Race in the Middle: Exploring the Impacts of Managerial Differences on Organizational Performance

• Author: Erin Melton Robinson,Meredith Walker Anderson,Sadé A. Walker
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00953997221131774
• Published date: 01 March 2023
• Date: 01 March 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/00953997221131774

Administration & Society

2023, Vol. 55(3) 541 –568

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/00953997221131774

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Article

Race in the Middle:

Exploring the Impacts

of Managerial Differences

on Organizational

Performance

Erin Melton Robinson1,

Meredith Walker Anderson2,

and Sadé A. Walker3

Abstract

Public administration studies often fail to address the role of middle

management in organizations. On the whole, most scholarship focuses

on either top-level or street-level bureaucrats while the saliency of racial

identity for management practices is an understudied phenomenon. Bridging

the literatures on race in public administration and middle management, we

argue that race is a significant component of managerial strategy. Utilizing a

large-N dataset of school administrators, this analysis seeks to assess whether

differences exist among mid-level managers. Specifically, this study addresses

two questions. First, in what ways does middle manager strategy differ by

race? Second, if such differences exist, how do they affect organizational

performance? Preliminary findings suggest variation in management styles

and policy preferences across racial groups. Moreover, race acts as a

correlate of administrative and strategy choices, yet the overall impacts of

these differential practices are mixed.

1Rutgers University–Camden, NJ, USA

2American University, Washington, DC, USA

3Prince George’s Community College, Largo, MD, USA

Corresponding Author:

Erin Melton Robinson, Department of Public Policy and Administration, Rutgers University–

Camden, 401 Cooper Street, Suite 301, Camden, NJ 08102, USA.

Email: erin.robinson@rutgers.edu

1131774AAS0010.1177/00953997221131774Administration & SocietyRobinson

research-article2022

542 Administration & Society 55(3)

Keywords

middle managers, race, racial identity, managerial strategy, organizational

performance

Introduction

It is widely substantiated in the literature that management matters for public

organizations (Cohen et al., 2008; Meier, 2003; Meier & O’Toole, 2002;

Moore, 1995). Scholars have consistently assessed management at top levels;

yet, ambiguity remains regarding the ways in which middle management

matters. Situated in positions to interact with top-level administrators, street-

level bureaucrats, and actors in external environments, middle managers are

central to public service delivery.

Another understudied phenomenon in public management is the influ-

ence of race and racial identity on managerial strategy and organizational

performance.1 Past research has investigated the intersections of race and

public administration in two identifiable streams of literature: representative

bureaucracy and diversity management. Studies on representative bureau-

cracy that focus on race consider the ability of shared racial background to

facilitate representation and improved public service delivery (Keiser et al.,

2002; Meier et al., 1999; Roch et al., 2010; Selden, 1998; Theobald &

Haider-Markel, 2009). Diversity management scholarship focuses on the

importance of programs and policies that create workplaces where various

social identities are appreciated (Pitts et al., 2010; Riccucci, 2002) and how

such orientations affect performance (Pitts, 2006, 2009). Despite these

evolving areas of inquiry, very few studies focus specifically on minority

public managers, their experiences, and how racial minority status in public

agencies affects public service performance (Carroll et al., 2019; Molina,

2016, 2018).

As an embedded reality of the nation, race is manifest in social, economic,

and political spaces and manifest within government organizations at all lev-

els. Well-documented shortages of racial minorities in management positions

have made the systematic study of minority status in public agencies difficult.

In 2018, 38% of the federal workforce was comprised of a racial minority

group, yet only 22% of Senior Executive Service positions were held by

racial minorities (Office of Personnel Management [OPM], 2018). These sta-

tistics suggest lack of proportional representation to the public and relegation

of minorities to lower positions in the federal bureaucracy. The focus of this

analysis is neither a discussion of reasons why numerical representation lacks

proportionality nor the ramifications of such discrepancies. Instead, we