Running head: WORKPLACE EXPERIENCE YOUNG PROFESSIONALS COLOR
The Workplace Experience of Young Professionals of Color in
Student Affairs at the University of Illinois
Murillo S. Soranso
University of Illinois – Urbana/Champaign
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WORKPLACE EXPERIENCE YOUNG PROFESSIONALS COLOR
Abstract
This paper will explore how young professionals of color experience the
workplace in student affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Specifically, I will look at how human resource development interventions like talent
management and performance appraisals impact their experience. Four young
professionals of color were interviewed for this study, and they shared their thoughts
about leadership and career development opportunities, mentorship, and their thoughts
about performance appraisal processes. The findings in the study revealed important
points that the student affairs division should pay closer attention in order to continue to
positively influence the experience of young professionals of color in this field.
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INTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUE
Many workplace settings strive to be a diverse environment. The same is true
with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), which has been
implementing many initiatives to attract diverse students, faculty and staff. However,
creating a diverse environment goes beyond the selection process. There needs to be
policies and practices in place that transform the workplace into a more inclusive
environment (Kossek & Lobel, 2000). This paper will explore how young professionals
of color in the division of student affairs experience (or not) such policies and practices in
their respective departments and the University of Illinois as a whole.
The policies and practices mentioned above that I would like to focus on derive
from the human resource development field. They are talent management interventions
and the performance review process. Talent management interventions have been
identified as a crucial tool for the retention of a diverse workforce (Chun & Evans, 2009).
Particularly for this paper, I am interested in taking a closer look at interventions such as
leadership development, career development and mentoring. These three interventions
have been used for retaining and advancing people of color in the workplace (Jackson &
O’Callaghan, 2009; Kossek & Lobel, 2000). Performance review processes have been
scrutinized for being intrinsically bias towards people of color in the workplace (Kossek
& Lobel, 2000), and I am interested in examining how that plays out at UIUC. Finally,
something I need to take into consideration is that the individuals I interview might not
have been exposed to any of these interventions and will need to examine what does that
say about their experience in their departments and UIUC.
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There seems to be a gap between the number of young professionals of color and
professionals of color in senior student affairs officer roles, which can be a result of high
attrition rates for all young professionals in student affairs as a career (Renn & Hodges,
2007). However, the true cause of this perceived gap for people of color in student
affairs has not been examined. Therefore, I am curious to learn about the experience of
these young professionals at UIUC and how it potentially influences their decision to stay
in student affairs as a career. For the purposes of this research study, I define young
professionals as professionals who have finished a master’s degree in student
affairs/higher education within the last 5 years and have taken a job with UIUC
immediately after graduate school.
Why examine this issue at UIUC
More recently, the university’s administration has strengthened its commitment to
diversity in many ways. When Chancellor Phyllis Wise conducted her Listening and
Learning Tour, diversity and inclusivity were mentioned by several parties as both a
challenge and strength of this institution (“Listening and Learning Summary,” n.d.). As a
consequence of her tour, Chancellor Wise has identified social equality and cultural
understanding as one of her main points of the initiative that she calls “Visioning Future
Excellence at Illinois” (“Social Equality,” n.d.). Finally, in her blog, Wise pointed out
how diversity leads to a “path of success” and she “argue[s] that if we don’t accelerate
our effort we will not be prepared to truly welcome the class of 2025” (Wise, 2012, para.
18).
Inclusive Illinois has been another initiative that shows how diversity is high
priority at Illinois at this moment. The initiative was unveiled in the fall of 2007 and has
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as its mission a commitment to diverse voices in one campus (“History,” n.d.). It intends
to meet its goals “through education, engagement, and excellence” (“Mission,” n.d., para.
1). More recently, Chancellor Wise appointed a committee in order to accelerate those
efforts, creating then a new initiative under Inclusive Illinois. Illinois EDGE (Enhancing
Diversity, Guiding Excellence) is a senior level faculty group, led by Professor James
Anderson, tasked with developing “an action plan to institutionalize a culture of diversity
and excellence on campus” (“Illinois EDGE,” n.d.).
Finally, the Student Affairs division shows its own commitment for diversity.
