1. Perception and Discrimination

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Perception and Discrimination

Read the sections on "The Ethical Imperative to Manage Diversity Effectively" and "Perception" from your textbook. Using information from the case, you will analyze how perception and the use of schemas can result in unfair treatment, such as layoff discrimination.

Organizational restructurings, a weak economy, and the recession that occurred in December 2007 led to record numbers of U.S. employees being laid off from 2007 to 2010. Although it is always a challenge for managers to decide whom to let go when layoffs take place, some laid-off employees felt that factors that should have been irrelevant to that tough decision played a role in the layoffs at their former employers. And, while many workers who believe they were unfairly discriminated against did not pursue legal remedies, some filed lawsuits that alleged discrimination in those layoff decisions.

Most people tend to think that the decisions managers make and the actions they take are the result of objective determination of the issues involved and the surrounding situation. However, each manager's interpretation of a situation, or even of another person, is precisely thatan interpretation. Nowhere are the effects of perception more likely to lead to different interpretations than in the area of diversity. To the extent that managers and other members of an organization rely on inaccurate schemas to guide their perceptions of each other, unfair treatment is likely to occur. Inaccurate schemas and perceptual biases can lead well-meaning managers and organizational members to unintentionally discriminate against others.

Read the case and answer the questions that follow.

Age-related discrimination complaints were at a record high during this period. Although this might be because there were more older employees in the workforce than in previous years, David Grinberg, speaking on behalf of the EEOC, suggests that the rise in age discrimination allegations could also be because older workers tend to be paid more and have better benefits. For example, Joan Zawacki, in her late 50s, was laid off from her position as a vice president at the Cartus division of Realogy Corp. after having worked at the company for over 30 years. According to Zawacki, senior managers such as herself were told to discreetly talk with older workers in a friendly manner and suggest that they inquire with human resources about early retirement packages, all while protecting the jobs of younger workers. Zawacki indicates that she was laid off after not having convinced an older employee in her department to retire. A company spokesperson disputed the allegations in Zawacki's age discrimination lawsuit. In addition, over 90 employees at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory filed complaints alleging age discrimination in layoffs. Eddy Stappaerts, a 62-year-old senior scientist who had worked at the lab for 11 years and has a PhD from Stanford University, said, "A week before I was laid off, my boss said my contributions were essential." He alleged that some of the work he did was given to a younger employee.

Some women laid off from their jobs in the financial industry filed lawsuits alleging gender discrimination. Laid-off female executives at Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, and Bank of Tokyo claimed that gender played a role in their firings. In some cases, the women had done extremely well in their early years with the firms, were transferred to less-desirable positions after becoming pregnant and taking maternity leaves, and ultimately were let go. Some of these women suggested that they were laid off even though they were just as (or more) qualified as men who kept their jobs.

Four former human resource managers at Dell filed a class action lawsuit alleging that Dell's massive layoffs discriminated against women and employees over age 40 and that women had been unfairly treated in pay and promotions. In many of these cases the companies involved alleged that no discrimination took place.

1a. If, regardless of their contributions to the...

If, regardless of their contributions to the organization, someone is laid off because their benefits are more expensive than those of younger workers, as some suggested in this case, then ________ has failed.

Multiple Choice

procedural justice

the social status effect

the age schema

perception

distributive justice