Leadership, Power, and Politics
Leadership, Power, and Politics
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Leadership, Power, and Politics
Leadership, Power, and Politics
Introduction
Gender parity in present-day corporations, despite massive progress in the area of
diversity and inclusion, equality has not yet been realized. At 2E Inc., discrimination against
women employees, as portrayed, reveals more of a systemic problem. Women at 2E Inc.
experience unequal treatment to their male counterparts: promotions are denied to them, assigned
less challenging work, and provided relatively more complex responsibilities. The HR director of
2E Inc. offers such excuses as women being biologically predisposed to undertaking some tasks
and being uneasy about the new duties. This setting can, therefore, be used to best explain the
application of Social Dominance Theory (SDT), which seeks to explain how organizations
endorse the trait and taboo practices. This paper explores the theoretical framework through the
application of the SDT to describe the existing discriminative policies within 2E Inc. and
determine how the suggested constructs will help solve this problem.
Theoretical Component
Overview of Social Dominance Theory
Jim Sidanius and Felicia Pratto advanced the Social Dominance Theory (SDT); it
assumes that people's relations are organized despotically and that a few powerful dominants
control superior amounts of resources compared to subordinates. These hierarchies are
categorized into three primary systems:
1. Age System: Where, as a rule, adults dominate children.
2. Gender System: Where one finds that men dominate women in terms of power and
authority.
3. Arbitrary-Set System: Where the ideologies that serve as the pillars of the system are
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race, ethnicity, and social class, among others.
SDT postulates that these structures are sustained by institutional coercion, people's
actions, and normative cognitions (Ajibade et al, 2021). In organizational contexts, these
hierarchies are evidenced by discriminatory policies, procedures, and actions that are prejudicial
to subjugated populations.
Mechanisms of Hierarchy Maintenance
Institutional Discrimination
Institutional discrimination is defined as how facilities in an organization work to the
prejudice of specific personnel. In the case of 2E Inc., this is apparent in the manner in which
women are provided with different treatment from men. Men and women are paid the same for
the same job, yet women are never promoted and perform monotonous and routine work in low-
ranked jobs (Sabrina et al, 2021). For instance, male workers could be tasked to handle core or
special assignments such as a big deal or a crucial activity, and female employees would be
assigned ordinary clerical work. This practice is a sign of institutional discrimination, given that
gender bias is infused into the frameworks that make up the organization to perpetuate the
gender hierarchy.
Behavioral Asymmetry
Stereotyped learned behavior that sustains dominance and submission relations can be
referred to as behavioral asymmetry. Ladin at 2E Inc., men may engage in assertiveness or self-
promotion as well as competition for promotion and challenging tasks, while women may fail to
engage in self-promotion or competition due to the probability of negative evaluation. This
behavioral asymmetry can be observed from the way women at 2E Inc. do not ask for
promotions or go for volunteer for demanding tasks for fear of being criticized in case they fail
Leadership, Power, and Politics
(Settles et al. 2020). On the other hand, men might have more entitlement to ask for promotion,
which enhances the perpetuation of the gender stratification system.
Legitimizing Myths
Legitimizing myths are cultural beliefs that explain and confirm dominant-subordinate
relations within groups of people. In the case of 2E Inc., the response of the HR head that women
are 'meant for' some work and are uncomfortable with more responsibility is a part of the
legitimizing myth. That is so because this belief supports the gender hierarchy by portraying
women's subordination as normal and deserved. For example, women may be tasked to do things
considered less important for organizational success, such as clerical work and support work,
which is encouraged by the myth that women are incapable of handling high-risk projects. This
myth does not only rationalize the unfair treatment but also prevents women from turning against
the norms.
Social Dominance Orientation (SDO)
SDO, as a personality dimension, is the extent to which one perceives the superiority of
some group over inferior groups. High levels of SDO, therefore, predispose a leader to support
policies and practices that particularly uphold group-based power relations. In the case of 2E
Inc., the company HR head speaks and acts in a manner that implies a high level of SDO as he
justifies and anchors discriminatory policies that work against women. It shapes the
organization's policies and perpetuates the existing gender hierarchy since it continues to create
an impression that women are less capable of addressing important responsibilities.
Relevant Research on Social Dominance Theory
Extensive literature on social dominance theory or SDT details how organizations
perpetuate the status quo by maintaining prejudicial systems. Sidanius and Pratto (1999) provide
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some vital knowledge and understanding about SDO, which measures the extent to which people
endorse ranked systems of intergroup relations. According to their research, people with high
SDO tend to obtain higher-status jobs and support policies that maintain the status quo. This is
well illustrated at 2E Inc., where the Human Resources department manager possesses a
markedly high SDO orientation. This kind of idea that Women are comfortable with low-level
work and consider more challenging responsibilities as stressful are the principles rooted in the
gendered hierarchy. This belief system will govern practices at 2E Inc., resulting in the
generalized treatment of women in the firm. For instance, women are often given repetitive
trivial roles with the least authority, while men are given more important and challenging roles.
This differential treatment not only keeps the women from getting necessary promotions in their
respective fields but also keeps the ladder of male employees' promotions molded properly.
