Towards Evaluating the Relationship between Gender Stereotypes Culture

Modernization and science has freed people’s perception and consciousness from many retrogressive traditions, having exposed them to be socially illusionary, economically unproductive, and politically partisan.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Towards Evaluating the Relationship between Gender Stereotypes Culture specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More For example, no one in the 21st century would now challenge the fact that no race, creed, or nationality is superior to another. However, several stereotypes to date remain untouched. And one, in particular, is the notion that gender intrinsically determines an individual’s psyche, occupation, and social standing in society (Kluchko, 2010). This notion has heralded a multiplicity of other incomplete and inaccurate beliefs, fueled by our varying cultural dispositions, and encoded in our linguistic expressions as well as in normative discourses. It is therefore the object of this paper to examine the relationship between gender stereotypes and culture with a view to elucidating how gender stereotypes, reinforced by our diverse cultural beliefs, continue to allocate roles along the tenets of gender. Gender stereotypes has been defined by Kluchko (2010) as the â€Å"†¦totality of fixed ideas about the natural determination of male and female social characteristics† (p. 75). Current literature as revealed by Cuddy et al. (2009) and Lenton et al. (2009) demonstrate that culture, which can be simply defined as a people’s way of life, employs powerful and influential representations to vehicle and maintain these stereotypes. Indeed, it is the opinion of many researchers and theorists that there exist distinct division between male and female throughout all cultures, and more so in the division of labor and wealth ownership. From the list of Occupations and Gender provided, a pattern was formed upon responding to the questions, which saw more complicated roles being allocated to men and less technical jobs being allocated to women. The list revealed that some complicated roles such as doctor, lawyer, taxi-driver, pilot, mechanic, and architect have more traditional masculine traits, while other less complicated roles such as baby sitter, chef, designer, and make-up artist have more traditional feminine traits.Advertising Looking for research paper on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Such a pattern only serves to perpetuate the conceptual difference between men and women, not mentioning that it reveals the veracity and dynamism of modern-day gender stereotypes and their ability to cut across cultural boundaries (Tripathy, 2010). Both responses from the list revealed some similarities and differences. Most similarities revolved around the complexity of a particular role and the gender to be allocated such a role. More complex rol es, as indicated above, were allocated to men across the two responses, while less complex roles were allocated to women. For instance, roles of doctor, lawyer, pilot, and architect were all allocated to men, while roles of baby sitter, chef, and make-up artist were allocated to women. Some differences were noted, though, especially in roles that were neither too complex nor too easy. These roles include that of a school-teacher and dancer. In all dimensions, our cultural backgrounds affected the perceptions that were drawn. Cultural disposition, according to Campbell Collaer (2009), is a major component and influencer of how society delegates roles according to gender. The observations from the list demonstrate how different cultures across the world employ similar but unrelated normative values and stereotypes to assign roles for men and women in relation to the roles’ complexity (Lenton et al., 2009). By taking into account culturally learned characteristics, men are view ed as more masculine and therefore able to handle more complex roles, while women are traditionally viewed as more feminine and malleable, thus unfit to be entrusted with complex roles. In short, this is a reflection of gender stereotypes. Culture, particularly in African and Asian countries, is largely viewed as unchanging and oppressive, to some extent fossilized and frozen in time. When one is born, he is internalized into this unchanging culture along with its rules, normative values, and beliefs (Tripathy, 2010). In consequence, if one is born into a culture that has biased constructions of femininity and masculinity, chances are that he will remain with the internalized notion of division of labor for a long time, and will also make biased decisions as to what roles fits men and what roles fits women, thus falling into a spin of cultural essentialism (Tripathy, 2010).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Towards Evaluating the Relationship between Ge nder Stereotypes Culture specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Most cultures across the world delegates simple roles to women, while the more professional and financially fulfilling roles are the preserve of men. Kluchko (2010) puts it right by observing that â€Å"†¦for a woman, housewife and mother is considered the most significant social role. She is assigned to the private sphere of life: home, giving birth to children and responsibility for interrelations in the family is entrusted to her† (p. 75). Such cultural orientations affected the perceptions drawn in the Occupations and Gender list. However, the differences noted in the list demonstrate that gender stereotypes are not natural dispositions, but are founded on gender ideologies and are culturally constructed. A meta-analytic review on automatic gender stereotypes found that there exist a lot of gender stereotypes in the workplace (Lenton et al., 2009). Indeed, some CEOs are to date unconvinced that a woman is able to handle a managerial position in their organizations. Indeed, Kluchko (2010) observes that â€Å"†¦according to traditional ideas, it is assumed that women’s work should be in the nature of doing and serving, part of the expressive sphere of activity† (p. 75). But this must not be allowed to continue. Tripathy (2010) argues that women, the main culprits of gender stereotypes, need to be empowered to be creative and endeavor to achieve more. Lenton et al. (2009) argues that employees should be educated and coached so as not to resist change. Resistance to change has been highlighted by Campbell Collaer (2009) as one of the contributing factors towards gender stereotypes. Lastly, employees need to avoid experiences or environments that may activate gender stereotyping. All in all, society needs to shed off some of these inaccurate and incomplete beliefs such as gender stereotypes. Reference List Campbell, S.M., Collaer, M.L. (2009). Stereotype threat and gender differences in performance on a novel visuospatial task. