Stella M. Nkomo

A Race and Gender-Group Analysis of the Early Career Experience of MBAs

This study examined race and gender differences in four career experience variables using a sample of Black and White MBAs (masters of business administration). Results supported hypothesized race effects for job involvement, access to mentors, career satisfaction, and gender differences in job involvement and hierarchical level. However, Black MBAs were not at lower hierarchical levels than White MBAs of comparable experience, and female MBAs did not report significantly less access to mentors or lower career satisfaction than did male MBAs. Implications of the findings for organizations are discussed.

Differential Performance Appraisal Criteria: A Field Study of Black and White Managers

Performance appraisal ratings of 125 first-level managers were analyzed to investigate the degree to which the criteria used to evaluate the overall job performance of black managers differs from that used to evaluate white managers. The performance appraisal form included items that measured both the social behavior dimen sion and task/goal accomplishment dimension of job performance. The appraisal ratings of both groups on each dimension were correlated with measures of overall job performance and promot ability. Results indicated that social behavior factors are more highly correlated with the overall job performance of black ratees than for white ratees. Implications of these results for both black managers and organizations are discussed.

Factors affecting the upward mobility of black managers in private sector organizations

Compared to the 1970s blacks made less progress in moving into the managerial occupational category in the private sector during the 1980s decade. This study utilized a model of intrafirm mobility to examine the factors affecting the upward mobility of black managers in private sector organizations. Results indicated that line position experience, company seniority, mentor assistance, organization size, and the rate of job vacancies were the best predictors of management promotions. Implications of these findings for the economic prosperity of the black community are discussed.

Interpreting Silence and Voice in the Workplace A Conversation about Tempered Radicalism among Black and White Women Researchers

This article began as an exploration of Black and White women’s efforts to address inequality and make changes in the workplace, but we soon turned the mirror back onto ourselves as Black and White women engaged in change efforts. Our struggles over interpreting the data revealed how Black and White women struggle to make sense of whether the other is a reliable ally. Black women wonder whether White women will raise their voices or be silent yet again. White women wonder whether Black women can trust that silence is sometimes a strategy. Charting a course through defensiveness, questioning, and some distinct “aha” moments led us to understand our phenomenon and ourselves more deeply. We end this article at a way station, not a final destination, with open questions about the prospects for cross-race collaboration.

African women in leadership: current knowledge and a framework for future studies

Abstract While the empirical literature on leadership and management in Africa is sparse, the literature on African women in leadership is even sparser. This article offers a critical examination of the current state of knowledge on African women in leadership and management. It draws from an extensive review of existing published research to summarise what has been studied and is currently known about their status, leadership styles, and the influence of gender on their experiences as leaders and managers. Based on this review, an integrative framework, drawing from African feminism and postcolonial theory, is proposed to advance the study of African women in leadership and management.

Candidate Age as a Factor in Promotability Ratings

This paper presents research addressed to understanding how candidate age affects promotability. A field study of 125 lower-level managers indicated that age had an inverse relationship with promotability for both young and older managers and also appeared to serve as a moderator variable for the job tenure and education factors. Job tenure and education were relevant criteria only for the younger managers. By contrast, job performance ratings were significant for both age groups. Alternative explanations for the results and the implications of the findings are discussed.

Practices of Organising and Managing Diversity in Emerging Markets Countries: Comparisons between Brazil, South Africa, India and Pakistan

PART 1: THEORIZING, INTERDISCIPLINARITY AND PLURALISM OF ORGANIZING AND MANAGING DIVERSITY PART 2: PLURAL/EPISTEMOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ORGANIZING AND MANAGING DIVERSITY PART 3: METHODICAL/EMPIRICAL PERSPECTIVES ON DIVERSITY IN ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT PART 4: CONTEXTS AND PRACTICES OF ORGANIZING AND MANAGING DIVERSITY PART 5: INTERSECTIONALITY AND CROSS/INTERCULTURAL ANALYSES PART 6: WHERE DID WE COME FROM AND WHERE DO WE GO? REFLECTIONS ON THEORY, RESEARCH AND PRACTICES OF ORGANIZING AND MANAGING DIVERSITY

A social contract with business as the basis for a postmodern MBA in a world of inclusive globalisation

The last two decades have been filled with robust criticism of MBA education. These critiques have ranged from Henry Mintzberg’s condemnation of the MBA as a 1908 degree with a 1950s strategy to the late Sumantra Ghoshal’s fundamental assertion that the theories academics teach in business schools lie at the root of what is wrong with management education (Mintzberg, 2004; Ghoshal, 2005). The scope and depth of the criticism leaves little room for yet another book condemning MBA education. To its credit and my surprise, A Social Contract with Business as the Basis for a Postmodern MBA in a World of Inclusive Globalisation, moves beyond the critique discourse to propose a transformative MBA degree underpinned by a new social contract between society and business.