The most noticeable initiative is the division’s statement on diversity. The statement
highlights how the division “creates a welcoming environment,” “contributes to the
cultural education of students,” and “recognize and develop [staff’s] own cultural
understanding” (“Student Affairs Statement,” n.d., para. 2, 3, 4).
The University of Illinois and the Division of Student Affairs has numerous
initiatives to address diversity. Therefore, this study about young professionals of color
and their experience in student affairs and UIUC will help us better understand how the
policies and practices that are in place (things like talent management and performance
reviews) positively influence the experience of these staff members.
Questions to be addressed
Taking into consideration the issue at hand and how it applies to UIUC, this paper
will address the following questions. First, how does the presence or lack of talent
management interventions like mentoring, career and leadership development impact the
experience of young professionals of color at UIUC? Is that impact positive or negative?
Second, how do young staff of color experience the performance review process? Do
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they think it is a tool that takes into account their racial/ethnic background? Do they
think it is a fair tool that measures their performance accurately? What is the
performance appraisal tool missing with regards to their contributions as people of color
in a predominantly white work environment? Finally, do those interventions and the
performance appraisal influence their decision to stay at UIUC? Do they influence their
decision to stay in student affairs as a long-term career?
LITERATURE REVIEW
Experience of new professionals in student affairs
The study of young professionals’ experience on their first job in student affairs
has received a lot of attention from researchers and practitioners in the field. This
attention can be attributed to two reasons. First, the number of young professionals in
student affairs is significant. It is estimated that 15-20 percent of all student affairs
workforce is composed of young professionals (Renn & Hodges, 2007). Second, attrition
rates for student affairs practitioners are high. Particularly, the attrition rate for young
professionals in student affairs is estimated to be between 50-60 percent before these
professionals reach their fifth year (Renn & Hodges, 2007). For the purposes of this
study, I classify young professionals as anyone who has 5 years or less in their first job
out of graduate school. That definition is also reflected in the literature (Renn & Hodges,
2007; Amey & Reesor, 2009).
By studying young professionals’ experience on their first job, we learn important
lessons to help them in their transition. First, Renn and Hodges (2007) found that young
professionals are looking for meaningful relationships with peers and supervisors,
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wishing for institutional and cultural fit, and grappling with issues of competence.
Second, many young professionals have heard over and over again about the importance
of mentorship (Renn & Hodges, 2007; Amey & Reesor, 2009) and taking ownership of
their professional development (Amey & Reesor, 2009). Finally, politics of the job is
something that many young professionals are not equipped and ready to handle and some
have rude awakenings when they come across politics in the workplace (Amey & Reesor,
2009).
Despite some discussion on diversity and multicultural competences being part of
formal curricula in graduate programs (Flowers & Howard-Hamilton, 2002), there was
no significant literature or studies on how racial and ethnic young minorities experience
their first year on the job. Therefore, I argue that there is a need to focus on the
experience of young people of color and how they experience their first job in student
affairs. Since elements like professional development, mentorship, and relationship with
supervisor were cited as important factors for young professionals, in this study, I will
attempt to connect the experience of young professionals of color with talent
management strategies (mentorship, leadership and career development) and the
performance appraisal process. A review of talent management interventions and
performance appraisals and how they impact the workplace experience for racial/ethnic
minorities comes next.
Talent management and diversity management
Talent management is an organizational development tool that is used to provide
employees with opportunities for growth and advancement. Talent management is an
encompassing term that may include interventions like mentoring, leadership and career
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development (Cummings & Worley, 2009). These interventions’ overall goals are related
to training, retention, transitional issues, knowledge transfer, skills acquisition,
relationship building and much more (Cummings & Worley, 2009). There have been a
growing number of studies that look at the success of such interventions, and the
outcomes show positive evidence that these initiatives are effective within an
organization’s workforce (Cummings & Worley, 2009; Neely, 2009), although there
seems to be a lack of studies that link those interventions to the retention and
advancement of staff of color in the student affairs field. Despite the lack of studies, it
has become “an institutional imperative” (Chun & Evans, 2009, p. 31) for higher
education as a field to use talent management interventions that yield a highly diverse and
competitive workforce in order for universities and colleges to compete in a global
market (Chun & Evans, 2009). Next, I will review and discuss how the three
interventions (leadership and career development and mentoring) may assist with the
retention of young staff of color in student affairs.
