Impact of Workplace Discrimination on Employee Performance.

 

The phenomenon of perceived discrimination has only recently attracted attention. For example, Tsui (2016), contrasted the experiences of perceived sex discrimination of male managers and psychologists and of female managers and psychologists, all of whom were primarily white. Both the men and the women perceived that women experienced greater sex discrimination overall than men (Kaynak, 2021). However, among women, perceptions of discrimination were associated with negative outcomes, such as more work conflict and more hours spent on paid work activities, whereas men perceived little relationship with these same outcome variables. Job satisfaction and commitment to an organization are critical components of employee attitudes that are likely to be affected by perceived discrimination (Gordon, 2022).

An aspect of interpersonal work relationships related to taking initiative on the job is organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), which refers to informal, pro-social behavior that employees engage in voluntarily to help others at work. Such behaviors include helping another employee finish a project, providing helpful advice or suggestions, and offering positive feedback on work tasks (Fahey, 2019). Although the relationship between OCB and perceived discrimination has not been examined directly, some research examines the effects of discrimination on interpersonal relationships. For example, in a study of black females from a cross-section of households, Mays, Coleman, and Jackson (2016) found that although perceived race-based discrimination did not hinder their entry into the labor market, it did detract from their level of participation and likelihood of rising in the ranks of the companies they worked for. Specifically, their perceptions of racial discrimination increased black women’s job stress, limited their advancement and skill development, and were related to less effective interpersonal work relationships with coworkers and supervisors (Donaldson, 2021).

It seems likely that when workers feel that a discriminatory environment exists, they may have less effective interpersonal relationships with others overall and be less likely to engage in OCB in particular. A decreased exhibition of desirable behaviors is not the only negative impact of perceptions of discrimination. It seems likely that perceived discrimination is also related to more extreme work withdrawal behaviors, such as employee grievances. Employees who perceive that they are being treated unfairly when it comes to compensation, job assignment, promotion, overtime assignments, disciplinary actions, or layoffs are more likely to file grievances than those who believe they are being treated fairly (Honold, 2019).

Discrimination is a sociological term referring to unfair treatment against a person or a group based on class categorization, classification, and division. Discrimination means unfair or unjust treatment of or decisions affecting an individual because of factors not related to the ability of such individual to perform the job such as sex, national origin, tribe, religion, age, marital status, disability, union membership, personal activities, and similar factors. In other jurisdictions, the definition of workplace discrimination has been widened to incorporate harassment, sexual harassment, bullying, and workplace violence (Hagerty, 2019). However, Performance refers to the aggregate effort comprised of abilities and tasks employees expended on their jobs.  Employee performance in effect reflects the efficiency of the organization. Management of an organization should be aware that the success and failure of the organization depend on how well they are able to relate with their workers (Fahey, 2019).

Organizations are established basically to achieve the goals of profit maximization or provision of quality services to enhance the living standard of the people in any society. To achieve these goals, competent employees are required.  Employees are the most important assets in organizations, and without them, the goals and objectives may not be attained. It is therefore important for an organization to maintain an appropriate level of strategy for the acquisition utilization, improvement, and retention of enterprise of human resources.  Employee performs critical tasks for the survival of the organization irrespective of gender differences male/female. The perceived individual expected performance is a function of variables such as motivation, emotional stability, and psychological status (Donaldson, 2021). According to Saed (2013), when there is any form of discrimination such as gender, it is expected that there would be a shift in the emotional status of such an individual, which tends to affect his/her performance and career advancement, and this has nothing to do with specific gender of such a person or the job to be performed. Raymond (2017) observed that employees discrimination generally occurs when an employee is intentionally treated differently because of his or her religion, national origin or region, disability, gender, age, etc. by the employer in either the phases of hiring, discipline, performance appraisal or termination of appointment (Kaynak, 2021).

Additionally, Gender discrimination is not only harmful to the professional growth of an individual but also limits the growth of a business firm. It can reflect negatively on the organization’s performance, especially when those that can contribute to the development of the organization have been discriminated against and are not opportune to work for the organization. Gender discrimination can compromise the quality of the workforce by creating an unhealthy work environment that is not conducive to employees’ performance (Hagerty, 2019). Also, another aspect of discrimination is ethnic discrimination. Ethnic discrimination is a major feature among humans. Unfair discrimination usually follows the ethnic stereotyping held by society. Many people may experience discrimination because of their language of origin which differ from the place where they are working or residing. It leads to a negative public image of the country, government, and employers (Honold, 2019).

Conclusion

Organizations aiming at enhancing performance and achieving its objective and goal must take into cognizance good and sustained organizational culture. The general culture in organizations is the major determinant of the attitude of the employees of the organizations and their commitment to not only their assigned jobs and responsibilities but also to the achievement of the goals and objectives of the organizations. Sustained organizational culture, to a very large extent, determines the quantity and quality of the work of the employees. The achievement of the goals and objectives of any organization is dependent on employees’ performance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Donaldson, 2021. Strategy and structural adjustment to regain fit and performance: In defense of contingency theory. Journal of Management Studies, 7(4), pp. 21-28.

Fahey, 2019. Diagnosing cultural barriers to knowledge management. Academic of Management Executive, 9(3), pp. 33-47.

Gordon, 2022. Predicting corporate performance from organizational culture. Journal of Management Studies, 5(2), pp. 66-79.

Hagerty, 2019. A review of employee motivation theories and their implications for employee retention within organizations. The journal of American academy of business, 15(5), pp. 39-55.

Honold, 2019. Employee motivation and organizational performance. International journal research in management and technology, 3(2), pp. 7-26.

Kaynak, 2021. The relationship between total quality management practices and their effects on firm performance. Journal of Operations Management, 11(1), pp. 75-86.