Building Mutual Respect

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Building Mutual Respect
2
Overview

• What are the dimensions of respect?
• What are the values of tolerance and
  understanding?
• How can you improve group effectiveness?

3
Quick Write

• Have you ever felt that someone had judged you
  based on your appearance or something you did
  rather than on whats inside you?
• Write five sentences about how
• that made you feel
• Share your reflection with
• several classmates

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Dimensions of Respect

• Respect is the attention, regard, and
  consideration given to people and their rights,
  property, and ideas
• Respect means accepting differences
• You earn other peoples respect on the basis of
  your words and actions

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Dimensions of Respect

• Americans believe that every human being has
  basic, inherent value and rights
• You are obliged to respect others, and they are
  obliged to respect you

Graphic available at http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki
/ImageConstitution_Pg1of4_AC.jpg
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Dimensions of Respect

• Mutual respect is the two-way relationship that
  develops between people or members of groups
  after the lines of communication are open and
  trust develops

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Dimensions of Respect

• People develop respect for others when they feel
  that others respect their personal dignity
• Personal dignity is the internal strength that
  helps people feel connected, worthwhile, and
  valued
• A lack of respect breaks down personal dignity

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Ways of Showing Respect

• On the personal level, one of the easiest ways to
  show respect is simply to be courteous. Say
• Please when you ask for something
• Thank you when you receive something
• Excuse me if you accidentally bump into someone
• Yes (or no) sir or Yes (or no) maam to
  adults
• Good morning or Good afternoon, especially to
  people older than you are

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Ways of Showing Respect

• Other examples of personal respect include
• Holding the door for an elderly person or a child
• Standing when an older person enters the room
• Not interrupting people
• Taking off your hat or cap when youre indoors
• Taking off a glove before you shake someones
  hand
• Removing your sunglasses before speaking to
  someone

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Ways of Showing Respect

• Some other ways to show respect on a professional
  basis include
• Dealing with people in a cooperative way
• Communicating clearly
• Listening actively
• Giving constructive feedback

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Ways of Showing Respect

• Some more ways to show respect on a professional
  basis include
• Being flexible
• Creating opportunities to teach and learn
• Sharing behaviors and feelings
• Viewing situations as win-win scenarios
• Using inclusive language (saying we instead of
  you or they)

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Tolerance

• Tolerance is respecting peoples differences and
  values
• You might compare tolerance and mutual respect
  with a two-way street
• The traffic moves both ways
• You show tolerance for others and they show
  tolerance for you
• But you might encounter barriers on this street

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Tolerance

• Among the barriers to tolerance and mutual
  respect are
• Prejudice
• Discrimination
• A failure to value diversity

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Prejudice

• Prejudice is an unfair opinion or judgment of a
  person or a group of people
• Prejudice shuts down critical thinking
• You assume you have a person or situation figured
  out in advance
• This leads you to make blanket assumptions about
  an entire group of people rather than looking at
  them as individuals

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Reasons for Prejudice

• People arent born with prejudice any more than
  they are born with the ability to read
• Prejudice is learned
• You pick it up from the people around you and
  from the messages society sends

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Reasons for Prejudice

• Fearpeople are afraid of people, ideas, and
  cultures that are different from their own
• A groups belief that it is better than or
  superior to other groups
• Misunderstandingan innocent gesture or word in
  one culture can be an insult in another
• Historyyou had a bad experience with a member of
  another group, then blame all members of that
  group

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Discrimination

• One danger of prejudice is that it leads to
  discrimination
• Discrimination is unfair treatment based on
  prejudice against a certain group
• If someone says youre discriminatory in your
  attitudes, watch out
• You might be judging people on the basis of
  stereotypes

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Discrimination and Stereotypes

• A stereotype is an idea or concept based on
  oversimplified assumptions or opinions, rather
  than on facts
• For instance, if you hear a friend just bought a
  pit bull, you might immediately assume that its
  a vicious dog
• If another friend bought a kitten, you might
  assume it was a cuddly little creature
• Both assumptions are based on stereotypes. Are
  all pit bulls vicious? Are all kittens cuddly?

