Combating Racism in the Public Sector

Introduction

There are no limitations on where we can share or receive information during this 4.0 era, especially during the pandemic where informal experiences written by many people through different social media platforms are accessible to read. For example, once I have read a comment by a seemingly black woman (based on her profile picture and her content) through TikTok. An odd experience happened because, in her job searching experience, which was online due to the pandemic, she was invited to the next stage of the face-to-face interview. Then the interviewer commented a little something to her, “Oh, I thought you were white!” because her name is commonly used as white people’s names. Turning back the statement, the black woman said, “Well, now that I am black, you would not cancel my application and disqualify me just because I am not what you think I am, will you?”.

Ouch. Of course, later then, she was accepted, but it does leave a big question mark in me. Was she accepted because the company did not want to receive backlash if she were to share her story through social media? Nevertheless, then the key to preventing this unexpected and unwanted occurrence is by planting equal and diverse management within public sectors.

Understanding and Combating Racism 

All roads lead to Rome; some just take a shorter time when led by a good leader within good management. However, in theory, management and leadership are two different concepts. Kotter (2001) disseminate that management as the mechanism to cope with complexity is supported by the effectiveness of the leadership which focuses on changes. Changes can range from the dynamics of international competition, troubled administration to systemic racism.

Racism itself is a bigotry act done blatantly, oppression of a racial group in the social, economic, and political advantage of another (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2020). According to Glassdoor’s 2019 Diversity and Inclusion Study, 42% of 5000 employees in the U.S have experienced racism at their workplace. Most of the occurrence happened because of the neglect by the leaders towards the employees’ action and behavior; hence the damage is solved after and not before. When it happened, such action as compensation giving, artificial empathy, and a very much performative leadership is done to cover the carcass within the organization. Henceforth, as the new generation of change, we can prepare for when it is our turn to become leaders in tackling the possible occurrence of racism at the workplace.

The Scottish government is an example of a public sector that has determined to tackle race inequality towards its administrative body. March 2021 marks the event of the Public Leadership Summit on Race Equality in Employment, where public sector leaders were urged to tackle the issue. The committee of Scottish Parliament Equalities and Human Rights highlighted the action plan and gave out measurable outcomes for public sector leaders to be aware of racism and other barriers that may exist, to be transparent towards their process to finish targets, to review the recruitment process, and to publish the ethnicity pay gap. It stresses much about how a leader should be transparent and aware of the systemic racism and keep on challenging themselves to lead a better institution.

Policy Recommendation

Pynes (2009) stresses that the public sector is composed of a variety of government organizations. Unlike profit-based or non-profit organizations, the public sector has several layers of hierarchy, which can quite complicate things. Nonetheless, its complications do not necessarily mean impossible. One policy to introduce is the Zero Discrimination Policy. The policy's purpose is to come forth against the discrimination, bullying, and racism that occurs to the employee.

First and foremost of all, what it takes to create an equal and diverse sector without racism lies in the recruiter's hand. Both public and private sector organizations perform a “scantron” type of selection process of aspiring candidates (Dugal, 2013). Therefore, the HRM division can create a study case regarding unpleasant situations in the workplace. The recruiters can predict what action the candidate would do if the situation happens with this test or whether the candidates themselves would be the oppressor. The second strategy prevents racism as a leader is by giving proper and in-depth training program attended by the employees and leaders within the public sector. The institutionalism should recognize and be sensitive to their actions and words. Thereby inviting an experienced speaker of racism at work should be one of the training agendas. Last but not least, a leader must hear the experiences of every employee to ensure that a workplace is also a safe place for them. Communication and comprehension is the most crucial key to combat racism.

Ensuring the policy to work wonders, the most fitted managerial grid to execute is through the team management framework. When a leader is aware of the employee’s surroundings that are free from discrimination, the work result will turn out great. As stated by Michael Watkins (2012), a leader must be qualified as an agenda-setter to identify and fix prioritized problems while also being a strategist and integrator to maximize the improvement of the current issue fully and analyze the future probabilities hence the same mistake would not be repeated.

Conclusion

A diverse workplace is very fragile with discrimination and racism issue. The public sector then has can opt to implement the zero-discrimination policy as a way to combat racism. As implemented by the Scottish government earlier, public sector leaders then will have much more meaningful purpose as the targets to be achieved follows while having a stress and racism free work place.