The social justice question is – “Why are diverse employees having difficulties moving up into senior management position in their places of work?” Perhaps it is better to start the discussion with the following questions – Have you been passed over several times that you have interviewed for senior management position? Have you experienced discrimination in the workplace because of your race, gender, ethnicity, social economic status, sexual orientation or other diversity dimensions?
The Civil Rights Reform Act of (1978) established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as the principle federal agency in fair employment enforcement, charged with enforcing Title VII, the Equal Pay Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, as well as ensuring Equal Employment Opportunity for federal employees (Hanges et al. 2013). “One of the damaging effects of the individualized nature of employment discrimination claims is the failure of the law to address systemic problems of discrimination. The law, therefore, does not act to dismantle the deep-seated structural workplace inequalities that perpetuate discrimination on an individual and group basis” (Lieberwitz, 2018, p, 795). Research about workplace promotion has proven that certain factors help shaped employees perception about it. Factor such as Fear of Success (FoS) syndrome and workplace discrimination. The way workplace promotion is perceived effects how this relationship is mediated by self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation (Sheaffer, 2018). I want viewers to know the causes and effects of discrimination on individual and organization. For example, a commitment to gender activism and social change may enable women to identify and actively resist sexist discrimination, which may ultimately result in less internalization and harmful psychosocial outcomes (Moradi, 2012).
The topic – workplace discrimination, is dear to my heart because I am one of those forgotten employees that struggle to understand why are people from diverse background hardly move into senior management role. I could attribute my conclusion to symbolic interaction theory. This theory claims that facts are based on and directed by symbols (Aksan, 2009). Just because someone speaks English with ascent does not mean that he or she is a doomy or less intelligent. It shows that the diverse candidates have cultural story to tell and more things to offer. Schenk and Holman (1980) states that symbolic interaction is a dynamic theory because according to this theory objects feature meanings within them and individuals formulate their activities in the direction of their evaluation of themselves and also people and objects around them. However, some people have the picture described in the statement above as true though myth. Thomas (1928) says “it is not important whether interpretation is accurate or not”. He believes that fact is based on personal perceptions and changes in time (Berg, 2000).
When I think of social change, what comes to mind is the statement “Easier said than done”. The “easier said” is what I consider as the social issue while “done” is the work of the psychologist. Solution to systemic discrimination is “collective legal actions that could address structural discrimination by demonstrating the patterns of privilege and oppression that maintain inequalities, such as occupational segregation, and the ways in which racial, sexual, and other sorts of stereotypes keep individuals in their place” (Lieberwitz, 2018, p, 795).
This topic is often over looked because I have heard some people say – we have one person of color in management so we have diversity representation. Or we have one female in leadership position so we are good. The ruling class is predominantly white and has been so for decades. This has been the culture and almost makes it look like the norms. The dominating race does not see anything wrong with the workplace being controlled by one race. According to Lawrence A. Hirschfeld (1996), people have a race module an innate and universal propensity for noticing racial differences, arising as early as three years of age. The lefts behind groups want to be included to have a voice at the table where important decisions that affect personnel are discussed. Psychology is the science behind human behavior and why people do things certain ways. It has brought sanity to the crazy workplace environment by creating platform for ethical and moral practices, respecting each other as human beings, and providing guidelines that govern human behavior addressing social justices and social change. The introduction of Civil Right movement gave birth to the Civil Right Act of 1978. The role of psychologist is to bring change to the oppressive condition in the workplace while applying moral principles with the goal of bringing about social change. According to Ridley (1995), failing to combat racism is racism and psychologists take an anti-discriminatory or antiracist stance.
In times of economic hardship and national insecurity, individuals intensify their tendency to scapegoat, and visible people of color are targeted (Greider, 1991; Pinderhughes, 1989; Root, 1990). There are concerns regarding ethnic inequality as it pertains to your social change or social justice topic. According to the United Way of Central Iowa 2016 report on poverty some of the concerns include; systematic ethnic discrimination, economic and wealth marginalization decrease in home ownership – wealth building opportunity, increase poverty in the minority community, increase in crime and lack of safety, decrease in education standard, etc. The United Way called it the “Cliff effect”. “Collective legal actions that could address structural discrimination by demonstrating the patterns of privilege and oppression that maintain inequalities, such as occupational segregation, and the ways in which racial, sexual, and other sorts of stereotypes keep individuals in their place” (Lieberwitz, 2018, p, 795).
