Women and minorities are penalized for promoting diversity in the workplace.
When they hire other women or minorities — it actually reflects poorly on them. It’s seen as threatening the status quo, which tends to be dominated by white men.
These are the findings from a new study, published on Wednesday in the Harvard Business Review.
The authors — Stefanie K. Johnson and David R. Hekman, both business school professors at the University of Colorado — surveyed 350 high-level executives to understand how they viewed cultural, religious, gender and racial differences in the workplace. They compared this with feedback from their bosses on their competency and performance. The female and nonwhite executives who said they valued diversity — and acted accordingly — were consistently rated worse by their superiors.
Separately, the authors conducted a study to understand how hiring decisions are viewed. The 307 participants evaluated fictional hiring decisions, along with photos of both the hiring manager and the candidate. They were asked to rate the competency and performance of the manager who made the hire.
Leave A Comment