Leadership development
Leadership development has as its main goal the development of skills and
knowledge that will help with the group’s effectiveness and to build the organization’s
capabilities (Cummings & Worley, 2009). Some studies have begun to focus on how
leadership development can be applied to impact the retention and development of staff
of racial/ethnic minorities. For instance, Neely (2009) studied the leadership development
program provided by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the impact it had
in its racial minority members. The study revealed that the leadership development
program had greater impact on a participants’ personal development like increased
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confidence and self-awareness (Neely, 2009). Other noteworthy area of success of that
particular leadership development experience is the support participants receive from
each other after the program is concluded (Neely, 2009).
As illustrated above, leadership development has many positive impacts on staff
of color and seems to be a beneficial intervention that can easily be transferred to student
affairs to retain young professionals of color. Departments and units, and maybe even a
university’s division of student affairs, would need to establish leadership development
programs targeted to those individuals. They need to make sure that this leadership
development program is not simply a training program, since many leadership programs
are actually more like training sessions and lack the intentionality required from
leadership development interventions (Cummings & Worley, 2009). Some aspects of
leadership development that can be implemented in such programs are equipping young
professionals to make important decisions and make them feel like they have input on
important decisions. Another important piece is to provide opportunities for young
professionals to connect with senior members of the leadership team. Finally, providing
young professionals of color with the knowledge of future trends in student affairs would
be providing them with an outlook on some of the challenges they will encounter.
Regardless of the activities in the leadership development program, when planning such
interventions, organizers need to assess the needs of the intended audience and evaluate
the program after it takes place (Cummings & Worley, 2009).
Career development
This is another organizational development intervention that can benefit new
professionals of color to advance their careers in student affairs. In addition to the bottle
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neck effect (Renn & Hodges, 2007) and the lack of role models in higher level positions
(Jackson & O’Callaghan, 2009), the lack of a clear career development plan might be
another factor for possible high attrition rates for racially diverse young professionals.
According to the literature available, young professionals might be aligned with the
“establishment stage” (Cummings & Worley, 2009, p. 454) that career development
theory identifies as the first 5 years of a person’s career path. In that establishment stage,
there are six possible interventions that can be implemented: realistic job preview,
assessment centers, job rotation and challenging assignments, developmental training,
performance management, and work-life balance (Cummings & Worley, 2009). A
discussion of each of these interventions and they can be adapted to help young
professionals of color follows.
In assessment centers, participants can engage in activities where their skills and
abilities are being assessed for future positions (Cummings & Worley, 2009). The way
this can be inclusive of staff of color is for developers of this intervention to think about
the unique needs and circumstances of racially diverse professionals. The assessment
should take into account that many of these individuals might not even have had the same
exposure to situations where skills and abilities would have been developed before. The
assessment should be empowering and not demoralizing.
In job rotation and challenging assignments, participants get exposed to different
tasks where they have an opportunity to develop skills (Cummings & Worley, 2009).
This intervention can be a follow up to assessment center, where the participants’ skills
and abilities were identified. New professionals of color would benefit from this
intervention because their skills and abilities would be developed in areas they might not
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have considered before. This intervention has the ability to increase job satisfaction and
build organizational knowledge, two important factors that would give advantages to
young professionals.
In developmental training interventions, young racially diverse professionals can
benefit from training that is aimed and developed with their needs in mind. If
organizations approach training and development in a way that always takes into
consideration the individual’s identity, the way the training is developed and delivered
might be more effective.
In performance management, workers are provided with feedback about their
performance and their career development (Cummings & Worley, 2009). For staff of
color, honest and fair feedback is the most helpful. There is research that indicates that
white male appraisers tend to rate women and people of color harsher than they would
their white colleagues performing the same functions (Kossek & Lobel, 2000).
Therefore, institutions should implement an appraisal process that takes rater biases into
account and is able to address it if necessary (more on performance appraisals can be
found later in this review).
