English 103 Research Paper

Jessica Bryant

English 103

Professor McCormick

                                                            Racial Discrimination in the Workplace

                                    The Declaration of Independence states that all men are created equal, and have the unalienable rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. These words were created to protect and ensure that all men no matter their color, creed, race or origin are given equal opportunity in America. With such powerful words and statements being implemented in the Declaration, these rules are very rarely followed in America. In this paper I’m going to be researching the topic of Racial Discrimination against African Americans who seek to obtain high ranking powerful positions in the work place. The central questions that I will focus on are which form of discrimination is most commonly used, direct discrimination or statistical discrimination?  

I will comprise my paper into three sections which will consist of Section 1: Methods of direct discrimination used against African Americans seeking to obtain high ranking positions. In this section I will define what direct discrimination is, give actual testimonies and literature from people who have been a victim of the act, and describe how the act prevents African Americans from achieving high ranking positions. Section 2: Methods of statistical discrimination used against African Americans seeking to obtain high ranking positions. In this section I will define the term statistical discrimination, give examples of how employers use this tactic, and explain how this method prevents African Americans from being considered candidates for high ranking powerful positions.  Section 3: African Americans Executives and CEO’s who have achieved success and tactics used by them to over come racial discrimination. I will research some African Americans who are CEO’s and Executives, include their testimony’s regarding racial discrimination, speak about the tactics they used to achieve power, and give statements made by these African Americans in regards to the challenges and obstacles they had to overcome.    Conclusion:  The conclusion will provide the answer to both central questions. I will also give a description on what I’ve learned will doing the research for this paper. I will explain to my reader the pros and cons that may come out of racial discrimination against African Americans who seek to obtain high ranking powerful positions.

Section 1: Direct Discrimination

Direct discrimination is commonly known to be the most obvious form of discrimination. It is known to be the form of old-fashioned racism and sexism based on out group prejudice and hatred. This form of discrimination is when an employer treats one person less favorably than someone else because of their race. Direct discrimination is very blatant and comes across to it’s victims as an “In your face” form of hate and dislike. It is no surprise that African Americans were often victims of direct racial discrimination. African Americans are arguably the most oppressed minority group in America. In the 1960’s during the Jim Crow era direct discrimination was a part of the norm for African Americans. They were not allowed to sit at lunch counters, white people would refuse to serve them, and children were not allowed to attend certain schools.

Having fought for equality in the 1960’s with the Civil Right’s movement, African Americans are still facing forms of direct discrimination in 2010. In the 1960’s it wasn’t unusual for an African American to be denied a job opportunity because of their race, but 40 years after the Civil Right’s Movement direct racial discrimination should be obsolete. African Americans are still facing direct racial discrimination in regards to obtaining high ranking powerful positions. According to a study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research studies showed that African American entrepreneurs are twice as likely to be denied loans from banks than whites, even when they are equally creditworthy. The awarding of the CEO’s chair in corporate boardrooms may also be less likely to be offered to people of color. (Business Week, Issue3609, p106) The act of denying someone a job opportunity because of their race and there being no other proven reason, is in fact direct racial discrimination.

This act makes it very difficult for African Americans who are seeking to obtain high ranking powerful positions because they are constantly hitting a “Glass Ceiling”. The term Glass Ceiling is defined as being barriers that African Americans and women come against when trying to climb the power ladder in corporate America. According to data support conducted by James R. Elliott of Tulane University Sociology Department and Ryan A. Smith of The City University of New York, findings indicate that relative to white men all groups encounter increasing inequality at higher levels of power, but only black women seem to experience this form of inequality as a result of direct discrimination.(Tulane, Smith p.365) Direct racial discrimination against African American women is a big issue in corporate America because there are a lot of negative stereotypes against successful professional African American women. The author Michelle Jones of “Working While Black” says, “If the receptionist who takes your application has had bad experiences with blacks, your resume may end up at the bottom of the pile, meaning you never even get the interview”.(Jones. Pg 2) many employers base their opinions about potential African American candidates based on stereotypes, here say, and past experiences.

 Direct racial discrimination against African Americans in regards to obtaining high ranking positions in the workplace can lead to some very serious consequences on that part of the employer in question. Acquisitions made by employees claiming to be victims of direct racial discrimination can lead to lawsuits and claims being filed. A man by the name of Benjamin Williams of South Philadelphia is one of 11 African American employees who filed suit against a world wide food service provider by the name of Compass Group. He alleged that African American employees were called “Chim Chim” the name of the monkey in the Speed Racer cartoon by the executive chef. He as well as the other African American employees claimed that they were denied opportunities to advance in the company; also demanded to stay out of sight during catering events at the Comcast center.(Mastrull, Williams Pg C01)  This lawsuit was filed for $200 million in the U.S. district court in Philadelphia. Williams was a chef at this catering service who was not giving the opportunity to advance to a position of executive chef because he was an African American man.

