Question

Explain how relational barriers lead to different experiences for women and minorities in the workplace.

Answer 1

Some of the ways relational barriers lead to different experiences for women and minorities in the workplace are:

• They experience limited access to or exclusion from informal communication networks in such processes as socialization, decision making, and conflict management.
• They face differences in establishing mentor-protégé relationships, career, and psychosocial benefits.
• In many organizations, women and minorities are often taken as “tokens”.
• Types of work experiences available to women and minorities may hamper their ability to advance in the organization.