An empirical examination of inter-ethnic stereotypes: comparing Asian American and African American employees.

Asian-American men and women were seen as more serious about work than African-American men and women, and were viewed as more competent and polite than African-American men. These results reflect the generally expressed stereotype of Asian Americans as hard working, persevering, and thrifty. They also reflect the Asian-American values of group orientation, harmony within the group, and personal behaviors that defer to group harmony. (44, 45, 46)

Implications for Managers

In general, good managers want to be fair and unbiased in their performance evaluations, promotion decisions, assessments of job candidates, and similar decisions that strongly affect people's lives. Clearly, managers need to be aware of the tendency to stereotype by appearance and the tendency to make human resource assessments based on these stereotypes. The best preventive action is to become aware of the typical stereotypes held within mainstream culture toward each ethnic group, and how such stereotypes differ for men and women within groups. Further, managers should access information about cultural strengths of each demographic group to determine how those qualities affect job fit. For example, Asian Americans tend to highly value group harmony and group effort, which can be an asset in team development. Most African Americans highly value candor, sincerity, and direct, assertive communication, which can serve an equally positive role in team development. Because of strong stereotypes that these two groups hold toward each other, communications training may be necessary to coalesce their strengths within a team--"Interracial interactions have increased since the 1960s, but the quality of such interactions has [in most situations and settings] not kept pace." (47) The Asians in Kohatsu's experiment who held racial stereotypes of African Americans exhibited racial identity attitudes of conformity (identifying with White/White culture) or resistance (immersion in own respective culture while rejecting Whites/White culture). Asians who possessed Integrative Awareness, or a cognitive schema comprised of multiple perspectives, (48) were more likely to view African Americans positively. These findings beg the question--how to develop an integrative schema?

Maznevski's (49) theory of communication is particularly instructive for managers of diverse groups. Although increased group diversity provides a greater array of solutions and potential ideas, she argues that the synergy of diverse groups is released through the integrating mechanism of communications training. According to Maznevski, (50) employees who can empathize with co-workers, attribute difficulties appropriately, and who can understand each other and build on each other's ideas will be able to use benefits of group heterogeneity [e.g., more and better ways of viewing a situation] to their advantage. In an intervention based on her theory:

1. Group members would be made aware of the communication process and of the role that communication plays in group performance.

2. Group members would be provided with specific information on the effects of the types of diversity relevant to their own situation.

3. Groups would next observe applicable models of interaction to identify and understand effective and ineffective communication behaviors [through role play, videos, and watching their own pre-recorded activities]. (51)

Some CEOs have stressed demographic integration as a moral imperative, (52) suggesting that moral reasoning is an essential skill for functioning within a diverse environment. In a cultural context, moral reasoning refers to arriving at the most fair decision after taking into account multiple individual viewpoints (53) without passing judgment, (54) it is what Cloninger, Svrakic, & Przybeck (55) term "self-transcendence," or the ability to look beyond one's own self-interests to consider what is best for the group. Moral development can be learned cognitively, through peer critique of response to moral dilemmas, and socially, through games that create moral dilemmas among friends. In a study contrasting both techniques, Haan (56) found that emotional dissonance evoked through games better facilitated moral development. Diversity initiatives may be able to redirect cognitive categorization to focus on company/competitor distinctions and a redefinition of minority roles, as opposed to in-group/out-group power hegemonies. Training can focus on inducing generativity, or receptivity to new ideas. (57)

Managers themselves need to keep an ongoing watch on their own tendencies to revert to stereotyped thinking and assessments. Armed with valid cultural information, awareness, mindfulness, and the determination to work toward fair, unbiased decisions, managers can overcome these all-too-human errors. Because job-relevant information can reduce bias (58) and information is provided through exposure, negative stereotypes of African-American men may be reduced through greater recruiting and promotion efforts.

