Stereotypes And Racial Profiling In The Workplace

Stereotyping and discrimination are very deeply ingrained in American culture. Even though there have been movements taken to combat stereotyping and discrimination such as the Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Rights movement, and the Black Lives Matter Movement, it still exists. This raises the question of, how do we end it? While there is no definite answer there is a way to avoid stereotyping and discrimination. The three essayists Bharati Mukherjee, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Brent Staples and show that by learning about stereotyping, people can also learn how to change themselves to avoid discrimination based on stereotypes. By comparing and contrasting these essayists experiences as well as outside research to show the theme of why people

UNITED STATES --- Being lucky enough to have many friends and family living in different cities around the United States, I had the chance to travel to these many cities for long periods at a time. As I grew older, I began to notice a correlation between all these different cities, from Los Angeles to Dallas to Chicago.

In any cases the police were not the only section of the law that showed discriminatory actions, America’s court of law also tends to show acts of racial profiling, past and present. A study about the American court showed that for the same crime black defendants are given longer sentences than whites(Staples n.pag.). Explaining further the court of law assumes that black men will be more dangerous but also that a race is more likely to revert back to their old ways. A black man with the last name of foster was sentenced to court where the jury was all white. The Supreme Court later discovered that the prosecutors had kept black jurors from being in the jury meaning that Foster was given an unfair trial due to his race by the American court

Racial stereotyping and profiling effects the American way of life in more ways than people realize, whether it be in police investigations, routine traffic stops, and even when someone walking home from work or school crosses the street to avoid contact with the person approaching them. This is an evolutionary trait, to avoid the things the human race perceives as a threat, but it is being taken to the extreme in societal issues, with people of one race blaming others for problems they have faced. Imagine a scenario in which two African American men, both the same height, same weight, same everything, walk into a bank. The difference is, one of them is dressed in a three-piece suit, with a nice haircut and a bluetooth in his ear, while

In her versatile article, “The Tethered Generation”, published in HR Magazine in May 2007, educated freelance writer Kathryn Tyler expresses her opinion of technology and its effects on the millennials generation (those born in the United States between 1978 and 1999). Tyler’s intended audience includes the many readers of HR Magazine, those who probably work in the Human Resources (HR) Department themselves. Her purpose is to educate other HR professionals on how they should become aware and prepared to a millennial generation too soon start working in the same workforce they are in. She shows this by arguing that since the reliability of technology, millennials have slowly started to drift away from their own responsibilities, causing a changed etiquette in professionalism while in a workforce environment. Tyler, a member of Generation X (those born in the US between 1960 and 1977) and a former Human Resources generalist, often writes passive, two-sided articles, addressing that neither side of the argument is to blame, according to her previous work in HR Magazine. This conversant piece continues that pattern of examining the cultural change from the perspective of human resource issues. what follows, I will try to reach out to my audience of classmates in order to have them agree with me that Tyler’s persuasive appeal is not strong enough to appeal to her audience.

America has about five generations that function in our society today, and they are Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, and the Millennial. It is interesting the way that an age gap influences the thinking of millions of people in different generations. Different times and situations require that different strategies be put in place for the following generation. Solutions that worked for one generation may be less useful for the next, so sometimes, because of the age gap, these solutions cause disagreements. These various ideologies all have one goal, and that is to be successful. We will discuss the path of the Baby Boomers and Generation X in the workplace environment.

Stereotypes are a streamlined idea of a certain group which can eventually spread prejudice which is a belief on a group of people. The difference is that stereotypes can be formed by experiences whereas prejudices are people taking a stereotype and believing it, but they do not have experience on a certain group. For example, a person may have seen that some Mexicans act rough and messy, but that person could share their experiences with other people who may not know Mexicans well. As a result, other people will take that stereotype and believe it, forming a prejudice inside their mind. If they were to meet a Mexican person, they would just assume that they are all rough and messy, despite having no prior experiences with Mexicans. Discrimination can consist of actions done to a group of people. Discrimination is not the same as Racism as discrimination is the unequal treatment of a person based on their race. Racism is a stronger type of prejudice that is used to claim that one race is superior to other races. An example of Racism is the Ku Klux Klan as their members believe whites are superior to any other race. They do not discriminate by mistreating other races. Instead, they spread hate speech and commit hate crimes to try to show that whites are better than other races.

