Beyond Selection

The reviews by Kenny and Briner (2007) and Cox and Nkomo (1990) highlight that the large majority of organisational psychology research has focused on selection, such as examining test validity and bias in recruitment and testing procedures (e.g. Hunter et al., 1979; Kraiger & Ford, 1985). Although there has been an increase in ethnicity research examining topics such as leadership and job attitudes (e.g. Chin, 2010; Clark et al., 1996), there remains less knowledge of how ethnicity influences individuals’ experiences after selection. However, it is testament to the success of the existing research on ethnicity that this thesis is now moving away from the selection stage. By investigating differential career success, this thesis therefore contributes to research on ethnicity by examining the experiences of individuals past the stage of organisational entry.

1.3.3 Managers

One method of understanding more about the experience of minority-ethnic groups in the workplace is to study minority-ethnic managers; something existing organisational psychology research has yet to place emphasis on (Cox et al., 2001). Cox (2004) suggests that this is due to the small presence of minorities at management level and the reluctance of academic journals to accept publication manuscripts with smaller sample sizes. Nevertheless, according to Kenny and Briner (2007), studying minority-ethnic managers is important because they are simultaneously in a privileged position due to their skills, qualifications and

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organisational status, and a less powerful and privileged position because of their ethnicity. This thesis therefore examines the career experiences of managers, which provides important insight into how ethnicity influences organisational experiences and how those individuals have managed their careers beyond the selection stage.

1.3.4 U.K. Setting

Much of the existing research on ethnicity has been conducted in the U.S. Whilst there are broad similarities in the social, political, legal and economic systems between the U.S. and U.K, historical and demographic differences mean that how individuals experience ethnicity and how ethnicity is regarded in society may be different. The U.S. has a distinct societal and historical context, including a history of slavery, the 1960s civil rights movement, and different patterns of immigration, which mean that seemingly comparable groups can have very different backgrounds. For example, findings from studies of African Americans may not necessarily apply to Black Africans or Black Caribbeans in the U.K. Population data also shows that the distribution of groups differs between the two countries. For instance, in the U.K. the largest minority-ethnic group is Asian (5.9% ONS, 2011) whereas in the U.S. it is Hispanic (16.3% of the population: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010).

It is important that the social, political and organisational needs of the U.K., such as recent equality legislation, are not overlooked. There is also the risk that diversity researchers will draw on U.S. research to make assumptions about U.K. organisations (Proudford & Nkomo, 2006). As such, there is arguably a need to add to research by developing a better understanding of ethnicity in organisations outside of the U.S. context. Therefore this thesis focuses on differential career success within a single public sector organisation in the U.K.

1.3.5 Organisational Context

By conducting research in a single organisation, this thesis also enables a greater understanding of the influence of ethnicity in the workplace. Although U.K.-wide labour market statistics reveal a pattern of differential career success, it remains unclear as to whether this is actually reflective of minority-ethnic employees’

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experiences. This thesis restricts the research to a single organisation, so their experiences can be interpreted within that organisation’s culture, climate and structure.

1.3.6 Mixed Methods

Due to the prevalence of selection and assessment research in organisational psychology, there has been a focus on measuring group differences (e.g. black vs white) on single concepts, such as test performance (e..g. Hunter et al., 1979). Therefore methods adopted in existing organisational psychology research have been overwhelmingly quantitative (Cox, 2004; Cox & Nkomo, 1990; Kenny & Briner, 2007, 2010). The importance of various social, cultural and other contextual factors has been discounted (Kenny & Briner, 2007). However, qualitative methods, such as life histories and the critical incident technique, may be more useful in terms of developing a rich understanding of minority-ethnic employees’ workplace experiences (Bell, 1990).

In order to address these limitations, this thesis uses a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods. The use of qualitative methods enables a rich understanding of the workplace experiences of minority-ethnic employees, which can be interpreted in relation to the organisational and societal context. Whereas, quantitative methods allow key findings from qualitative studies to be developed, tested and generalised to a wider sample.

1.4 Evolution of this PhD

This section describes how the current research evolved, before the structure of this thesis and an overview of the studies are provided.

1.4.1 Original Proposal

The original research proposal for this PhD focused on replicating a previous doctoral project. The existing project examined the leadership potential of women in a financial organisation (Koczwara, 2006). This PhD was therefore going to focus on

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the leadership potential of minority-ethnic employees. The proposal set out three studies:

a) _To examine whether managers explain leadership behaviour demonstrated by majority- and minority-ethnic subordinates differently, using attribution analysis.

b) _{To examine the attributions made by minority- and majority-ethnic} managers for their own leadership potential.

c) _{To compare actual behaviour of minority- and majority-ethnic candidates} during an assessment with observer ratings for their performance.