Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-1-2006
Abstract
This inquiry was a search for knowledge that could become a guide to improved corporate practices. The aim of the research is to increase the effectiveness of relationships of decision makers, both of racial majorities and racioethnic miniorities. This study details the social construction of the ineractive practices of multicultural professionals. Using a qualitative method, the study looks at the experiences of racial majority and racioethnic minority professionals in the technology-service industry. The research design ofthis study used interviews, surveys and contextual analysis of individual cases. Through this grounded theory approach, the study found evidence of influence of organizational paradigms in how the participants interacted. The research identified three common practices of (l) dealing with differences, (2) communication styles, and (3) dispute settlement practices that had an impact on respectful interactions. The study addressed this complex topic on two levels of analysis, (1) the individual's interactive practices and (2) the organization's diversity paradigms. By using these two levels of analysis, the study came closer to capturing the complexities of the topic. The end result of this rigorous process was the emergence of two in1plications, (1) respectful interactive practices result in individual learning and (2) respectful interactive practices result in social capital enhancement. The study commences with the development of a theory driven framework that discusses respectful interactive practices as a relational process that can contribute to the breaking down of prejudices in America's growing pluralistic society. Such practices work on a broader basis through connectivity and cross cultural learning. The target audience for the study's findings are senior executives who wish to promote talented multicultural professionals into high-level managerial jobs. Such executives can enable the advancement of minorities into positions at the upper core of business units. Similarly, these findings would well serve academicians in management and social science disciplines, in their pursuit of deeper understandings of the dynamics that occur within corporate America, from the practitioner's perspective.
Keywords
ethnicity
Rights
© The Author(s). Kelvin Smith Library provides access for non-commercial, personal, or research use only. All other use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly reproductions, redistribution, publication or transmission, whether by electronic means or otherwise, without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.
Department/Center
Design & Innovation
Recommended Citation
Hall, Alvin E., "The Social Construction of the Interactive Practices of Multicultural Professionals" (2006). Student Scholarship. 491.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/491
