In our increasingly polarized society, more and more people find themselves in a workplace where they are one of the few conservatives or few liberals around. However, a new study from Ohio State University found that there are ways for people to work efficiently within an organization and prevent the values clash from making their work life miserable. It turns out that sometimes getting personal with you coworkers can be a good thing.
The study found that people whose values – political or otherwise – don’t match the majority in their organization felt they received less respect and as a result were less engaged at work. Moreover, their co-workers noticed their lack of engagement.
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“It is a real issue that organizations face,” said Tracy Dumas, lead author of the study and associate professor of management and human resources at The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business.
“Organizations know that it is valuable to have employees with different perspectives. But if those with different perspectives feel they aren’t respected and so aren’t fully participating in their jobs, organizations aren’t fully reaping the benefits of their unique perspectives.”
Connection with “value minorities”
In the study, “value minorities” are peoples whose core beliefs in politics, religion or other important areas of life clash with the majority of people in their organizations. The study found that “value minorities” could feel more a part of their teams by disclosing personal information about themselves to their colleagues that had nothing to do with the values about which they disagreed.
The key was the importance self-disclosure. People talking about themselves in the workplace – not about areas where they disagree, but just about their everyday life experiences. People may feel uncomfortable being a part of a work group that doesn’t share their values, Dumas said. But if they pick out something they do feel comfortable sharing with the group, it can create a connection.
“When you talk about your family or the movies you like or what you did this week, it shows you’re a whole person, you’re not just defined by the difficult areas where you disagree,” she said.
One of the best parts of using self-disclosure to help value minorities feel more respected and engaged in the workplace is that they don’t need any management intervention to make it happen.
“If you’re a value minority, you’re not at the mercy of your manager to make things better. Self-disclosure is a step that you can take to mitigate the negative effects of feeling that you’re in the minority,” Dumas said.
Importantly, however, the paper also notes the importance of organizations creating an environment where people feel comfortable disclosing.
Click here to read more about the entire study and methodology.
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