Corporations who have been accused of direct racial discrimination against African Americans who seek to obtain high ranking positions can possibly suffer financially from lawsuits and settlements. In doing my research for this topic I discovered that a lot of lawsuit and claims were eventually settled by the corporations and companies being accused of racial discrimination. The largest racial discrimination case to date is one against the Coca-Cola Corporation. The company settled for $192.5M, which is the largest settlement in a racial discrimination class action suit. African American employees claimed that “Glass Ceilings” policies kept them from rising to top positions in the company.  Few African Americans advanced to senior levels in the company compared to the significant representation of African-Americans among all salaried employees.

The act of direct racial discrimination against African Americans totally exempts them from progressing to those high ranking positions in a corporation of their interest. During my research I found that most African Americans who were victims of this act either quit the corporation or filed suit. They became discouraged and frustrated about the treatment they were receiving. For example in The Wall Street Journals “Business and Blacks” a man by the name of George Fraser also referred to as a “corporate dropout” asserts that “African Americans are gently but firmly isolated from the mainstream of corporate endeavor.” Although he holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Fordham University and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Columbia University, he wasn’t given the equality opportunity to obtain a high ranking position in his corporation. He says “I wanted to move up to outside sales where the real opportunities lie, but they kept putting me off”. “I guess they felt I wouldn’t be able to move in the same country club circles as the other salesmen. (Fraser pg.122)” He eventually quit from the corporation and set up a program at Columbia University for African American entrepreneurs in Harlem.

Accusations about being left out from opportunities and victimized by direct discrimination points back to the method of “Social Groups”.  According to Robert K. Merton people have reference groups that they aspire to join. They adapt to the norms and values of that group in order to be accepted. African Americans who want to obtain high ranking powerful positions fall into the category of the secondary group because they are working towards a specific goal and a position of power is that. They work extremely hard in their positions and are educated from some of the top universities in the nation all to have the equal opportunity to progress to a senior level or executive position. Direct discrimination is a huge set back on African Americans trying to climb the corporate latter in America. It’s also brings a negative out look and sometime a financial set back on corporations who have been accused of the act. On the other hand, there is a more modern and less confrontational way that corporations are using to prevent African Americans from obtaining high ranking positions; it’s called Statistical Discrimination.

Section 2: Statistical Discrimination:

In terms of employment and advancement in the workplace Statistical discrimination is defined as an act in which employers use race and sex proxies for assessing potential productivity in candidates when they lack other information about the candidate. Statistical discrimination is a method used by employers to pay African American employees less and prevent them from advancing to higher level positions. In certain cases an employer are person of superiority is more likely to hire or promote a candidate from similar background. They feel as though a candidate of similar background (specifically white male) is more likely to be productive and posses the better skills and ability to do a specific job. According to Kasper Lippert-Rasmusseun of the Philosophy department of the University of Copenhagen, “Statistical discrimination is essentially comparative with respect to groups. It is conceptually impossible to engage in it against members of one group of people without there being another group of people who are treated better in the relevant respect.”(Rasmussen P.388)

In the case of African American seeking to obtain high ranking positions Statistical discrimination is a leading practice taking place in corporate America. The idea that African Americans have a high crime rate compared to Whites in regards to larceny and other criminal acts can prevent a group of African American applicants from even being looked at by an employer. Being that white men have historically held the reins of power in the U.S. workplace, they benefit most from these universal tendencies for in group favoritism as they move up organizational hierarchies, creating increasing inequality for out group members (Elliott, Smith, p.369). This practice is so crucial against African Americans because it practically makes them exempt automatically in the process of even being considered for a high ranking position. For example there have been studies conducted in regards to corporations who practice Statistical discrimination on the basis of a perspectives candidate’s name. A study was conducted in 2009 by the Department for Work and pensions were they sent out bogus resumes in response to a thousand job vacancies. They sent out applications with names that sounded British and white and others that sounded as if it was from ethnic minority. The fake applicant’s had identical qualifications and experiences, however the white applicants were significantly more likely to be given interviews than the imaginary non-white ones. 

