Employee resource groups: Examining a viable and valuable crisis response structure

Abstract

Although employee resource groups (ERGs) have existed since the early 1960s, little empirical research has been conducted on them. Most of the knowledge comes from case studies that focus on individual ERGs with less work conducted on the reasons ERGs come into existence, optimal ERG structures, how they develop as teams, the growth paths of ERGs, leadership roles and how they adapt to help members and stakeholders, including during crisis situations. In this paper we explore the potential of the grass-roots programs known as ERGs to respond to crisis. Given that the pre-cursor to today’s ERGs was the first black caucus in Rochester, NY, that was born out of a crisis (the first race riot in the USA), it should not be surprising that their evolutionary form of today, ERGs, have been actively responding to COVID-19s. In order to understand why ERGs may be particularly suited to respond to crisis situations, we explore the topic of ERG structure and conduct two different studies gathering data on ways ERGs are responding to COVID-19. This work suggests that evolving ERG structures that fit the description of parallel organizations, have high potential to take on big challenges and crisis situations, particularly when taking on an intersectional perspective.