Question 1: Eric Ries’ metaphor “diversity is the coal mine of meritocracy”
Meritocracy is term that implies a social system that gives the greatest power and highest social positions to people with the most ability. Entrepreneurs are more in the business of meritocracy than other industries. Decisions made on the basis of merit are executed faster than those based on hierarchy, politics, and titles. When a company fails to have diversity, it is a sign of dysfunction. Diversity is a source of strength for any company or team that boasts of it. Essentially, diverse teams are in a better position to make good decisions than the less diverse teams. It broadens the base of experience and increases variety of perceptions. Experience and perceptions are the key elements for good decisions making. Diversity benefits everyone in a team. Ries argues that there is a need to have diverse teams based on merit. Companies need to ensure that all races and gender are represented in a team to give it a diverse look. It is possible to have both merit and diversity in a team.
Question 2: Factors that would account for biases in team committed to nondiscrimination
Bias among people genuinely committed to fairness can be accounted for by demographic details. This is according to Ries. During selection and recruitment, many companies would first of all consider demographic information before other details that indicate a candidate’s merits. Demographic information includes country of origin, gender, name, and age among others. Such a move, according to Ries, always tends to lead to biases even when the team is committed to fairness and nondiscrimination. Therefore, if companies would consider a candidate’s demographic details after screening, then this would increase the levels of diversity in a team. At the same time, it would form a strong merit based foundation of the team.
Question 3: how systems inadvertently become biased
Systems in the workplace can inadvertently discriminate in the way they promote, appraise, and recruit staff members. Currently, the number of women CEOs in the fortune 500 companies is less than 20 percent. Worse still, the number of African Americans CEOs in fortune 500 is less than 5 percent. The image that this portrays is that it is possible to covertly or unintentionally discriminate against others in the workplace. This is because gender and racial representation in the labor market can be said to be sufficiently fair. There is a balance between male and female workers in most industries. The number of women and people from other races joining the labor force continues to increase. However, there is inadvertent discrimination evident in promotion and appraisal.
Every workplace seems to have a power relations characterized by the existence of a dominant group and a less dominant group. It is the power that keeps these two groups apart. The dominating groups would always feel entitled and in control. They do not give attention to others. Such a relationship in the workplace has the potential to create an environment characterized by biases.
Workers and employees also have a tendency to bring out their beliefs that have been shaped by their backgrounds, peers, cultures, religion, and the media. Some workers can have a general tendency to speak and act in a biased way out of a belief gained while growing up. As a result, an environment of unfairness and discrimination can be created either unconsciously or consciously.
Question 4: reducing biasing corporate settings
Using the metaphor of tall people in a short world, it is easy to explain and understand how biases continue to take center stage in the work environment. The metaphor presents a world where short people dominate and tall people are discriminated against. However, the tall people make a complaint and an outcry for change. Their plea is heard and its relevance seen. However, tall people are allowed to blend in the world of short people and taught to do things like short people. This is exactly the modern type of biases that exists in the work environment. Women are forced to keep up with the pressure by doing things the way men do.
An effective approach to reducing biasing corporate settings is to link equity with effectiveness. It is not enough to simply accommodate members of a marginalized community or group into a team. For instance, it is not enough to simply create room for women in the workplace. There is a need for persistent campaigns for incremental changes. The campaigns need to be targeted towards the realizations deep roots of discrimination. The intended change can be driven home if both men and women work together because both male and female workers benefit from a world where their physical characteristics and nature are irrelevant to the way work is designed.
Question 5:
The role of a female is important but normally placed in the background while largely dominated by males. The roles given to males depict them as strong, wise, outgoing, active, and vigorous. On the other hand, the roles given to females indicate a high level of discrimination. Females are depicted as quite, humble, harmless and mostly unable to protect themselves. This principle applies in the modern societies because the media, especially commercial television, is an important tool in perpetrating sexism, in the entertainment sector. Commercial television is used to discriminate against women by giving them some minor roles.
Women in sports have always been perceived not to have the necessary stamina needed to sustain an activity for long, relative to men. This is seen in many sports including tennis, where the female games of grand slams used to have fewer sets than the male games. This translated to a lower pay compared to men. However, this has changed over time as female players are now allowed to play in their level of stamina and still earn the same amount of money as the male players.
Question 6: my recommendation for the creation of a truly meritocratic selection process
First of all, I would strongly recommend the approach suggested by Reis whereby the person handling and evaluating all resumes is not given the privilege of seeing demographic details. This allows for fairness in the selection process. It also allows for selection based on merit. Therefore, the best candidates are selected without any biases of race, gender, or religion.
The second thing I would recommend is identifying and encouraging behaviors that challenge gender rules and norms that discriminate against races. Traditionally men are known to be the domineering gender. The society has created a hierarchy of gender where men are at the top while women follow. If a woman therefore decides to pursue male positions, she is perceived to be violating the status or going against the hierarchy. In order for women to rise and gain promotion in the workplace, they have exhibit male characteristics. Those who fail to behave in a manly way are either rejected or treated with hostility. This therefore, reinforces the hegemony of men. It is important for such aspects to be identified in workplaces. Once they are identified, it will be easy to address them using some of the approaches discussed earlier in this paper.
References
Aldoory, L., & Toth, E. (2004). Leadership and gender in public relations: perceived effectiveness of transformational and transactional leadership styles. Journal of Public relations research, Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 157-83.
Blinde, E., Greendorfer, S., & Shanker, R. (2000). Differential Media Coverage of Men’s and Women’s Intercollegiate Basketball: Reflection of Gender Ideology. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 192-213.
Hannan, C. (2006). Challenging the Gender Order. Fourth World Conference on Women and Sport,. Kumamoto, Japan.
Kelan, E. (2009). Gender Fatigue - The Ideological Dilemma of Gender Neutrality and Discrimination in Organisations. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 26(3), 197-210.
Kimmel, M. S., & Aronson, A. (2007). The gendered society reader. London: Oxford University Press.
