Cultivating Racial Harmony in the Workplace
Natasha Hamlin, MS, LMFT, is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the state of California. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Pepperdine University, and a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Fuller Theological Seminary, where she is currently working on her Doctorate Degree. Natasha has experience providing learning and education for organizational systems. In addition to her background in psychology, she also has experience in the domains of wellness, athletics, DE&I, and performance.
Micah Dalton is part of the Summer 2022 Cohort. He plans on pursuing a degree in Psychology. His research interest falls in the domains of multicultural competence, diversity, and inclusion.
The workplace provides an opportunity for people to work with others from various ethnic and racial backgrounds. The workplace also provides space for workers to express their cultural identities. However, employees do not leave their biases and stereotypes at the door when they come to work. These biases and stereotypes influence peer relationships and interpersonal connection between supervisors, colleagues, and direct reports. Stereotypes and associated negative attitudes can be formed and triggered by unrecognized processes that place people into categories based on information like their race and sex. This then means that when evaluating, individuals may rely on stereotypic information associated with sex or race to make judgements rather than individual information about the employee themself. This process makes it difficult to decrease discrimination in the workplace, considering the formation of negative interpersonal behaviors follows the labeling and stereotyping of racial minorities (McCord et al., 2018). Discrimination, not only creates a hostile work environment, but it can also lead to economic loss for companies.
According to the SHRM Blue Ribbon Commission Issues Report, absenteeism due to unfair treatment based on race, cost US companies 54.1 billion dollars in the last year, and turnover due to unfair treatment based on race cost American companies 171.9 billion dollars in the last five years (SHRM, 2021). Therefore, it is necessary for supervisors, managers, and senior leaders of organizations to become better informed and to learn skills that will assist them in navigating their supervisory relationships with people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds.
It’s important to discuss the larger context around discussions of race in a workplace environment. Discussions of ethnic and racial identity have been extremely important in the context of recent events like the Black Lives Matter Movement, though they have also permeated through key cultural reckonings like the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement. It’s also important to note that though ethnicity itself is not a choice, the manner in which an individual chooses to express their ethnicity is a choice. Ethnic identity is defined as “one’s sense of belonging to an ethnic group and the part of one’s thinking, perceptions, feelings, and behavior that is due to ethnic group membership” (Rotheram & Phinney, 1997).
The final important distinction when discussing issues of race in the workplace is the stark difference between a racially integrated workplace and a racially harmonious one. Equivocating the two is a tremendous mistake, and it effectively treats all people of color as the same and overlooks the history of racist behavior inside and outside of all races. A racially integrated workplace is one that simply displays an appropriate diversity of all races in all positions throughout the company, and a racially harmonious workplace is one that values all inputs with a focus on communication, understanding and cooperation throughout all races, and ethnic groups (Hernandez, 2010).
So how can a company or organization create a racially harmonious workplace? While we cannot hope to fully answer this question in one article, we will provide practical steps that supervisors can take in order to help create a racially harmonious workplace. Employees can promote interdependence through providing spaces to learn and become educated on multicultural competence (Williams, 2021). These kinds of trainings are used by organizations to prepare individuals for working and thriving within multicultural settings (Thomas, Phillips, & Brown, 1998). While engaging in these trainings, supervisors should examine their own identity as well (Thomas, 1996) and participate alongside the team.
In addition to understanding their own identity, supervisors need to be aware of the biases and stereotypes they hold. Through multicultural competence trainings, a supervisor can become more knowledgeable about their biases and stereotypes. Throughout these trainings, the supervisors should develop higher levels of cultural consciousness, which would help facilitate diversity in and out of work settings (Thomas, 1996). Another practical step that higher-ups in an organization can take to help create a racially harmonious workplace is to build active mentoring opportunities for under-represented groups, while also emphasizing equal opportunities for all employees (Paustian-Underdahl et al., 2017). One final way that businesses can most effectively facilitate racial harmony is through the establishment of a transparent system, one that creates a fair system of rewards that benefit employees talent and effort without bias towards race. As a result, this improves employee well-being, in-role expectations, and achievement of certain performance goals (Hopler, 2021).
Biases and Racial Stereotypes negatively affects companies on large scales, through issues like lowered morale and absenteeism. Discussions around race and ethnic identity are rightfully unavoidable in some situations, which can easily create conflict in the workplace. While there’s no fix as good as a permanently established welcoming and accepting staff, steps like instituting cross cultural-trainings, identifying supervisor biases, establishing mentoring programs for under-represented groups, and rewarding employee talent without bias can create a better system for racial harmony in the workplace. It’s important to work to provide the best environment for cultivating positive and beneficial racial and ethnic discussion to maximize healthy cultural identities and employee productivity.
References
Thomas, K. M. (1996). Psychological privilege and ethnocentrism as barriers to effective cross cultural adjustment and intercultural interactions. Leadership Quarterly, 7, 215-228.
Paustian-Underdahl, S.C., King, E.B., Rogelberg, S.G., Kulich, C. and Gentry, W.A. (2017), Perceptions of supervisor support: Resolving paradoxical patterns across gender and race. J Occup Organ Psychol, 90: 436-457. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12179
SHRM. (2021). The Cost of Racial Injustice. https://shrm.org/ResourcesAndTools/tools-and-samples/toolkits/Documents/TFAW21_CostOfInjustice.pdf
Hopler, W. (2021, July 21). Racial harmony and well-being: Creating healthier relations - center for the advancement of well. Center for the Advancement of Well-Being. Retrieved July 12, 2022, from https://wellbeing.gmu.edu/racial-harmony-and-well-being-creating-healthier-relations/
McCord, M. A., Joseph, D. L., Dhanani, L. Y., & Beus, J. M. (2018). A meta-analysis of sex and race differences in perceived workplace mistreatment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103(2), 137–163. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000250
Thomas, K. M., Phillips, L. D., & Brown, S. (1998). Redefining Race in the Workplace: Insights from Ethnic Identity Theory. Journal of Black Psychology, 24(1), 76–92. https://doi.org/10.1177/00957984980241006
Rotheram, M.J., & Phinney, J.S. (1997). Introduction: Definitions and perspectives in the study of children’s ethnic socialization. In J.S. Phinney & M.J Rotheram (Eds.), Children’s ethnic socialization: Pluralism and development (pp. 10-28). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Tanya K. Hernandez, Employment Discrimination in the Ethnically Diverse Workplace, 49 Judges' J. 33 (2010). https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/faculty_scholarship/14