Discriminatory Behaviour in the Workplace: An Essay

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DISCRIMINATORY BEHAVIOUR
An Essay

Table of Contents
KEY DEFINITIONS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF DISCRIMINATORY BEHAVIOUR.........................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................... 2
Conclusion............................................................................................................................4
Reference List.......................................................................................................................5
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KEY DEFINITIONS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF DISCRIMINATORY
BEHAVIOUR
Introduction
In a modern workplace, discriminatory behaviour is considered to be unacceptable due to
its negative influence on the effectiveness of the organisation and its efficiency.
Discriminatory behaviour becomes especially objectionable in public services workplaces
that are bound to have a workforce with diverse cultural elements and cater to the need of
populace that is made up of people from a variety of cultures. In the UK, discrimination is
prohibited by law and any infringement is dealt with alacrity (Hand et al., 2012).
Discrimination can be defined as the unfair treatment of an individual or a group on the
basis of their origin and certain characteristics such as age, gender, sexual orientation, race,
disability, and religion (Whitley and Kite, 2016). These characteristics that can be the cause
of discrimination are defined by the Equality Act 2010 as protected characteristics
(Lockwood et al., 2012). The Equality act recognises 9 such protected characteristics that
include Age, disability, maternity and pregnancy, gender reassignment, marriage and civil
partnership, gender, race, sexual orientation, and religion (Lockwood et al., 2012).
The interrelationship of unconscious bias and prejudice and their role in the culmination of
workplace discrimination makes it important to learn about them (Boag and Carnelley,
2012). The bias can be defined as a reference to a group or individual that may become a
cause of unfairness to another individual or group (Whitley and Kite, 2016). The results of
the bias can be positive as well as negative and it can originate from groups, individuals, and
organisations. Usually, the unconscious bias has a negative impact on the people or group
that are the object of the bias. Now, the bias can be both conscious and unconscious (Boag
and Carnelley, 2012). The unconscious bias can be described as social stereotypes that form
out of the purview of conscious cognizance and results in the expression of bias towards
individuals and groups on the basis of certain factors like age, genders, and sexual
orientation (Whitley and Kite, 2016). It is a result of the ingrained inclination of everyone to
order the social world into classes and in spite of its incompatibility with conscious bias; it
still gets projection into conscious behaviour of the people (Boag and Carnelley, 2012).
Prejudice is another factor that contributes to workplace discrimination and it can be
described as a preconceived notion that is formed without any relationship to experience or
reason (Boag and Carnelley, 2012). It can also be defined as the projection of extreme
emotions such as anger or dislike and unjustified behaviour based upon opinions that are by
nature unfounded and preconceived (Whitley and Kite, 2016). Prejudice is often created
without complete knowledge that can form the basis of such a notion. It can be both
positive and negative depending upon whether it's for or against the object of prejudice.
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The object of prejudice is characterised by a number of factors that include gender, class,
physical ability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and religion. A single prejudice may be the
cause/basis of the creation of a number of prejudices. Its source can be group, individual, or
society. Usually, the prejudice at workplace originates from hierarchical factors and
hampers the performance and motivation levels of the targeted employees (Boag and
Carnelley, 2012).
Both unconscious bias and prejudice could form the grounds of workplace discrimination.
Though, workplace discrimination is the extreme form that is the actual act of discrimination
against an individual or a group. The prejudice and unconscious bias by themselves are not
considered illegal although discrimination is illegal and a basis of punitive action. These
aspects together are harmful to public services since they become a cause of mental and
physical estrangement of people from specific societal groups and lead to lack of cordiality
during the interaction, intentionally disjointed communication, and deliberate
circumvention. In extreme case, it breeds aggression, tensions, harassment, conflict, and
hostility thereby disrupting and destroying the purpose of public services (Hand et al., 2012).
The discrimination in public services can be workplace discrimination or discriminating the
people being serviced. The discriminatory behaviour results in distorting the workplace
atmosphere and affects various organisational processes such as recruitment or decision-
making. Discriminatory behaviour adversely affects the performance and productivity levels
of the organisation. The effects of discriminatory behaviour exhibit itself in both physical
and mental aspects within the subject of discrimination and lead to a variety of physical and
mental ailments such as high levels of psychological distress (Roberts et al., 2014).
Workplace discrimination is prohibited under the legislation “Equality Act 2010” that
identifies and determines various grounds of discrimination and provides the employee's
protection against being discriminated at the workplace. In case of public services, the
biggest issue is the projection of discriminatory behaviour on the people being serviced by
the organisation leading to unsatisfactory service or lack of service to the people that need
them the most (Roberts et al., 2014).
The process of eliminating workplace discrimination starts with the identification of the
source of discrimination within the organisation and its level of influence over organisational
activities. The corrective measures against the workplace discriminatory behaviour need to
be focused upon in every organisation and its removal from the organisational culture starts
from the recruitment process itself. When there’s a discriminatory behaviour during the
recruitment process it becomes a cause for the promotion of such behaviour within the
organisation (Roberts et al., 2014). Also, the employee can be further motivated to
understand and distance from discriminatory behaviour by educating them about
unconscious bias, prejudice and discrimination. For this purpose, specialised training
programs on defining these social stereotypes and discriminatory behaviour can be
conducted. The training programs focused on the legal implications can also be promoted as
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a tool for educating the employees regarding the consequences of discriminatory
behaviours. Such knowledge plays an important role in the self-identification of the
discriminatory behaviour and its potential consequences helping people to curb such
actions and preventing discriminatory actions of others (Roberts et al., 2014).
Conclusion
It can be concluded that the Equality Act 2010 has provided the organisation with a basis
and a cause for handling workplace discrimination (Lockwood et al., 2012). It has
contributed towards the elimination of discriminatory behaviour from the public services
but there's still a long way to go to eliminate such behaviour and thoughts from within the
public services.
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Reference List
Boag, E.M. and Carnelley, K.B., 2012. Self reported discrimination and discriminatory‐
behaviour: The role of attachment security. British Journal of Social Psychology, 51(2),
pp.393-403.
Hand, J., Davis, B. and Feast, P., 2012. Unification, simplification, amplification? An analysis
of aspects of the British Equality Act 2010. Commonwealth Law Bulletin, 38(3), pp.509-528.
Lockwood, G., Henderson, C. and Thornicroft, G., 2012. The Equality Act 2010 and mental
health. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 200(3), pp.182-183.
Roberts, C., Davies, E. and Jupp, T., 2014. Language and discrimination. Routledge.
Whitley Jr, B.E. and Kite, M.E., 2016. Psychology of prejudice and discrimination. Routledge.
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