Building Trust Between Managers and Diverse Women Direct Reports

In February 2011, Catalyst issued a new report on "Building Trust Between Managers and Diverse Women Direct Reports." To obtain a copy of the report, see below.

Research Reports
Author: Katherine Giscombe
Published: February 2011
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Hardcopy: $25.00

Trust between managers and direct reports is essential to forming productive workplace relationships, facilitating employee engagement, navigating the workplace, and improving overall performance across the organization. However, diverse women, defined in Building Trust Between Managers and Diverse Women Direct Reports as those belonging to racial minority groups in North America, often face greater challenges than white women in forming trusting relationships with their managers. Among other factors, negative stereotyping and exclusion from influential networks can influence the ways in which diverse women experience workplaces and can limit diverse women’s access to trusting relationships.
The report examines two dimensions of trust:
Disclosure: When a direct report communicates sensitive or personal information to her manager.
Reliance: The direct report’s ability to rely on her manager to take action on her behalf.
The analyses, which include perspectives from both diverse women and white male managers, show that:
Diverse women’s disclosure with their white male managers is lower than white women’s.
Disclosure predicted engagement with the organization for diverse women, but not for white women.
Reliance for diverse women and white women is similar. However, diverse women’s perception of their ability to rely on their managers made no difference to their satisfaction regarding career advancement opportunities while for white women it did.
White male managers may overestimate the level of trust in relationships with diverse women direct reports.
Organization-wide efforts are needed to overcome barriers to building trust in relationships between white male managers and diverse women direct reports.
Building Trust Between Managers and Diverse Women Direct Reports: Recommendations for Human Resources Departments, Managers, and Individuals, a companion to this report, offers recommendations for how to best leverage diverse working relationships within your organization.
Mentor Circle Sponsors: NYSE Euronext, Seagate Technology LLCAssociate Circle Sponsors: Cardinal Health Foundation; The Chubb Corporation; The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.; ING; Toyota Motor North America, Inc.Research Partners: American Express Company, BMO Financial Group, Chevron Corporation, Deloitte LLP, Desjardins Group, Deutsche Bank AG, Ernst & Young LLP, Hewlett Packard Company, IBM Corporation, McDonald's Corporation, UPS

http://www.catalyst.org/publication/468/building-trust-between-managers-and-diverse-women-direct-reports