Stereotype Threat Against Woman Leadership - Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss about the Stereotype Threat Against Woman Leadership. Answer: Introduction A stereotype is referred to those beliefs, expectancies or comments that are derogatory attitudes a person holds towards another person without adequate knowledge of the other person. In other words, when a person judges another person based on a variety of characteristics, viz. gender, race or even age, without having any or very little knowledge about that person, it is usually regarded as stereotyping (Beeghly, 2015). To put it in a more comprehensive way, stereotype threat is the threat of being stereotyped. A lot has been researched and discussed regarding the dangers of gender discrimination. It is evident that threats of these kinds affect the person on the receiving end, both mentally and physically. It is only a meaningless and overstated method for passing judgment on somebody. This report is concerned about the stereotypes held against women especially those who are in a position of leadership. Knowingly or unknowingly, women positioned at an authoritative position face th ese threats almost on a daily basis (Gupta, Goktan Gunay, 2014). Assessing and measuring these threats are of primary concern of this report. There are situational and logical variables that can help decrease the potential that even extremely persuaded women will make stereotype threats. Numerous work environments are loaded with prompts to negate sexual orientation generalizations, for example, less number of women in the more elite classes of an organization, and these signs inspire the potential for generalization risk impacts (Dolan, 2014). One powerful way to deal with decreasing the potential for risk is by ensuring conditions that are safe for women. Analysis Stereotype threat Measurement Stereotype threats are a major concern in any work field. Although it is not easy to quantifiably measure such threats, researchers have been conducted in order to find out a method of measuring the threats of stereotype. Usually, the correlation between these threats and the relevant consequences that one may face is measured. Different methods have been defined in the form of surveys or interviews or even role-plays. Surveys can be conducted through internet also by sending the survey link to the people of concern. Interviews are usually conducted when a very thorough understanding of subject matter is required. Those who conduct the research intend to infer the stereotypical threats by searching for a specific pattern in the test outcomes. Usually, people who are stereotyped in a negative perspective tend to perform better when circumstances without any threats are provided and people who do not face any such threats behave the way they usually do (Xavier et al., 2014). Another me asure that has been developed relatively recently is called Social Identities and Attitudes Scale (SIAS). It establishes a standard for measuring the stereotypical threats and their corresponding impact on the people who face these threats (Mrtberg, 2017). Target group In todays world, women hold positions of leadership in a much larger number than ever before, around the whole world. In spite of that, women are oppressed in every possible way as they try to move up the ladder in their concerned fields. Thus, not just in the context of promoting equality, for the betterment of society and the workforce in general, threats against women need to come to an end (Cuddy et al., 2015). There are multiple factors that lead to discrimination against women as far as leadership qualities and abilities are concerned (Deemer et al., 2014). Stereotypical threats have a major influence on such cases. Men working in male-dominated manual occupations complement their masculinity by recognizing their work superiorly than the work done by the women (Walton, 2015). People believe that the qualities and skills required to be considered as a leader are inherited only by men and thus a crude stereotypical mindset has been set against the concept of women leadership (Hoy t Murphy, 2016). Thus, the target group chosen in this report consists of women who are currently in a managerial position. It is of utmost importance to understand and analyze the extent to which stereotypical threats affect the mindset of female leaders. It is evident that with the adjusted initiative of men and women, any organization yield results of better quality. Assessment tool The assessment tool used in this report to measure the extent of stereotype threats against women positioned as a leader is that of Role Play (Kilgour et al., 2015). Although the need of conducting a research of this sort is absolutely vital, since the target groups chosen in this report are women in higher authoritative posts, time available to converse with these women would be limited. In fact, in most cases, there is a chance that even getting an appointment in the first place may be difficult. Thus a very well organized and methodological approach needs to be followed. In a short span of time the main objective of the entire report, the concept of role-playing and the actual the role-playing act needs to be completed in a very short span of time. Being a college student conducting the role play, resources are limited as well. Thankfully, there is not much that is needed to conduct the task. With proper research beforehand, a very well constructed approach can be managed. It is t o be kept in mind that role-playing may be looked down upon as a derogatory exercise, irrespective of the issue at hand. Thus the role playing content has to be decided and constructed in such a fashion that everyone is comfortable with it. Role playing refers to performing or enacting a certain character, usually for research or query purposes. In other words, role playing is one sort of dynamic and participatory learning movement that makes association amongst understudies and a reproduced situation. It can serve to open the psyches of participants to issues they should have the capacity to manage in their picked professions. It is majorly used for various psychological experiments (Smith Cokley, 2016). The scenario chosen for this report purposes is that of firing an employee. It is considered that the company, for maintaining the anonymity of the company, it is assumed to be X. X comprises of workers of high caliber. However, it has to let go of few of its employees due to a financial crisis that the company is currently facing. It is infelicitous and troublesome as most of the employees are proficient in their respective fields. The responsibility of firing the employees is bestowed upon the manager who happens to be a woman. It is a distressing situation for her as she has to fire the employees she valued and cared for and has been working with for a long time. The role playing exercise is primarily divided into two segments. The two undertakings were precisely picked following a comprehensive perusing of the psychology writing on gender discrimination in execution without motivations (Jussim et al., 2015). For someone who is in a position of leader at a professional organization, there is rarely any scope of showing humanity or compassion for others. Thus, in this case, the female manager will be judged whether or not she conforms to the patterns of stereotypical notions, on the basis of how well she conveys a message of such high importance maintaining sternness and a bit of grievance as well on her part (Crites, Dickson Lorenz, 2015). Counter transference and generalized individual observation don't really negate each other. It is suggested that counter