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KEYZINE: An e-zine for LEADERS:
ABOUT THE PEOPLE PART OF
BUSINESS
Volume
75, June 2007
Publisher: © Key Associates, 2007
ISSN #
1545-8873
http://www.mkkey.com/
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This Issue: "Stereotypes"
Contents:
QUESTIONING YOUR ASSUMPTIONS AND
THOSE OF OTHERS.
APPRECIATING AND SEEKING OUT DIFFERENCES.
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MAINTAINING YOURSELF AS A
LEADER
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We may consider ourselves liberal, tolerant, and just,
yet there are subtle, unconscious forces at work.
We would be horrified to discover prejudice and
stereotypes in us. Yet they are there.
The challenge is surfacing and examining these
biases. They are blind spots that
impact your
leadership. It is important to question them,
so they do not control your decisions and interactions
with people. Any over-generalization about a
person's group is limiting, because we fail to
see the unique person and their talents.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED
QUESTIONS
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Is
a stereotype a prejudice?
Stereotype
means "fixed image," whether positive or negative.
Stereotypes are oversimplified generalizations, or
assumptions, that people make about the
characteristics
of all members of a group, based on a notion about
what people in that group are like.
How do you learn stereotypes?
They
are acquired by osmosis. Gardenswartz
and Rowe (1998) say they are "like second-hand
smoke: you do not need a direct hit to be negatively
affected (p. 139)."
At http://www.serve.com/shea/stereodf.htm,
the
four characteristics of stereotypes are listed as:
1) Simple.
2) Acquired secondhand.
3) Erroneous: all stereotypes are false.
4) Resistant to change.
Isn't this more of an issue with minorities and other nationalities?
No. We are all victims and perpetrators of stereotypical
thinking.
At the same time that you are putting people in boxes,
they are doing it to you.
Stereotypes exist by any way you can categorize people:
How do we break stereotypes?
Awareness, insight, information and exposure.
Thousands have jumped onto the "diversity training"
bandwagon. Grace (2005) cites the errors in teaching
appreciation of the unique qualities of different groups.
By focusing on the outer, most obvious group affiliations,
we devalue people's unique qualities (beliefs, values, skills),
as well as their less obvious group memberships (such as
religion, politics, class, family, education).
We should be looking for the unique contributions--the factors
that make an individual an N of 1. The person. And in
people, we find common ground in humanness. People are
truly more alike than they are different. They wish to have
a place in the world, to be loved, to be connected to something
more important than themselves, to have peace and stability
in their communities, for their children to thrive. We should
probably take up "humanness training."
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EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
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Stereotypes as mental cookie cutters
http://www.serve.com/shea/stereodf.htm
The psychology of stereotypes-our brains are wired
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2442521
In conflict, we see overly aggressive images--what to do.
International online training program:
http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/peace/problem/stereoty.htm
Key Associates offers Appreciation of Differences and
Sexual Harassment Training for organizations.
http://www.mkkey.com/.
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OTHER USEFUL WEBSITES
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TV conveys more negative than positive stereotypes
http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/stereotypes/index.htm
List of stereotypes (ok, it's long)
http://www.google.com/search?q=list+of+stereotypes&revid=1079448140&sa=X&oi=revisions_inline&resnum=0&ct=broad-revision&cd=1
How stereotyping can eventuate in genocide--history speaks
http://www.remember.org/guide/History.root.stereotypes.html
Former Key-zines on related topics:
Volume
36, March 2004 - Valuing Diversity
Volume 40, July
2004 - Building Community
Volume
51, June 2005 - Harassment
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ARTICLES/PUBLICATIONS
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Abrams, Bob & George F. Simons. (Eds.) Cultural
Diversity Sourcebook. Amherst, Mass: ODT, 1996.
Arrendondo, Patricia. Successful
Diversity Management
Initiatives: A Blueprint for Planning & Implementation.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1996.
Gardenswartz, Lee, & Anita Rowe.
Managing Diversity in
Health Care. Jossey-Bass, 1998.
Gardenswartz, Lee, & Anita Rowe. Managing
Diversity:
A Complete Desk Reference and Planning Guide (Revised).
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1998.
Gardenswartz, L., Rowe, A. Digh, P. & Martin F. Bennett.
The Global Diversity Desk Reference. San Francisco:
Pfeiffer, 2003.
Grace, Paula. "Danger--Diversity Training Ahead," In
Gordan, Jack (Ed.) Pfeiffer's
Classic Activities for Diversity
Training. John Wiley & Sons, 2005.
Hayles, Robert & Armida Mendaz Russell. The
Diversity
Directive: Why Some Initiatives Fail and What to Do About It.
Chicago, IL: Irwin Publishing and ASTD, 1997.
Ponteroto, Joseph J. & Paul B. Pederson. Preventing
Prejudice: A Guide for Counselors and Educators.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1993.
Schneider, David J. The
Psychology of Stereotyping.
The Guilford Press, 2005.
Simons, George F., Vasquez, Carmen & Philip R. Harris.
Transcultural
Leadership: Empowering the Diverse
Workforce. Houston, TX: Gulf Publishing, 1993.
Wilson, Trevor. Diversity
at Work: The Business Case
for Equity. Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada: John Wiley &
Sons, 1997.