Finally, in work-life balance interventions, professionals can learn how to balance
personal and professional goals (Cummings & Worley, 2009). For young staff of color,
they might feel like they need to work twice as hard as their white colleagues, which can
lead to burn out. In addition, in many cultures, family expands beyond parents and
siblings. Many young diverse professionals may be dealing with more family issues than
their white counterparts. For those young professionals, having an organization that
shows interest in learning about those family dynamics may be all they need to be more
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productive at work. Therefore, managers should get to know their employees’ personal
goals and priorities.
Mentoring
Mentoring is a popular talent management initiative that is often used to address
similar goals to coaching but with slight changes. Mentoring is a relationship often
between a seasoned professional and a less experienced one (Cummings & Worley,
2009) that impacts the career development of the less experienced professional (Amey &
Reesor, 2009). For mentoring relationships to be successful, they should similarly follow
the proposed steps for coaching, where both mentor and mentee are assessing, developing
the relationship and plans of action, and reassessing throughout their partnership
(Cummings & Worley, 2009).
Mentoring has been documented as such an important tool for the success of
administrators of color as it relates to retention, job satisfaction, and advancement (Renn
& Hodges, 2007; Jackson & O’Callaghan, 2009). Mentoring programs would then be
considered a great first step to begin addressing the needs of young professionals of
color. Ideally, mentees would be paired up with mentors from the same ethnic and racial
background. However, because of the lack of senior level administrators of color, that
might not always be possible (Amey & Reesor, 2009). Thus, cross-racial mentoring
should be pursued.
Cross-racial mentoring happens quite often in higher education institutions mainly
because the number of administrators of color that could serve as mentors to new and
young professionals can be low (Amey & Reesor, 2009). There are advantages and
disadvantages to cross-racial mentoring. The disadvantages have to do with potential
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cross-cultural miscommunication and pressure associated with socializing and informal
activities that might have been easier to engage in if both individuals were from the same
racial/ethnic background (Amey & Reesor, 2009). The advantages, however, can far
outnumber the disadvantages and be much more beneficial to the individuals and the
institution. For instance, while there can certainly be opportunities for cross-cultural
miscommunication, there is also a similar opportunities for effective cross-cultural
communication, which is a skill that both individuals can benefit from. In predominantly
white institutions, young staff of color when mentored by white administrators can learn
so much about the politics of the institution and learn about the culture of the
organization and if it is welcoming to administrators of color. Conversely, senior level
administrators of color when serving as mentors to white young professionals have the
ability to shape and influence a potential professional in the field who could later invest
in promoting cross-cultural interactions more often. Cross-racial mentoring can also
bring positive changes to the overall environmental climate in institutions.
Performance appraisal
Performance appraisals are a human resource management strategy that is utilized
to provide an employee with feedback about his/her performance (Cummings & Worley,
2009). Performance appraisals are usually linked to compensation systems (how much of
a raise the employee will receive) and development of behavior of skills (how well an
employee has learned his/her job and the culture of the organization) (Cummings &
Worley, 2009). It is important to stress that performance appraisals encompass more than
just the tasks of a job, but can also be an evaluative system that takes into consideration
the social and even political aspects of a job (Kossek & Lobel, 2000). In other words, a
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worker is not only being evaluated on his/her performance but can also be evaluated on
how he/she interacts with supervisors and peers in the workplace.
As a consequence of this social aspect of performance appraisals, they have been
under scrutiny because of the impact these social implications can have on workers of
underrepresented groups from racial, ethnic, gender and other social categories (Kossek
& Lobel, 2000). As noted before, people of color have reported being evaluated harsher
by white supervisors (Kossek & Lobel, 2000). Some of the reasons for that can be
attributed to rater bias, which is the concept that the rater in the performance appraisal
holds certain bias towards the person being evaluated based on their race, gender or other
social identities (Kossek & Lobel, 2000). Therefore, the main objective of building a fair
performance appraisal system is to eliminate the opportunity for raters to display their
biases. Among the types of performance appraisal processes that exist, outcome-based
performance appraisal, which focus on results of the work rather than traits or
characteristics of the worker, seem to be favorable by staff of color because of the
objectivity that outcome-based appraisals provide (Kossek & Lobel, 2000). However,
this is not to be understood that outcome-based appraisals are bias proof.
