Minimizing the Tendency to Otherize

In today’s scandal-ridden era, workplace ethics has filled an enormous role in numerous organizations. However, what exactly is ethics? According to Jennings (2018), “Ethics consists of those unwritten rules we have developed for our interactions with each other” (pp. 27). Ethics are one’s moral principles of what is right and what is wrong, and it is used to level the playing field, creating values of honesty and fairness. Ethics is more important than ever due to businesses striving to have greater diversity to bring different perspectives into the organization. By diversifying, organizations are filled with numerous cultures, backgrounds, and ideas. Diversity may also produce and heighten differences between people, causing turmoil within the organization. Taking on someone that disagrees with you is no simple task, yet having a conversation with that person may ease some of the tension and mitigate some differences. Let's explore more of how one may benefit from having a conversation with the person he or she disagrees with. 

 

“The Other”

In an effort to discover how best to handle workplace differences, I looked to Elizabeth Lesser’s lunch initiative. In Lesser’s (2010) Ted Talk, she presents an idea of how people with polar opposite perspectives tend to “otherize” each other. To “otherize” means to alienate and even stereotype another person due to their differences, and this has become a sense of normalcy. One could “otherize” another based on his or her ethnicity or religion. As a person of Asian heritage in the workplace and in schools, people may have automatically stereotyped me as “the smart person.” Many other stereotypes exist, as well. With advanced technology and growing social media platforms, the aspect of otherizing people is quite easy. Nonetheless, many people are inclined to “otherize” without fully understanding their backgrounds and beliefs. Why does he or she behave like that? How accurate is my image of someone? These are just a few questions that may arise when meeting someone you disagree with. Lesser (2010) describes that the best way to handle workplace differences and someone you disagree with is to take them to lunch. Remove the pretense of being a know-it-all (Lesser, 2010). More importantly, open your mind and get to know a person to understand why they are so.   

 

Lunch with a Coworker

Taking Lesser’s lunch initiative into action, someone I could take to lunch in the workplace and get to know better would be one of my coworkers with vast differences in age, experience, and background. First and foremost, there are vast differences between a baby boomer and a millennial. There are also many differences in perspectives due to our backgrounds and experiences of where we grew up. Growing up in New York can be different than growing up in Hawaii. Moreover, in the workplace, we don’t always agree on the methods we use. The best way to tackle disagreement is by having an open and honest conversation with the person. To facilitate an open conversation, ground rules and questions should be set into place. Ground rules could be to not interrupt the other when talking, to be curious by asking non-biased questions, and to be open to the other’s perspective. Questions could also be set into place to create a baseline and ensure a lively conversation. Some of these questions could be the following: “What are some of your experiences growing up in New York?”, “What topics interest you?”, and, “What methods do you prefer utilizing in the workplace?” Establishing a guideline will help facilitate a more efficient conversation.

 

Advantages of an Open Dialogue

Having an open and honest dialogue can provide various advantages. For one, open dialogue is positively correlated to ethical workplace behavior (Trapp, 2011). An open and honest conversation will foster moral responsibility amongst people. Open conversations give people a sense of comfort and can prevent various ethical dilemmas, such as secrecy and lies. Second, an open conversation could help practice the five dimensions of ethical communication: who, what, where, when, and how (Clampitt, 2017). When all five dimensions are utilized, communicators can fully understand and evaluate a conversation. Finally, an open and honest dialogue will foster other important values, such as trust and respect, and more importantly, an accurate understanding of the other person. Values of trust and respect are crucial to the bottom line of an organization. People are valuable resources that can help make or break an organization.

Key Takeaways

One conversation with a person you may disagree with will not change them, nor will it make all the differences magically vanish; however, this sort of interaction can assist in bringing a better understanding of why a person may think or behave differently. Additionally, these interactions will bring openness to one’s own outlook when taking on new experiences. These interactions give access to one’s brain in ways never imagined. The next time one runs into a challenge, he or she may be inspired to think differently, in a way that he or she would not normally think. Instead of being comfortable and complacent with your perspective, welcome new ideas and thoughts; after all, it’s food for thought and food for your soul. Ultimately, having a conversation with someone you disagree with brings depth into your own perspective. Embrace the differences, and quite possibly, be the change.

References

Clampitt, P. G. (2017). Communicating for Managerial Effectiveness (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

 

Jennings, M. M. (2018). Business: It’s legal, ethical, and global environment (11th ed.) Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

 

Lesser, E. (2010). Taking “the other” to lunch [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_lesser_take_the_other_to_lunch/up-next

 

Trapp, N. L. (2011). Staff attitudes to talking openly about ethical dilemmas: The role of business ethics conceptions and trust. Journal of Business Ethics, 103(4), 543-552. doi:10.1007/s10551-011-0879-9