DISCRIMINATION at WORK PLACE in INDONESIA
Image source: cartoonstock.com
By Beni Bevly
At work place, the more diverse the workforces are, the more potential for discrimination to happen. According to the similarity-attraction paradigm from the field of social psychology that members’ perception of others, as frequently inferred on the basis of similarity in demographic attributes, lead to attraction among team members (Tziner, 1985). For example, bio-demographic attributes such as age, gender, and race/ethnicity are immediately observed and categorized by individual members, and differences tend to be negatively associated with team performance and social integration.
Image source: worth1000.com
Managers that believe in this paradigm tend to discriminate in hiring and assigning tasks to their employees. They see that homogeneous teams are likely to be more productive than heterogeneous teams because of mutual attraction of team members with similar characteristics. In contrary, heterogeneous groups are hypothesized by them to be less productive and have lower team cohesion because of inherent tensions and relational issues arising from those differences.
It seems the similarity-attraction paradigm turns out to be the framework for Indonesian managers in hiring and assigning tasks. Because of this framework, they tend to practice discrimination. Below is one of the hiring advertising that retrieved on March 20, 2007 from www.yellowpages.co.id Indonesia:
RECEPTIONIST (RC)
Qualification :
* Age : max. 25 years old
* Sex : female
* Education : Diploma degree in related disciplines, preferable from recognized institution
* Experience about 1 - 2 years in a related task/job (Applicants without experiences will not be processed further)
* Able to speak and write in English is an added value
* Have a good relationship skills, self motivated, and able to perform under pressure
* Have a good personality, good looking and an attractive (preferably)
* Filing and administration
* Computer literate
Responsibilities :
GA Administration and receive incoming and outgoing calls and documents
On this ad, it shows maximum age, sex, and good looking. All resumes in Indonesia must be accompanied by candidate’s picture to proof how they look.
In contrary, most western managers are urged to embraced diversity and avoiding discrimination. It seems they tend believe in cognitive resources diversity theory from the field of management (Basely, 2001).
According to this area, diversity has a positive performance because cognitive resources that members bring to the team. The underlying assumption of value in diversity is that teams consisting of heterogeneous members promote creativity, innovation, and problem solving, hence generating more informed decisions. Supporters of the cognitive resources diversity theory suggest that diverse individuals with varying experimental, cultural, and racial/ethnic backgrounds add more dimensions to problem-solving and decision-making process while providing multiple perspectives on issues.
This approach automatically reduces discrimination at work place in western society. The hiring advertising that was retrieved on March 20, 2007 from sfbay.craigslist.org reflexes its working environment:
A friendly community bank in Novato is looking for an experienced receptionist with great customer service skills. Experience with Excel and Word are required. The position needs a friendly voice over the phone and a smile when greeting customers in person. You are their first point of contact. You should have knowledge of office protocol and not consider that a barrier. Organization skills, multi-tasking abilities, dependability and a great attitude are also highly regarded. Clean credit record a must.
Word and Excel skills - you must at least be able to:
format
highlight
bold
change fonts
add bullet points
copy and paste
follow a formula
create a simple formulaHealth benefits are available after 90 days, 401K with matching after 6 months, 2 weeks vacation.
Please forward your resume along with a cover letter outlining your strengths and weaknesses. I look forward to hearing from you.
It emphasizes most in skills rather than age, sex and good looking.
Ironically, if you have good looking you will get hired easily in Indonesia. So where will the average or ugly people like me go?
_____
*Beni Bevly holds BA in Political Science, MBA in Marketing, and is a DBA (Doctor of Business Administration) candidate. He is the founder of Overseas Think Tank for Indonesia.
>Ironically, if you have good looking you will get hired easily in Indonesia. So where will the average or ugly people like me go?
Those “ugly ones” are probably the employers (entrepreneurs).
Leena Lin
So, I am the lucky one. Are you?
I don’t know, I have been both.
Leena Lin
I guess it happens everywhere esp. in Asia. According to the survey by a company in Taiwan, people who have good looking have more possibilities to be hired than those who don’t have.
Iris
http://iristwo.blogspot.com/
Iris,
Do employers in Taiwan mention about “age, sex and good looking” on their employment advertising?
From: Iris Tsai
To: Beni Bevly
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 8:07 AM
Subject: Re: [Overseas Think Tank for Indonesia] Comment: “DISCRIMINATION at WORK PLACE in INDONESIA”
Hi Beni,
Yes, people will limits to age and sex on the ads. However, it is rare to ask for “good looking” though it is still regarded as one of the ways to choose employees according to survey to bosses and managers.
Iris
http://iristwo.blogspot.com/
In this millineum era it surprise me that the employment system over there is prety far behind. I thought they are improving than 30 years ago. What a snail ?!
No wonder that Indonesia is getting prety famous with gender and race discrimination in the eyes of the world.
It make me questioning what the Employment minister has been doing and how is his/her ability to improve that.
By the way, I wonder how the minister looks like. Is he or she good looking and attractive too ?
Do you have his or her picture ? let me see if he or she is good looking enough to be a minister based on Indonesian employment requirement.
I’ve read so many job vacancies here in Indonesia that state ‘good-looking’ as one of the requirements, especially if they look for salesman, SPG (sales promotion girl), marketing, and even Public Relations.
I’m still studying communication science (mass communication, esp.TV broadcast) in Petra Christian University Surabaya. Beside mass communication, we also have corporate communication department. The graduates of this department can work as PR.
Because of the job requirements above, some corporate communication students sometimes think that they must be pretty or handsome to get a job. But my lecturers always emphasize that it’s not necessary! Having good communication skills, smart, and able to work in pressure are much more important. Some PR officers or PR managers in Indonesia are not so handsome or pretty, but they are smart and communicative, they can create positive image for their corporates. And, those people work in a big, sometimes multinational company.
I feel so sorry for the companies that still requires ‘good-looking’ employees, even if they are not too smart…. Even if they see me as a ‘good looking’ one (I don’t think so, =p), I won’t apply for the jobs. I offer my brain, not my appearance. Looks can be deceiving, right?
Ria,
You got the point. At the end, customers do not not come just for looking at the beautiful employees. They demand for the best service and quality of work from them.
Employers should hire employees based on these demands. Otherwise, for long run, they will not be able to compete.
Thank you for your good thoughts, Ria.