Perceiving and Disrupting Discrimination in Organizations

Despite the increasing demographic diversity in the workforce, discrimination against marginalized social groups remains a prevalent issue for many modern organizations (Hebl et al., 2020). However, the nature of discrimination is constantly evolving. While overt and explicit animus is often taboo, biases continue to creep into daily interactions in subtler ways and seep into the fabric of organizations in a manner that can be harder to detect. These challenges lead to questions about how discrimination can be overcome. In some cases, individuals who are subjected to discrimination respond at an individual level through confronting biased behaviors (Czopp & Monteith, 2003) or pushing back on organizational practices (Meyerson & Scully, 1995). Marginalized employees also attempt to engage in collective action with similarly situated individuals who are motivated to push back on the status quo (Scully & Segal, 2002). Finally, enlisting the help of allies from historically advantaged groups can be another tactic to shift the system (Droogendyk et al., 2016). While each of these approaches to fighting discrimination has promise, the present symposium investigates the obstacles that prevent these tactics from reaching their full potential. Drawing upon multiple methods (qualitative, survey, and experimental) and theoretical lens (identity management, collective action, allyship, intersectionality), we highlight issues in each of the above domains of individual action, collection action, and allied action. Collectively, these studies shed light on the experiences of employees navigating and responding to discrimination in the workplace, the barriers that undermine these efforts, and what may offer hope of effectively disrupting organizational discrimination and inequality. Navigating Race at Work: A Two-Dimensional Framework of Minority Racial-Identity Management Presenter: Rachel Arnett; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania Presenter: Keana Richards; U. of Pennsylvania Presenter: Serenity Lee; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania Presenter: Patricia Faison Hewlin; McGill U. Sanctioned Radicals: Comparing employees’ collective organizing around race versus gender Presenter: Lumumba Seegars; Harvard Business School The Divergence Between Descriptive and Prescriptive Expectations for Gay Men and Lesbian Women Presenter: Sa-kiera Hudson; Yale U. Presenter: Asma Ghani; Harvard U. Presenter: Aerielle Allen; New York U. Marginalized Workers’ Allyship Perceptions of Workplace Friends and Managers Presenter: Chade Darby; Cornell U. Presenter: Courtney Lynn McCluney; ILR at Cornell