AFFIRMATIVE ACTION ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Barmash, I. 1980. "The Invisible Ceiling." Modern Office Procedures 25(7): 10-14.
Many American companies hired Black employees in the 1960s to counter claims of discrimination and then forgot about them after the initial display. During the 1970s, Blacks in corporate management found that there was a level beyond which they could not advance, according to minority recruiter Richard Clarke. The same was true of women in senior management. A major reason for the lack of advancement is the preference of the chief executive officer and top associates for persons who match the corporate style of the firm and with whom senior management feels comfortable. The claim by senior management that there are not enough women, Blacks, and other minority groups with adequate credentials is groundless since the criterion used for promotions in any corporation is matching senior management's team concept. Only about 1 percent of top management in America in 1977 were women. A problem with hiring Blacks and training them as executives is that their worth increases and they change jobs more frequently. Many Blacks also choose to move to small organizations from large ones, and they are no longer satisfied with jobs of little substance.
2. Bell, E. L. 1990. "The Bicultural Life Experience of Career-Oriented Black Women." Journal of Organizational Behavior 11: 459-477.
This study explores the bicultural life experience of Black career-oriented women. Findings reveal that these women perceive themselves as living in two distinct cultural contexts, one Black, the other White. The women compartmentalize the various components of their lives in order to manage the bicultural dimension. However, movement from one context to the other causes identity conflict, tension, and other problems.
3. Bell, E. L. 1986. "The Power Within: Bicultural Life Structures and Stress Among Black Women." Case Western Reserve University, Ph. D. dissertation.
Most Black professional women live in a bicultural world that requires a cultural positioning around careers in the White world, while embedding their family and personal lives in the Black community. This study explored the bicultural life structures and manifestations of bicultural stress among these women. Bicultural stress results when the norms and expectations of the dominant culture deviate from those reflected in the women's personal lives. What leads to acceptance and fulfillment in one world, often does not in the other.
4. Bell, E. L., and Stella Nkomo. 1992. "The Glass Ceiling vs. The Concrete Wall: Career Perceptions of White and African-American Women Managers." Alfred P. Sloan School of Management, Working Paper No. 3470-92: 52.
Bell and Nkomo differentiate between the glass ceiling and the concrete ceiling. The latter is composed not only of the barriers of sexism, also faced by White women, but adds the opaqueness of racism. Bell and Nkomo identify lack of sponsorship from supervisors, lack of collegial support, higher incidence of sexual discrimination, and greater potential for interpersonal conflict as potential barriers to career advancement for Black women.
5. Bell, E. L., Toni C. Denton, and Stella Nkomo. 1993. "Women of Color in Management: Toward an Inclusive Analysis." Pp. 105-130 in Women in Management: Trends, Issues, and Challenges in Managerial Diversity, ed. E. A. Fagenson. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications
According to the authors, existing approaches to the study of women in management do not include women of color as an area of research, nor do major literature reviews include the problems and issues confronting women of color as an area of study. The omission of women of color is more implicit than explicit and occurs when authors of studies of mostly White women managers generalize their findings to all women. While the major focus of this chapter deals with issues of race and ethnicity, the authors hope to draw attention to the wide variety of issues that differ among women: class, sexual orientation, and physical ability, to name a few. They hope that by raising these issues, they will prompt researchers to include these variables in future research.
6. Benson, C. A. 1985. "Question of Mobility in Career Development for Black Professionals." Personnel Journal 54(5): 272-275.
Benson addresses the issue of Blacks' willingness (or rather unwillingness) to move to isolated locations for the sake of career advancement. The author says that too many Black professionals prefer the safety and anonymity of the big city to the more untraveled, less glamorous environs of the small town. Why this is true and how it can be dealt with by business and by management, are subjects covered in this paper.
7. Bridges, C. R., and Jolene D. Scriven. 1992. "Career Achievement Characteristics of African Americans College Administrators and African American Executives." Delta Pi Epsilon 34(3): 135-46.
Surveys of 245 African-American College administrators (175 responses) and 175 African-American corporate executives (71 responses) revealed similar beliefs regarding crucial career achievement factors: communication, goal setting, high personal standards, and self-confidence. Administrators felt that formal education was more important; executives stressed management training.
