Redskin Offense Isn’t So Bad After All
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Despite what you might have thought, most American Indians aren’t bothered because Washington’s football team is named the Redskins.

In polling 768 Indians from every state except Alaska and Hawaii, the University of Pennsylvania’s National Annenberg Election Survey found that 90 percent considered the team’s name to be acceptable. Many sports teams, especially collegiate ones, have shifted away from nicknames that might come across as culturally insensitive.

As in many issues in politics and around the workplace, our perception can be fooled because of a relatively apathetic majority. If a few people make noise about an issue, it’s easy for outsiders to assume that most people in the group feel that way.

In truth, a lot of the people just might not care enough to raise an issue either way. The same sorts of things can happen with anything from mild harassment to labor unions.

Suppose a man has a picture of a swimsuit model at his desk and 10 women walk past; nine shrug and one is offended. If she speaks up, it’s doubtful any of the nine will challenge her; it’s not as if they love the picture — just that they don’t care enough to get involved either way.

With labor unions, if leadership targets a certain issue, rank-and-filers might shy away from challenging it, even if they disagree. They don’t want to appear disloyal.

What does this mean for managers? If you need to know how people feel, poll them privately. You might find that most disagree with the vocal few.

On the other hand, even 10 percent can be a significant number. If the swimsuit picture creates a hostile environment for 10 percent of your workers, it’s certainly still significant enough to merit action.