"Minority Management: Why it Remains Untapped"
Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Carolyn Buck Luce, Cornel West
Harvard Business Review, November 2005
A feature in the Harvard Business Review examines why leadership skills among minority workers remain largely untapped. Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Carolyn Buck Luce and Cornel West collected information from several surveys of minority workers nationwide about the challenges for females and minority leaders. They received information from the Center for Work-Life Policy (performed 2004) and the survey performed by Unilever, General Electric and Time Warner (performed 2005). The authors also interviewed minority workers in leadership positions.
Examination of the surveys in conjunction with the authors’ research found that minority workers are much more likely than white males to be involved in leadership programs in their communities that provide relevant experience, but they want employers to be aware of it. Twenty-five percent of educated African American female professionals are active in religious activities in their communities and 41 percent are active in leadership programs compared to 16 percent and 32 percent of white men, respectively. Many minorities surveyed indicated their elective leadership in their personal lives made them feel “different” and were afraid that religious or specific program involvement would provide employers with information to use against them, specifically that they would reinforce racist stereotypes. Minority employees also worry that their style of speaking or hand gestures hinder their image as capable leaders, and 19 percent of minority women think their employers are biased against them and consider quitting.
Women feel their lives and responsibilities outside of work are invisible to their companies, with 50 percent reporting that they feel their employers do not understand their roles outside of the workplace. A specific problem cited by many minority employers, specifically women, is the need to care for members of their extended families. Up to 75 percent of people surveyed wanted help paying for health insurance for members of their extended families, with 72 percent of minority women voicing a significant need for a few days of annual leave to help care for members of their extended families.
The solution lies in making minority workers feel safe and understood, both in the form of a “safe harbor” in the workplace and with mentors. The study found that minority workers were more likely to discuss their life outside of work with more experienced employees with similar backgrounds, or anonymously, in the form of online message boards or chat rooms. Employers that recognize challenges experienced by a diverse workforce are more likely to have happy employees.
