Prejudices and Discrimination in the Workplace

Although workplace diversity is accepted in today’s business world, workers are still struggling with prejudice and discrimination on a daily basis. On any given day one can find people that are discriminated against when it comes to competing for a job or higher position. Organizations are still being sued for civil rights violations. “Many organizations have tried to adapt their polices and practices to the more female, less white, more open about religion, and sexual orientation, and multi-generational workforce, the transition is not easy and corporate leadership is often lacking” (Harvey & Allard, 2012, p. xii). To get a better understanding of how minorities are found in such situations and how this impact can either have a positive or negative influence towards them our class did an experiment. The ball and sock experiment is a good way to understand the challenges that result from one having to use their non-dominant hand. In this experiment, left-handed individuals are considered a minority and it allows right-handed people to see the obstacles they face.
When using your non-dominant hand, one has to work harder or longer to finish a task. It can take more time to do these things like eating with utensils, signing your name, and unlocking a door with a key. Since it takes longer to finish it allows for feelings of deficiency when doing them. One gains feelings of awkwardness, inadequacy as well as a sense of powerlessness.
These feelings that were gained by the ball and sock experiment are similar of those who are minorities. Minorities are at a disadvantage in the workforce because of their different cultural and their ethnic background is usually different from those who rule the majority of the population. Since ...

... middle of paper ...

...owards diversity in the workplace to reach supportive initiatives for minorities to prosper and contribute their best attributes within the company needs. The ball and sock experiment gives a clearer understanding on how the minority population is at a disadvantage and how others cannot see these struggles until that are put in their shoes. “We’re probably not going to solve economic inequality; society seemingly always reverts to hierarchy. Imposing economic sanctions that attack entrenched systems just might deconstruct the reasons why the system has been so effective for so long, and then clear a path for greater human understanding” (Summer, 2014). Like Jackie Summer says, we have to break these entrenched beliefs that started many centuries ago, start by leveling the playing field to make everyone an equal and maybe then diversity will be the norm of society.