Student affairs practitioners should evaluate their performance appraisal practices
to ensure they are taking into consideration the potential for bias. One simple way of
doing this is to ensure that the appraisal process is more outcome-based than based on
employees’ traits and characteristics. Another way to combat bias in appraisals is to
conduct training for supervisors who evaluate staff. In many instances, performance
appraisers have never gone through any formal training to learn how to best evaluate
someone’s performance. This training can also address issues of bias in raters by
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engaging participants in an honest conversation about how biases can happen during the
performance appraisal process. Building a fair and consistent appraisal process,
particularly one free of bias towards young professionals of color, will ensure that they
have a good on the job experience and increase their retention rates.
REFLEXIVITY
This topic I chose has evolved from an issue I have always wondered about since
I started working full time in student affairs. How do new professionals find the perfect
job and stay in it? In other words, how do young professionals find the elusive perfect fit
after graduate school? When I was a grad student, I got plenty of advice on finding the
perfect fit. One that I remember the most was the advice to choose a job where you knew
who your supervisor was going to be. And I followed that advice. One of the main
reasons I decided to come to the University of Illinois was because, after I interviewed on
campus, I knew my potential supervisors could be because I met all of them. Once I
started my position as a resident director in housing, I had a great experience. However, I
had colleagues who were not experiencing the same joy, and I began to question why
their experience wasn’t the same as mine. The one thing I noticed in common among
those individuals and me was our racial and ethnic backgrounds. Since that observation,
I have refined my initial question to ask how do people of color find the perfect fit in
their job? This is a concern in our field because young professionals (5 years or less) in
student affairs comprise a large number, and there’s also a high attrition rate among this
group (estimated between 50-60 percent) (Renn & Hodges, 2007).
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The theoretical frameworks that I have chosen to use to look at this question are
theories of organizational development, specifically talent and performance management.
Although my master's degree is in higher education, I have chosen to pursue my PhD in
human resource development because I felt that field would provide me with the tools to
look at development issues and the workplace experience of student affairs professionals.
When I reflexively analyze my research question and theoretical frameworks, and
frame that analyze in terms of self, others, and truth and transcendence (Pillow, 2003), I
can identify certain assumptions about my research. First, when I take into consideration
my self in this research, the question that usually comes up is how I navigated my own
first job and being a Latino. As I said before, my experience could not have been more
positive. I enjoyed my supervisor, I felt supported, and I was given lots of opportunity to
develop as a young professional. Therefore, in many ways I would assume that all other
young professionals of color were having a great experience too. However, there are two
ways I have come to challenge that assumption. First, by reading more on the actual
experience of people of color in the workplace; this has helped me understand that the
workplace environment is not always a welcoming place to professionals of color.
Second, my own ethnic identity is not quite similar to those of my colleagues who were
having a tougher time adjusting. I consider myself Latino. After all, I was born in Brazil
and that is my most salient identity in the United States. However, the color of my skin is
white, and I know I have privileges because of that. This is something that I have a hard
time speaking about because I think my privileges are more perceived than actual. After
all, it only takes one sentence for someone to notice I do not belong in the US, despite
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living here for almost half of my entire life. Regardless, I know I had a different
experience than my peers because of the color of my skin.
Second, when trying to recognize the experience of the other, I can identify many
assumptions because of my decision to use organizational development theories to frame
this problem. As I shared before, readings have shown me that people of color may have
more negative experiences in the workplace than whites. The literature says that an
emerging trend, talent management, can be a great tool to advance and retain people of
color in the workplace. In addition, I have also chosen to look at how performance
appraisals can impact staff of color. The assumptions are that staff who are provided
with intentional leadership and career development and mentoring opportunities will be
more likely to enjoy their workplace and be retained. When I think back to the experience
of those colleagues around me, I wonder if they did not (or did not think they) have those
opportunities. But if they did, did they experience them differently? Did they have
mentors that they could count on and who looked like them? The literature says that
people of color are more successful with mentors who share their same social identities
(Amey & Reesor, 2009). Were they not able to find mentors with whom they had things
in common? What the literature says about performance appraisals are that they are not
fair to people of color, and there are real concerns when people of color are appraised by
white supervisors. I noticed that discontent with some colleagues in the past and they
were certain that this was the case. The literature also shares similar findings where
people of color report dissatisfaction with performance appraisals (Kossek & Lobel,
2000).