The study carried out under SDT suggests that legitimizing myths is useful in
maintaining and strengthening gender oppression. According to Costello et al. (2020),
legitimizing myths are the cultural beliefs that justify power relations. They are copiously
believed in by both the powerful and the powerless; they become a self-fulfilling prophecy and
reproduce power relations. Another aspect at 2E Inc. is the legitimizing myth that positivist
constructs women as being less competent for high-responsibility positions to explain why
women are less promoted or receive fewer challenging tasks. This myth is evident when the HR
head stated that women are less likely to pursue or perform in demanding positions. Such beliefs
make women have a low tendency to replace the higher positions and accept challenging tasks,
and so it continues to perpetuate the gender disparity. For instance, female candidates interested
in the leadership position may not apply since, according to the current culture, they are not
supposed to be present in such positions.
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Practical Component
Application of Social Dominance Theory to 2E Inc.
The discrimination taking place at the workplace of 2E Inc. relates fairly well to the
elements formulated in Social Dominance theory. This can be seen from the differential task
assignments and promotion practices, among other institutional practices where discrimination is
normally practiced. Women, for example, are relegated to lesser demanding duties and
manumitted from promotions; they are subjugated, which shows that institutional frameworks
uphold sexism. The legitimizing myth, which consists of the words of the HR head that women
are better at clerical work and do not like more serious tasks, actually contributes to the
reinforcement of gender power relations (Cheng, 2020). It strengthens perceptions that it is
normal and right for women to be subordinate to men and thereby puts off both women and men
from changing this state of affairs. For instance, assuming that women are always posted to
perform mundane assignments while men are posted to work on important projects that can
transform an organization creates a perception that depicts women as being less capable than
men and thus develops and encourages discrimination on the basis of gender.
Behavioral asymmetry is also apparent in the interactions at 2E Inc. Corporations.
Women employees may display even higher tendencies to comply and avoid promotions or
challenging projects for fear of failure or negative feedback. This behavior is not a reaction to the
current state of affairs and is largely instrumental in perpetuating male domination over women
(Tett et al., 2021). For the same reason, men may feel permitted to request more promotions and
challenging posts to keep the gender disparity open.
Broader Implications and Recommendations
The case of 2E Inc. also shows that it is essential to name and look for ways to deconstruct both
Leadership, Power, and Politics
the more obvious forms of gender stereotyping and domination in the workplace, as well as the
invisible ones. To create a more equitable workplace, the following recommendations should be
considered:
Reevaluation of Task Assignments
The organization should ensure that the work assignment is done in a manner that fits the
capacity of the employee and not along gender stereotypes. This includes a strategic process of
analyzing the criteria used in the distribution of tasks and ensuring that women are given a
chance to undertake more complex and significant tasks (Puckett et al., 2020). For instance, 2E
Inc. could employ procedures for the assessment of work assignments by more than one group so
that they cannot be allocated in a way that discriminates against the gender of the employees.
Provisions Related to Equal Opportunities for Promotion
2E Inc. should also clearly define procedures that must be followed to qualify for a
promotion and actively encourage female employment within the business. This entails changing
some of the promotion policies on structures that have implicit discrimination and ensuring that
sponsorship programs are offered to women who wish to pursue leadership positions(Puckett et
al. 2020). For example, defining a transparent and non-biased method of promotion can also
prevent biases such as women's exclusion from promotion consideration.
Challenging Legitimizing Myths
Stereotypes concerning the role of males and females in any household or place of work
should be challenged in special training conducted by the organization concerned. These
programs should attempt to change the cultural attitudes and practices that allow discrimination
against women. For instance, sessions such as workshops and seminars that address issues
related to gender and diversity help leaders and staff in an organization eliminate prejudice or
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discrimination.
Supervising the level of Social Dominance Orientation (SDO)
The SDO levels in leaders should be measured, and education on how to reverse
prejudice that results in discrimination should be practiced on a particular group by 2E Inc. In
eradicating gender-based hierarchies, a lot can be done to encourage a change of attitudes that
endorse that sort of culture in the organization(Cheng, 2020). It is possible to ensure that the
practices of leadership reflect the principles of inclusion through the establishment of frequent
evaluation and authoritative feedback.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the case of 2E Inc., ST, shadows significant illustrative and practical
implications for understanding the workings of Gendered-SDT in maintaining gender
discrimination in organizational environments. The theory raises the issue of institutional
prejudice, secondary narratives or legitimating beliefs, and behavioral imbalance regarding
group-based dominance. About these concerns and by providing methods to call for the
confrontation of discrimination in the workplace, employees of 2E Inc. can feel protected from
discrimination practices and have favorable changes experienced around the company to make it
fair for everyone to work with. SDT is a suitable area to conceptualize gender inequality
dynamics and identify how to fight against multiple structural and ideological practices that
create conditions for a paradoxical situation in the workplace.
References
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Cheng, J.T., 2020. Dominance, prestige, and the role of leveling in human social
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.10.004
Puckett, J.A., DuBois, L.Z., McNeill, J.N. and Hanson, C., 2020. The association
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