Through social movement addressing targeted and oppressed population, psychology has impacted historical bias and oppression by bringing about social change. People of color represent the shadow or the darker and evil side of personality within Jungian psychology (Dobbins & Skillings, 2000). Thus, racism functions as a shadow projection, whereby Whites project onto people of color their disowned aspects, unconsciously victimizing people of color while denying their rights and privileges (Reeves, 2000). The warning against medicalizing racism was explained by David Wellman (2000) as obstructs to social change by supporting the racial status quo and dominant sociopolitical systems. Instead, he argues that racism has to be eradicated through systemic political changes. “Psychologists are expected to act as change agents examining the political and social costs and benefits of their interventions. I think they need to reflect on their own purposes for their actions, consulting with their clients and asking them to participate in the planning and implementation of the psychological work” (Comas-Diaz, 2000, p, 1322). This position is congruent with the requirement to condemn discrimination espoused by the American Psychological Association’s (1993) guidelines for providers working with ethnic, linguistic, and culturally diverse populations.
Diverse people are very few in senior management across all enterprise! Regardless of the reasons or excuses, research has led us to believe that there is a gap. As a Ph.D. I/O psychology scholastic practitioner majoring in Organizational Diversity and Social Change, I consider the gap as workplace discrimination. This purpose of this blog is to discuss the social justice question – Why do diverse employees have difficulties moving up into senior management position in their place of work? I hope to examine and identify the behavior surrounding the issue on both perspectives – company and employee. My goal is to come up with a practical approach and solution to the WHY, and become part of the change one employee or employer at a time. The suggested practical approach will offers effective solutions to Diversity and Inclusion issues in organizations. As policy or requirement, management must incorporate Diversity & Inclusion into employees performance review and make sure there are consequences if the requirement is not met. Employees experience discrimination in the workplace because of their race, gender, ethnicity, social economic status, sexual orientation or other diversity dimensions. “Walden University’s mission of affecting positive social change is defined by a commitment to improve the human and social condition” (Walden, 2018). “One of the damaging effects of the individualized nature of employment discrimination claims is the failure of the law to address systemic problems of discrimination. The law, therefore, does not act to dismantle the deep-seated structural workplace inequalities that perpetuate discrimination on an individual and group basis” (Lieberwitz, 2018, p, 795). Workplace promotion affects how this relationship is mediated by self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation (Sheaffer 2018). Commitment to gender activism and social change may enable women to identify and actively resist sexist discrimination, which may ultimately result in less internalization and harmful psychosocial outcomes (Moradi 2012). I am interested in this topic (workplace discrimination) because of my personal experiences and struggle in my career trying to move into senior management. One of the reasons I can think of is symbolic interaction theory. This theory claims that facts are based on and directed by symbols (Aksan, 2009). Few people in the workplace sees my ascent as a weakness rather than as a competitive advantage.
According to Hargrove (2014) Psychological science was a major component of the civil rights movement and contribution to the development of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Psychological science and academic evidence provided political credibility to King’s movement as African-Americans were fighting for their rights. The development of the Civil Right Act of 1964 was due to factors like the Martin Luther King support for psychology and his use of politics help grew the movement, and eventually changes of policy (Hargrove, 2014). Throughout the civil rights movement and continuing today, psychology has played an important role in the development and implementation of legislation (Hargrove, 2014). The doll study talks about the importance of psychology as the bridge between the civil rights movement and policy that has influenced it.