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Finally, this idea of truth and transcendence through reflexivity is imperative for a
good qualitative analysis. Given the literature review and my personal observations
about my colleagues, I was ready to find exact experiences as described above: people
thinking that their racial/ethnic background was holding them back because of the lack of
access to talent management interventions and an unfair appraisal process. After this
study, these assumptions have been challenged. When I analyzed my data, I needed to be
careful not to look at certain data as outliers. Could those outliers actually be the norm?
What would that mean to the assumptions I have? How do I handle and interpret that
data given what the literature review has said so far? I approached my findings
considering those questions, and I believe it has made it for a better analysis of the data.
THE STUDY
Method
In order to understand the experience of young professionals of color at UIUC, I
decided to use qualitative methods to examine this issue. Qualitative methods allow us to
explore the lived experience of the participants in a given topic. In this case, I am
interested in how these young professionals have experienced the impact or lack of talent
management interventions and the performance appraisal process and how these two
elements influence their UIUC experience.
Participants
For this research project, I interviewed four (4) young professionals in student
affairs here at the University of Illinois. Three (3) identified as African Americans and
one (1) identified as Latina. The number of years at UIUC ranged from 6 months to 2
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years, thus all fit Renn and Hodges’ (2007) description of young professionals based on
the number of years in the job after graduate school (5 years or less is considered young
professional). Since my sample was small, for confidentiality reasons, I will not disclose
any other descriptive information about participants. The identifiers above are enough to
justify their selection for this study.
Data Collection
I utilized convenience sampling to select the four participants for this study.
Because of my position in student affairs, I have a collegial relationship with all the
participants. I also attempted to use snowball sampling but the participants only provided
me with names of colleagues I had already interviewed or was thinking about inviting.
Participants were invited to interview and were given a free lunch in a residence hall
dining room as compensation for their time.
Data was collected through structured interviews with seven (7) questions (see
Appendix A). There were additional probing and clarifying questions that I asked
participants during their interviews. Interviews lasted an average of twenty-two (22)
minutes. They were audio-recorded, and those recordings were transcribed followed
each interview by me. All four (4) participants signed consent forms ensuring
confidentiality and asking permission to be audio-recorded.
Discussion of findings
Since the sampling was small enough, I decided to present my findings by
grouping them by the topics I examined. This will allow for each participants’ lived
experience to be reflected and be given a voice.
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Opportunities for leadership development
All participants cited on-campus committee involvement as the most popular
leadership development opportunities they have participated in. The participants talked
about how quickly they were put on so many committees when they started their
positions in student affairs. This opportunity for committee involvement was shared with
excitement and they believe this is a truly great opportunity for them.
Although it is great too see these young professionals be given the opportunity to
join these committees, this may not equate to leadership development. From the
literature, leadership development interventions must build on skills and abilities that will
impact change in the organization. None of the participants elaborated on skills that they
could use to impact change on the organization. Therefore, student affairs may need to
revisit their committee structures and ensure that these young professionals are building
skills that will help with their leadership development. In other words, it seems like
leadership development initiatives are not being developed intentionally at the division
level.
Opportunities for career development
Most participants talked about career development as being something very
informal, and they needed to seek out on their own. Another point participants cited was
how they mostly use their supervisors to engage in conversations about their career
development. One participant in particular said that since her department was short
staffed, there was not time allotted to discuss her career development in one-to-one
meetings with her supervisor. Another participant mentioned opportunities available
outside of UIUC, like national professional organizations. And one other participant
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shared that she had been encouraged by her supervisor to write for publications as her
career development activity.
Once again, intentionality does not seem to exist when supporting young
professionals’ career development at UIUC. The participants shared experiences that
could fit in some of the categories of career development described above. However,
they all described such opportunities as informal. There’s an opportunity here for the
unit to create ways to build intentional career development initiatives for these young
professionals.
Opportunities for mentoring
Mentoring was also seen as an informal activity. Of the four participants, only
one said he had strong mentors. However, his mentors were not staff members at UIUC.
All other three participants said that some colleagues with whom they directly work
served as mentors as they started their positions here on campus. They helped them
navigate processes, procedures, and the culture of the campus.
