Non-White or female bosses who push diversity are judged negatively by their peers and managers

By Alex Fradera As the first cohort of women leaders began pushing up against the glass ceiling, many hoped it would shatter… but it only cracked. Today fewer than 10 per cent of Fortune 500 companies are led by people from ethnic minority groups and women combined, and although the reasons are manifold, blame has been laid at the feet of the early pioneers themselves. The accusation is that successful people from underrepresented groups act as gatekeepers, keeping out others to maintain their special status and to identify with the dominant majority (the most famous example being the Queen Bee syndrome where a female boss undermines other women). But new research from the Academy of Management Journal suggests a different and very understandable reason that minority members are cautious to show enthusiasm for increasing diversity – because they know it could spell disaster for their own career if they did. The international team headed by David Hekman of the University of Colorado recruited 350 American executives from a range of organisations: one in ten of them were non-White and about 30 per cent were women. The executives’ bosses and roughly three of their peers rated them in terms of their competence and performance, including readiness to be promoted, and their diversity-valuing behaviour, an example being “values working with a diverse group of people”. This last measure of “promoting diversity” is considered important in most major organisations, ...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Gender leadership Occupational Race Social Source Type: blogs