Page 123 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

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GELFANDETAL.
organizational climate. We then briefly discuss some of the outcomes as­
sociated with organizational discrimination and the ways in which these
outputs are then fed back into the environment in which organizations
function. Finally we conclude with future directions for the study of dis­
crimination at the organizational level.
INFLUENCE OF THE ORGANIZATION'S LARGER CONTEXT
Organizations, as systems, function within the larger context in which they
exist. Environmental inputs into organizations can have a marked impact
upon the types of behaviors, processes, and structures that are enacted
within the organization. In this section, we briefly discuss a number of
inputs from the environment into the organization system that influence
the levels of discrimination that might emerge. We do not mean to suggest
that these inputs from the environment of the organization always or even
likely yield discrimination as we discuss it later in the chapter. However,
what is important to understand is that organizations existing in specific
contexts have an increased probability of engaging in discriminatory be­
haviors because of these contextual issues.
First, national culture influences the extent to which discrimination will
occur in organizations, particularly resulting from cross-cultural variabil­
ity in the extent to which discrimination against certain groups is codi­
fied in cultural norms (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, & Gupta, 2004;
World Values Study Group, 1994). In addition, local norms and sociocul­
tural legacy with respect to prejudice may influence people's propensity
to discriminate within organizations in those communities (Cox, 1994). In
addition, the legal environment in which organizations operate affect both
experiences of discrimination and attention that is paid to discrimination-
related issues by organizations and their employees. For example, the de­
sign and implementation of HR practices in U.S. companies are constrained
by a variety of employment laws that collectively prohibit discrimination
on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, and disability
(Ledvinka & Scarpello, 1991), and additional employment laws in some
states prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation (Jackson
& Schuler, 2003).
The policies, practices, and strategies that organizations adopt are also
strongly influenced by the interests of the organizations' stakeholders,
which include customers, professional organizations, government agen­
cies, labor unions, stockholders, and suppliers/vendors, among others
(Donaldson & Preston, 1995). For example, pressure from professional
organizations, government agencies, and union contracts tends to lower