The Participation of Black or Ethnic Managers in Government Activities - Research Paper Example

Black and ethnic managers in local government Table of Contents Introduction 2. Background 3. Literature 4. Research Questions and objectives 5. Research Design and Methodology 6. Timescale 7. Resources 8. Access to Study Population References 1. Introduction The participation of black and ethic managers in the government of any state within the international community is an issue that has been extensively examined both in the literature and the empirical research trying to retrieve the average percentage of this participation and its differentiation especially in accordance with the social, financial and political conditions that characterize each state around the world. The phenomenon described above – participation of black and ethnic managers in government – can be characterized as an issue that needs further examination using the views of the literature and the findings of the research as they are related with the particular subject. Particularly now, this phenomenon is even more intense because of the extensive restructuring of management in all countries around the world in an effort to create more effective and powerful managerial schemes; in this context, the participation of managers of all origins and cultural characteristics in the above effort would be considered as necessary; however in practice it is limited. In fact, it has been proved – both in the literature and the empirical research – that phenomena of racism still exist within organizations (they can be also found in the society) around the world. The specific research could help to understand the human resources policies applied in governmental departments especially regarding the possible existence of discrimination on the basis of race or culture. At a next level, this research is expected to explain the differentiations that are currently observed globally in the participation of black or ethnic managers in governmental activities. 2. Background The existence of black or ethnic managers in government is an issue that cannot be easily criticized because it is rather complex by its nature. More specifically, because the involvement in political activities of any state requires certain political identity, the participation of black or ethnic managers in local government should be primarily examined in accordance with the political thoughts developed across minorities within a particular region. The chances given to minorities in a particular state in order to participate equally in the state’s administration is another issue that should be possibly examined here. In order for the above issue to be examined more effectively the case of Britain is set as an example for the role of black and ethnic managers in local government. Of course, the percentage of these minorities within the local population should be taken into consideration when examining the particular issue. Generally, it could be stated that the participation of black and ethnic managers in local government in Britain is rather limited; however if this fact is examined from a different point of view (using per example the percentage of these minorities in local population or their involvement in the country’s political system) then the percentage of black and ethnic managers in British government could be regarded as justified. 3. Literature The examination and the evaluation of the position of black and ethnic managers in local government should be based primarily on the general principles of HR management. In this context, the strategic human resource management – which is characterized by Klinger (1993, 565) as ‘the purposeful resolution of human resource administration and policy issues so as to enhance a public agencys effectiveness’ – could be used in order to identify the main issues of the participation of black and ethnic managers in the British government. In this context, all the issues that are set by the strategic HR management as subjects of primary importance (like the workplace diversity and the change in the workplace) should be also examined when referring to the role of black and ethnic managers in the development of the various governmental activities. At a first level, it is suggested by Black (1994, 70) ‘the differences in the workplace can refer to a series of issues, like the race, the gender, the educational level or even the mental conditions of the employees involved’. Of course, the governmental sector can be hardly regarded as a common workplace. It is rather a workplace with particular characteristics which are related with the need for specific political thoughts across a particular workplace/ governmental department. It would be difficult to think that within the various governmental services employees are totally independent from any political initiative. In such a case it would be difficult for them to understand the need for specific governmental actions, proposals and responses especially when these are supposed to be prepared and administered – even partially – by the managers of the particular governmental department. Under the above terms, the existence of diversity in the governmental sector (as exactly in the private sector) has to be considered as absolutely necessary even if certain conditions among these two sectors are different. Regarding this issue, it is stated by Ferris et al. (1993, 41) that diversity could be characterized as ‘a problem regarding the organizational structure and operations, however it can also be considered as a challenge that can lead to the increase of the business performance’. Through the explanations given above diversity (if explained as the participation of people of various ethnical and cultural backgrounds) in the governmental sector would help towards the improvement of the performance of this sector either in the short or the long term. From another point of view, it seems that black and ethnic managers tend to face specific difficulties in order to enter a particular organization as well as when trying to be developed (professionally and personally) within a specific organization. Towards this direction, the study of Mokoele (1997, 1) showed that ‘black managers percieve personal, corporate, and government-related factors as serious problems