African Americans are singled out based on previous statistics, backgrounds, cultural differences, and overall opinion. When recruiter scan resumes they are decoding them, drawing conclusion about people’s background, skills, and attitudes. (Wright pg. 15)  Even if they out credential a white candidate there is a big chance that candidate may get a high ranking position before the qualified African American. Network assistance in corporate America is a huge part of obtaining high ranking positions; when most of the overseers who are responsible for promoting candidates are white men, they will in fact hire other white men. If African Americans are not given the opportunity to advance to senior level positions, then it just makes it difficult for other African American to do the same.

Higher level managers who oversee high ranking positions want to maintain social homogeneity among candidates they select to fill high ranking positions. According to Rosabeth Kanter “The idea is that communication, discretion, and trust are facilitated by social similarity. High level managers prefer this type of relationship over the strain of dealing with people who are different when higher degrees of authority are at stake.”(Kanter 1977). Statistical discrimination has become a practice used frequently because it’s not considered illegal oppose to direct racial discrimination. Employers are simply using data to select candidates who they feel will “fit” a specific position. Employer’s might claim that the proxy indicators are a way of selecting the most qualified and valuable employee however, they can in fact be programmed to eliminate certain characteristics that someone from an African American background may fall into. Statistical discrimination is happening everyday in human resource offices when thousands of resumes go through scanners.

African Americans who have qualifications for a high ranking position may atomically be shunned because a scanner will decode a name that’s difficult to pronounce. Furthermore Statistical discrimination is happening on a much higher level because some employers are not willing to take the risk of having a class action racial discrimination lawsuit filled against them. They rather just exempt African American as a whole then to deal with accusations of racism. Even if an African American makes it into a specific company and seeks to move higher in that company, statistical discrimination will still hold them back. They won’t be offered the same network assistance as white employer to advance in the company. Statistical discrimination contradicts Max Weber’s theory of Bureaucracy because the overseers of these high ranking positions are in fact not selecting African Americans because of personal attachment. They are not judging them by their competence and skills to achieve the job.

Section 3:

Although many African Americans are facing direct and statistical forms of discrimination at an extremely high rate, some have achieved there goal and have climb the power latter in corporate America. They have faced discrimination but haven’t let it discourage them from succeeding. Most African Americans in powerful positions pride themselves on being the best. They believe that they have to be 10x better then their non- African American co- employees. They rely on higher education and experience to climb the power ladder in corporate America. Kenneth Chenault is an African American who holds the position as chairman and chief executive officer of American Express. He believes that his career isn’t based on racial preference; he entered Amex with sterling credentials, and rose on the strength of talent and hard work. (Bianco, pg 62). He attended Harvard Law School and started out working on Wall Street. He obtained his position by having years of experience and over achieving.

Conclusion:

African Americans still suffer from forms of oppression when trying to succeed in corporate America. In doing my research I’ve become more enlightened on the way systems are set up to exclude minorities from advancing in corporate America. After reading numerous articles about the topic and comparing and contrasting the two forms of discrimination, I found that statistical discrimination is more commonly used against African Americans who seek to obtain high ranking positions. The reason being is because employers use statistics as a common practice on a whole in making decisions in regards to a corporation. They can’t be reprimanded for something if there is no actual proof that it’s working against African Americans as such as direct racial discrimination. However this is still a morally wrong practice happening daily in human resource offices and board room meetings.

Bibliography

“Black Execs: Still Hitting a Glass Ceiling,” Business Week; 12/21/98, Issue 3609, p106 1/2p www.BusinessWeek.com

The Sunday Times, July 5, 2009, “What’s in a name? Certainly not a job if it sounds ethnic,” Jenni Russell, Editorial; Pg14

Coca Cola-settles racial discrimination suit $192.5M, The New York Amsterdam News, December 2000, J. Zamgba Browne

Rasmusseen-Lippert, Kasper. “Nothing Personal: On Statistical Discrimination”. The journal of Philosophy: Volume 15, Number 4, 2007 pp. 385-403, Ebsco research database, 28, Oct 2010.

Elliot R. James, Smith A. Ryan, “Race, Gender, and Workplace Power”, The American Sociological Review, June 2004, Vol.69. Pg 365-386.

Kanter, Rosabeth.  Men and Women of the Corporation. New York: Basic Books, 1977.

Johnson, Michelle. Working While Black. Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 2004.

The Wall Street Journal, McDonald Stephen. Business and Black.  : Dow Jones Books, 1970

Bianco, Anthony “The Rise of a Star”. Business Week 12/21/98, Issue 3609, p60-68, Academic Research Complete.