Page 104 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

THOMAS AND CHROBOT-MASON
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opportunities to develop mentoring relationships. Interpersonal discrimi­
nation disadvantages minority and female employees when race and gen­
der are used as cues for distancing, avoidance, and exclusion Lott and
Maluso (1995). Ragins and Sundstrom (1989) argued that women enter
the organization at lower-ranking positions, have less position power, are
highly underrepresented in top ranking positions, and occupy depart­
ments with less influence than men. For all these reasons, women and
minorities lack power in organizations, and we may conclude that career
advancement is unlikely for members of their group. Underrepresentation
may also lead to increased competition for power in organizations. For
example, Ely (1994, 1995) studied the effects of female representation on
professional relationships. She found that in firms with low proportions
of women, sex roles were more stereotypical. Moreover, women in these
situations were less likely to perceive senior women as role models with
legitimate authority and were more likely to perceive competition in rela­
tionships with women peers.
Ibarra (1993,1997) suggests that women and racial minority group mem­
bers lack informal support and resources provided by networking relation­
ships in organizations. Because minorities are highly underrepresented in
organizations, it is difficult to consult with members of one's own group to
seek friendship, support, feedback, and role models. Additionally, Ibarra
(1992) has shown that the homophily bias exists with respect to network
relationships. The preference to interact with people who are similar in
terms of background socioeconomic status, race, attitudes, and so forth, is
known as the homophily bias and has been widely supported in the litera­
ture (Konrad& Gutek, 1987). The implications of this for minority members
in networking relationships is that (a) there are fewer opportunities to es­
tablish homophilous network relationships, (b) minority members must
develop diverse interpersonal networks that include relationships with the
dominant group to provide instrumental support (meeting job demands)
and relationships with minorities for psychosocial support (enhancing the
employee's sense of competence and identity), and (c) minorities view
networking relationships as less beneficial than Whites (Ibarra, 1995). Al­
though Ibarra's work suggested that minority members who develop a
diverse set of network ties are likely to reap professional benefits from
such relationships, there seems to be a limit to such benefits. For example,
Ibarra reported that the network resources reached through women's ties
were relatively poor and that women were more likely to benefit from de­
veloping ties to male colleagues than to female colleagues (Ibarra, 1992).
However, these homophilous ties did serve an important function in the
development of women's careers by providing a source of advice from
others who have faced similar obstacles (Ibarra, 1997).