Sitzmann, a CU Denver Business School professor of Management and Workforce Development Scholar, co-authored the Harvard Business Review article with Christopher Newport University’s Shoshona Schwartz and fellow CU Denver Business School professor Mary Lee Stansifer. The piece shed new light on the group’s previously published work within the peer-reviewed journal Business Horizons.
“While companies say they champion diversity, there are glaring disparities in diverse representation within managerial ranks,” according to the authors. Citing a 2021 analysis, Black employees comprise 14% of the workforce but only hold 7% of the managerial roles in the businesses surveyed. Women continue to hit a glass ceiling as they attempt to obtain leadership positions.
Sitzmann and company’s study exposes ineffective and counterproductive practices that actually undermine managerial diversity. As a result, underrepresented groups pay a severe price because businesses frequently ignore proven steps to increase diversity.
The researchers poured over three decades’ worth of data from 800+ U.S. firms compiled by sociologists Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev. The data pointed in two directions:
“While companies say they champion diversity, there are glaring disparities in diverse representation within managerial ranks,”
– Sitzmann, et al
What works:
Paid diversity roles (e.g., chief diversity officer), formal mentoring programs, and diversity, equity, and inclusion-focused recruitment are among the most effective practices but are rarely used. Among medium to large employers, only 20% have diversity task forces, 10% have diversity managers, and 10% have formal mentoring programs.
In the Business Horizons article, Sitzmann and colleagues highlight particularly effective strategies adopted by well-known businesses. IBM, for example, established a technical school in a largely African American and West Indies neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, creating a pipeline to internships, apprenticeships, and full-time jobs at IBM.
Best Buy sets specific workforce diversity goals, recently aiming to fill 33% of non-hourly roles with persons of color and 33% with women. To attain these goals, Best Buy also recruits from more than 100 historically Black colleges and universities.
What is less effective:
Diversity and harassment training and grievance procedures are frequently utilized in organizations but have little positive impact. Sitzmann says, “Employees tend to react with resistance and anger to these messages, inadvertently increasing discriminatory behavior… Leaders need to understand which management practices work to build a more diverse managerial team.”
Notably, Sitzmann and colleagues concluded that an effective increase in diverse management representation and the frequency of diversity practice implementation are, in fact, negatively correlated. On average, organizations are more likely to utilize ineffective practices (e.g., diversity training) than effective practices (e.g., mentoring), a key factor contributing to the slow pace of DEI progress.
“America has spent over a century addressing DEI, but progress has been sporadic with delays, oscillations, and reversals,” Sitzmann concludes. The group’s DEI initiatives and outcomes research will hopefully inspire and guide businesses toward genuine progress in workforce diversification and inclusivity.
To learn more about Dr. Sitzmann’s work, visit her CU Denver Business School page.
