Unmasking Workplace Intolerance: Hidden Costs and Strategic Solutions

Can intolerance in the workplace be costing your business more than you realize? Join us as we uncover the hidden consequences of intolerance, from disrupting team dynamics to damaging company reputation. This episode lays bare the roots of intolerance, such as ignorance and fear, and how they manifest as racial, religious, gender, sexual orientation, and cultural biases. We don't shy away from discussing the severe repercussions, including mental health issues, social fragmentation, and economic inequality. You'll come away with a deep understanding of why promoting tolerance through education, legislation, and community initiatives isn't just a moral imperative but a strategic one too.

Discover the profound impact of intolerance within organizations, illustrated through real-world examples from industries like garment manufacturing and mining. We explore how hostility and misunderstanding can cripple productivity and innovation. Our conversation touches on the risks of employee turnover, reputational damage, and legal troubles, emphasizing the critical need for clear policies, open communication, and comprehensive training programs. Featuring insights from thinkers like Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Albert Einstein, and Karl Popper, this episode is a compelling reminder of the transformative power of tolerance in building a cohesive, dynamic, and successful workplace.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Overcoming Intolerance in the Workplace
• 9:12 Impact of Intolerance in Organizations

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello, tony Hines. Here You're listening to the Chain Reaction Podcast. All about supply chain advantage and a great episode popping your way in a few moments. Stick around, stay tuned, find out more Now.

Speaker 1: 0:22

Here's a question for you today. Do we live in an age of intolerance when you read the news headlines on a daily basis? Do you think that we actually live in an age of intolerance? Do you think that people don't have respect for each other in the way perhaps that they used to? And is that causing all kinds of problems? And what's the root of it? Where did it come from? Where did intolerance come from?

Speaker 1: 0:45

It usually comes from ignorance and it usually comes from prejudice, and it can cause all sorts of problems. And the problem is everybody thinks they're right, and have you ever stopped to think that you might not be? Well, interesting, isn't it? We often think, in a workplace situation, that we are right and we'll in a workplace situation, that we are right and we'll do anything to prove that we are right. And it usually comes down to a matter of ego. It's protecting your ego, your id, your identity, and it can be problematic, it can be challenging both for you and for others, and it's very difficult to get out of that mindset of thinking, yeah, we're right and we're going to do anything to prove we are right, and it's not really very helpful, and we'll learn why. Let's define what we mean by intolerance.

Speaker 1: 1:36

Intolerance is the unwillingness to accept the views or beliefs or behaviors of others that may differ from our own, and it often comes across as prejudice, bigotry, narrow-mindedness, stubbornness, and it can lead to social conflict and discrimination and it kind of eats away at people and as they dig their heels in to think that, yeah, I'm absolutely right, then that doesn't really help anyone. And you need to be more accepting and more tolerant when it comes to understanding your colleagues, family members, in all kinds of social situations and when we think about work. Of course, in our daily job, if we work in organisations, in a business or in any setting, then we have to be tolerant, because if we're not, it not only harms others but we can eat away and harm ourselves. And I'm going to explain why we must be more tolerant, more accepting, and this doesn't mean being lax, it doesn't mean being soft, it simply means that we take a reasoned view of what's happening around us.

Speaker 1: 2:54

Intolerance manifests itself in many ways and of course, we have laws to prevent the worst types of intolerance. They could be discrimination or prejudice based on racial or ethnic origin. Could be religious intolerance hostility to individuals or groups because of their particular religious beliefs. Could be gender intolerance, bias or discrimination based on gender and gender identity, sexual orientation intolerance, prejudice against individuals based on their particular sexual orientation. Or it could be cultural intolerance Rejection of cultural practices or traditions different from our own. So it can take many forms, but it's prejudice, it's discrimination, it's unnecessary and actually, if we could overcome those intolerances, there probably wouldn't be social injustice at the levels we see. There probably wouldn't be hostility wars based on intolerance often the various revolutions and we ought to learn from history that intolerance is not really a sensible way to go. This discrimination leads to prejudice and it leads to being divisive and that doesn't help anybody. And we ought to think about the language that we use when we speak to others and show respect and argue on the basis of matters related to the problem or the issue that we're trying to solve, rather than any personalization which really manifests itself in intolerance.

Speaker 1: 4:37

It's harmful to everybody. What causes intolerance? Well, it's often ignorance, misunderstanding or lack of knowledge about different groups, different people, a lack of education. It's often fear, fear of the unknown, anxiety about differences, which leads to defensive and then hostile behavior to others, and often past conflicts which have caused harm to people we know lead us to continue to be intolerant. There might also be societal norms and stereotypes which we reinforce through intolerance. The one thing we know about intolerance is it's harmful. It's harmful to everyone. If we look at the effects of intolerance, there can be many, and they can be quite harmful to others, to ourselves. Intolerance creates barriers between different groups and it might lead to segregation. It's social division. It might also lead to mental health issues. Victims of intolerance often suffer from stress, anxiety and depression, and the rise in mental health issues could be a consequence of some form of intolerance experienced by those individuals. It can lead to violence and conflict as intolerance escalates, can become social unrest and it can lead to economic disparities.