Two participants acknowledged the formal mentoring program that student affairs
offer to its staff. One of those participants, however, shared that she did not feel
comfortable with a blind pairing with a mentor, so she never pursued that opportunity.
The other participant shared a lack of interaction with his assigned mentor. Despite the
existence of this formal mentoring program, it does not seem that it meets the needs of
these young professionals. This may be the case because, as suggested by the literature,
this mentoring program does not follow the steps, from assessing the need for a
mentoring program all the way to evaluating it, necessary to be an impactful intervention.
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Thoughts about performance appraisals
All participants shared positive comments about performance appraisals. One
common theme was the anxiety around being surprised by something negative that would
be shared for the first time during the performance appraisal. However, all participants
shared how their supervisors did a good job of sharing feedback with them before that
meeting. Participants also shared how frequent feedback was reassuring that they were
doing something right. Interestingly, participants only shared moments that would focus
on mistakes. There was not an acknowledgement that performance appraisals also are
about sharing positive aspect of an individual’s performance.
Impact of race/ethnicity on talent development and performance appraisals
The major finding in this are is that young professionals of color seem to be
unaware of how their racial and ethnic identities influence their opportunities in the areas
of talent management, and how they may impact their performance appraisals.
For instance, every participant shared that they hoped their performance
appraisals were not being done with their racial and ethnic identities in mind. They want
to be judged by the quality of their work. Their reality, however, is contrary to what
studies say about performance appraisals for professionals of color: there is a bias in such
appraisals (Kossek and Lobel, 1996). Two participants acknowledged that one way their
racial and ethnic backgrounds may impact their performance is because they are
evaluated on how well they interact with students who share their same racial
background. These two participants, one African American and the other Latina, shared
that they were evaluated on how well they support their students who also share their
racial identities. What they fail to see is that this is already one way that their
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performance appraisals could potentially be different than their white counterparts. Are
their white colleagues in other departments being evaluated on how well they interact
with students of color? If not, why are these young professionals of color being
evaluated in these interactions?
Most participants also did not see how their identity impacts career development
and access to mentors. The participant with two mentors was the only one who saw a
positive impact of having mentors who shared his same racial identity. It allowed him
and his mentors to have conversations about race, which helps him in his development as
a professional. Again, this is problematic because according to the literature,
professionals of color potentially navigate these interventions differently, particularly
when it comes to mentorship.
Participants have recognized a link between their racial identity and their
placement in many committees. Participants were certain that some of their committee
placements were done because they needed a representative of their racial background.
This trend often happened with search committees, when the need to have a diverse
committee is high. One participant said, “because there are so few of us [Latinos] here,
we get noticed more and get put into committees.” Another African American participant
also acknowledged the low numbers of African American staff members on campus as
the main reason behind the abundant opportunities for these young professionals of color
to be placed in these committees.
Impact on decision to stay at UIUC and Student Affairs
Participants had very different responses to how talent management initiatives and
the performance appraisal could impact their decision to stay at UIUC and student affairs
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as a long term career. Although the literature has shown how talent management can
impact the retention of professionals of color, my study was not able to make that link.
Most of the responses were about positive relationships with colleagues, salary, and other
types of opportunity. Although this question of retention was not central to this study,
this issue of the retention of young professionals of color is one that I would like to
examine further. Therefore, more research is needed in this area.
Limitations of the study
This study presents two significant limitations. The first one is the sample size.
Because of time constraints, I did not have the opportunity to interview a larger sample
size. In addition, the number of individuals that fit the population description I was
looking for was limited. When asked for suggestions for other potential participants, the
participants being interviewed recommended participants who I had already interviewed
or was about to interview. Unfortunately, because of conflict of interests due to my role
as a supervisor in University Housing, I was not able to interview professionals in that
department. It has a large number of young professionals of color who would provide
The other limitation of this study was the number and type of questions that were
asked. I wished that I had developed more structured questions so the interview could
have been longer. I wish I had developed the questions after the literature review so it
could have helped me draft more intentional questions. I also wonder if terms like
leadership development, career development and mentoring should have been elaborated
more to participants. These are terms that get used a lot in the student affairs field but I
do not think that we, as practitioners, understand them fully. Therefore, this makes me
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wonder if these young professionals only have a surface understanding of these terms and
how this understanding impacts their answers to those questions.
