African American and European
American Women's Visions of
Workplace Conflict: A Metaphorical
Analysis
Lynn H. Turner and Robert Shuter Department of Communication Studies,
Marquette University,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
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This study continues a research program focusing on the intersections of race and gender in the context of workplace conflict (R. Shuter & L. H. Turner, 1997). The current investigation examined African American (M) and European American (EA) women's perceptions of workplace conflict. Results from this exploratory study indicate that although all women's attitudes toward workplace conflict, as measured by their metaphors for it, were predominately negative, AA women's were more negative, more passive, and less focused on resolution than were EA women's. AA women's metaphoric language was also more intense than EA women's. These findings strengthen our argument for the use of examining organizational communication through the prism of race and gender. KEYWORDS women and conflict, workplace conflict, conflict metaphors, race differences he cultural and gender diversification of the us. workplace continues to increase at a rapid pace (Johnston & Packer, 1987; Shuter & Turner, 1997). For example, in 1983, African Americans held 4.7% of US. executive and managerial positions, and by 2001, they comprised almost 8% of these positions (US. Bureau of the Census, 2001). According to recent reports (Reuther & Fairhurst, 2000), White women and people of color make up 57% of workers in the United States. Despite the existence of increasing diversity among managers and employees, US. industry continues to struggle with work place diversity. Sidney Ribeau (1997) comments that organizing for diversity is the great challenge facing the United States in the 21st century. Collier and Thomas (1988) and Collier (2000) noted that diversity is a complex con struct because individuals possess multiple identities. Collier argued that understanding identity from the standpoint of diversity involves examining more than a single group
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Address correspondence to Dr. Lynn H. Turner, Department of Communication Studies Johnston Hall, Marquette University, P.O. Box 1881, Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881. E:mail:
[email protected].
The Howard]oumal ,!!Communications, 15: 169-183, 2004
Copyright © Taylur & Francis Inc.
ISSN: 1064-6175 print / 1096-4349 online
DOl: 10.1080/10646170490479787
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affiliation. Rather, what is needed is what Collier termed interpellation, which she defined as the interrelationships "among such cultural identities as sex, race, and class" (p. 24). This approach recognizes that cultural identity cannot be understood in isolation because of the communicative tensions inevitably occurring among multiple identities such as race, gender, class, and ethnicity. Eisenberg and Riley (2001) argued that the cultural context oforganiza tions provides an important setting for constructing multiple roles through communication. Interestingly, communication researchers have not adequately examined how race, gender, and ethnicity affect behavior in U.S. organizations despite the explosion of diver sity in corporate America (Allen, 1995; Shuter & Turner, 1997). In a review article of research in 20 major business journals between 1964 and 1989, Cox and Nkomo (1990) observed that organizational studies infrequently focus on Hispanic and African Americans, and the "recent trend is for less rather than more research" (p. 419). More recent reviews (i.e. Allen, 1995; Stohl, 2001) concur with this conclusion. Although few investigators have examined race and ethnicity in the workplace, there have been many studies on Black;\Vhite differences in communication in non-work set tings. Despite their number, many of them were conducted some time ago casting doubt on whether these differences still hold today. Some studies have focused on dialect (Dillard, 1975; Harrison & Trabassio, 1976; Labov, 1970), communication style (Shuter, 1982; Smitherman, 1977; Ting-Toomey et al., 2000), non-verbal behavior (Asante & Davis, 1989; LaFrance & Mayo, 1977; Naglieri & Ronning, 2000) and communication values and satisfaction (Hecht, Larkey, & Johnson, 1992; Hecht, Ribeau, & Alberts, 1989; Vazquez, 1998). Hecht and his colleagues (Hecht et al., 1992; Hecht & Ribeau, 1984; Hecht et al., 1989; Hecht, Ribeau, & Collier, 1993) investigated African Americans' perceptions of the salient communication factors necessary for achieving communication satisfaction in interethnic encounters. Their research is noteworthy and cogent both in its intracultural perspective-only African Americans are examined in these studies-and its emphasis on the respondents' perceptions and evaluations of their interethnic needs. One of the key findings in this research is that African Americans desire authenticity and expressive ness in interethnic encounters. AutheTlticity is defined heuristically by the study's partici pants as "getting things off your chest" and "being real" (Hecht et al., 1989, p. 392). This concern for authenticity may influence African American conflict communication both in terms of readiness to share opinions and the directness of these disclosures. Hecht and his colleagues' findings are consistent with limited research on African American and White cultural values, particularly those linked to work. Brennen and Blazini (1988) as well as Brennen and Tomkiewicz (1982) reported that African Americans in work settings tend to value independence more than do Whites. This empha sis on independence at work has also been linked to African American managers placing value on asserting themselves on thejob (Milbourn & Cuba, 1980). These differences in communicative behaviors and values may result from what Bell and Nkomo (2001) referred to as separate paths. Bell and Nkomo noted that although both Black and White women struggle for professional achievement, they do so in distinct ways forged from differing backgrounds, experience, values, and racial identities. This body of research suggests that these differences may produce misunderstandings in inter racial encounters and may be related to communicative difficulties that have been noted between Blacks and Whites in the workplace (Milbourn & Cuba, 1980; Shuter & Turner, 1997; Triandis & Malpass, 1971).