contributing to their lack of corporate career success; these were:  (a) lack of work experience, (b) lack of planning for career development of blacks, (c) cronyism, (d) lack of appropriate mentors for black managers, (e) insufficient number of black managers to fill the positions available, (f) their own lack of technical competence, and (g) lack of government enforcement of affirmative action’. Ethnic managers would be expected to have similar problems when trying to enter a particular organization. The above assumptions could be considered as applicable in the public sector and the various governmental departments (under the terms already explained above). Moreover, it is suggested by Takala (2006, 4) that ‘an ordinary enterprise that wishes to become ethical can start by basing its operations, its business idea, on some hu­mane value implementing a broad social responsibility programme alongside its business strategy, while simultaneously fulfilling its responsibility as an employer’. The above view refers to the private sector organizations however it could be equally used for the public/ governmental sector if appropriately transformed. In the case of government, its ethical behaviour towards its employees could be related with the provision of appropriate remuneration (in accordance with the demands of each position) and sufficient support in any problem related with gender, race or ethnicity that can probably occurs in the workplace. In other words, the involvement of black and ethnic managers in local government could be characterized as a significant issue in terms of ethical behaviour which should be followed by all employers (no matter of their position in the social or the political hierarchy). The above fact is also highlighted by Lindfelt (2006, 14) who noticed that ‘in a glocal society with chaoplexity drivers for ethics issues, firms need to aim for integrated diversity; inte­grated diversity implies that a firm with a corporate global eth­ics approach may see that this is implied differently in locally diverse regions’. In other words, ethical behaviour is a necessary requirement for the development of a successful (in terms of the employees’ performance) workplace. However, in practice the recognition of the importance of ethics and the application of effective diversity policies on a particular workplace is a challenging task – especially when referring to the public sector where the volume of work is usually higher than that of private organizations. In the above cases, managers could promote diversity by applying the appropriate change management schemes. The participation of black and ethnic managers in the British government could be also enhanced by using specifically designed change policies. It should be expected in any case that these initiatives may cause a strong resistance within the workplace involved. Indeed, the study of Anson (2000, 21) showed that ‘managing organizational change remains one of the most important challenges facing HR professionals today’. From another point of view, Katzenbach (1996, 149) mentioned that ‘change efforts are often conceived as waves of initiatives that sweep through an organization from the top down, or the bottom up, or both, and flow across functions’. The extensive reference to the importance of change within organizations is made because of the viability of this method regarding the HR management sector. Indeed, the alteration (enforcement) of the role of black and ethnic managers in local (British) government could be achieved only through the appropriate change management scheme that would allow the participation of these managers on higher levels of the hierarchy within the local government. The importance of HR strategies followed within the various governmental sectors is highlighted by Coggburn et al. (2003, 206) who stated that ‘governments administrative arrangements and managerial behavior can profoundly influence programmatic content, activities, and outcomes; therefore, considering public managements effects is necessary for a true understanding of public policy and government performance’. In accordance with the above assumptions, the failure of the government to apply the appropriate HR policies across its departments can influence its performance in its various activities. The level of this influence cannot be precisely estimated in advance, however it would be expected to be significant in cases that the government has to deal with issues of significant national importance (like the administration of athletic contests of international character and so on). It is for this reason that the research made by Coggburn et al. (2003, 206) showed that ‘states possessing higher levels of management capacity tend to favor programmatic areas that distribute societal benefits widely (that is, collective benefits) as opposed to narrowly (that is, particularized benefits)’. In accordance with the above, states that apply a fairer HR scheme in the governmental sector are more likely to have an effective governmental representation in the various conflicts arising both in the internal and the external environment (inside the state or in the international community). It should be noticed that the efforts made towards the increase of the percentage of black and ethnic managers are many. Towards this direction, appropriate diversity schemes have been implemented in the various governmental departments. Special measures have been also taken for the increase of the percentage of black women managers in various governmental departments. This issue has been examined by Liff et al. (1994, 177) who came to the conclusion that ‘increasing formal controls or the range of initiatives is insufficient: better ways of understanding and challenging the role of organisational structures, cultures and politics in sustaining inequality is needed’. In other words, the design of plans and schemes of action is not sufficient for the successful handling of this problem (limited participation of black and ethnic managers in local government). 