Organizational Behavior and Comparative Management
In this assignment, you will write a single, three-part, scholarly paper that addresses various factors that impact organizations.
Begin with an introduction that presents your thesis statement and briefly addresses how a multitude of factors can affect organizational behavior and performance.
You will then focus specifically on discrimination and tokenism in the workplace. After conducting your own research, discuss those terms and how they may apply in the workplace. Support your analysis with examples of how various forms of discrimination can impact organizations.
Part 1 of your paper must be two pages in length and be supported by at least two peer-reviewed or academically reliable sources.
For part 2, review the case titled, “Ethical Dilemma Voiding the ‘License to Discriminate'” on page 68 of the course eTextbook. Then, continue your paper by addressing the questions 2–12, 2–13, and 2–14 found below the case. Use examples to support each of your answers.
Your responses to Part 2 must be two pages in length. At least one of your responses to the questions should be supported by a peer-reviewed. Use an article that has been published within the past five years that focuses on tokenism and/or discrimination.
In part 3 of this paper, you will turn your attention to how attitudes and moods factor into organizational behavior. Research differentiating characteristics that specifically focus on motivation in organizations, work-related attitudes, and the impact that moods have on jobs. Choose two distinct characteristics, and address the following.
Briefly identify and explain your chosen characteristics.Provide an analysis of your chosen characteristics and their potential impact on organizations.Support your response with examples to illustrate the impacts.
Part 3 of your paper must be two pages in length and be supported by at least two peer-reviewed or academically reliable sources.
Ensure the requirements for all three parts of this assignment are met before submitting the final, single document in Blackboard. The title and reference pages do not count toward the page requirements. Adhere to APA Style when constructing this assignment, including in-text citations and references for all sources that are used. Please note that no abstract is needed.
The reading:
Ethical Dilemma Voiding the “License to Discriminate”
On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers, a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Robinson was an excellent all-around player and eventually was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame; but as the first black person on an MLB team, Robinson had to navigate the challenges of being permitted to join the white-dominated league and faced barriers toward “full participation” due to his race.
In the workplace, tokenism refers to minority members being hired into a position because they are different from other members and sometimes to serve as proof that the organization or group is nondiscriminatory. Once in their positions, tokens are given work that would be stereotypically suitable for their demographic. For example, women may be given stereotypically female tasks instead of other tasks that they would be perfectly capable of performing. By engaging in tokenism, organizations may fall prey to a moral licensing effect, where employers are more likely to engage in prejudicial or unethical behavior when they have initially behaved in a morally acceptable way (such as in believing that selecting or including one minority member is “proof” that the group is nondiscriminatory).
Questions
2-12. Can you think of other examples in which tokenism might emerge in the workplace? What are they?
2-13. Organizations use a variety of diversity management strategies to make employees more aware of and sensitive to the needs of others. Do you think that these same practices may inadvertently (or intentionally) lead to tokenism or moral licensing? Why or why not?
2-14. What do you think can be done to limit tokenism in workgroups and organizations?
Sources: Based on I. Blanken, N. van de Ven, and M. Zeelenberg, “A Meta-Analytic Review of Moral Licensing,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 41, no. 4 (2015): 540–558; Z. Clay, “Tokenism and Black America,” Clutch: News & Opinion, April 2013, https://www.clutchmagonline.com/2013/04/dealing-with-tokenism-in-black-america/; R. Kanter, Men and Women of the Corporation (New York: Basic Books, 1977); and L. Zimmer, “Tokenism and Women in the Workplace: The Limits of Gender-Neutral Theory,” Social Problems 35, no. 1 (1988): 64–77.