Page 126 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

5. ORGANIZATIONAL-LEVEL DISCRIMINATION
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greater specialization of labor, a proliferation of titles, narrow spans of con­
trol, and lengthy chains of command. In addition to facilitating segregation,
these characteristics decrease discretion by making it more likely that be­
haviors are closely monitored (Kelley, 1993). Deviations from the norms
of the dominant coalition may be less acceptable and nonmajority group
members' diverse approaches to work tasks may be less likely to be en­
couraged (Oerton, 1994). The existence of a formal diversity or EEO officer
also has implications for discrimination. The diversity officer has an im­
portant role in reengineering HR systems to avoid discriminating against
those who do not "fit" (Arvey et al., 1996). When the diversity/EEO officer
is highly paid relative to other administrators, the officer is seen as power­
ful within the organization and employees perceive that the organization
is committed to eliminating discrimination (Morrison & Von Glinow, 1990;
Perry et al., 1994).
Informal Structure The patterns of interpersonal relationships in organi­
zations also play an important role in organizational discrimination. Racial
minorities often lack access to informal social networks in organizations
because participation in informal groups is influenced by sociocultural
similarity or "homophily" (Ibarra, 1993). Similarly, women tend to belong
to gender-segregated networks within organizations (Brass, 1985). The re­
sult of segregated networks is that women and racial minorities tend to
be less central to the networks of the dominant coalition and hence re­
ceive fewer favorable organizational outcomes such as access to informa­
tion about jobs, organizational status, and mobility (Ragins & Sundstrom,
1989; Seidel, Polzer, & Stewart, 2000). Moreover, because of the fact that
most high-ranking positions in organizations are still held by White males,
women and racial minorities are at a disadvantage when it comes to find­
ing a mentor who can offer instrumental or career-related support and
access (Burke, McKeen, & McKenna, 1993; Tsui & O'Reilly, 1989; Whitely,
Dougherty, & Dreher, 1991). When women and racial minorities do find
mentors, the mentor relationships tend to provide a narrower range of ben­
efits and are more difficult to manage successfully (Kram, 1985; Thomas,
1993).

Organizational Culture

Traditional approaches to eliminating discrimination have typically
focused on recruiting and hiring increased numbers of nontraditional
employees (Gottfredson, 1992; Jackson, 1992), but have stopped short of
emphasizing the elimination of more subtle forms of discrimination in
organizations, such as in an organization's basic assumptions and values,
or culture (Carnevale & Stone, 1995; Triandis, Kurowski, & Gelfand, 1994).