Women:S Conflict Metaphors and Race
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We agree with Ashcraft and Allen (2003) that although race and ethnicity have been neglected by communication and organizational researchers, gender has been examined quite extensively (e.g., Buzzanell, 1995; Marshall, 1993). This leads to the problem that Ashcraft and Allen identified as neglecting "the ways in which [organization] is funda mentally raced" (p. 5). The focus of previous research has been predominantly on White females despite data that women of color may not share the same culture or communica tion style as White women (Taylor & Trujillo, 2001). In advocating an approach of multicultural feminism, Reinharz (1992) argued that we need to engage in a form 'of scholarly "affirmative action to alter research projects" (p. 253). Stanback-Houston (1989) took a similar position, arguing for a line of research on African American female communication comparable to R. Lakoff's (1975) classic description of White female language patterns. In 1995, Houston reiterated this concern writing that "women's studies in speech-communication and sociolinguistics have been characterized by more recognition of than research on the language behavior of racially and ethnically diverse groups of women" (Houston, 1995, p. I). Yet, in the years since Houston issued this critique, few communication investigations have centered on women of color, particularly in the workplace. Moreover, Carrillo Rowe (2000) exhorted researchers to "reconceptualize feminism in light of its Whiteness" (p. 78) and recognize that Whiteness is embedded within our language. Thus, according to Carrillo Rowe, scholars have to be intentional and work within the limitations of language to create spaces for the voices and experiences of people ofcolor. Furthermore, few communication and organizational behavior studies examine the relationship between race and gender (Cox & Nkomo, 1990; Taylor & Trujillo, 2001). Typically, gender and race are investigated as separate and distinct variables. Moreover, the investigations are normally of an intergroup nature, with males being compared with females and African Americans contrasted with Whites. Shuter (1990) argued that this intergroup focus has produced important insights into the communication dynamics between groups, but limited understanding of the communication patterns within a particular gender or culture. Some academicians have argued that within gender, race makes a difference in com munication behaviors. For instance, African American and European American women differ communicatively in conflict styles (Shuter, 1982; Smith, 1983; Ting-Toomey, 1986). McCullough (1987, cited in Kramarae, 1990) observed that both African American and European American adult women used words like "confrontive," "quick-tempered," and "skeptical" to describe African American friends, and "non-confrontive," "withdrawn," and "tactful" in describing European American friends. Ting-Toomey (1986) found in her research that African American females tend to engage in more direct and controlling conflict strategies than White females, who use more active and solution-oriented strategies. However, the findings of her study may be questionable because they are based on self-report data drawn from questionnaires that purport to tap actual behavioral differences in conflict communication. Other accounts of African American and White conflict communication remediate this methodological problem by taking an ethnographic approach. These studies have focused on children's dispute behavior (Brenneis & Levin, 1977; Goodwin, 1982) and adolescent interaction (Abrahams, 1970; Hewitt, 1986). Scott (1995) reported preliminary findings that Black women have a tendency to speak in a more animated and rapid style than White women, which could be viewed as
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anger or hostility. Similarly, Houston and Wood (1996) observed that African American women see European American women as uninvolved in conversations because they seem to be "reserved and subdued in both what they say and how they say it" (p. 46), Phelps, Meara, Davis, and Patton (1991) investigated the perception of verbal aggression of Black women and White women and found that White women tend to view verbally aggressive acts as more aggressive than Black women regardless of the race of the aggressor. Blacks and Whites not only may possess different communication styles, but as we have noted earlier different cultural groups perceive social environments uniquely because of varied values and expectations (Triandis, 1976), For example, Bell and Nkomo (2001) noted that "for African-American women, biculturality, or moving from one cul tural context to another, requires that they shape their careers in the white world, while shaping other dimensions of their life in the black community" (p. 13). Bell and Nkomo concluded that juggling these multiple identities is a source ofstress for African American professional women and provides them with a vantage point that is unique from their European American counterparts. Further, these authors argue, these separate identities often create a gulf between Blacks and Whites in the workplace. This gulf may be seen as marking the differing standpoints of African American and European American profes sional women. Bell and Nkomo observed how this distance operates in the workplace: Despite their growing presence, black women executives remain a mystery to others in their organizations. Colleagues know little about who they are, where they come from, or how their life and career experiences set them apart. Some assume black women and white women share similar personal and professional histories because they share the same gender, Others see race as the key variable and assume the experience of black women executives mirror those of their black male colleagues. When the bank CEO con fesses he knows little about his black women managers, he is candidly revealing a dearth of understanding that is universally shared. (pp.4-5)
