Conflict
Management HRM624
VU
Lesson
27
STEREOTYPES,
DIVERSITY, AND CONFLICT I
Quotations
In individuals,
insanity is rare; but in groups,
parties, nations, and epochs
it is the rule.
Friedrich
Nietzsche, Beyond Good and
Evil
Every
man over forty is a
scoundrel.
George
Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)
Irish playwright.
I love
the people with their straightforward
minds. It's just that
their smell brings on my
migraine. Bertolt
Brecht
(1898 - 1956) German playwright and
poet.
In this
lecture we will discuss the
following points:
The
influence of stereotyping, culture, and
social-group power on inter-personal
conflict
The
reasons of stereotyping others and
why stereotypes resist
change
`Red
Flags' that alert you to a situation
may mislead you
Tactics
and strategies to offset
stereotyping
How
cultural and sub-cultural differences affect
interpersonal conflict
Ways
to minimize negative impact of cultural
differences
Effect
of caste, baradarism, religious sect,
and gender on handling
conflict
Stereotype
Man
for the field and woman
for the hearth:
Man
for the sword and for the
needle she:
Man
with the head and woman
with the heart:
Man to
command and woman to
obey;
All
else confusion.
Alfred
Tennyson (1809 - 1892) British
poet.
Obedience
is woman's duty on earth. Harsh suffering
is her heavy fate.
Friedrich
von Schiller (1759 - 1805)
German poet, playwright and
historian.
Stereotypes
are
oversimplified generalizations about the
person who belong to a different
group.
Prejudice
can be
defined as an unsubstantiated judgment or
opinion about an individual or a group,
either
favorable or
unfavorable in nature.
The
term is usually used in unfavorable ways
or to show hostile attitude towards
other people based on
their
membership in the other group. The
distinguishing characteristic of a prejudice is that
it relies on
stereotypes.
Result:
Discrimination and
Integration
Categories
of Diversity Issues
Diversity
issues fall into three
main categories.
98
Conflict
Management HRM624
VU
1. The
first category is stereotyping.
Stereotyping is the attribution of thoughts,
qualities, behaviors,
and
attitudes
to others based on their
categorization into a social
group.
2. The
second category includes
considerations of culture. Language, cultural
values, perspectives,
and
cultural
attitude towards conflict,
negotiation, and conflict
resolution.
3. The
third category of diversity issue is the
issue of power. Power problems in
diversity conflict include
the
disempowerment of particular social
groups and the existence of
bigotry and prejudice based on
social
group
membership.
These
categories frequently influence one
another.
Stereotyping
"First
impressions are important". (First
impression is the last impression).
Stereotypes are similar to
first
impressions;
indeed, many first
impressions come from
stereotypes.
All
human beings stereotype. The
propensity to judge people based on
stereotype is general practice. It is
in
human
cognitive system.
Effect of
stereotypes
Two
major problems exist with this sort of
attribution.
The
attribution that one makes
as the result of stereotyping may be
totally wrong.
It is
shameful to be stereotyped.
Stereotyping
in Interpersonal Conflict
Stereotypes
are often wrong, leading to
bad strategy. People are
embarrassed when they are
stereotyped,
making
conflict escalation
likely
Why
People Stereotype
People
use systematic processing to
try to understand other people
only if
a)
They have plenty of time and
resources to devote to the task,
b)
They are highly motivated to
understand the situation
accurately
In the
absence of these two
requirements, people will use
categories, such as stereotypes, to
draw inferences
about
people
Summary
Stereotypes
are used to determine ready
behaviors towards individuals
belonging to different
social
categories.
If we
try to process the information about
every individual in all
situations, it will become
highly inefficient.
Stereotypes
are part of human cognition
and they are an important component of
human relations and
interpersonal
conflict. The understanding of
stereotyping can help avoid
conflict and also towards
resolving
the interpersonal
conflict.
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