Leaders dealing with Social identity

 What?

Case One of Leading across Differences by Kelly Hannum describes a situation between a black female staff worker/student (Maria) and a white student (Mark) at a South African University in which there was an argument/confrontation between the two that led to the firing of Maria. A year later the dean tells one of her friends that he made a mistake in firing her and wished to apologize, presuming he either didn't want to fire her or realized it was the wrong thing to do at the moment.

So What?

This story revolves around social identity in which they deal with bias, stereotyping, and categorization of a group of people that leads to unfair treatment of others. Social identity is defined by Henry Tajfel as "the individual's knowledge that he belongs to a certain social group together with some emotional and value significance to him of this group membership." (Tajfel, 1972). Social identity provides the basis for understanding how a particular group might act or respond in certain scenarios based on characteristics like race, gender, age, or religion. This may be the reason that the other black students in the class did not respond to Mark's comments due to the knowledge that may be treated unfairly in a system that is unjust and biased against them. Mark's comments also represent the power that comes with being self-aligned with the "in-group" as he personalized Maria as not just a student/peer in her class, but as a stereotype and someone that does not belong in his class. When there is a high demographic homogeneity in a group or an organization with a relatively low presence of diverse people, it allows the in-group to grow in strength, and also to the detriment of the out-group (Cox, 1993). In-group members merely just existing can evoke behaviors towards out-members that alienate them and degrade them to a perceived level below themselves (Hornsey, 2008). These behaviors include some that we witnessed in the story including prejudice and stereotypes. Strategic leaders can make a difference in the view of in-groups and out-groups especially when they are based on meaningless social categories and stereotypes that are only held together by historical and cultural clashes. When strategic leaders tackle these issues they allow the out-group to improve their only personal status but also the group they identify with as well. When more people from the out-group can join the in-group this can change the narrative of the out-group to make it more positive in nature and benefit both parties. 

    

Now What?

I think as a leader is it important to create a sense of equitable treatment in group settings to try and avoid in and out groups specifically in the work setting. When you are a leader in the in-group, you tend to have a high potential to influence their behaviors, actions, and attitudes towards the out-group (Hogg & Terry, 2000). It is important that everyone has the ability to feel they can speak out on a certain subject matter without fear of actions that are inequitable to them. If the administration of that university created a policy towards anti-racist attitudes and behaviors then maybe the other black students would feel more compelled to show support for Maria, as well as Mark being punished instead of Maria. If you limit someone's opinions or degrade them in a group, you are not only affecting them, but the group entirely as they become less effective overall. If you are limiting someone's performance let alone because they identify in a different group that is not the same as yours, you are not a leader or possessing the traits that it takes to be a leader.

References

Cox, T. H. (1993). Cultural Diversity in Organizations: Theory, Research, and Practice. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.

Hannum, K., Mcfeeters, B. B., & Booysen, L. (2010). Leading across differences: Cases and perspectives. Pfeiffer.

Hogg, M. A., & Terry, D. J. (2000). Social identity and self-categorization processes in organizational contexts. The Academy of Management Review, 25(1), 121–140.

Hornsey, M. J. (2008). Social identity theory and self-categorization theory: A historical review. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(1)

Tajfel, H. (1972) Social Categorization. English Manuscript of “La catégorisation sociale”. In: Moscovici, S., Ed., Introduction a la Psychologie Sociale, Vol. 1, Larousse, Paris.