Academic perspective Comment
The lack of representation
of visible minorities at the
higher levels in businesses can
be seen virtually everywhere
If you were to ask someone whether
there is a racial hierarchy in their
workplace I suspect their reply would be
an immediate and resolute no.
I’m sure that this would be an honest
answer. Or, at least, that they would
honestly believe it is true. They may
think that the days in which people were
discriminated against because of their
race – in the workplace or wider society –
are long behind us.
However, early this year an
investigation into the lack of ethnic
diversity in the boardrooms of some
of the UK’s largest companies was
concluded and the findings released in
the latest Parker Review.
It made for troubling reading. Key
findings included that more than twothirds
(69%) of FTSE 250 companies do
not have a single person of colour on
their board, and three in five (59%) FTSE
350 firms will not meet the target set by
the 2017 Parker Review of having at least
one BAME (black, Asian and minority
ethnic) director by 2021.
There can be no arguing that these
results are clear evidence of a racial
hierarchy in our workplaces. This doesn’t
just relate to private sector companies
though, which have been the focus of the
Parker Review so far.
When it comes to racial diversity the
vast majority of organisations follow a
distinctive pattern. Typically they are
diverse at entry level, but become whiter
and more male the further up the
hierarchy you go. The lack of
representation of visible minorities at the
higher levels in businesses can be seen
virtually everywhere.
How has this been allowed to happen?
Surely we are a more tolerant welcoming
society than that of previous years? Many
companies even have dedicated staff and
initiatives to improve the diversity of
their ranks. So how can we still be
discussing racial hierarchies?
From a psychological point of view, a
key challenge when it comes to increasing
board diversity – and one that I believe
we can see clear evidence of in the Parker
Review’s results – is group behaviour. We
instinctively gravitate towards people
who we perceive as being similar to us,
and within the resulting groups members
will see each other as more talented, more
capable or as having more potential. They
will also see people outside the group as
lacking in those qualities.
Within many organisations there will
be a dominant group, which tends to be
largely made up of white men. It is
usually other white men, therefore, who
are welcomed into the group and selected
for the plum roles.
For a while now setting diversity
targets has been the most visible way for
organisations to counteract this kind of
behaviour, despite the fact that they never
work. There are many compelling
arguments for dispensing with targets
altogether. For instance, targeting a single
group – such as women – means that
other aspects of diversity and people’s
intersectional identities are ignored.
The additional problem is that people
who are selected when these diversity
policies are in place are often seen as
being less competent. They are regarded
as having required extra assistance to join
the organisation, without which they
would have been rejected.
The challenge for HR professionals is
not only to raise awareness of this kind
of bias – whether it be conscious
or unconscious – but also to encourage
team members to recognise it in
themselves. Only when we are all
consciously checking our own behaviour
and thought processes will we begin to
see improvement.
HR needs to create a climate that
fosters justice and equality for all. Data
such as that produced by the Parker
Review should be used to highlight where
specific problem points exist, but in a
much more thoughtful and problemsolving
way than it is now.
It doesn’t help that such policies
masquerade under the rubric of ‘best
practice’ when a more apt description
would be ‘common practice’. It shows the
power of group-think when people will
only take the same actions as their
peers. It’s a complete failure of
imagination to keep reaching for the
same failed solutions.
Most of all though, HR managers need
to examine their own motivation on this
issue. Ticking boxes won’t bring about
change. There needs to be a genuine
concerted effort; one that can be seen at
all levels of the organisation. HR
Binna Kandola is senior partner and co-founder ofPearn Kandola
hrmagazine.co.uk April 2020 HR 17
/hrmagazine.co.uk