against them. Stereotyping is also a hindrance to minority group members, which is an assumption of someone based on the supposed characteristics of the group from which they come. “Research finding suggests that stereotyping can have significant negative effects on both individual careers and overall organizational performance” (Amaram 3). For instance, studies have shown that stereotyping affects hiring, promotion, and performance evaluation decisions of overweight people, job applicants who are older in age, and those with disabilities.

Amaram also did research which proved that minority out-groups face difficulty from ethnocentrism within an organization’s culture. Ethnocentrism is the tendency for majority-group members to view themselves as the center of the universe and to view the values, beliefs, and behaviors of the minority out-group more negatively than their own. “The overall conclusion