Page 11 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

Series Foreword

This is the twenty-second book in the Organizational Frontiers Series of
books initiated by the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychol­
ogy. The overall purpose of the Series volumes is to promote the scientific
status of the field. Ray Katzell first edited the Series. He was followed
by Irwin Goldstein, Sheldon Zedeck, and Neal Schmitt. The topics of the
volumes and the volume editors are chosen by the editorial board or in­
dividuals propose volumes to the editorial board. The series editor and
the editorial board then work with the volume editor(s) in planning the
volume. During the writing of the volume, the series editor often works
with the editor and the publisher to bring the manuscript to completion.
The success of the series is evident in the high number of sales (now
over 45,000). Volumes have also received excellent reviews, and individual
chapters as well as volumes have been cited very frequently. A symposium
at the SIOP annual meeting examined the impact of the Series on research
and theory in industrial and organizational psychology. While such influ­
ence is difficult to track and volumes varied in intent and perceived central­
ity to the discipline, the conclusion of most participants was that the vol­
umes have exerted a significant impact on research and theory in the field
and are regarded as being representative of the best the field has to offer.
This volume, edited by Robert Dipboye and Adrienne Colella, reflects
new thinking and research in the area of discrimination. This volume iden­
tifies a large body of research and theory on the biases that can occur in the
work place based on race, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation,
age, physical disability, and other employee characteristics. However, the
volume is not a simple repetition of what we know about each type of
discrimination. Rather, the focus is on broadening our perspective on the
entire issue and attempting to integrate disparate bodies of work.
There are several other strengths of this volume. It deals with discrimi­
nation at multiple levels of analysis from the individual to the organization
as well as with social policy and legal issues. The section in the concluding
chapter on implication for practice, policy and law is especially important
in that it brings the academic issues to a practical level for organizations

xiii