Speaker 1: 6:08

Intolerance leads to discrimination that denies people human rights, often education, employment and other opportunities. How do we address intolerance when we identify it? Well, the best way is promoting understanding, and that promotion of understanding comes from education and awareness, awareness of our own personal bias. It can come through legislation enforcing laws that protect people from discrimination and the promotion of equality. It can come through dialogue and communication. Open conversations are the best way to resolve intolerance and, of course, there are community programs to try and overcome intolerance by bringing diverse groups of people together, fostering understanding and generating cooperation. And, of course, when we come to the workplace, we do that all the time, don't we? Because we have teams made up of different types of people with different cultures, different backgrounds, different experiences about life, and they're sat around a table discussing matters with others about the workplace with purpose to solve problems. Then, of course, we can overcome intolerance and prejudice and we can foster understanding. And I'm going to explain why that's important in every aspect of our lives and why we should be aware of intolerance and when we see it, we should tackle it right away.

Speaker 1: 7:44

Now you might be wondering why I'm discussing intolerance when I'm talking about supply chains, supply chain advantage and workplaces. Well, because intolerance, when it manifests itself in the workplace, has far-reaching effects on both the teams and the overall organisation. It's a very negative influence. It can decrease collaboration, lower morale, it raises conflict and it reduces productivity. And those are all things in organizations that we focus on to improve those things, to make the organization better, more efficient and more effective. If we have intolerance, we create divisions within teams, it makes it difficult for team members to work effectively together and it can lead to a lack of cooperation and commitment. And of course, that's the last thing we want. We want the opposite of that. We want cooperation, we want commitment and we want effective teamwork teamwork. We also don't want to have any employees feel uncomfortable and discriminated against in the workplace because they can't do their jobs effectively. If that happens and the overall morale, not just of that individual but of everybody else, might hit the floor, it can lower morale, decrease motivation and engagement and you may have witnessed this in organizations you've been part of. It will increase conflict.

Speaker 1: 9:12

The intolerances lead to frequent conflicts, misunderstandings and people look to misunderstand to raise the level of intolerance. It disrupts workflows and it creates a really hostile working environment and that has impact for productivity. When teams are not collaborative, effective, committed, motivated, they're not cohesive, they tend to be less productive and conflicts increase, missed deadlines, lower quality and very soon that seeps outside of the organisation, to your customers, to suppliers and to everybody that you come into contact with. So it can have a really eroding effect and impact on the organisation and the people in it, as well as the people outside. You'll see things like higher turnover rates. Employees who experience intolerance are more likely to leave the organization and this can lead to higher turnover of employees and that can be costly in terms of recruitment and training and to bring new people in and to begin the process of training people up again to the same standard as the people who left.

Speaker 1: 10:30

If you get too many people leaving, it also damages reputation. If an organization is known for intolerance, it can suffer damage to its reputation and that makes it harder to attract top talent and, of course, people that you might want to make a contribution to the organization. You might also lose customers and clients as your reputation falls and you become known as an intolerance organization. That impact and that damage to reputation can have all kinds of consequences, unforeseen consequences. There might be legal issues because of intolerance, discrimination, lawsuits, employees taking the organization to court for discrimination, unfair dismissal, constructive dismissal and it can be damaging. It also means that people don't cooperate. It's not easy to innovate when that happens.

Speaker 1: 11:31

A diverse and inclusive workplace fosters creativity and innovation, but intolerance stifles it as people become scared. There's a culture of fear in the organisation that raises itself and employees actually don't feel safe to share ideas. They stop speaking because they know that people aren't listening. Organisations do their best to overcome intolerance when they recognise it, or just any form of discrimination. They have training and education programmes to appreciate difference and they establish clear policies to try and eliminate any discriminatory practices. Open communication is key, of course, encouraging an open dialogue about such issues difficult issues about diversity, inclusion and the impact it has on individuals and teams. It's important to maintain this open dialogue and proper support systems need to be in place to help people to contribute their best to the organization. A positive, productive and inclusive environment is much better than a hostile one Stands to reason.

