Page 154 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

6. RACE COMPOSITION
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on race helps ensure that Black employees continue in the same career paths
and ladders as those who have come before them. Unfortunately, computer
simulations of the impact of these types of decisions have shown that even
miniscule differences at the lower levels of an organization's hierarchy can
produce wide disparity at the top levels (Martell, Lane, & Emrich, 1996).
The above evidence suggests that even if Blacks are hired by firms in rela­
tively large numbers (for example, in response to pressure to comply with
Affirmative Action or Equal Employment Opportunity directives), Black-
White disparities often emerge in other areas such as pay, placement, and
opportunities to advance (Mitra, 1999).
Finally, there is some evidence of Black-White differences in informal
day-to-day interaction in the workplace. Research has indicated that Black
employees often face a less welcoming workplace than Whites that may
include fewer mentors to sponsor and guide them, greater social isola­
tion from important informal networks (Reskin, 1998), greater supervi­
sory control of their work (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999), and more everyday
incidents of devaluation and exclusion (Deitch et al., 2002; Essed, 1991).
Compared to their White counterparts, Blacks in the workplace more often
hold what Kanter (1977) has called "token" status, where they are treated
like symbols or representatives of a category rather than as individuals.
Having token status can result in being held to a different or higher stan­
dard (Cox & Nkomo, 1986). So, for example, Black employees might be
evaluated not only on how well they perform their job, but also on how
well they represent (or do not represent) their minority category (Kanter,
1977).
We have offered the above evidence of Black-White disparities in the
American labor market and workplace because, by and large, a perusal of
the organizational literature might lead one to think that organizations are
largely race neutral (Brief, 1998; Cox & Nkomo, 1990). Organizations are
not race neutral; Blacks face less chance of being hired as well as, once in
the door, lower income, prestige, opportunity and increased performance
pressure. Indeed:

Despite protestations to the contrary, there is widespread and convincing evi­
dence that [minority group members] face a rather daunting situation in the
labor market. The level of stress this situation is likely to produce may even
interfere with the way in which they perform their jobs and result in things
like higher levels of job alienation and less commitment to their employers
(Sidanius & Pratto, 1999, p. 175).
It is for these reasons that we feel the need and the responsibility to bet­
ter understand how race composition in organizations is impacted by the
larger organizational environment.