In her article “The Tethered Generation,” in Society of Human Resources Magazine, writer Kathryn Tyler asserts that people born between 1978 and 1999, also known as the Millennial Generation, would bring challenges to the workplace, attributing early access to technology and a “perpetual connection to parents” as causes. The article’s central tenet is that through technology, this generation’s “tethered” relationship with peers and parents has shaped communication, decision making, and need for connectivity. Tyler identifies the following Millennial traits as challenges to organizations: “unrealistic expectations with respect to goal-setting and planning;” “only adequate professionalism and work ethic, creativity and innovation, and critical thinking and problem solving;” and lack of autonomy and “sense of self-reliance.” The article ends by recommending that human resource management prepare for the Millennial’s “high maintenance” and their parent’s “helicoptering” with policies and training programs (Tyler, 2007).

In this article, Wisenberg discusses how the Millenials are changing the work environment through developing technology. Because the Millennials are starting to dominate the workforce, the environment has gone through drastic changes. Just as much as technology, Wisenberg notes how the Millennials are bringing more focus to a more practical, more community-oriented family and workplace as well as demanding heavier technology to fulfill these preferences. They wish to fulfill a work-life balance and to become well-rounded people who want to work for a job they love instead of for a job with good pay.

The current generations that are predominantly represented in the workplace are Baby Boomers (Boomers), Generation X (Gen X), and Generation Y (Millennials or Gen Y). Differences among the various generations are often portrayed as Boomers having more loyalty to an organization, and generally being more diligent in their work (Wong, Gardiner, Lang, & Coulon, 2008). Gen X are not as likely as Boomers to display loyalty to a particular institution or organization, and are seen as more independent, self-sufficient, and being unimpressed with authority (Wong et al., 2008). Gen Y are said to be more comfortable with change than Boomers, and value skill development, new opportunities, and are more tech savvy than other generations (Wong et al., 2008).

“The number of employees over the age of 55 has increased by 30 percent; however, the number of 25- to 54-year-olds has only increased by 1 percent” (Claire, 2009). In 2008 the eldest of the 77 million baby-boomers turned 62. Estimates are that by the end of the decade about 40 percent of the work force will be eligible to retire. As people begin to reach the age of retirement there may be not be enough new employees to fill the gap (Clare, 2009). Companies need to find ways to attract Boomers and Millennials. Companies that want to attract Boomers and Millennials need to be creative in their culture, HR policies and work environments.

Many changes are happening in the workforce today. Our labor environment consists of multiple generations, which creates fundamentally differing approaches to everything from work ethics, business management, and co-worker cooperation. The most recent generation, commonly known as “Generation Y” or the “Millennial” generation, is slowly taking over the workforce. Because they bring with them a radically new mindset and opinion of labor, the global business infrastructure should be modified to not only accommodate “Millennials,” but also to remain sympathetic to the business practices characteristic of previous generations. Doing so will provide more harmony and productivity among co-workers of different generational backgrounds.

• Their job-hopping ways can lead employers to question millennials’ loyalty, and diminish employers’ desire to want to invest in them. Only one fifth of millennials anticipate staying in a job for more than 5 years (Robert Half International, 2008). • They are overconfident, opinionated, and expect to be heard (Alsop, 2007). • They believe that they do not have to “pay dues” when they enter an organization. • They are uncomfortable with criticism and can become aggressive and even caustic when criticized (Tyler, 2008). • They enjoy structure and dislike ambiguity. • They prefer clear rules, well-defined policies, and responsibilities. • They claim to be committed to social responsibility and desire worklife balance. • They see themselves as indispensable beings with high expectations and a desire to be sought after (Alsop, 2006). • They see technology as something that is part of their lives,

X, and Generation Y, AKA the millennials. There is a shift in the demographics of the workforce as the Baby Boomers, roughly 1946-1964, are gradually starting to retire. Millennials, broadly defined as those born after 1980 and up to around 2000 (The Denver Post 1), will be expected to take up to three fourths of the “workforce within 10 years”(The Denver Post 1). With the increased numbers of the “younger generation” entering jobs, there will be new challenges. They regard career choices in how the job fits them, instead of them fitting the job. Other generations deem this as arrogant, self-absorbed, and having a sense of entitlement. One could say that this has likewise been true with previous generations as well when they entered the workforce. Hasn’t each group has made changes to the business environment in order to make it more gratifying to go to work? Millennials are no different in that aspect, they are bringing new concepts to the conference table. In order to retain the influx of a newer generation, companies will have to adapt along with the “older” generations. The millennial generation is precipitating new change for business. In this change, millennial employees perceive their ideal workplace as collaborative, flexible, and creative.

and Linda Meltzer states that “Numbering between 50 million and 80 million (depending upon the definition), Millennials represent a sizable population cohort” (61). With a large population, it is recognized that their generation is coming into the workforce with a great impact. The authors further state, “They account for 10% to 15% of the U.S. labor force, and they are currently entering the lower management ranks” (Bannon et al. 61). To understand the hesitation