Racial discrimination, which is defined as unequal treatment based solely on race, is a prevalent issue that occurs across various organizations including the workplace. Although, this issue is prominent and can be handled through proper management. In fact, organizations are the perfect environment for racial equity to be practiced. This is because organizations are autonomous entities which offer leaders high levels of control over their subordinates. Thus, if proper practices are followed racial equity can become effectively promoted in the workplace. The proper format to promote racial equity follows a five step method: Problem Awareness, Root-Cause Analysis, Empathy, Strategy, and Sacrifice. Following this five step method will allow corporate leaders to create more equitable work environments
1.) Problem Awareness:
The first step to promoting racial equity in the workplace comes with problem awareness. To some people it may seem obvious that racial discrimination exists in their workplace. However, others may believe that racism is not a problem within their organization. If everyone is not on the same page, it can be difficult to address the reality of the situation. Thus, it is imperative to first build a consensus around whether racism is a problem in the organization, more often than not it is. After this you must converse with your employees and identify what the problem is and where it originates from. Only after identifying the problem can you continue to the next steps.
2.) Root-Cause Analysis:
After identifying the problem, employees must take part in a root-cause analysis. This involves taking a look at the bigger picture of racism in the workplace. Oftentimes, when people attempt to address the problem of racism in their organization, they like to blame the bad apples instead of looking at the structural problem. This can be harmful because employees may believe they are fixing the issue, when in reality, they are not addressing it head on. Thus it is important to focus on the structural issues that create racism, instead of the one bad employee.
3.) Empathy:
The next step to promoting racial equity involves showing true empathy for the problem. Often, times people feel sympathy when they witness racism. However, that is not enough, people must show empathy by experiencing the same hurt and anger that people of color feel when they witness racism. Managers can raise empathy in their organization through safe listening sessions where employees share their experiences and by using educational pieces that provide historical and scientific evidence of racism. This will increase empathy shown towards racism, which is more likely to lead to action in promoting equal justice.
4.) Strategy:
Next comes the strategy phase, which involves the “what can we do about it” stage. When dealing with racial discrimination, there are three distinct categories which can be addressed: personal attitudes, informal cultural norms, and formal institutional policies. To successfully promote racial equity in your workplace all three categories must be simultaneously practiced. You can not have one without the other. For example, changing institutional policies without changing personal attitudes will create dissent from employees and fail to promote racial equity. Thus to effectively enhance racial equity in your workplace, all three categories must be integrated into the strategy of the management team.
5.) Sacrifice:
The last step to promoting racial equity deals with sacrifice. Oftentimes organizations believe that promoting racial equity involves sacrificing too much time, energy, and resources. As a result, they are less motivated to take strides to address racism. Nevertheless, this assumption is false; in fact racial equity usually costs less than most people assume. Managers may believe that increasing diversity in their company involves sacrificing high quality. However, this is not true, as a study by Sheldon Zedeck on corporate hiring found that even the best screening tests predict only 25% of intended outcomes. Meaning that there may be no difference between the candidate who scored first out of 50 and eighth out of 50 during the screening process. As a result, managers should abandon the belief that a best candidate must be found. Instead, they should focus on hiring well qualified people who show good potential.