BullzI Rebuttal #1 : Workplace Prejudice
Does the corporate workplace in India reflect the prejudices of race, religion, caste etc. that exist in our society at large?
Should we be making time off mandatory in our workplaces? Does the Indian corporate scape present a level playing field for women executives? Do we carry our prejudices of race, religion, culture into our work places? Should you tolerate office affairs?……..There are many such issues that affect our daily work life and many newer ones that are increasingly going to come up as the new workplace gets defined in very different ways.
BullzI Rebuttal wants to hear your opinion on these issues. We will be hosting an ongoing debate on a subject at a time to hear what you think about it. The readers of this blog are an eclectic gathering of business leaders, HR leaders, young aspirants, job seekers, academicians and assorted friends. The opinions will be interesting to share for all of us.
So, to kick off this series, here is the first one. India is not one country but a sub continent – a cliche we come across all the time. Our workplaces are often a mirror of this subcontinental nature – Tamilians, Bengalis, Marathis, Punjabis…..We have often heard of groupism by ethnicity and some I know claim to have suffered because of this. Yet others believe this is all bunkum and our workplaces are by and large free of these prejudices. We would like to hear your opinion on this issue.
Answer with a YES, NO, SOMETIMES and say your piece by clicking on ‘comment’.
Here is hoping to hear from lots of you.
D5 Creation
Of course it does! Yes, we are all trying to move away from these prejudices of gender, looks, region, etc — and it’s a good attempt too — but the progress has been limited and often throws up more biases.
It depends on many factors, location, type of industry etc. but it would be very ostrich like to deny it never happens. it would be interesting to know of initiatives that have been taken to eliminate/reduce these biases, both the successful and the not-so successful ones!
It is very strongly there, particularly the regional biases and prejudices. There are ofcourse the strong stereotypes (Tamilian s/w engineer, Bengali journalist, Punjabi salesman…)and then you have little groups and mafioso forming. We are indeed some way off from having prejudice free workplaces
For the new age companies, we seem to have moved away a lot from these prejudices. The minor elements still there cannot count as a percenatge to form a bais. The old economy industries are moving forward very fast to catch up with the new age companies. As an e.g.we see lot of young people as CEO’s & other senior positions and quite a few of them do not conform to established norms of earlier years- today capability & competency are the factors. Similarly we see lot of young people taking up responsible position, be they of any sex, caste, creed or religion.
Probably yes in industries that are stagnant, and in corporations that have a public sector approach. In dynamic industries, and for people with initiative these issues are irrelevant, people will achieve to their level of personal and political competence.And this will have very little to do with the regional prejudices mentioned. People will move on and do what they want to elsewhere.
The answer to this may perhaps be not very simple. In my career spanning almost 20 years, I have seen the politics (fogive me for replacing the word prejudice by politics) of caste, religion, race (and now even language/region as is happening in Mumbai) many a times, though, often covert. The fact is, it depends upon who the people are within the workplace and what their mindset is all about. Are they at the positions which control the environment? If the leader him/her self is someone who perpetuates the politics of these biases or is not strong enough to nip these in the beginning stages if someone else is trying to practice, the workplace will stink with it, however if the leader wishes to, there is no reason why the workplace cannot remain free from it.
The original caste system was envisaged on the basis of abilities and temperament but it was twisted by vested interests to suit their prupose; a trend that continues to this day. For those interested in details, my published article on the subject:-
http://wplay.wordpress.com/2007/08/10/wrong-cast-careersvocations-since-ancient-times/
More than caste, a simple thing like not being able to communicate fluently and elegantly in English can make someone a second class citizen. Recently, I spent some time with an HR company on the outskirts of Delhi to witness how third year engineering students were being trained to converse in English and high school maths( They were not fast engough in maths). One can come across cases where a genuinely intelligent person who is not a good communicator is bullied by a boss who may not have that intelligence but is good at communication. It can cause a lot of misery and frustration and serious inter-personal problems. Problem is that with the coming of internet and global competition, one can really no longer afford not to know English. Once the English barrier is broken, one can genuinely think about functioning on merit at least in the urban areas.