As the findings from our previous work (Shuter & Turner, 1997) illustrate, this dis tance includes perceptual differences and may contribute to interracial workplace con flict. Our African American and European American participants perceived members of the other race as having competing agendas relative to workplace conflict. We found, for example, that "African American women see themselves as striving to reduce conflict whereas European Americans are trying to avoid it. Similarly, European American females view themselves as less likely to escalate conflict than are African American women" (pp. 90-91). We concluded that both groups of women have similar goals for conflict in the workplace but enact them differently. Following Burrell et al. (1992), we believe that reconsidering communication constructs such as conflict constitute an important step for researchers. As Burrell et al. pointed out, conflict research has often been reductionistic and overly focused on outcomes. Conflict is most often defined as "the interaction of interdependent people who perceive opposition ofgoals, aims, and values, and who see the other party as poten tially interfering with the realization of these goals" (Putnam & Poole, 1987, p. 552). The definition implies an emotional climate that will accompany conflictual interactions. Other researchers (e.g., Fainsilber & Ortony, 1987; Hocker & Wilmot, 1991; Lakoff & Johnson, 1980; Norton, 1989) have contended that metaphoric language sometimes functions to enable people to express difficult and emotional topics better than literal language. For example, Putnam and Fairhurst (2001) asserted that metaphoric analysis
Womens Conflict Metaphors and Race
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is particularly useful in understanding organizational change and managing organiza tional conflict, both emotionally charged topics. Metaphors, defined as the "understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another" (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 5), may also function to create a sense of reality for those using them. As users hear themselves use metaphors, they participate in a transformational process whereby the experience and its comparison interact with one another creating a sense of reality. Foss (1989) commented on this process by noting that metaphor is our means of having and knowing a reality. Following this logic, we conducted an exploratory study examining working women and their metaphors of workplace conflict communication. Specifically, we were inter ested in similarities and differences in perceptions of conflict communication between African American and European American female corporate personnel. We believe that these comparisons may surface in an examination of the metaphors the women use to describe workplace conflict. By examining African American and European American women's perceptions about workplace conflict, we hope to clarify the multiple layers of meaning in women's workplace communication. Further, we wish to advance the argument that organizational communication researchers need to investigate the intersections between gender and race. l We seek to do this in the following ways: (a) by focusing exclusively on women and the relationship between race and sex; (b) by drawing the sample from corporate person nel over the age of twenty-one; and (c) by asking for participants' metaphors and ground ing our conclusions in perceptions. In so doing, we respond to Reinharz's (1992) call for feminist research to incorporate diversity. In addition, we honor feminist arguments to clarify experience and process rather than outcomes. Finally, we build on our (Shuter & Turner, 1997) suggestion to probe beyond four conflict approaches (avoid, maintain, reduce, and escalate) and instead analyze richer data such as that afforded by metaphors. This study is exploratory in nature with the goal ofdescribing the interaction between race and gender in perceptions of workplace conflict. Thus we focus on the following research questions: Research Question I: How do women depict workplace conflict? Research Question 2: Do these depictions differ by racc?
Method Participants Participants were 51 employed women from a large urban area. Seventeen women identified themselves as African American, 32 as European American, and 2 did not respond to the question. This provided a sample of 49 women for this study. Four women worked part-time and the remaining were employed full-time. The average length of time respondents held their current position was 8.26 years (R = 6 months to 25 years). The age range of the participants was from 21 to 60 years old, and the average age was 44 years old (SD = 11.7). Almost 59% of the sample was married, 18% was divorced, 4% separated, 16% single or never married, and 4% widowed. The median family income range was $40,000 to $50,000.
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Procedures