transference responses in this circumstance are somewhat an outcome of stereotypes, in particular, the participants who are rapidly and unwittingly shaped and which are a while later separated and expanded yet additionally legitimized on a cognizant le vel. One of the major stereotypes held against women in a leadership is that of lacking the uncompromising attitude required (Denissen Saguy, 2014). Thus, through the role playing exercise, if the manager shows empathy and fails to fire the employee, it will showcase a stereotype threat and add to the conjecture that women may not be suitable for holding an authoritative post. On the other hand, if the woman manager manages to fire the employee with a firm attitude, that would mean there is no threat of stereotypes. Participants Two female participants have been chosen for this particular report. One of them is a Branch Manager while the other is a manager herself. Mrs. Li is the branch manager of ICBC bank where she has been working for the last 15 years. She got transferred to the Turkish division of the bank in 2016. Although she is married, she points out the fact that in order to succeed in the competitive work field she currently is in, she had to give up her personal life. Her son lives in China at the moment. Apart from all the thrills and excitements of working in a foreign country, she considers this a challenge for herself. Before the role playing experiment started, a brief understanding of the whole scenario was given to her. She was told that she had to fire one of her employees as a consequence of some economic issues which would be enacted by the employee. While conducting the experiment, Mrs. YB is at the managerial position since 2015. She is an energetic and compulsive worker who loves working overtime. She is considered to be determined and formidable. She informed that she is currently taking part in a coaching session to get a certificate, which will help her in becoming a mentor for the others, especially officers who are ambitious and want to see themselves in her position one day. She was also given a brief understanding of the scenario. During the role playing exercise, she gave a lot of attention to what the employee had to say. As the case of the husband being fired was mentioned to her she became emotional and that started impacting her decision regarding firing me. She even said that although she can not guarantee, she will look into the matter. Mrs. YB even gave assurance that in case she had to fire the employee, she would still help in finding a new job. Results Even after trying different methods and raising issues that should have effected on an emotional level, Mrs. Li stood by the company's decision. She was extremely professional and gave the employee scope to have her say, but she did not let that get in the way of her judgment. In fact, she told the employee that this decision was not taken by her personally and that she is just obeying what her superiors have ordered her. This shows extreme professionalism and portrays the absence of any stereotype threats. On the other hand, Mrs. YB was much more empathetic and let emotions cloud her judgments. She hesitated in her decision. Even her attitude towards the employee changed in terms of her voice tone and gestures. This shows lack of professionalism on her part and signifies the need of professional orientation of some sort. Initially, she showed concern about the employees life in general by asking How is going lately? How is your family?. She insisted that the employee can tell her anything. Mrs. YB said, Come on I would like listen to you. Please, you can share with me. Upon hearing the tragedies of the employees life, she felt bad and said: you made regret to bring you to come to my office.. Ultimately she assured the employee and said, I cannot promise you about anything but I am going to do my best to talk with HR. Intervention techniques Different interventions techniques have been suggested over the years to support or aid individuals facing a crisis of any sort. A few relevant techniques would have the individual go through assessment training. Some may enroll in coaching classes too. Assessment training usually includes the training of building a personality which shows the presence of leadership (Spencer, Logel Davies, 2016). It also includes sessions on emotional intelligence. Leadership presence training builds the confidence within one to speak legitimately and with lucidity. It enhances ones ability to cope with stress in a professional way. Overall, through this training procedure, one can develop a certain feeling of charm that can keep individuals optimistic and enthusiastic. Emotional intelligence, on the other hand, refers to the training of controlling emotions of ones own and of people around, especially in a stressful environment. It is often called EQ. Coaching classes or seminars can be organized keeping in mind the end goal to create individual authoritative abilities through coaching pioneers are furnished with the chance to satisfy their potential by concentrating on the person's needs including self-improvement and figuring out how to set better objectives, achieve objectives quicker, settle on better choices and enhance interchanges and connections official instructing creates potential and enhances execution drastically. Apart from these various activities can be conducted in order to reduce the threats of stereotypes. Making sure that gender diversity is natural and should be accepted by all is the part of the job of a leader. The idea that each student, co-worker or human, in general, has the right to be treated equally has to be implemented by the leader. Group activities can be conducted to promote diversity. Discussion People's reactions to generalization risk will be affected by both individual components, for example, level of gathering recognizable proof and hierarchical variables that give indications about the remarkable quality of gathering participation, for example, the statistic creation and social centeredness of the work environment. An essential road for future research is to comprehend the elements that impact which reaction an individual will have to stereotypical threats. In this report, through exercising the role playing technique, two female managers were asked to fire one of their employees in order to judge their mentality. Results showed that one of them didnt pose any stereotype threats whereas the other person did show some signs of vulnerability. As a result, distinctive intervention methods have been discussed in this report so as to enable her to develop as an expert. Assessment training has been suggested in order to build personality which portrays that of leadership. It is essential to recognize the accuracy of stereotype threats. On a personal level, every one of us has a tendency to be stereotypical at times. A person should not be discriminated because of his or her race, ethnicity, skin tone or the profession chosen by the person. In hindsight of this report, it is only fair to mention the concept of positive stereotypes. For instance, Asian people, especially Chinese, have the ability to comprehend mathematics better. References Beeghly, E. (2015). What is a Stereotype? What is Stereotyping?.Hypatia,30(4), 675-691. Crites, S. N., Dickson, K. E., Lorenz, A. (2015). Nurturing gender stereotypes in the face of experience: A study of leader gender, leadership style, and satisfaction.Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict,19(1), 1. Cuddy, A. J., Wolf, E. B., Glick, P., Crotty, S., Chong, J., Norton, M. I. (2015). 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