All this apart, certain unsconscious tendencies die hard and even if we have awarness campaigns, when one considers the whole of India, this is a long term battle.
They do. Coz its difficult to divorce corporate reality from ground reality. Someone who’s been exposed to an environment that feeds off racial/lingual stereotypes in his home environment will necessarily carry forward that baggage into the boardroom. He may not be as explicit or generous with his opinions, for, after all we live in the age of political correctness, and very often our biases dont show up in the soul searching mirror we sneak a peek at, but that ‘keeda’ will have found a residence in his head, and will impact his interactions and behaviour.
Yes.
This is my perception.
One sees it in different companies, in attitudes of people in them.
This is more vocal for regional biases.
Race and caste biases are less openly expressed, due to political correctness.
I guess they do in multi-layered organizations which still function in the old manner of “# of years of service supercedes merit” – banks, for example.
I remember when my housing loan executive messed up my case so bad I’d have had to cancel my travel plans to KL from India. When warned of a complaint to his boss he calmly told me that his boss was a “Kayastha Aggarwal from UP, as I am” and “she won’t kick my arse, she will instead kick my immediate superior’s arse”. True enough, he got away with a light slap on the wrist…
Well, common surnames do matter in India… Jain, Jain : Aggarwal, Aggarwal
Yes, it does exists at all levels, it is still a struggle for a woman to be equal in the Corporate World.
gender perhaps is the most enedemic form of it…with very little comprehension from most players, including a lot of women, of what it consists of and how it gets mobilised negatively in workplace dynamic…language/region, caste, faith may then be placed in a manner of a loose hierarchy of undesired uncosmopolitan nuisance…while much goes unselfconsciously enacted and experienced, some instances can be quite damaging…not that becoming aware in itself purges the ethos of all trouble…may even make it worse and tense to begin with…we need to evolve through challenge and mitigation both…cheers
Age discrimination is even worse for women than for men. New York Times had this article titled “Nice resume. Have you considered Botox?” which illustates negative attitudes to older professional women who are required to look younger, just to survive and keep their jobs. In India too, in certain sub-cultures such as ad agencies, a woman with grey hair wearing a sari would be considered a freak. The Indian corporate workplace reeks of prejudice in several forms.
It most certainly exists and how! And it’s not only in the corporate world but across sectors. While the gender bias is alive and kicking and often degenerates to the level of sexual harassment, discrimination takes the form of class-conscious/linguistic and sartorially-biased behaviour in urban, so-called aware, multi-cultural workplaces and by way of caste/religion/parochialism in other ‘less-sophisticated’ industries. The basic attitude is the same, it just comes in many different veneers and hues.
yes there is, no doubt. One has seen this happen across multiple geographical locations and industries over the past decade and a half. It would be a bit drastic to believe that it completely overrules merit considerations- though going by public statements being made today in mumbai,the day might not be far off!
you dont really marry someone just because of a perfect emotional connection, would you. You would in all probability go for a good looks, and how the person handles himself/ herself, financial potential etc. similarly in any other situation, like in a job, people are judged not just by their work capability, but by their communication, the way they dress, the way they talk, educational background etc. and rightfully so, because they represent the company. i dont think there will ever be a situation where companies will reward people purely based on the work they do themselves. often getting work done is as important as doing it yourself. in my humble opinion, it is not just in humans, all organisms are genetically coded to judge and reward based on a complex set and not just on being the best producer. and so will it remain. we just need to understand it, and be upto it, or be capable of working around it.
It seems to be human nature to group with people one has something in common with – even where it is irrelevant to the situation on hand. This is oh-so-subtle in some workplaces but nevertheless the boundaries to the groups surface when people converse in their respective tongues, chat about common traditions/festivals etc. It is really difficult to break through these barriers and even more so for someone who doesn’t strongly identify with any one ethnic group and hence ends up being a loner. And even if this is non-work-related conversation, it goes a long way in hampering an employee’s sense of association with the company…and hence satisfaction.
I don’t know how this can be easily overcome, however. YOu can’t really tell people who to talk to and who not.
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Yup it does. I have faced gender discrimination enough number of times and as a female, you need to work twice as hard to prove that you are equally competent