Organisational Behaviour Essay: Stereotypes, Impact and Solutions

This essay explores the role of stereotypes in organisational behaviour, analysing their advantages and disadvantages in multinational organisations. It discusses how managers use stereotypes to create positive relations with employees while avoiding cultural offenses, but also highlights the negative implications of excessive reliance on stereotypes, such as decreased employee morale and increased conflicts. The essay recommends implementing organisational behaviour theories, like Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and proactive measures such as diversity management training and strict actions against stereotyping to foster a positive and productive working environment. The paper concludes that while stereotypes can be useful, their negative effects outweigh the benefits, and organisations should focus on promoting diversity and inclusion to improve performance and sustain growth. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments and resources for students.

Running head: ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR 0
Organisational Behaviour
Stereotypes

ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR 1
ROLE OF STEREOTYPES IN WORKPLACE
With the growing popularity of globalisation and digitalisation, companies are able to expand
their operations overseas which require them to deal with people from different culture, race,
background and religion. It is important that corporations implement policies for human
resource management (HRM) to maintain a positive working environment and motivate
employees. According to Alfes et al. (2013), a positive relationship between management and
employees is crucial since it promotes upward communications and it enables management to
motivate employees for improving their performance. In order to avoid offending an
employee or creating a positive bonding, managers rely on stereotypes while interacting with
employees. A stereotype is described as a general image or set of attributes regarding a group
or person that a significant number of people believe to be true (Von Hippel, Sekaquaptewa
and McFarlance, 2015). It represents a thought or belief that is widely accepted by a large
number of people about an entire group or specifies type of individuals’ behaviour or
characteristics. In multinational organisations, it is common for top-level executives to rely
on stereotypes while dealing with employees from different culture, race or background in
order to avoid any incident that might offend their beliefs. However, excessive reliance on
stereotypes can negatively affect an organisation because each individual is different from
another and categorising them into a group might offend their feeling (Malos, 2015). This
essay will argue the role of stereotypes in companies and analyse how management use them
while dealing with employees. This essay will evaluate the significance of stereotypes by
critically analysing its advantages and disadvantages. Further, organisational behaviour
theories will be discussed in the report for proving recommendations for organisations.
ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
Organisational behaviour is a study of individuals in an organisational setting which assists
management in creating more efficient business operations and positive relations between
management and employees (Fisher and To, 2012). Organisational behaviour theories focus
on establishing a supportive and motivating culture in the organisation, and stereotyping can
either positively or negatively affect the company’s culture. While performing different
human resource activities, managers rely on stereotypes for filing incomplete information and
creating positive relations with employees. For example, during recruitment and selection
process, HR managers might be influenced by ‘selective perception’ based on stereotypes.

ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR 2
Selective perception is referred to a process through which people perceive what they want to
perceive in media messages (Ray, 2015). Individuals selectively interpret based on the basis
of their interest, experience, attitudes, and background. Similarly, during an interview, HR
managers can perceive a job applicant based on their previous experience with another person
from the same religion, caste, race or background, and they can create a negative impression
about the job candidate because the person belongs to a specific group. This is stereotyping,
and it contradicts human rights legislation. However, it is human nature tendency to gather
people into groups based on general impressions (Cheung and Wu, 2014). Similarly,
managers might promote one employee over another based on their previous experience with
specific religious group. For example, it is a common stereotype that Germans are efficient
and methodical and Jews are ambitious. However, every person is different from another, and
each individual has different set of characteristics which differentiate them from another.
Therefore, taking organisational decisions based on stereotypes can negatively affect a
company’s operations and working environment.
IMPACT OF STEREOTYPING
There are both positive and negative implications of using stereotypes in a corporation.
Stereotypes usually occur when managers judge a person based on the group to which the
employee belongs to. Especially, at the workplace, sometimes, managers have to assume a
person thinking or behaviour in order to interact effectively. It is difficult for executives to
learn about every employee, and during the interaction, they can make any joke or statement
that might offend the person (Czopp, Kay and Cheryan, 2015). However, managers can rely
on stereotypes as they are to avoid this situation and it can result in establishing a positive
working environment in the firm. For example, if a manager is meeting a new client or an
employee from another culture for the first time, then usually the first thing that he/she do is
to gather information about the person’s culture. As per Finkelstein, King and Voyles (2015),
this information is often highly generalised and based on such information, the manager
makes assumptions about a person’s character and beliefs. Due to prior knowledge regarding
a person’s culture, the manager can ensure that he/she did not offend them by taking any
action that might be considered as offensive in the employee’s culture (Berdahl and Min,
2012). For example, being late in meetings is considered as rude and insulting in Germany.
Therefore, while meeting with a German employee, the manager can avoid being late in the
meeting which creates a positive relationship between them. Similarly, while interacting with

ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR 3
each other, employees can also take into consideration different cultural, religion or race
differences that create a positive working environment.
However, along with advantages, there are many negative implications of excessive
stereotyping at a workplace that result in increasing conflicts between employees and
management and decreasing their productivity. Stereotyping is useful as long as it is correct;
issues arise when it turns out to be incorrect. Every person has a distinct human nature, and it
is unlikely that every person will perfectly fit into a specific stereotype. According to Bashir
et al. (2013), no person likes to judge based on wrong facts and stereotyping can make
employees angry because rather than focusing on their personal attributes, managers judge
them based on their cultural or religious factors. Employees who are working hard to achieve
their targets might get discouraged if managers promote people based on stereotypes rather
than performance. It causes low morale among the workers which negatively affect their
productive performance. Similarly, while implementing motivational strategies, excessive
reliance on stereotypes can negatively affect employees’ morale (Pedulla, 2014). Another
issue with stereotyping is that if employees see management relying on stereotypes, then they
might think that management promotes stereotyping, and they can use them as well. It can
lead to open displays of stereotyping and mistreatment among employees because they will
judge each other based on stereotypes. Kunze, Boehm and Bruch (2013) stated that it could
also increase disputes among employees which creates a hostile working environment in
which it is difficult for management to motive employees and improve their performance.
While working in teams, stereotyping can create conflicts among team members which
hinder the performance of the entire organisation. Therefore, in comparison to its benefits, the
negative implications of excessive stereotyping are more detrimental to an organisation’s
productivity and growth.
RECOMMENDATIONS BASED ON ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR THEORIES
Many recent studies on organisational behaviour topic have proven the negative implications
of excessive stereotyping. Diversity management is a crucial requirement for multinational
organisations since effective management leads to generating a competitive advantage for the
enterprise (Patrick and Kumar, 2012). Stereotyping negatively affects the diversity
management in a company, and it leads to increasing disputes between employees from
different culture or religion. In order to address these issues, corporations can implement
different organisational behaviour theories for addressing these issues. For example, while
motivating employees, managers should not rely on stereotypes, instead, they should

ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR 4
implement policies based on employees’ requirements. Hierarchy of needs theory given by
Abraham Maslow is a good example. The theory divided human needs into five categories
which include physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem and self-actualisation needs
(Alasousi and Alajmi, 2017). These needs are based on human nature rather than stereotypes
which assist managers in effectively assessing employees’ requirements and fulfil them in
order to motivate them. However, recent studies on organisational behaviour argue that this
theory is old and irrelevant for modern enterprises. Rutledge (2011) argued in her research
that social requirements of people have changed, and she provided a rewired model of the
hierarchy of needs that focuses on social aspects that have become a crucial part in people’s
lives. Managers can also take proactive actions for avoiding stereotyping at the workplace
such as teaching employees about characteristics of different culture and religion so that they
did not rely on stereotypes. Emerson and Murphy (2014) provided that taking strict actions
against employees that use stereotypes while interacting with others to show the management
did not support stereotyping at the workplace. An organisational culture that effectively
manages diversity among employees results in improving the company’s performance which
generates a competitive advantage for the enterprise.
From the above observations, it can be concluded that there are both positive and negative
implications of stereotyping at a workplace. However, excessive stereotyping can negatively
affect a company’s performance because it can cause disputes among employees and
decrease their morale. In order to effectively manage diversity in the workplace, managers
should not rely on stereotypes, and they should take corrective actions to restrict employees
from using stereotypes in the workplace as well. Managers rely on stereotypes to create a
positive relationship and avoid insensitive remarks while meeting employees from another
culture or religion. However, it can be perceived by other employees that management
supports open displays of stereotyping and mistreatment of employees and it can encourage
them to judge others based on their caste, religion or race. In order to avoid stereotyping, HR
management can take proactive actions such as teaching employees regarding different
cultures, taking strict actions against employees that use stereotypes and promoting a diverse
culture. It can assist companies in effectively managing diversity in the workplace and sustain
their overall growth.

ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR 5
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ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR 6
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