Speaker 1: 12:41

There are some interesting quotes that people have made about tolerance and intolerance. Alexander Solzhenitsyn said it's a universal law. Intolerance is the first sign of an inadequate education. An ill-educated person behaves with arrogant impatience, where a truly profound education breeds humility. It's interesting, isn't it? Arrogant impatience. We've probably witnessed arrogant impatience when we've witnessed intolerance. Quite often people dig their heels in, become stubborn, they're arrogant in their approach and they're impatient. They've stopped listening.

Speaker 1: 13:20

Albert Einstein said it may be possible to fight intolerance, stupidity and fantasism separately, but when they come together, there's no hope. And there was an interesting quote by Karl Popper, famous economist and philosopher, and he said unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society, then the tolerant will be destroyed and the tolerance with them. And we witness this when we see mob rule or we see the rise of intolerance. In a nation's state, it leads to war, and in the workplace it leads to a culture that we don't want to have, a culture of fear, an organization that's on its way to being ineffective, inefficient and missing opportunity. It's as simple as that. The tolerant organization is far more likely to achieve better outcomes than the intolerant organization.

Speaker 1: 14:26

Intolerance, when it occurs in supply chains, can be disruptive. It can cause the poor communication and collaboration problems between businesses, and it can also cause misunderstanding, delays and inefficiencies in the supply chain. Being intolerant can also limit the diversity of suppliers. Companies might avoid working with suppliers from different cultural or social backgrounds because of intolerance, and this can reduce the number of suppliers, the pool from which you select suppliers, which can impact quality, cost and services. Intolerance also leads to conflict between different stakeholders in the supply chain Suppliers, manufacturers and distributors might all have conflicts and disrupt the flow of goods and services, which increases cost. And of course we've already noted intolerance has a negative impact on reputation. All in all, intolerance is a very negative trait to possess and it might all stem from wanting to be right and outright arrogance to prove that you are right.

Speaker 1: 15:36

Intolerance can be the source of many conflicts and, if I take one example in the garment industry, there can be labour right violations in particular factories from large brands, because they see the organisation supplying them as a problem and the culture maybe as a problem, and because of this they become intolerant of a particular supplier, even though many benefits might accrue from that supplier. They take a stance, an attitude of mind that then leads them to violate or ignore human rights in particular contexts. They don't want to know about the problem, so they step away. It can also happen in other circumstances where mining operations enter a country and decide to extract minerals from the ground and there might be local opposition to that, and both companies might then take a particular stance that makes both of them intolerant. Now the extractor becomes intolerant of the indigenous population and ignores what they want from an arrangement which could benefit both parties and they close their mind to opportunities that they have to develop collaboration, cooperation and support for their project. Similarly, the local population might simply take a stance that they want the exploitation to stop. They want the mining operation to stop. They view it as exploitation, even though in many cases it might not be, because it actually helps develop the local economy, pays wages to people and, in fact, can support an increase in living standards.

Speaker 1: 17:26

Now, these are tricky issues, of course, and there are other things going on apart from intolerance. So we have to be careful not to conflate issues or to, in fact, overlook issues which may be more serious to the arrangements taking place, but nevertheless, intolerance is a very damaging trait in such circumstances. Intolerance leads to emotional decisions. It brings out the emotion rather than the rational in human responses, and that may not always be a good thing, because by being emotional there can be overreaction and the intolerance itself can turn to prejudice, and serious prejudice, and bias in decision-making, and that doesn't help anybody.

Speaker 1: 18:16

It leads to blindness Blindness in the sense that you can't really see what the real issues and the real opportunities might be if you become intolerant of an organisation, of a supplier, of a customer, of an arrangement, of a partnership, of a venture or of particular individuals or teams in an organisation. We don't see what's good, we can't see the good in anything because we've become so intolerant and that's a real problem how it can occur in the workplace and how it can seriously damage the supply chain, reputation, individual motivation, the team's collaboration, communication. It's the worst of all worlds. It's erosive, it's corrosive, it's to be avoided and if you want to keep your sight focused on what's really important, avoid intolerance. So if you've learned something, perhaps you can be more tolerant and perhaps you can be a role model for others to be tolerant too.

Speaker 1: 19:37

Well, that's it for this week, and I hope you've learned something new by listening. And don't forget we've got over 250 episodes of the Chain Reaction Podcast, and I'm sure there's something there that you won't have listened to, that you may want to go and listen to, and we've got new episodes coming out all the time. There's some good episodes coming your way in August and September. So look out for the Chain Reaction Podcast. Or, better still, why don't you subscribe? And if you subscribe, you'll be first to know about the new episodes. You'll get it right to your email. You'll be told right away once you subscribe on your favorite platforms. Well, that's it from me. I'll see you next time in the Chain Reaction Podcast. I'm Tony Hines. I'm signing off. See you next time, stay safe Bye. For now, you've been listening to the chain reaction podcast, written, presented and produced by tony hines.