Future Research

Additional research should be conducted using perceptions of EuroAmericans, Latino Americans, and American Indians to fully test status incongruency theory with respect to race and gender. A variety of comparisons can and should be made, exploring gender differences within and across groups. Exploration of the nexus between perceiver population and ratee is especially important. How are Asian-American men viewed by Latinas? How does an African-American woman perceive an Asian-American male? Larger sample sizes of these groups (along with real-world rather than student samples) are needed to answer these questions. The sample used in the current research included a large cohort of Asian Americans; would results be different in samples that contained large numbers of African Americans, Latinas/Latinos, etc.? Moreover, Asian Americans and African Americans have been lumped into one category for purposes of this research. Doing so masks potential intra-cultural differences that may exist, as established in other studies. (59, 60) In a diverse society it is important to investigate differences among the various groups represented. Exploration between U.S.-born racial minorities vs. immigrants is also needed, particularly in light of previous research, which found (in the case of Asians) that immigrants had more negative views toward African Americans than those born in the United States. (61)

Kohatsu and colleagues (62) argue that to increase positive behavior toward other racial groups, the minority group in question must first have a positive assessment of itself. Diversity management is an attempt by organizations to create an appreciation of employee differences, and in the process, positive self-regard. In terms of individuals, the diversity literature states that effectively managed diversity can lead to decreases in frustration and turnover for women and people of color. (63,64) Cox (65) terms organizations that effectively manage their diversity "multicultural." In multicultural organizations, organizational culture promotes both attitudinal and structural integration of minorities (66) through diversity education, and through equitably rewarding employees for dissimilar contributions.

Further exploration is necessary to assess how other countries manage their diversity In the U.S. workplace, minority groups are categorized and stereotyped as having certain traits that do not fit the leadership profile, that qualify them for some lesser role, or that disqualify them as a potentially successful employee in any role. Because of its demographic heterogeneity, this situation may appear unique to the United States, when in fact the U.S. workplace is no different from all other social systems, as the United Nations treaty, "Declaration of All Forms of Racial Discrimination," makes clear.

Notes

(1) Ibarra, H. (1995). "Race, Opportunity, and Diversity of Social Circles in Managerial Networks." Academy of Management Journal, 38, 673-703.

(2) Duncan, L. E., Peterson, B. E., & Winter, D. G. (1997). "Authoritarianism and Gender Roles: Toward a Psychological Analysis of Hegemonic Relationships." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 23, 41-49.

(3) Ferneandz, J. P. (1981). Managing a Diverse Workforce. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.

(4) Mazumdar, S. (1989). "Race and Racism: South Asians in the United States." In G. M. Normura, R. Endo, S. H. Sumida, & R. C. Leong (Eds.), Frontiers of Asian American Studies. Pullman, Washington: Washington State University Press.

(5) Kohatsu, E. L., Dulay, M., Lam, C., Concepcion, W, Perez, P, Lopez, C., & Euler, J. (2000). "Using Racial Identity Theory to Explore Racial Mistrust and Interracial Contact Among Asian Americans." Journal of Counseling & Development, 78, 334-342.

(6) Kohatsu et al., 2000.

(7) Ibid.

(8) Pettigrew, T. F. (1979). "The Ultimate Attribution Error: Extending Allport's Analysis Prejudice." Psychological Bulletin, 5, 461-476.

(9) Stone, D. L., & Colella, A. (1996). 'A Model of Factors Affecting the Treatment of Disabled Individuals in Organizations." Academy of Management Review, 21, 352-401.

(10) Heilman, M. E., Block, C. J., Martell, R. F., & Simon, M. C. (1989). "Has Anything Changed? Current Characterizations of Men, Women, and Managers." Journal of Applied Psychology, 74, 935-942.

(11) Fernandez, 1981.

(12) Gilbert, J. A., & Stead, B. A. (1999). "Stigmatization Revisited: Does Diversity Management Make a Difference in Applicant Success?" Group and Organization Management, 24, 239-256.

(13) Kohatsu et al., 2000.

(14) Carr-Ruffino, N. (1998). Managing Diversity: People Skills for a Multicultural Workplace.

(15) Sanchez-Hucles, J. V. (1997). "Jeopardy Not Bonus Status for African-American Women in the Work Force: Why Does the Myth of Advantage Persist?" American Journal of Community Psychology, 25, 565-580.

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