Page 171 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

BRIEF, BUTZ, DEITCH
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of aggregating individual responses to measures of racial attitudes up to
the organization level of analysis and problems of conducting statistical
analyses appropriately sensitive to the cross-level inferences required. Ig­
noring the methodological issues not raised, the picture we have painted
likely would be seen as bleak by virtually any social scientist, be he or she
an economist, psychologist, or sociologist.
The research we are calling for is tough stuff but absolutely necessary
and achievable, either in more piecemeal or comprehensive ways. Early
on in this chapter, it was demonstrated clearly that Blacks still have not
been integrated fully into America's work organizations, and, we, with the
tools available for doing the job, have an obligation to produce knowledge
that can fuel solutions to this continuing economic and social dilemma
(Brief & Hayes, 1997). Tackling the problem piecemeal obviously is the
most reasonable way to proceed, but, no matter what, we see the need for
sampling organizations-a research tactic not often used by organizational
psychologists. An attractive, more holistic model for doing so is available:
the National Organization Study (NOS) (e.g., Kalleberg et al., 1996; Spaeth
& O'Rourke, 1996). The NOS, primarily funded by the National Science
Foundation, consists of information obtained from a nationally represen­
tative sample of organizations. This information pertains to "multiple lev­
els of the work establishment, the larger organizational setting (if any)
of which it is a part, and the work experiences of an employee within
it" (Kalleberg et al., 1996, p. 18). Research psychologists, with their bent
for multiple-item measures and relatively large samples at the individual
level of analysis, may not find the NOS especially attractive. That is not
the point. What is important is that the NOS provides an excellent, large-
scale example of a study that entailed sampling many organizations and
incorporating measures of organizational and individual characteristics.
It also is noteworthy that the NOS was funded by the United States gov­
ernment. It appears desirable that organizational psychologists put their
heads together (probably with organizational sociologists) to design the
sort of studies that will allow one to understand better the how and why
of race composition as a reflection of an organization's environment. Once
designed, the federal government ought to be lobbied to support such
research.
We would like to add another practical note, this one aimed at managers
and those who consult to them on diversity issues. If we are right about
the importance of environments, organizational leaders need to recognize
that the resources they expend on improving race relations at work should
be coupled with like expenditures within the communities where their
employees live. Again, "employees come to the organization with heavy
cultural and social baggage" (Scott, 1987, p. 19), and, it would be naive to