|
Enjoying Your Work Richard Brislin |
Executives must address
birds of a feather that
flock togetherWhenever large number of people come together, they are likely to form group ties based on shared physical characteristics, behaviors or interests. People in one's ingroup share perceived similarities. People have positive feelings about members of their ingroups and enjoy interacting with them. Individuals in one's outgroup are different in some way. They look different, have a language or accent that can't be understood or behave in ways considered unacceptable to the person making judgments about group membership.
The formation of ingroups and outgroups is universal and is a basic fact that marks human beings, similar to the needs for food, water and sleep. Many people make decisions about their behavior based on their ingroups and outgroups. For example, we might consider all candidates running for elective office and vote for those who will best represent all the people in Hawaii. But we don't. Instead, we divide candidates into ingroups and outgroups. In Hawaii the ethnic vote (my group and other groups) is a factor that politicians must consider if they are to be elected. When executives favor candidates from certain ethnic groups for jobs in their organizations, they are behaving according to ingroup and outgroup distinctions. Such choices are sometimes unconscious. The executives simply prefer candidates who share similarities and who seem familiar.
The danger of ingroup and outgroup formation is that others considered different are sometimes put at a disadvantage in their quest for society's benefits. Over the last few weeks, I have discussed the disadvantages caused by various forms of prejudice. These forms include racism, tokenism, interference with a culture's values and judging others based on one's real likes and dislikes. Other ingroup and outgroup distinctions are based on what is familiar and unfamiliar to people. These distinctions are especially prominent when people move from one city to another and must learn new behaviors that will allow them to satisfy everyday needs. People moving from the mainland United States face the need to engage in many unfamiliar behaviors. Examples are attending baby luaus, learning new terms such as "pau," "hapa" and "niele," and making sure that others do not lose face during interpersonal interactions.
The inclusion of the familiar and unfamiliar in discussions of intergroup relations might seem out of place. Prejudices based on racist beliefs seem far removed from ingroup-outgroup misunderstandings based on unfamiliar behaviors. I include them in the same discussion because the outcomes are similar. People from different groups do not interact frequently or smoothly. They are not benefiting from the stimulation provided when diverse people interact, share their varied perspectives and arrive at decisions that are better because people have integrated complex viewpoints.
Ingroup and outgroup misunderstandings based on unfamiliar behaviors are relatively easy to address. In a diverse workplace, for example, executives can ask the question, What are differences that, over the years, have caused misunderstandings among people here in the workplace? In a large organization, human-resource specialists can be brought in to add to the list of differences. Then, these differences can be explained to everyone as part of formal training programs, mentoring activities in the workplace and during informal conversations among people.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
The purpose of this column is to increase understanding of human behavior as it has an impact on the workplace. Given the amount of time people spend at work, job satisfaction should ideally be high and it should contribute to general life happiness. Enjoyment can increase as people learn more about workplace psychology, communication, and group influences.
Richard Brislin is a professor in the College of Business Administration, University of Hawaii. He can be reached through the College Relations Office: cro@cba.hawaii.edu