Beyond the Workplace

The mindsets employees bring to work may complicate diversity efforts

By Alycia C. Zuehlke

Diversity: What other word causes more controversy? You might think that a person living near another cultural or racial group would inherently be more accepting of diversity in the workplace. But interracial and intercultural exposure in one’s community can actually increase a person’s prejudice, says Mays Business School Assistant Professor of Management, Elizabeth Umphress.

This is a telling assessment of the power of perception that groups exercise in organizational settings. It opens the door to a greater understanding of how organizational and community conflict factor into the diversity puzzle managers face in creating welcoming environments.

Umphress’ 2005 Academy of Management Journal research paper, “Community Matters: Realistic Group Conflict Theory and the Impact of Diversity,” discusses how the perception of intergroup conflict occurring in communities affects reactions to workplace diversity. Through analyzing data gleaned from the General Social Survey and the National Organizations Survey, Umphress and her co-authors found that whites in more racially diverse organizations reported “poorer-quality work relationships” than those in less diverse organizations. The researchers also observed that the closer whites lived to blacks and the more apparent the interethnic conflict in their communities, the more negatively they responded to racially and ethnically diverse workplaces.

“We used whites because they often are the majority group and often occupy
influential positions, but I’d suspect that results for other groups may be the same,” Umphress says.

Umphress explains that intergroup competition also fuels prejudice. Proximity and contact with people from different racial or ethnic backgrounds may increase perceived competition for resources between the groups. Majority group members’ negative attitudes toward minority groups often affect interpersonal relationships, which then affect the organization as a whole.

“Employees come to the organization with heavy cultural and social baggage obtained from interactions in other social contexts,” Umphress says. “We believe that some of these mindsets develop when living in diverse communities in which tensions arise from competition over scarce resources.”

The solution many managers bring to the table with diversity training seminars may not be potent enough to overcome the ethnic attitudes people bring to work. Forces outside the workplace play an immense role in determining people’s cultural assumptions. So changing intraorganizational behaviors may mean engaging the communities that shape worker attitudes. The researchers suggest that organizations consider accountability and community outreach strategies to help change employee mindsets.

Umphress will delve deeper into diversity conflict in forthcoming research, declaring that she hopes to learn how conflict between other ethnic groups and between the sexes affects group perceptions as well as affecting ever-adapting organizations. Her research focuses on three related themes: organizational justice, ethical behavior and diversity.

“These problems are complex,” Umphress says. “We have the potential to be horrible to one another, but I think knowing that is half the battle. We have to learn to change our mindsets. My hope is that I can learn how to reduce and resolve group conflict problems by researching them.”