There are various social psychological experiments (Nelson, Acker, and
Manis 1996) that demonstrate just how difficult it is to get people to attend to
information that is only relevant to the overall post. Instead, many appear to
acquire and rely on information that has been gained through stereotypes that
are linked to group differences. Many of the assignments that are carried out
in controlled environments have been criticized for being unrealistic and
inapplicable to what one would perceive to ‘real world’ organisations.
However, Bielby’s (2000) work suggests that experimentalists do recognise
this and have pointed out that within the workplace, decision makers
approach their tasks with considerably more motivation and are often
personally identified with long-standing procedures and practices, and may
have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Therefore, it is possible
that stereotyping and in group bias effects takes place more frequently in the
‘real world’ than they do in the laboratory (Salancik and Pfeffer 1978, Pratto
and Bargh 1991). Kanter (1977) and Izraeli (1983) findings suggest that
women who are relatively new to traditionally male-dominated work settings
often attract more attention, are evaluated more extremely, are perceived as
different, receive less support, and are more likely to be viewed as a
disruptive force in the workforce, compared to male co-workers.
The history and characteristics of racial typing of jobs and occupations may
differ significantly from those of gender typecasting, the consequences of
distorted racial distributions for the social psychology of stereotyping and
outgroup bias are very similar to those resulting from gender imbalance, and
barriers to career advancement. In addition to the categorization of differing
jobs, it is important to remember the way in which people are recruited and
selected for positions. Many studies refer to the impact that stereotyping has
on the various human resources systems. There is evidence to suggest that
some of these systems contribute in the reinforcement of segregated informal
networks and personal links in the recruitment process. For example,
Braddock and McParland’s (1987) findings report that word-of-mouth
recruitment more often than not reproduces the existing gender and ethnic
composition of a workforce. They criticise the subjective internal selection