CONCLUSION
There certainly is a potential connection between talent management interventions
and performance appraisals and how they potentially impact the experience of young
professionals of color in the student affairs field. The findings of this study have
presented some significant information like how young professionals of color perceive
their over representation in committees and the different expectations that exist around
interactions with students of color. Leadership and career development, mentoring and a
fair performance appraisal process are the key to impact young professionals of color’s
experience on their first job. A lot of these initiatives, however, are seen as informal
activities, and student affairs departments and entire divisions need to be more intentional
in providing more formal, structure activities that target young professionals of color as
their primary audience. For these interventions to be successful, they must be well
planned and evaluated. They should not just be left for direct supervisors to implement
them. It takes commitment from the senior leadership team for initiatives like this to be
successful.
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References
Amey, M. J., & Reesor, L. M. (Eds.). (2009). Beginning your journey: A guide for new
professionals in student affairs (3rd ed.)
Chun, E., & Evans, A. (2009). Translating principles into practice. ASHE Higher
Education Report, 35(1), 27-36.
Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (Eds.). (2009). Organization development and
change. (9th ed.). Mason, Ohio: South-Western CENGAGE Learning.
Flowers, L. A., & Howard-Hamilton, M. F. (2002). A qualitative study of graduate
students’ perceptions of diversity issues in student affairs preparation programs.
Journal of College Student Development, 43, 119-123.
History. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.inclusiveillinois.illinois.edu/History.html.
Illinois EDGE (n.d.) Retrieved from
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Jackson, J. F. L., & O'Callaghan, E. M. (2009). Ethnic and racial administrative diversity:
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Education Report, 35(3), 65-86.
Kossek, E. E., & Lobel, S, A, (Eds.). (1996). Managing diversity: Human resource
strategies for transforming the workplace. (2nd ed.). Malden, Massachusetts:
Blackwell Business.
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Listening and Learning Summary. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.oc.illinois.edu/visioning/summary.html.
Mission. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.inclusiveillinois.illinois.edu/Vision.html.
Neely, T. Y. (2009). Assessing diversity initiatives: The ARL leadership and career
development program. Journal of Library Administration, 49(8), 811-835.
Pillow, W. (2003). Confession, catharsis, or cure? Rethinking the uses of reflexivity as
methodological power in qualitative research. International Journal of Qualitative
Studies in Education, 16(2), 175-196.
Renn, K. A., & Hodges, J. P. (2007). The first year on the job: Experiences of new
professionals in student affairs. Naspa Journal., 44(2), 367-391.
Social Equality & Cultural Understanding. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.oc.illinois.edu/visioning/social.html.
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APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL AND QUESTIONS
For this research project, I will reach out to colleagues who are staff of color in
the division of student affairs at the University of Illinois. Because of my supervisory
role in University Housing, I will not invite individuals from that department. The other
departments in student affairs that I will reach out to are the Office of Inclusion and
Intercultural Relations (OIIR), The Illini Union, and the Leadership Center. These three
departments have a diverse staff, and I have a collegial relationship with many of them. I
do not foresee any of them declining to participate in the study.
Interviews will be scheduled for 60 minutes. If I cannot ask all the questions in
60 minutes, a second interview session may be scheduled. I would like to speak to as
many staff members as possible, but I will only use about 3-4 of those staff members’
interviews in this paper. Below are the questions that I’d like to ask participants:
1. Tell me about the leadership development opportunities available to you as a
young professional at UIUC. How do you experience/navigate them?
2. Tell me about the career development opportunities available to you as a young
professional at UIUC. How do you experience/navigate them?
3. Tell me about the mentoring opportunities available to you as a young
professional at UIUC. How do you experience/navigate them?
4. How do you feel about annual performance reviews? What were you anxious
about before your first annual performance review?
5. How do you feel about the impact that your racial/ethnic background had on
interventions like career and leadership development and mentoring
opportunities? How about the impact on performance reviews?
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6. What do you feel is the impact of these interventions and annual performance
reviews in your decision to stay in student affairs at UIUC? To stay in student
affairs as a long-term career?
7. Can you think of anything else that might impact your workplace experience here
at UIUC? Please elaborate.