Employee response to unfair discrimination by immediate supervisors

Abstract

The relationship between an immediate supervisor and an employee is of critical importance in employment relations. This relationship should be founded on trust in order to ensure job satisfaction and productivity. Unfair discrimination is prohibited in South African organisations, and is therefore legally and socially unacceptable. Unfair discrimination by immediate supervisors could lead to lower levels of job satisfaction and other negative forms of work behaviour. Employees who are exposed to unfair discrimination can respond in a number of formal and informal ways. South African labour laws allow for a number of informal and formal procedures for dispute resolution in the workplace, including unfair discrimination disputes. This study investigated white collar employee intended response to unfair discrimination by immediate supervisors. It was found that they will generally resolve such problems through direct communication with supervisors, before invoking more formal procedures. There were no significant differences in intended response of employees from different gender and age groups, but significant differences in the intensity of intended responses of people from different race groups were found.