Diversity in the Organization: Then and Now

Summer 1990. I am sitting in a bland, beige conference room in the headquarters of a large Fortune 500 financial services company. Across the table sits Ed, a Black male 29 year old assistant manager. Ed volunteered to share his personal story with me about his life in this corporation.

A colleague and I had received a University Research Grant to study the lives of Asian, Black, Latino and White men and women. This company was courageous enough to provide full access to their employees for a multi-method three year study. Our focus for the oral histories: How did these diverse mid-level managers experience their day-to-day work lives? Our goal was to listen and to shed light on these experiences so we could more accurately craft a broader quantitative study. So here we were in this Northeast City --- listening.

Ed was one of my last interviews. Toward the end of it, I asked: How do you feel about two white women from Central Pennsylvania coming here and asking these questions? Ed replied, "If you were a Black person, then I would assume you already knew my story. And, in some ways, because you are a woman, it makes it easier for me to tell. I appreciate the fact that you are here." Here is a bit of what Ed told me.

During the summer internship, I went through the whole summer thinking was what I am experiencing normal. Today, they talk about that time, 'Boy, Ed, you used to sit in that seat for four hours straight and not move an inch.' I said, 'Yeah, believe me when I had to use the bathroom, I was holding it in for those four hours.' I was afraid that everyone was looking at me...I always thought that I was in the spotlight.

Ed shared that he was not invited to events and that he often had less access to information conveyed through informal interactions with senior executives.

I didn't go to too many after hour gatherings. I knew they were going on but I wasn't invited. It was truly an old boys atmosphere. I'd hear the stories, like, I was out drinking with so and so and let me tell you what he said...You knew you're never going to be accepted into that fraternity...

I came through the internship program with 17 other people. Now by the time I woke up and realized what was going on, everyone belonged to the same golf club... I had no idea you had to belong somewhere to get ahead. And the next thing I knew, everyone had left the area and they all had manager positions ... Obviously to get ahead, it's who you know and who you hang with during the off hours.

Thirty years later, these stories do not sound dated. They are not old; they still ring true. As I read about companies hosting virtual listening sessions to hear the voices of Black men and women, I imagine Ed sitting at home, telling his story. I wonder what, if anything, changed for him.

For me, as I reflect on Ed's words from thirty years ago, I ask myself: Did I stop listening? How can I start again? What can I do now that I did not do thirty years ago? The place to begin is for us to truly listen. Our Black colleagues have been telling us their stories for decades. We may have heard but we did not listen.

Quotes taken from Cianni, M and Romberger, B. (1991). Belonging in the corporation: Oral histories of male and female Asian, Black, Hispanic and White managers. Best Papers Proceedings: Academy of Management Meeting, August 11-14.

For information on the full three part study, see: Cianni, M. and Romberger, B. (1997) Life in the corporation: A multi-method study of the experiences of male and female Asian, Black, Hispanic and White Employees. Gender, Work and Organizations, 50(2), 116-129.