Theories of Discrimination and Workplace Bullying

There are several theories concerning colorism or discrimination based on skin color (Hannon & DeFina, 2014) in the workplace that has been coupled with social and structural theories of the African American experience and or new theories of race and discrimination within the United States. At present, there is the limited body of work that provides statistical analysis that combines the results of multiple scientific studies of the theoretical models of discrimination based on skin color (Hannon & DeFina, 2014), so it is noteworthy that this body of work is investigated. Establishing a relationship between colorism, workplace bullying, stress (Turner, 2013) and violence is a gap in research, as well as, locating peer reviewed journal articles to discuss this phenomenon. Therefore, it is essential that I explain how this research would contribute to public awareness, creating a healthier workplace, understanding the concept of colorism and decreasing peer to peer harassment based on skin color (Hannon & DeFina, 2014).

Workplace bullying has been identified as one of the most significant challenges for occupational health and safety and has been linked to other emerging research such as work-related stress (Turner, 2013) and violence (Victor, Wood, & Genat, 2016). These hazards are often termed as psychosocial risks factors in the workplace (Turner, 2013) when an employee perception is lacking, such as increased absenteeism, conflict, stress, and loss of productivity (Victor, Wood, & Genat, 2016). Organizational trust is essential for any active and productive social processes in any workplace (Turner, 2013). However, when the workplace involves an abuse or misuse of power (Turner, 2013), women or color who are in a leadership position (Victor, Wood, & Genat, 2016), poses different types of social and workplace (Turner, 2013) issues due to management style, gender bias and their personal misperception of beauty (Hall, 2013; Garcia & Abscal, 2015). Black female leaders (Sojo, Wood, & Genat, 2016) may view an individual as a threat both personally and professionally. In doing so, can misuse their powers (Victor, Wood, & Genat, 2016) which can set back job productivity and could lead to violence (Victor, Wood, & Genat, 2016) in the workplace (Turner, 2013). This attitude sets the tone for an unhealthy culture since it creates a stressful environment, which lowers employee’s well-being. Leaders (Victor, Wood, & Genat, 2016), who do not exhibit obvious interest for their own physical and emotional health (Turner, 2013) set a negative precedent for their staff and can weaken the legitimacy of any organizational program, policy, and service designed to support employees. Managers, in general, seek validation and often struggle with personal emotional issues (Turner, 2013). Consequently, being bullied in the workplace (Turner, 2013) can also become psychologically exhausting and lead to other harmful effects (Victor, Wood, & Genat, 2016) such as health problems and severe depression. It can result in an individual resigning from the job because of the stress (Turner, 2013) incurred or termination. Therefore, it is critical in examining a number of theories evolving colorism.

Several researchers have argued that one theory concerning colorism is the consequences of American slavery (Hannon, & Defina, 2014) because it plays a huge role in the concept of beauty and how a person is treated. Slavery was conducted throughout the American communities (Hannon, & Defina, 2014) in the mid eighteenth centuries, and slave women were required to comply with sexual advances by their slave owners, giving birth to lighter skin blacks (Hall, 2013) who were treated better than dark-skinned blacks. In the days of slavery (Hannon, & Defina, 2014), the dark-skinned blacks labored in the fields while light-skinned blacks (Hannon & DeFina, 2014) labored in the house. Colorism is a function of social domination theory (Hall, 2013) that centered on the maintenance and stability of privileged light-skinned blacks with white features over black skinned people of color (Hall, 2013). The multiple levels of power domination on lighter skinned (Hall, 2013; Garcia & Abascal, 2015) blacks and black skinned people of color continue to be a subject of interest even today (Hall, 2013;Garcia & Abascal, 2015). Finally, psychological theories describe behaviors (Hall, 2013) and make predictions about future actions. Several of the articles presented theories which explained and predicted various aspects of human behavior, but none of the articles describe the reasons for women of color (Hall, 2013;Garcia & Abascal, 2015) in management position exhibit aggressive behavior in the workplace which could lead to acts of violence (DeCuir-Gunby & Gunby, 2016) towards subordinate.

There were several types of constructs used in several peer reviewed articles to express the ideas, people, organizations, events and objects that each researchers were interested in, such as racism, stress, colorism (Hannon, & Defina, 2014), job performance, gender or organizational culture. The constructs used were a way to understand the meaning and to describe the various components of theories (Hannon, & Defina, 2014), as well as, measure or observe the participants behavior. Therefore, many of the constructs was easy to understand and measure, such age, gender and ethnicity (colorism), but some of the constructs were more complex such as racism and stress. In many of the articles, common languages (Hannon & DeFina, 2014) and shared meaning were used interchangeable, such as colorism and racial discrimination (Hall, 2013;Garcia & Abascal, 2015) to communicate clearly and precisely of the subject matter of interest. Because, without a clear and precise way of defining what the constructs mean, the researcher would struggle to express the meaning of the constructs, such as corporate social responsibility and sexism (Hall, 2013;Garcia & Abascal, 2015). For example, (Hannon & Defina, 2014) The constructs were ambiguous, so therefore, the construct needed to be illustrated explicitly in a clear, precise and non-ambiguous manner, so that participants and researchers can share the information, such as the ethnicity of the interviewer and skin tone perception (Hill, M. E. (2002). Also, the constructs needed to be clear so that they can be criticized; related to other constructs, in which could be operationally defined and tested (Hall, 2013;Garcia & Abascal, 2015). As a result, the theoretical or technical definitions regarding racial discrimination and colorism used produced distinct clarity. However, some constructs (skin tone variations) were harder to explain; since it needed to be explained through a color guide by asking direct questions in order to enhanced the interviewer’s ability to clearly identify the correct skin tone (Hannon & Defina, 2014).

Several of the arguments in the peer reviewed articles (Hall, 2013;Garcia & Abascal, 2015) regarding colorism, racism at work, and racial prejudice had at least three elements, such as the researcher’s position, the reasons for developing the assertion, the evidence that supports the reasons and proves the claim(Hall, 2013;Garcia & Abascal, 2015; DeCuir-Gunby & Gunby, 2016). Moreover, if any of the elements were missing or underdeveloped, the articles would end up with a gap. In writing my annotated biographies, I realized that I failed to input many of the above-stated elements.

The informational in some of the articles failed to offer specific details about a subject, present a collection of ideas, or explain some processes (Strom et al., 2012). In a few of the peer-reviewed articles, such as the article on impact of workplace bullying (Yahaya et al., 2012) gaps occurred when the researcher left out relevant facts, inadequately develop their ideas, or miss steps in a process, such as not discussing the ethnicity and gender of the participants. Also, exploring if any changes occurred once a process was implemented or sampling for diversity when it was compared with another research question.

In researching my topic, I realize that the topic I chose needed to be very narrow, but it appears to be was extremely broad (colorism). Therefore, I need to restrict my topic, but it has been extremely difficult. This colorism and workplace bullying is a topic of interest, but it has been difficult in gathering information on this topic. I was able to locate several promising topics, but not the right subject matter that discusses certain issues, even though, I am aware that these issues exists.