Exploring ethnicity in organizations

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how ethnicity remains relevant to the workplace experience of minority ethnic graduate employees in contemporary British organizations.Design/methodology/approachQualitative interviews were conducted with 30 British Black Caribbean graduate employees drawn from a range of public and private‐sector organizations to examine the ways in which they felt their ethnicity impacted on how they experienced their places of work. Template analysis was used to analyse the data.FindingsThe paper finds that racial discrimination, social class and ethnic identity were key elements of the way in which ethnicity was experienced by these minority ethnic graduate employees. The paper discusses the differing ways racial discrimination is experienced and conceptualized in contemporary British organizations; and highlights the ways in which social class may play a role in how a group of (largely) working class minority ethnic graduates progress their careers in (largely) middle class organizational environments. Presented for the first time is a theory on the key facets of the ways ethnic identity might be experienced at work.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research would be required to see if the findings are replicated with graduates from other minority ethnic groups.Practical implicationsThe paper provides insights into ways in which majority and minority ethnic employees may experience organizations differently.Originality/valueThis paper provides some new insights into the role of ethnicity at work. It also attempts to address some of the issues with organizational psychological research on ethnicity at work identified by Kenny and Briner.