Reflection paper
lbazz
africanamericanpt2.pptxAfrican-Americans Organizations and Racial Balance
Dimensions of Workplace Diversity
Organizations and Racial Balance
Diversity may be a priority in many US companies, yet few African Americans at upper management and executive levels
Despite best intentions, many fail to achieve racial balance at top levels
Revolving doors of talented but frustrated and angry minorities leaving
Minorities stuck in middle management
Career Patterns
Glass Ceiling –
begins even at lower levels of management; not just at executive levels
Career Patterns
Minorities at Executive Levels often in “racialized” positions
Community relations (i.e., urban, inner city)
Equal Employment Opportunity (e.g., diversity officer)
Ethnic Markets
Career Patterns
David A. Thomas (HBR article)
Studied career paths of minority and white professionals at 3 different US organizations
Consistency in results across 3 organizations
Differences in career patterns for white compared to minority employees
Career Patterns
Two Major Tournaments for Top Jobs:
1. White Executives – sorted out early; with only the most promising being put on fast track
2. Black Executives – inched along slowly at first, took longer to prove themselves; screening process for executive levels occurs later
Career Patterns
Blacks who eventually became executives, even though passed over in early career
Avoided loss of motivation
Avoided declines in performance
What kept them motivated and on track?
Common thread was mentors
Career Patterns
The minority executives were not on an obvious fast track
Influential mentors invested in them
Helped them keep performance and motivation at high levels
Career Patterns
Minorities who became executives despite slow start:
Personal growth was important
Learning new skills was rewarding
Moved toward work they liked
Enthusiastic about work itself
Gained 3 Cs – confidence, competence, credibility
Career Patterns
Those who plateaued
Decisions based on fast track opportunities instead of work itself (extrinsic versus intrinsic motivation)
Tended to take promotions that offered little in terms of increased responsibility
Career Patterns
Key difference between minority middle managers and minority executives:
Responsibilities acquired with each promotion
Same number of promotions to middle management
Those who rose to exec levels were given more responsibility at each promotion
Career Patterns
Minority executives:
Success due to immediate bosses, other supervisors, and peers; helped them develop professionally
Important to anyone rising in organization
Distinguishing feature of minority execs was breadth and depth of these relationships
Established at least one key developmental relationship within first 3 years in organization
Career Patterns
Mentors provided critical support:
Challenging assignments
High trust positions – confidence and credibility
Crucial career advice
Powerful sponsors
Protected proteges
Career Patterns
Difficult for either white or minority executives to make it without advocacy of immediate boss or at least one key sponsor or mentor
Minority executives –
Higher proportion of developmental relationships with corporate elites
Built long term relationships with diverse set of people – some from own racial group and some from other groups
Minorities who plateaued tended to have mentors of own race only or white mentors only, not a mix
Mentoring Challenges
Minorities with closer, fuller developmental relationships enjoyed more career success than those who did not
Mentors dual role
Coach
Counselor
Mentoring Challenges
Cross Race Issues
Negative Stereotypes
Identification and Role Modeling
Public Scrutiny
Peer Resentment
Avoidance (protective hesitation)
Network Management
Network should be heterogeneous
Functional diversity
Different levels and positions
Demographically mixed in race, gender, age, culture
| This Week in Psychological Science |
| The Teddy-Bear Effect: Does Having a Baby Face Benefit Black Chief Executive Officers? Robert W. Livingston and Nicholas A. Pearce Stigmatized or minority groups are often hindered from reaching the highest levels of power and status by the dominant group's perception that members of such groups are threatening. A new study of Black and White Fortune 500 CEOs suggests that exceptional members of stigmatized groups who do ascend to the top of the corporate ladder do so with the help of "disarming mechanisms"--including having an innocent, sensitive, and trustworthy appearance--that may put majority-group members at ease. Black CEOs were significantly more "baby-faced" on average than White CEOs and were judged as warmer; baby-faced Black CEOs also led more prestigious companies and earned higher salaries than did more mature-faced Black CEOs. |
September 22, 2009
