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Workplace Issues: Discrimination
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Workplace Issues: Discrimination
Human beings spend almost a third of their adult lives working and occasionally face
issues while working. These issues are generally referred to as workplace issues. Such workplace
issues may have psychological issues and consequently affect productivity. In a nutshell,
workplace issues are problems and dissatisfiers that reduce an employee’s productivity and
performance. In this literature review, I intend to critically discrimination as a workplace issue
and how it has affected working conditions in Kenya.
How has discrimination manifested itself in the Kenyan workplace?
As one of the developing countries, Kenya still grapples with a challenge regarding
discrimination of workers in the workplace. Prejudice has manifested itself in various forms,
including but not limited to political, racial, ethnicity and age.
Political discrimination is rampant. It is common to observe that priority is given to those
of the same political alienation to the bosses. In other circumstances, those who get promoted are
not considered a threat to the administration politically. Those who are regarded as the threat
remains discriminated against and their opportunities. Furthermore, activities such as soliciting
workers to support individuals result in unnecessary tension and division.
Consequently, a divided workforce means that there will be low productivity from the
workers. In some instances, employers may refuse to hire applicants affiliated with different
parties. Others terminate their employee's contracts based on political affiliations and ideologies.
Racial discrimination also thrives in the Kenyan workforce. It is not surprising that some
jobs are exclusively set aside for people of a particular race. Those who attempt to defy odds and
secure a chance in such positions undergo untold discrimination, which often leads to poor
performance due to the mental discomfort that they experience.
Some employers emphasize hiring employees from one ethnic group. This propagates
their inclination and preference for a specific ethnic group. In other cases, some employers
baselessly believe in myths that some ethnic groups can perform better than others. This has led
to people of the same ethnic group occupying higher levels in an organization while others were
occupying the lower ranks. This leads to a group of people feeling more important than others.
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Consequently, employees become disunited and do not work for the common good of the
organization. An organization with two fractions of employees cannot prosper and end up
deteriorating and performing poorly.
Many people do not understand that disability is not inability. Times, organizations tend
to close their doors to individuals with a disability. During employment interviews, they are not
given a fair chance and are presumed to be incapable of finishing tasks assigned to them
competently. All this is caused by subjective interviewing of the prospective employees. In the
end, even though they are competent and qualified, they end up losing the chance though they
perfectly fit the job descriptions.
Moreover, discrimination is propagated about the age of the employees. In most
organizations in Kenya, the amount of work is not proportional to pay, and in most
circumstances, the young are overworked. This should not be the case, and equal pay for equal
work done should be the order of the day.
Therefore, it is to conclude that in the three articles read, discrimination as a workplace
issue is generally done with a hidden agenda such as frustrating an employee, making them feel
lesser compared to other employees and quitting the job. It adversely affects the productivity of
the workers. Therefore, it is imperative to minimize or do away with political, racial, age, and
ethnic discrimination for an organization to achieve its full potential.
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References
Dipboye, R. L., & Colella, A. (Eds.). (2013). Discrimination at work: The psychological
and organizational bases. Psychology Press.
Ortiz, S. Y., & Roscigno, V. J. (2009). Discrimination, women, and work: Processes and
variations by race and class. The Sociological Quarterly, 50(2), 336-359.
Dipboye, R. L., & Colella, A. (Eds.). (2013). Discrimination at work: The psychological
and organizational bases. Psychology Press.
