In recent years, current literature focused primarily on African-American women in senior management positions (Cain, 2015).
There is scant information on African-American administrators as a specific ethnic group. Research shows scant information concerning African-American men in senior management.
There is a belief that the African-American male is in danger of extinction due to high rates of incarceration, high rates of terminal medical conditions, and lack of educational qualifications. This review of the literature will focus on the ethnic group as a whole. Researching topics of employment and careers, African-Americans face typical concerns encountered by all ethnic groups.
The Birak (2008), the study produces seven common themes that emerged from four focus group sessions. The employees and “frontline” management appeared to be most concerned about compensation, work-life balance, career progression, leadership, reward and recognition, training, and work environment. The managers within the sponsoring organization embraced the opportunity for change and are committed to creating a motivational environment for employees while working towards implementing positive change.
Birak (2008), reinforces the positive traits of transformational leadership versus the contrary enforcement of transactional leadership. Birak’s (2008), a study revealed real-life concerns that impact leadership style.
Many researchers suggest that transformational leadership emphasizes behavior that inspires, nurtures, and encourages others. The model of transformational leadership seems to meet both the challenges of a rapidly changing environment and the need to engage everyone within the organization or project emotionally.
Transformational leadership is linked to longstanding literature on virtue and moral characters as well as being linked to themes of modern western ethical agendas. Campbell (2010) indicates that the transformational leader can instill in others feelings of confidence, creates a special bond, and articulates a vision; with which followers identify and are willing to work together towards accomplishing a common goal. Chang’s (2008), the study of IT personnel in South Korea that explored work role stressors and turnover intentions, examined the relationship between independent and dependent variables such as departure.
The effects of work-family conflict and role stressors on turnover intention are especially pronounced among IT personnel in Korea. Similarly, this study may reveal that the effects of work-family conflict impact the leadership development process among African-American administrators. If the external-internal involvements of African-American administrators show a unique set of circumstances different from other ethnic groups, these circumstances may need to be factored into their leadership development.
The 1995 Glass Ceiling Commission findings report that stereotypes and myths about African-Americans in the workforce have, over a period of time, adversely impacted their opportunity for career advancement. The Commission offered that the stereotypes and myths relating to African-Americans in the workforce have been generalized to all African-Americans. An examination of the myths helps to draw a clearer picture of the barriers African-Americans contend within the workplace. Examples of some of the myths why African-Americans do not progress in the work environment include a lack of commitment, poor work/life balance, racial bias, and inadequate leadership skills.
It is a general belief that hard work and sacrifice leads to success. A study conducted by Drew and Murtagh (2005), suggest the sacrifices endured by African-Americans occupying executive-level positions are often greater than those of Whites, due to the external challenges that impact their work/life balance.
Although many African-Americans in the business world possess the business intelligence required for senior-level positions, only a few have been able to demonstrate or profit from their talents and overall qualifications in positions of high authority. Racial bias has been offered as an explanation for the low number of African-American executives (Bilimoria, 2007).
There are only a few African-Americans that have focused on developing a strategy to reach executive-level positions at the onset of their career. Many minorities suggest that their success was based on building a strong support network early in their career. While others benefited from mentoring programs provided by their corporation. Catalyst (2004) indicates that only a limited number of minorities in the corporate world are given development opportunities and access to resources that will help to facilitate their career growth strategies. The main reason for this disparity is that African-Americans lack connections to people that can provide ongoing guidance and coaching.
Additionally, that African-Americans in the workplace frequently have cited the lack of mentoring as a barrier to advancement. The current body of literature clearly suggests that the lack of mentorship is a pivotal factor in career success for African-Americans. Yet, the research reveals that the strategies and factors that they have focused and executed as having the most significant impact on their career advancement.
Summary
The literature review discussed several research studies and examined factors affecting African-American leaders and the leadership development experience. It is clear that African-Americans are advancing in education and opportunities in the workplace, yet, a disparity exists among the work-levels. Research and studies highlight workplace challenges and experiences, identifying barriers that result in African-Americans being disproportionately represented in upper echelon management of organizations throughout America. Thus, it presents the need for future research on the leadership development process among African-Americans and the factors that impact their success and opportunities.
Moreover, a gap persists in addressing the underrepresentation of African-American leadership in both private and public corporations.
Consequently, the experiences, perceptions, and views in organizational environments are not adequately captured to provide a complete picture of the journey of African-Americans in their quest for senior-level management positions. This literature review is intended to demonstrate the interconnectedness between image, disparities, racial and social identity, perceptions, upward mobility, acceptance, and managerial progression, of African-Americans to senior levels combined with supporting theories and the role of diversity in organizations.
While attempting to develop useful leadership qualities, African-American administrators must also contend with the impact of slavery and the Jim Crow era. The historical events in this era gave rise to stereotypes of African-Americans in which African-American administrators are initially pre-judged based on ethnicity, verses performance, and with the unique challenges, they encounter within themselves. The concerns of inappropriate training and a lack of mentoring or mentorship programs are all shown to have an adverse impact on this study’s population quest for promotion to senior management positions.
There have been many studies conducted on the subject of leadership to include military service. Nevertheless, this study takes a glance at the lived experiences of African-American administrators. Chapter 3 will discuss the methodology and the approach to obtaining the results of this study. According to Creswell (2007), The procedures of research, such as data collection, data analysis, representing the material to audiences, standards of evaluation, and ethics, represent an interpretive stance. Thus, the researcher will be sensitive to power imbalance during all facets of the research.