Adopting or Rejecting Cultural Norms

The key here is conformity. To what extent should employees follow a dress code? To what extent should they adopt the customs and norms of their teammates? If they do not, should other people think less of them and think of them as being less competent.

The research is interesting, and worth notice. It has shown that when black employees adopt the "white" norms that pertain in a workplace, they are generally perceived as more professional. It shows that when black employees fail to conform to the cultural norms of the workplace, they are perceived to be less professional.

A new study suggests that Black employees who adjust their styles of speech, name selection, and hairstyles to mirror White norms are perceived as more professional in the workplace. The findings come from a study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

The United States’ deep history of racism and the domination of White people in professional settings has led to a bias against Black individuals in the workplace. With Whiteness being associated with professionalism, Black employees are perceived as less competent when presenting with physical characteristics and speech patterns that are associated with Blackness.

One might conclude, however, that race is not really at issue here. The same black person, with or without, for example, dreadlocks will be perceived differently. Failing to adhere to culture norms suggests a refusal to fit in to the culture. If soldiers joining a military organization choose not to wear the uniform, not to follow the grooming codes, they are normally not perceived to belong to the group.

One also notes two points. First, the recent BLM protest movements, accompanied with the smash and grab crime sprees in major blue cities have damaged the reputations of black people. This is more true since black community leaders and black politicians have tended to defend the rioters and looters. Ergo, they have suggested that such is acceptable behavior within the community. This caused significant reputational damage. To imagine that this does not play itself our in everyday business relationships is naive.

Second, the current mania about diversity, inclusion and equity-- i.e. DIE-- has created the impression, noted by Shelby Steele some two decades ago, that black employees were hired for reasons that had more to do with DIE and less to do with competence.

If a black person shows up to work dressed like a gang banger or even with dreadlocks down to his waist, people are going to conclude that he is less committed to the job. And they are likely to treat him accordingly. Cultural habits associated with people of a lower social class are easily recognized. The reason is that members of that class have not built world class organizations by adopting said cultural habits.

Unfortunately, the dummies who did the research blamed it all on racism. Since changing one’s cultural habits does not change one’s race, this is obviously nonsense. And besides, there are many other races that run companies in this world.

If they were largely run by members of a certain ethnic group, perhaps this tells us that certain cultural habits are more conducive to professional success. If your clients think of your staff as less professional because they are dressed in costume, don’t they have the right to draw whatever judgments they wish? If your apparently bizarre dress costs you customers or distracts from the work, shouldn't people notice?

This means that dress codes and cultural norms associated with a successful enterprise tend to be admired more than dress codes and cultural norms that were not associated with a successful enterprise. This is not rocket science. If you were brought up in a neighborhood where the dress code was casual, and you advance into company where the dress code is more formal, shouldn't you be happy to adopt the new way of dressing.

And yet, the researchers recommend that companies change their culture in order to accommodate people who are not interested in conforming to their norms. This will most likely be bad for business. And it might easily cause a certain amount of self-segregation within the workplace.

“Although all employees may behave more professionally at work compared to more casual settings, individuals from stigmatized racial groups may feel a disproportionate pressure to conceal significant cultural aspects of themselves to minimize stereotyping ascribed to their social identities,” McCluney and her team say. This racial codeswitching requires marginalized groups to “suppress their cultural identity”, a burden that is mentally and emotionally taxing and likely reinforces the association between Whiteness and professionalism.

The association was not imposed by a criminal enterprise. It grew up because companies that succeeded in the market have tended to adopt certain cultural norms.

The researchers are having none of it. Since they know nothing about corporate cultures, they recommend policies that will decrease deficiency and that will marginalize members of certain groups.

“In light of our research, we recommend that companies expand or redefine what constitutes professionalism so that it encompasses a range of cultural norms, behaviors, and values,” the authors report. “Similarly, employees who wish to build authentic relationships with their Black colleagues may need to turn inward and examine if they deem behaviors not aligned with White norms to be unprofessional.”