Page 191 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

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CLEVELAND, VESCIO, BARNES-FARRELL
(i.e., provide information of relevance to the judgment tasks at hand), and
(c) inform the strategies that people in positions of power adopt in at­
tempts to exert power over, or influence, lesser power others. Factors that
limit the likelihood that one of these three propositions will hold, should
temper the magnitude of the gender-based stereotyping and discrimina­
tion that occurs in organizations. For example, situational manipulations of
"appropriate" ways to construe goals (strength or weakness focused) may
exacerbate or eliminate gender discrimination, as recent findings suggest
(see Vescio, Snyder, & Butz, 2003; Vescio et al., 2004). Likewise, success­
ful interventions that challenge the endorsement of gender stereotypes,
or perceived relevance of gender stereotypes to contexts, should also de­
crease the magnitude of gender stereotyping and effectively temper the
patronizing behaviors exhibited toward women. However, attempts in the
latter regard require a broader consideration of gender stereotypes in soci­
ety and a reconceptualization of the social role of organizations in personal
development and socialization more generally.

AN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH TO WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION

Although the psychological and management literatures have documented
the differences in treatment and organizational outcomes among men and
women, they provide only partial illumination of the portrait of gender
discrimination in our society because they fail to recognize the larger de­
velopmental and societal context in which workplace discrimination is
embedded. In this section we draw from developmental, cultural, socio­
logical, economic, and feminist research on gender discrimination in order
to understand that even prior to entering organizational settings, women
are systematically at a disadvantage to their male counterparts.

Developmental Perspective

We use the term "developmental perspective on discrimination" to refer to
a lifetime process of the acquisition and socialization of gender roles, views
on gender, values placed on paid work, perspectives on child rearing, and
beliefs about the respective roles of men and women. A developmental
perspective on discrimination includes beliefs about gender in work and
nonwork settings, including the beliefs about gender that we bring with
us when we first enter work organizations. Importantly, a developmen­
tal perspective on discrimination stresses that beliefs and attitudes about
the relevance of gender to behavior in work settings does not stop when
individuals enter work organizations, but rather continues to unfold over