Page 125 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

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Accounting Office, 2002), where women held a share of all management
jobs proportionate to their share of the industry workforce in only half of
the industries studied. These statistics are unsettling when one considers
that women and minorities constituted 63% of the private U.S. labor force
in 2001 (USEEOC, 2001), and that the projected rates of participation in the
labor force are expected to grow three to six times as fast for racial minor­
ity groups than for White non-Hispanics (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,
1999).
Structural integration, or diverse representation at senior management
levels, is an important consideration not only because it is a symptom of
the level of discrimination in an organization (Bennet, 2002; James, 2000)
but also because it is an antecedent of further discrimination. Segregation
perpetuates itself because of "homosocial reproduction," in which indi­
viduals hire and promote those who are like themselves, thereby resulting
in fewer opportunities for individuals who are different from the people
in power (Kanter, 1977; Perry et al., 1994; Ragins & Sundstrom, 1989). Fur­
thermore, a lack of diverse representation at high levels makes it more
likely that the organizational culture is monolithic (Cox, 1994), or defined
by cultural norms associated with White, heterosexual, able-bodied males
who have access to powerful others (i.e., the dominant coalition; Brass,
1985). In such organizations, nontraditional employees often feel pressure
to assimilate rather than being free to be themselves. Moreover, organi­
zations that have diverse representation at the top and throughout the
organization are less likely to have employees who rely on stereotypes in
their social interactions (Perry et al., 1994). This is based on the notion that
such employees are able to develop more idiosyncratic schemas for other
individuals because of a balanced exposure to diverse people. Of course,
increasing representation above the glass ceiling is not the only goal for
organizations seeking to reduce discrimination; building a critical mass of
diverse workers throughout the organization can also be an effective de­
terrent to discrimination (Arvey, Azevedo, Ostgaard, & Raghuram, 1996).
In addition to the structural integration of racial minorities throughout
an organization, other aspects of organizational structure relate to discrim­
ination within organizations. Bureaucratic organizations characterized by
formal job ladders tend to perpetuate gender discrimination because job
ladders are typically segregated by gender, with women's ladders offering
fewer opportunities, less visibility, and lower pay (Perry et al., 1994). Large
companies may have greater levels of discrimination because of stable and
unchanging employment conditions, whereas small, growing companies
hire and promote with greater frequency and are in a better position to
reduce access discrimination and reshape the demographic composition
of their workforces (Arvey et al., 1996). Large companies also tend to have