Three primary theories of social change are (a) functionalism, (b) conflict, and (c) interpretive (or symbolic interactionism). Some companies preach the good news about Equal Opportunity (EO) but never practice it. The Civil Right Act of 1964 gave birth to Equal Opportunity law in the America. The goal was to maintain the equilibrium of the system. Symbolic interaction is one of many theories in social sciences and it claims that facts are based on and directed by symbols whether it is accurate or not (Thomas, 1928). Another social change theory is conflict and the key change factor includes competition over lack of or limited resources, and unequal access to resources experienced by diverse team members. Gregory (2014) explained that the laws include other forms of discrimination not just based on race but ethnicity, gender, age, and sexual orientation. Also, Gregory described the advantages of Civil Right law in today’s work environment as positive attitude, respectful and safe work environment. According to article on social change retrieved from Fund for Southern Communities, Social change movement is a byproduct of a carefully organized theme by a group of people inspired and driven by human energy. “Diversity is the inclusion of all groups at all levels in an organization or group or country” (Lussier, 2016, p, 375). “The U.S. workplace has become more multicultural diverse partly because of the Civil Right Acts that outlawed all forms of employment discrimination which resulted in a more racially and ethnically mixed population in the workplace and community” (Lussier, 2016, p, 375). Social movement continues to take place in America. Recent movement such as #MeToo, #IcantBreadth, “Black Lives Matter” is a continuation of the Civil Right Acts. There are still some struggles in the area of promoting people of color into senior management. I believe the continued impact will create more and better opportunity for the generation after us.
According to Belle (2003) “Discrimination maintains inequalities. Economic inequalities within societies are associated with reduced life expectancy and a variety of negative physical health outcomes”. According to the Executive Summary “One Economy” put together by the United Way of Central Iowa, One Economy was about building opportunity for all, it came from the “The State of Blacks in Polk Country” seminar held April 2017. The summary included report on “Racial Economic Disparities in Polk County”. It was described as “Structural racism and the evidential wealth disparities of the United States are reflected in Iowa and its communities including Polk Country”. While the mental health impact of poverty is documented and largely understood, the implications of inequality and discrimination are less well known (Belle, 2003). “One of the five values that should be promoted by psychology to live up to its moral obligation is – care and compassion for the physical and emotional well-being of others” (Lefkowitz, 2003, P, 217).
There are concerns regarding ethnic inequality in relations to my social change topic. According to the United Way of Central Iowa 2016 report on poverty some of the concerns include; systematic ethnic discrimination, economic and wealth marginalization decrease in home ownership – wealth building opportunity, increase poverty in the minority community, increase in crime and lack of safety, decrease in education standard, etc. The United Way called it the “Cliff effect”. “Collective legal actions that could address structural discrimination by demonstrating the patterns of privilege and oppression that maintain inequalities, such as occupational segregation, and the ways in which racial, sexual, and other sorts of stereotypes keep individuals in their place” (Lieberwitz, 2018, p, 795). Workplace discrimination created lack of diversity in senior management. It is the reason why diverse team members have difficulties moving up into senior management position in their place of work. The ruling class is predominantly white and has been so for decades. This has been the culture and almost makes it look like the norms. The dominating race does not see anything wrong with the workplace being controlled by one race. According to Lawrence A. Hirschfeld (1996), people have a race module an innate and universal propensity for noticing racial differences, arising as early as three years of age. The lefts behind groups want to have a voice at the table where important decisions that affect personnel are made. Psychology is the science behind human behavior and why people do things certain ways. It brought sanity to the crazy workplace environment by creating platform for ethical and moral practices, respecting each other as human beings, and providing guidelines that govern human behavior addressing social justices and social change. According to Ridley (1995), failing to combat racism is racism and psychologists take an anti-discriminatory or antiracist stance. People of color represent the shadow or the darker and evil side of personality within Jungian psychology (Dobbins & Skillings, 2000). According to Reeves (2000), racism functions as a shadow projection, whereby Whites project onto people of color their disowned aspects, unconsciously victimizing people of color while denying their rights and privileges. The warning against medicalizing racism was explained by David Wellman (2000) as obstructs to social change by supporting the racial status quo and dominant sociopolitical systems. Instead, he argues that racism has to be eradicated through systemic political changes.
“Psychologists act as change agents, examining the political and social costs and benefits of their interventions. I think they need to reflect on their own purposes for their actions, consulting with their clients and asking them to participate in the planning and implementation of the psychological work” (Comas-Diaz, 2000, p, 1322). This will provide the answer to the “WHY” and will help change mindsets, and creates an inclusive workforce that will provide the pool of diverse employees that could be promoted into senior leadership.
References:
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