4. Research Questions and objectives As stated above current paper will based on the examination of the level of participation of black and ethnic managers in local government using as an example the case of Britain. Apart from this issue, which is the central one in this research, a series of other issues will be also examined in order to achieve a more complete presentation of the particular subject. In this context, this paper will refer to the following issues: a) which are the main HR techniques that characterize the modern British market – with a special reference to the governmental sector, b) which is the role of diversity in the performance of a particular organization (either of the public or the private sector), c) are there any chances for change regarding the HR practices applied in local (British) government and d) which could be the response of the British government to the needs of its departments for a diverse workforce – discussion on ethical behaviour within the workplace. 5. Research Design and Methodology Current research is based on the following two instruments: a) the literature review, i.e. the presentation and the analysis of the views of researchers on the specific subject and b) an appropriately structure survey among the black and ethnic managers that currently work in the British government. Because of the possibly difficulty in the retrieval of data through the second ‘path’ an alternative research scheme could be used based on data retrieved by black and ethnic managers working in private organizations. In order to realize the above plan, the paper is going to be divided into four main sections, the first of which will present a general overview of the subject (including the significance of the study and the aims and objectives of the research), the second will include the literature review, in the third one the survey used for current paper will be analytically presented (participants, questions, responses, methods used for gathering the data, description of questionnaire, discussion on results) while the fourth section will include the Conclusion and the Recommendations subsections. It should be noticed that the data retrieved through the survey used in current research will be appropriately categorized and evaluated as of their importance for the subject under examination. As for the questionnaire used in the specific survey, this will include a series of questions and possible answers (the participant will be asked to choose among 3 answers given for each question). The choice between black and ethnic managers of the local government and the private organizations will be based on the availability of the former to participate on such a research scheme especially if taking into account the extremely strong political and financial turbulences within the international community (a situation that has an impact also on the effectiveness of the plans of local government – including any advanced HR policies within the government’s departments). 6. Timescale At a first level, this research is expected to take approximately 2 months. However, because of the possible difficulties regarding the completion of the survey that will be used as the main research tool (as explained above) an additional time period of 15 days should be allowed for the presentation of the final version of the paper. 7. Resources The completion of this research is expected to be a challenging task especially regarding the retrieval of the empirical data required. In this context, a series of issues should be taken into account when working on this project: a) the research would require a specific amount of money in order for the researcher to respond to the various expenses related mostly with the retrieval of the material and the data that will be used for the completion of the study. Moreover, specific equipment (PC and Internet access) is expected to exist. It should also be noticed that the access to the required material cannot be achieved without the prior official approval for the conduction of this research and the access to all data needed for the completion of the project. 8. Access to Study Population As already noticed above, current research will be based on the literature that has been published for the specific subject using as an additional supportive tool the survey among black and ethnic managers that currently work across various departments of the British government (or alternatively across black and ethnic managers that work on private organizations in Britain) under the terms that already described in previous sections. The material used throughout this paper will be accessed through the University’s library while additional resources (that would be possibly required) could be accessed through the WWW. In any case, the resources required for the successfully completion of this paper can be characterized as accessible and no particular problem is expected to appear regarding the gathering of data (either the secondary or the primary one) that are necessary for the completion of the study. References Anson, B. (2000) Taking Charge of Change in a Volatile Healthcare Marketplace. Human Resource Planning, 23(4): 21-24 Black, K. R. (1994). Personality Screening in Employment. American Business Law Journal, 32(1): 69-124 Coggburn, J., Schneider, S. (2003) The Quality of Management and Government Performance: An Empirical Analysis of the American States. Public Administration Review 63 (2), 206–213 Ferris, G. R., Frink, D. D., Galang, M. C. (1993). Diversity in the Workplace: The Human Resources Management Challenges. Human Resource Planning, 16(1): 41-49 Katzenbach, J. (1996). Real Change. The McKinsey Quarterly, 1: 148-153 Klinger, D. (1993). Reinventing Public Personnel Administration as Strategic Human Resource Management. Public Personnel Management, 22(4): 565-574 Liff, S., Dale, K. (1994) Formal Opportunity, Informal Barriers: Black Women Managers within a Local Authority. Work, employment and society, 8(2): 177-198 Lindfelt, L. (2006) ‘Making Sense of Business Ethics– About Not Walking the Talk’ Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies, 11(1): 10-15 Mokoele, J.  (1997) Views of Black South African Managers for Advancement Into Senior Corporate Management Positions:  Implications for Human Resource Development. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, [online], available at http://www.nvgc.vt.edu/alhrd/dissert1996-2000/MOKOELE.htm Takala, T. (2006) ‘An Ethical Enterprise: What is it?’ Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies, 11(1): 4 Read More