Social Psychology in the Work Place - Article Example

What are the social psychological effects of a minority group in a government agency? Introduction Social psychology basically entails the relationships which people have created either in the workplace, community or an institution. Psychologists in this sociology field tend to investigate various social psychological effects that people undergo while working in such environments. These effects may include aspects such as decision making, cooperation, changes in attitude, competition, communication and leadership. Some psychologists including the renowned American social psychologist, Festinger Leon, have developed theories that suggest that minority groups become uneasy when they learn things that contradict what they believe in already. There are social psychological effects that minority groups as opposed to majority groups undergo while serving in government agencies. This research project will therefore try to examine these social psychological effects with relevance to those people who are considered as minority in such organizations. The minority group may be those people with disabilities, different gender, race, educational level, age etc. Literature review The society has however changed in the current 21st century and there is more to do with governance, harassment, cultural conflicts, terrorism, leadership, technology, innovation and globalization. Society is today more mixed up than before thus posing a challenge to the organizations and more so when addressing the needs of the minority groups. Minority groups are more disadvantaged today than in the past due to issues of leadership, discrimination and equality. (Dion and Walster, 1972) Although there has been an improvement in gender disparities in the recent past, research has indicated that there other issues that minority groups face in any environment of work such as discriminations based on religion, age, disability, education, lifestyle, race, among others. These issues are more pronounced in a government agency setting where the leaders and administrators sing to the tune of the government in power. More people have suffered at the hands of unscrupulous government officials working in these agencies thus making the section one of the most affected compared to non-governmental agencies and private firms. Minority groups therefore undergo various social psychological effects that other people in the same government agencies do not. One of these psychological effects is discrimination. (Tejfel, 1970) Social psychological effects of a minority group in government agencies Discrimination Discrimination of any type is one of the social psychological effects that minority groups undergo in a government agency and it may include unfair dismissal of an employee because of their sexuality, sex, background, religion or disability is deemed to be unlawful dismissal and it is punishable by law for any government. But this is one of the common things that happen to minority groups in such an environment. People are clearly discriminated on when it comes to issues of pay rise, promotions, allowances and other benefits entitled to people (Dion and Walster, 1972). If for instance one do not support the government polices that are applied there, there are chances that he or she will be dismissed or taken to task over the matter. The common phrase ‘who do you know?’ is a common statement that minority group in many government agencies have been forced to hear. (Tejfel, 1970) Harassment Harassment is a common phenomenon in today’s organizations especially in schools, private firms, government agencies and offices. The people are adversely affected in this case are the minority groups. Harassment can come in the form of physical assault, however, the most common one is sexual harassment and it affects both men and women. Sexual harassment is defined as any undesirable attention being of sexual nature that is directed to a person. It is particularly a common form of harassment that results in negative physical or emotional implications. It includes any unwelcome conduct or contact that touches on sexual privacy which affects both men and women although the latter are frequently affected (Shane and Edward, 2006) According to psychologists this behavior such as rape and assaults normally causes Stress, anxiety, isolation and discrimination to the victim. One may also develop mental and physical disturbances leading to poor concentration due to distress, anxiety and chronic stress resulting in severe mental illness. This is best explained in the case of one victim called Judith Coflin who in the year 1995, committed suicide following the chronic sexual harassment by her bosses and the colleagues (Tejfel, 1970) Alienation Alienation occurs among minority groups due to the assimilation policies that are imposed in government agencies which are normally meant to break the conversion of culture and language from the majority groups to the minority groups. This leads to the alienating of minority groups from their social order hence stimulating the identity crisis within their workplaces (Shane and Edward, 2006). Alienation can lead social isolation that might also lead to depression through trauma, antagonism and weariness resulting in poor performance of the minority groups in the workplaces. This case of social psychological effect has been shown to have taken a large proportion of the minority members of the society who are classified as underclass by the majority groups, nonetheless, at hand are conditions that have been developed to reduce this issue alienation at all costs. Stress Stress is a major rationale in while looking at the psychological and social effect that may affect minority groups. Discrimination, losing a job or harassment is very painful and traumatic; the minority groups feel as if they are useless and undergo a lot of pain when adjusting to conditions of being unfairly treated. Many workers who are laid off end up wasting their skills and experiences that they have gained during their time in the in the government agency they have worked for. With no proper counseling of the laid off workers many end up being social misfits and therefore become a burden to the family and the society at large(Shane and Edward, 2006) . There are cases where at times some people commit suicide because they can not cope with the stress they undergo at the workplace. Such issues when looked at bring to question the moral issue of government agency leadership process and their responsibilities towards minority groups in the organizations Lack of employee development Every individual has his or her own life, professional, job and family expectations while undertaking any particular occupation. Therefore, if these expectations are not met, there are bound to be dissatisfaction and discomfort at the agency. Some of these expectations are learning and educational privileges at the place of work. Everybody knows that it is through learning and education that they are able to improve their skills and knowledge on certain responsibilities but it is not possible in government agencies here minority group are not favored. Since this is the case then, government agencies’ management needs to embrace the implementation of learning management systems in their organizations in order to show equality among employees (Shane and Edward, 2006) Methodology Research design This quantitative study will require the researcher to show the social psychological effects that minority groups working in a government agency are subjected to because of their status. The research will involve the interview of fifty employees who are considered to be members of minority groups from different government agencies located in different States in the U.S. The responses will be tabulated in tables, recorded and analyzed using the Licker Scale model. Procedure A four point Licker-scale model (involving the use of a questionnaire) will be utilized to measure the social psychological effects in which minority group are subjected to in a government agency. Also, it will measure the extent to which the minority groups are affected by psychologically and socially and if this will actually have financial, societal and cultural impact on the performance of the government agencies or the government in general. Those who will be participating ill be required to respond by ticking any of the following four categories of responses whichever they feel comfortable with; a) Strongly Agree ____ b) Agree ____ c) Disagree ____ d) Strongly Disagree ____ This instrument will be distributed to minority groups of people in government agencies so that they can respond to the questions cited in the questionnaire. The scenarios that will be observed by the researcher will include the reactions of the people and their actual feelings about their relationships within the agency. Finally, the participants will be required to sign a confidential agreement that will provide in the consent form and if they agree with the terms stated. As a form of professional ethics, this will be done with the view of alleviating any form of propensity during the study. Survey Questions/ Questionnaire 1) I feel discriminated upon in this organization a) Strongly agree ____b) Agree ____c) Disagree ____d) Strongly disagree ____ 2) There are increased cases of harassment towards minority groups in this organization a) Strongly agree ____b) Agree ____c) Disagree ____d) Strongly disagree ____ 3) There is favoritism among the leaders in this organization a) Strongly agree ____b) Agree ____c) Disagree ____d) Strongly disagree ____ 4) I feel alienated from the other majority group of people a) Strongly agree ____b) Agree ____c) Disagree ____d) Strongly disagree ____ 5) I feel psychologically stressed in the workplace a) Strongly agree ____b) Agree ____c) Disagree ____d) Strongly disagree ____ Professional ethics Putting into consideration the ethical practice, the researcher ill not use actual names for participants during the whole study. In order to avoid the divulgence of personal identification, it is necessary that the researcher will use subject letter variables throughout the research. The responses, observation notes or any other information touching on the personality of the participants will be dealt with in clandestine before or after the research ha been done. Read More