Considering the Difference

So why were effectiveness ratings higher for African American managers when they networked more with same-race groups? We speculate that by networking with other African Americans, the leaders in our study received emotional support and guidance on how to negotiate the corporate system. We suspect that through various interactions African American colleagues exchanged information about the corporation and their co-workers, as do most people who are in networking relationships.

Both African American and white managers who were seen as effective had a significant number of multirace contacts.

However, we think that they also discussed how to navigate around racial traps and land mines that might lie unmarked under their ...

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