In a recent discovery by CriticalRace.org, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania published a faculty research project claiming that minority workers have “legitimate reasons” to suspect that their white colleagues have ulterior motives for their helpfulness in the workplace.
The project, titled “When and Why Allies Hinder Minorities in the Pursuit of Workplace Equality,” was completed by faculty members associated with the Wharton Identity, Diversity, Engagement, Affect, and Social Relationships (IDEAS) Lab.
“Workplace discrimination remains a toxic force for historically disadvantaged groups such as women, blacks, and Native Americans,” states the working paper.
“Conventional wisdom tells us minorities will have an easier time if they have allies in a dominant group; for example, heterosexual white men, who wield much of the power and influence in large U.S. companies. But how does this play out in real life?”
The working paper goes on to claim that research findings show that a white manager is more likely to intentionally promote a minority to an “ill-fated” position in order to seemingly support diversity in the workplace.
“We assert that minorities often have legitimate reasons to suspect that dominant group members have ulterior motives,” says the research.
“For instance, a manager feeling pressured to support diversity might promote a minority into an ill-fated position. He thinks, ‘I can place this young black man in this situation where he probably won’t do well, and I still look good for promoting him.’
The IDEAS Lab features numerous related faculty research projects revolving around identity-focused topics, such as the projects “Why Is It Still So Difficult to Cultivate Diverse Leaders?” and “Overcoming Prior Discrimination: How the Stories We Tell Ourselves Can Help.”
As a solution to racist white colleagues constantly attempting to undermine their minority counterparts, one of the ways encouraged to deal with this issue is for companies to “[transfer] power to the minority individual.”
“For example, one company wanting to create inclusiveness for transgender people brought in a transgender outside consultant rather than trying to shape that environment themselves,” states the research.
Wharton has recently been in the news for falling to second-place in the U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of the best full-time MBA programs.
This change in rankings was primarily prompted by the school’s “sizable drop in Wharton’s three-month employment rate” after graduation. While the school still ranks among the top five in several business school categories, research that can be construed as promoting racial division can draw attention away from its core mission of preparing students for successful entry into the workforce.
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