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Diversity

• Diversity means variation or difference
• When someone says that American society values
  diversity, that means
• Americans encourage variety
• Americans live in a society that respects
  differences among people
• But if you read the headlines or watch the news,
  you realize that respect for diversity is a work
  in progress

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Religious Respect

• Nowhere is tolerance more important than in
  matters of religion
• Demonstrating religious respect is honoring the
  right of other people to hold their own personal
  beliefs
• It is not condoning or condemning, but just
  respecting, their rights

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Gender Stereotypes

• Gender stereotypes are limited ways of thinking
  about people on the basis of whether they are
  male or female. Gender stereotypes
• cover more than just the observable physical
  differences between males and females
• include cultural, social, psychological, and
  behavioral traits

Graphic courtesy of Clipart.com
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Gender Stereotypes

• Gender stereotypes have at least two big
  problems
• First, like prejudices, gender stereotypes halt
  the thinking process. They deal with people on
  the basis of false assumptions or misleading
  mental images
• Second, gender stereotypes make clear
  communication difficult, if not impossible

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How Can You Avoid Stereotyping People by Gender?

• Be sensitive to language that might contain
  gender stereotypes
• Dont go with your gut reactionits likely to be
  based on preconceptions
• Take time to think
• Avoid using hurtful words or expressions
• Dont fall victim to peer pressure
• View everyone as equals

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Demonstrating Tolerance

• Overcoming prejudice and discrimination begins
  with each individual
• Ask yourself Am I treating them the way I would
  want them to treat me?
• How would you feel if others made fun of your
  skin color, ethnic background, hair color,
  religion, or the region you are from?

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Demonstrating Tolerance

• How would you feel if you were denied a place on
  the team, an education, a job, or an opportunity,
  simply because someone decided you belonged to
  the wrong group?
• How would you feel if others refused to be
  friends with you, to eat in the school cafeteria
  with you, or to live in the same neighborhood
  with you because of prejudice?

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Improving Group Effectiveness

• Establishing mutual respect, being tolerant, and
  valuing diversity are important
• For each person on an individual level
• Equally important at the group or organization
  level
• Work towards common goals

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Benefits of Accepting Differences

• If a group or team is to function effectively,
  its members must accept each others differences
• The best team is a unified whole
• No team can be whole while any of its members
  holds assumptions, false impressions, and
  stereotypes about fellow team members

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Benefits of Accepting Differences

• Communication is key to breaking down the
  barriers and accepting others differences
• A diverse group of people can usually come up
  with much better solutions than can a group of
  people who all think the same
• But to come up with the best solutions, members
  must trust and listen to each other
• They must see diversity as a strength

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Evaluating and Measuring Group Effectiveness

• The first step is to establish clear goals
• The second is to decide whether the group is
  meeting those goals
• Constantly seeking a measure of resultsor
  movement toward resultsis a necessary part of
  team building

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Some Tips for Greater Group Effectiveness

• Forgive mistakes
• Hold members accountable
• Foster trust and commitment
• Dont make excuses
• Make the hard decisions
• Seek concrete answers and solutions
• Respect differences
• Constantly strive toward mutual respect

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Review

• Respect is the attention, regard, and
  consideration given to people and their rights,
  property, and ideas
• Mutual respect is the two-way relationship that
  develops between people or members of groups
  after the lines of communication are open and
  trust develops
• On the personal level, one of the easiest ways to
  show respect is simply to be courteous

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Review

• Tolerance is respecting peoples differences and
  values
• People arent born with prejudice any more than
  they are born with the ability to read
• Prejudice is learned
• One danger of prejudice is that it leads to
  discrimination

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Review

• Overcoming prejudice and discrimination begins
  with each individual
• No team can be whole while any of its members
  holds assumptions, false impressions, and
  stereotypes about fellow team members
• Communication is the key to breaking down the
  barriers and accepting others differences

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Summary

• What are the dimensions of respect?
• What are the values of tolerance and
  understanding?
• How can you improve group effectiveness?

35
Next

• Donebuilding mutual respect
• Nextcommon vision

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