8. Campbell, B.M. 1990. "Success Beyond the Open Door." Pp. 112-114 in Black Enterprise.
Black professionals are now just about everywhere in the corporate workplace - from Silicon Valley to Wall Street. Yet, while having come a long way in one generation, the struggle continues. Impeccable credentials, tenacity, and networking savvy are the keys Black managers have used to gain access to the higher rungs of the corporate ladder.
9. Cianni, M., and Beverly Romberger. 1993 "Gender, Race, and Ethnicity: Effects on the Supervisor-Subordinate Relationship." Paper presented at the National Academy of Management, "Academy of Management Meeting: Women in Management Division." Atlanta, Georgia.
Access to developmental experiences provided by immediate supervisors among male and female Asian, Black, Hispanic, and White employees were investigated to determine the influence of (1) gender and race/ethnicity, and (2) relational demography. The author found significant effects for gender and race, and for racial differences. Findings reveal experiences among the groups.
10. Collins, S. M. 1989. "The Marginalization of Black Executives." Social Problems 36(4): 317-331.
Employment barriers appear to have lifted to allow greater numbers of educated Blacks to move into high-paying professional and managerial occupations. The author conducted interviews of 76 top-ranking Black executives in the Chicago area to investigate whether greater numbers of Blacks indicate equal participation in the labor market. Findings suggest that Blacks have succeeded within White management hierarchies, but their upward mobility has been delineated racially. Furthermore, this delineated structure creates a highly visible but economically vulnerable Black managerial elite.
11. DiTomaso, N., and Donna E. Thompson. 1988. "The Advancement of Minorities into Corporate Management: An Overview." Research in the Sociology of Organizations 6: 281-312.
The advancement of minorities into corporate management is an important indicator of equal opportunity and access to equal life chances for minority persons in the United States. This paper provides an overview of the issues and research findings on this topic. It discusses the current status of minorities in corporate careers, the prospects for the future, policy implications, and directions for future research.
12. Gleckman, H., Tim Smart, Paula Dwyer, Troy Segal, and Joseph Weber. 1991. "Race in the Workplace: Is Affirmative Action Working?" Pp. 51-63 in BusinessWeek (July 8).
Does affirmative action work? The short answer: YES. Since the effort to end job bias began in earnest 25 years ago, minorities have achieved major gains. Yet affirmative action has become, for many, 'a four-letter word' that ignites racial tension. In this issue, BusinessWeek takes a look at several issues: How the model for equal opportunity ran afoul of the Labor Department, and how job cuts complicate the hiring and training of minority managers, and women, Hispanics, and Asians.
13. Hilliard, S. 1990. "Smashing the Glass Ceiling." Black Enterprise 21(1): 99-108.
U.S. corporations in the 1990s will be attempting to regain a leadership position in technology, reorganize in the aftermath of mergers and acquisitions, and manage an incredibly diverse workforce. Companies are also continuing to downsized workforces under the positive direction of right sizing. The Black Enterprise Corporate Roundtable, formed in 1987, reconvened in May 1990 to assess how well Blacks survived the first round of corporate downsizing activities and to clarify the role of Black professionals in the restructuring of American business in the 1990s. According to James G. Kaiser of Corning Glass Works, the best way for Blacks to prepare for senior management is to move back and forth between staff and line positions. Shila Clark of Dow Jones and Co. Inc. believes that there is an increase in the recruitment on Black college campuses from small and mid-sized companies. Although Walter C. Verteace of Amerada Hess Corp. feels that the struggle for Black middle mangers is just as serious now as it was 35 years ago, the talent for that advancement exists in today's businesses and universities.
14. Reynolds, L. 1987. "The EEOC and the 'Glass Ceiling'." Management Review 76(12): 17-18.
Women and Blacks have made huge advances in getting elected to public office on the state and local levels, and they have enjoyed economic progress since the advent of affirmative action and other civil rights legislation. However, both groups point out that they continue to lag behind the earning power of their White male counterparts. Moreover, they say that sex and race discrimination continue to be problems, although today they are more subtle. Critics of the Reagan administration say it has helped strengthen this "glass ceiling" by its unwillingness to file class-action suits or implement industry-wide hiring goals and quotas. Also, the EEOC has been charged with placing more of the burden of proof on complainants, which has led to an overwhelming backlog of cases and has done little to eliminate patterns of discrimination. Women and minorities on the national level are seeking to become independent political power brokers rather than supporting players.
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