Managing Racial Diversity: Matching Internal Strategies with Environmental Needs

• Date: 01 January 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12977
• Author: Austin M. McCrea,Anna A. Amirkhanyan,Stephen B. Holt,Kenneth J. Meier
• Published date: 01 January 2019

Managing Racial Diversity: Matching Internal Strategies with Environmental Needs 69

Anna A. Amirkhanyan

American University

Stephen B. Holt

University at Albany, SUNY

Managing Racial Diversity:

Matching Internal Strategies with Environmental Needs

Abstract: Although demographic diversity has been of paramount concern to researchers and practitioners in public

management, studies exploring managerial strategies to capitalize on and respond to the needs of diverse client

populations are scarce. This article examines strategies for managing diversity as a way to buffer environmental

challenges in service delivery and performance resulting from heterogeneous client demands. Findings suggest that

administrators prioritize diversity efforts when faced with higher levels of regulatory violations (a performance

measure). A higher percentage of black residents is associated with lower service quality. However, the effect of

managerial strategies for diversity on performance is conditioned by the racial composition of the clients: as the

percentage of black nursing home residents increases, diversity management efforts are associated with a lower number

of regulatory violations. Similarly, at higher levels of racial heterogeneity, diversity management efforts are associated

with fewer regulatory violations.

Evidence for Practice

• Matching internal management strategies with environmental demands can help buffer challenges in

delivering public services.

• Practitioners should be cognizant of strategies to better serve diverse clientele in an increasingly multicultural

society.

• A mismatch between strategy and cultural context can undermine organizational performance.

Austin M. McCrea is a PhD

student in the Department of Public

Administration and Policy at American

University. His research interests focus on

public management and organizational

performance. His work has appeared in

Public Administration Review

and

Political

Research Quarterly

.

E-mail: am3471a@american.edu

Stephen B. Holt is assistant professor

in the Department of Public Administration

and Policy at the University at Albany, SUNY.

E-mail: sbholt@albany.edu

Anna A. Amirkhanyan is associate

professor in the Department of Public

Administration and Policy at American

University. Her research focuses on public

and nonprofit management, organizational

performance, public-private differences,

and citizen participation. Her articles have

been published in the

Journal of Public

Administration Research and Theory,

Public Administration Review, Journal of

Policy Analysis and Management,

and

V

oluntary Sector Quarterly

. Her book

Citizen

Participation in the Age of Contracting:

When Service Delivery Trumps Democracy

explores citizen participation in the context

of complex service delivery structures.

E-mail: amirkhan@american.edu

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 79, Iss. 1, pp. 69–81. © 2018 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12977.

The issue of demographic diversity, both

internal and external to organizations,

has been of paramount concern to both

researchers and practitioners in public management.

Effectively addressing the additional, and sometimes

conflicting, needs of a diverse population adds an

another challenge to the already complex task of

managing public organizations. Reflecting the racial,

gender, and socioeconomic profile of the citizens

they serve, organizations with diverse leadership

and staff in secondary and higher education, law

enforcement, and other fields have been shown to be

more effective at achieving their goals and making

decisions that are responsive to the needs of their

clients (Hong 2016; Keiser et al. 2002; Marvel and

Resh 2015; Meier 1993; Meier and Stewart 1992;

Pitts 2007; Roch, Pitts, and Navarro 2010; Selden

1997). Diversity management has emerged as a

strategy to nurture the capabilities of heterogeneous

groups and create an inclusive, open, and productive

work environment. In theory and practice, diversity

is a multifaceted concept that includes recruitment

and outreach, building cultural awareness, and

promoting pragmatic management policy within

organizations (Pitts 2006). Separate from managing

diversity within an organization, organizations

must also manage and address diversity among their

clients.

Studies on strategic management assume that

managers “set a direction for collective effort, help

focus that effort toward desired goals, and promote

consistency in managerial actions over time and

across parts of the organization” (Boyne and Walker

2010, S186). In order to address heterogeneous

demands that may lead to organizational complexities,

managers must adopt and implement strategies to

buffer these challenges in service delivery. This use

of managerial strategies for client and environmental

diversity is most common to the field of education

(Ayscue 2016; Brown 2003; Larson 2016), yet it is

largely absent in the general public administration

research. This absence of scholarship is puzzling

because management strategies are likely to be critical

when dealing with an increasingly diverse clientele

and attempting to sustain or improve organizational

performance. The objective of this article is to explore

the implications of strategic management for diversity

and its conditional relationship with buffering

challenges in service delivery.

Kenneth J. Meier is Distinguished

Scholar in Residence in the School of

Public Affairs at American University and

professor of public sector management in

the Cardiff University School of Business.

His research interests focus on the

impact of management on organizational

performance and how bureaucratic

organizations affect equity.

E-mail: kmeier@american.edu

Research Article

Austin M. McCrea

American University

Kenneth J. Meier

American University and Cardiff University

School of Business