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 33(4), 437-444. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier Database Cuddy, A.J.C., Fiske, S.T., Kwan, V.S.Y., Glick, P., Demoulin, S†¦Palacios, M. (2009). Stereotype content model across cultures: Towards universal similarities and some differences. British Journal of Social Psychology, 48(1), 1-33. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier DatabaseAdvertising Looking for research paper on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Kluchko, O.I. (2010). Gender stereotyping in studying pressing social problems. Anthropology Archeology of Eurasia, 49(1), 75-91. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier Database Lenton, A.P., Bruder, M., Sedikides, C. (2009). A meta-analysis on the malleability of automatic gender stereotypes. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 33(2), 183-196. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier Database Tripathy, J. (2010). How gendered is gender and development? Culture, masculinity, and gender difference. Development in Practice, 20(1), 113-121. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier Database This research paper on Towards Evaluating the Relationship between Gender Stereotypes Culture was written and submitted by user Zeigeist to help you with your own studies. 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Management Perspective Essays

Management Perspective Essays Management Perspective Essay Management Perspective Essay In order to obtain managements perspective on the issue, Denise Sampson, Operations Manager in the Des Moines office, was interviewed. Ms. Sampson stated that while CHE has not run into any Fair Lending / ECOA violations to date, the current incentive pay system is not ideal in keeping with the spirit of the rules, and compliance with these laws could hypothetically become an issue. Ms.Sampson also recognizes that borrowers seeking larger loans have the potential to receive superior service in relation to those who want smaller loans. While the current commission system pays more dollars to the TLC to encourage larger loans, the risk remains that smaller loans could be neglected in favor of the more lucrative loans. Citigroup claims that its employees have shared responsibilities to our clients, each other, and to the company. In keeping with that philosophy, CHE management realizes that the current compensation system for TLCs has room for improvement. Ms. Sampson stated that TLCs should have incentives to work equally hard on all applications. However, she believes that TLCs are already fairly paid for their efforts, and that a system that pays more is not required. CitiMortgage, a separate division from CHE, uses a system that pays per booked unit to the TLC. While this system has been considered for CHE, management is concerned that the 0.0515% budget for TLC commission could be exceeded regularly, and expected profits not met, if the average loan size were to fall below the financial models used in predicting success for the division. Ms. Sampson indicated that a replacement compensation system that uses a pay per booked unit and does not exceed the budgeted allotment would be optimal for the clients, employees, and the company. Additionally, the new system should be more transparent for the TLCs to estimate their end of the month commission check Employee Perspective When utilizing a commission-based pay structure (whether in whole or in addition to a base salary), individuals may be motivated to make additional sales calls, work harder to ensure sales are closed, and encourage customers to purchase additional products or services. The success of commission-based employment is conditional on individuals believing they have some control over the sale, the commission schedules are relatively stable, and incentive plans are not overly complex (Scholl). A commission-based system can have several problems that should also be considered. These include the potential to encourage employees to focus only on closing the sale to the detriment of customer service after the sale and the potential for high levels of variability due to conditions beyond the representatives control, such as business and economic cycles (Scholl). When developing the revised commission-based pay structure for TLCs, these considerations will be taken into account to ensure the program meets the needs of the organization, federal and state laws and the employee. The new system must achieve the goal of motivating and rewarding effective TLCs, while ensuring appropriate customer care. Industry Best Practices Des Moines is also the home base of Wells Fargo Financial and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, subsidiaries of Wells Fargos Home and Consumer Finance division. Both companies specialize in real-estate secured lending and offer variable compensation programs for their sales professionals. According to John Crawford, Program Associate for Wells Fargo Financial, the Wells Fargo model is a hybrid that pays for both volume and booked dollar amount in a tiered structure. Once credit managers sell four real estate loans in a given month, they receive a kicker for additional loans and are compensated at a higher rate. In the end, credit managers are encouraged to book all loans (in alignment with fair lending practices) and also up-sell to higher loans (to benefit the companys bottom line). Conversely, CitiMortgages (as explained previously) compensation structure pays a set dollar amount for each loan closed and is not based on the size of the loan.