Tuesday, November 14, 2006
[IWS] ILR IMPACT BRIEFS: DIVERSITY AT WORK: CROSS-RACIAL BONDS ON THE JOB [October 2006]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
ILR Impact Briefs
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/impactbrief/
The Impact Brief series highlights the research and project based work conducted by ILR faculty that is relevant to workplace issues and public policy.
BRIEF #13 / October 2006 / WWW.ILR.CORNELL.EDU
Diversity at Work: Cross-Racial Bonds on the Job
by SAMUEL B. BACHARACH
McKelvey-Grant Professor (ILR)
PETER A. BAMBERGER
Professor, Technion: Israel Institute of Technology
DANA V ASHDI
Technion: Israel Institute of Technology
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/briefs/22/
[full-text, 3 pages]
Research Question:
What factors enable African-American and white coworkers to develop the type of close personal bonds that allow organizations to benefit from having a diverse workforce?
Conclusions:
The ratio of African-Americans to whites in a work group affects the prevalence of supportive personal interactions between members of each group; that said, certain workplace attributes moderate the impact
of this demographic proportionality. Both minority tokenism and minority over-representation in work units may inhibit the formation of trusting relationships; i.e., minorities and majorities tend to turn inward until some
unspecified racial balance is reached. This own-group propensity may be mitigated by the presence of a "support climate" in which workers share a perception that they can count on peers, regardless bf race, for emotional and operational support. Further research is needed to identify other moderating factors.
Workplace impact:
Creating value from diversity requires more than simply increasing the number of minorities in the workplace. More contact between" dissimilar others" does not, on its own, engender the mutually supportive relationships that other research has shown is necessary to generate organizational gains. Diversity management strategies should include interventions that enhance the climate of peer support within work units.
AND MUCH MORE....
Suggested Citation
Bacharach, S. B., Bamberger, P. A. & Vashdi, D. (2006). Diversity at work: Cross-Racial bonds on the job (ILR Impact Brief #13). Ithaca, NY: School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University.
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/briefs/22/
[ILR Impact Briefs are written and/or edited by Maralyn Edid]
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
ILR Impact Briefs
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/impactbrief/
The Impact Brief series highlights the research and project based work conducted by ILR faculty that is relevant to workplace issues and public policy.
BRIEF #13 / October 2006 / WWW.ILR.CORNELL.EDU
Diversity at Work: Cross-Racial Bonds on the Job
by SAMUEL B. BACHARACH
McKelvey-Grant Professor (ILR)
PETER A. BAMBERGER
Professor, Technion: Israel Institute of Technology
DANA V ASHDI
Technion: Israel Institute of Technology
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/briefs/22/
[full-text, 3 pages]
Research Question:
What factors enable African-American and white coworkers to develop the type of close personal bonds that allow organizations to benefit from having a diverse workforce?
Conclusions:
The ratio of African-Americans to whites in a work group affects the prevalence of supportive personal interactions between members of each group; that said, certain workplace attributes moderate the impact
of this demographic proportionality. Both minority tokenism and minority over-representation in work units may inhibit the formation of trusting relationships; i.e., minorities and majorities tend to turn inward until some
unspecified racial balance is reached. This own-group propensity may be mitigated by the presence of a "support climate" in which workers share a perception that they can count on peers, regardless bf race, for emotional and operational support. Further research is needed to identify other moderating factors.
Workplace impact:
Creating value from diversity requires more than simply increasing the number of minorities in the workplace. More contact between" dissimilar others" does not, on its own, engender the mutually supportive relationships that other research has shown is necessary to generate organizational gains. Diversity management strategies should include interventions that enhance the climate of peer support within work units.
AND MUCH MORE....
Suggested Citation
Bacharach, S. B., Bamberger, P. A. & Vashdi, D. (2006). Diversity at work: Cross-Racial bonds on the job (ILR Impact Brief #13). Ithaca, NY: School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University.
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/briefs/22/
[ILR Impact Briefs are written and/or edited by Maralyn Edid]
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 11:16 AM
