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Stereotype Threat at Work (What should managers do? (diversity management,…
Stereotype Threat at Work
What is Stereotype Threat?
the fear of being judged according to a
negative stereotype
causes performance to decline
when doing well on the task requires an ability on
which, according to the stereotype, the person
performing the task has a deficit.
regular exposure to stereotype
threat may lead a person to disengage (or
“disidentify”) with the performance domain- want to leave job
Research Findings
The negatively stereotyped group underperforms when
the stereotype is seen as relevant to the task
stigma conscious
people we generally think of as disadvantaged in the
workplace due to negative stereotypes (old people, minorities, gay people, etc)
members of any group may experience
stereotype threat when their identity group is negatively
compared with another group, including whites
many examples show that people perform worse under stereotype threat
Black students taking GRE did worse under stereotype threat
spent too much time trying to
answer a small number of problems. They worked
too hard on getting the right answer
We still don't know WHY but we know how to reduce it
Commonplace Occurance
conditions needed for stereotype threat to emerge:
task difficulty
and
personal task investment
task difficulty
difficult
tasks trigger stereotype threat, and also are most
affected by it.
New employees in particular are likely to find task
accomplishment challenging as they learn their
responsibilities
personal task investment
good employees who care about work are at risk
Conditions that make stereotype
threat more likely:
investment
& desire to do well
context
reinforces the stereo type (token woman, token asian)
a
difficult
, stereotype relevant task
What should managers do?
teach affected employees
behavioral strategies for improving performance
and counteracting negative stereotypes
addresses task difficulty
identify
characteristics important for task success
that are unlinked to group stereotypes.
to address
task difficulty
acknowledge the stereotype threat
remind
employees about real-life factors that might
be constraining their performance
Change the context
remove people from token situations
presenting
a role model who contradicts the stereotype
diversity management
change manager attitudes- prejudice etc
change managers’ behaviors— how they select, appraise,
and develop employees
including stereotype threat:
Acknowledge stereotypes and address them
directly.
Shift the focus from the manager to the environment.