Most Workplace Hostility Beyond Reach of Courtroom Remedies

Newswise — There are high psychological and economic costs for individuals and organizations when minority employees feel discriminated against. Much anti-diversity hostility in the workplace is subtle and falls outside the reach of courtroom remedies.

Complicating the issue: victims' emotional responses are highly individualistic, ranging from minor annoyance to devastation, making the matter even more perplexing. Addressing the situation, however, is imperative for the well-being of businesses and their employees.

So say diversity experts Dr. Christine Riordan of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Dr. Melenie Lankau of the University of Georgia, and Dr. Julie Holiday Wayne of Wake Forest University, who together wrote "It Is All in How You View It: Factors Contributing to Perceptions of a Hostile Work Climate," a chapter in a forthcoming book.

The chapter will appear in "Diversity Resistance in Organizations," a collection of essays offering insights into labor-force diversity challenges. The book will be published in spring 2007 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

"It Is All in How You View It" was also presented at the 2006 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management this past August in Atlanta, Georgia.

"The chapter's main contribution was to look at individuals' perceptions of their work climate. Our goal was to make business managers and academic researchers aware that harassment extends far beyond the legal definitions," says Dr. Riordan, a professor of management in the M.J. Neeley School of Business at TCU and a leading authority on labor-force diversity.

"Most of the previous literature examined legally defined harassment, but we looked at perceived hostility from the targets' point of view. It's crucial to understand the factors contributing to perceptions of hostility because serious negative outcomes result from those perceptions," she says.

Several employee characteristics are protected from discrimination under federal law, including race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, and disability. For harassment to be illegal, the affected individual must be in a protected class and the target of severe or pervasive conduct.

But workers needn't be members of a protected class or the victims of overt hostility to feel they are in an unfriendly, unwelcoming environment, says Dr. Riordan.

"A situation doesn't have to reach the level of legal status to be costly." Targeted individuals may experience stress, depression, anger, illness, fear, anxiety, damaged self esteem, a sense of being devalued and excluded, reduced organizational commitment, low job satisfaction, and derailed career aspirations, among others.

For organizations, the costs include high absenteeism, high turnover, low morale, poor employee performance, reduced work output, lost revenues, potential lawsuits, and reputational damage.

Certain characteristics of the coworkers, the workplace, and the victims themselves all contribute to perceptions of hostility, says Dr. Riordan.

The contributing characteristics of coworkers include being members of the demographic majority, a lack of experience in multicultural environments, prejudicial beliefs, conscious or unconscious biases, insensitivity to social cues, and insufficient social skills.

Contributing characteristics of the workplace include the demography of the workforce, demographic differences between managers and subordinates, established behavioral and structural norms within work groups, attitudes and conduct of top managers, and organizational policies and practices.

For the victims, their own characteristics, attitudes, and beliefs strongly influence their perceptions of hostility. Factors include membership in an underrepresented group, a high motivation to achieve (resulting in vigilance against success-inhibiting conditions), a greater sensitivity toward inequities, and a personal history of being harassed or discriminated against.

"Employers can take many practical, proactive steps to prevent or address the factors that contribute to perceptions of hostility in the workplace," says Dr. Riordan.

Employers must strive to recognize all forms of discrimination, including those that are overt, subtle, and unintentional. They should implement strong, clear organizational policies and practices explicitly encompassing all forms of discrimination and harassment, not just those that are legally actionable. They can organize training programs in multicultural interpersonal skills, and in recognizing and eliminating biases and stereotypes. They can hire workers who display multicultural tolerance, and terminate employees who persist in behaving inappropriately.

And companies can require those in authority, from top managers on down to unit supervisors, to intervene in cases of discriminatory or harassing behavior, and to exhibit the desired behaviors.

In short, businesses should strive to create inclusive, welcoming work environments for all individuals. Anything less carries the potential to cause great harm to organizations and their employees.