The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science

Despite a growing need for knowledge about the effects of race and ethnicity in organizations, relatively little research on these issues has been performed and few research reports have been published in the major management journals. A literature review and a survey of authors in the field indicate that factors responsible for this problem fall into two categories: factors limiting the amount ofwork done on these issues, and factors hindering the publication of completed work. Underlying many of these factors is the tendency for the effects of personal biases among authors, reviewers, and editors to be especially severe with respect to this topic. Moreover, issues of racioethnic relations and heterogeneity, including the problem of racism, have never really been resolved in American society generally. Following an analysis of the problems, suggestions are provided to aid scholars in effectively conducting and evaluating research on this topic.

It is well over a year since the appointment of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. His appointment and the aftermath of the hearings remain controversial in the public’s eye. The event is credited by feminists for energizing the women’s movement. It was a catalyst for significant changes in the 1992 political arena. There has also been a substantial increase in the number of sexual harassment incidents reported. However, Anita Hill’s story represents more than sexual harassment for many Black women. The event serves as a painful reminder of how vulnerable they are especially when it comes to having their stories of sexual abuse heard and taken seriously. This article speaks to that pain and the complexity of understanding racism when entangled with sexism within the Black community.

Asian American managers report using significantly lower levels of self-disclosure, selffocused impression management tactics, and supervisor-focused impression management tactics but more job-focused impression management tactics compared to EuropeanAmerican managers. AsianAmericans appear to use tactics that do not impress supervisors and do not make enough use of tactics that might pay off in improved supervisorsubordinate relationships and upward mobility. Further, supervisors are not impressed by the tactics Asian Americans believe they are using to impress their supervisors. Asian American managers’ perceptions of the quality of supervisor-subordinate relationships are not in harmony with supervisors’perceptions of these relationships. European American managers seem to be in tune with their supervisors’ perceptions of the quality of the relationship and the impression management tactics they report. If upward mobility is enhanced by good supervisor-subordinate relationships, this impression management gap may help explain why so fewAsian American managers attain leadership positions.

Gender identity is a salient identity for a fifth of Jewish respondents and a quarter of Arab respondents in a sample of Israeliwomen. However, it is not as salient as are collectivistic identities (i.e., Jewish/Arab identities, Israeli/Palestinian identities) or even the individualistic identities of family and profession. This study shows that the meaning of gender identity differs for Jewish and Arab women. For Jewish women, a salient gender identity reflects a departure from traditional roles and the weakening of their hold. For Arab women, a salient gender identity seems to be related to the traditional gendered division of labor. The findings seem to indicate that a salient gender identity may have two opposing meanings: a traditional meaning or a nontraditional (or egalitarian) meaning. Women have to move away from (or relinquish) traditional gender identities before they can develop a liberal gender identity.

In this article, I contend that the well-intentioned discourse of work/life balance in the popular and scholarly press actually may undermine women’s and men’s attempts to live fulfilling lives. Drawing on feminist and critical perspectives, as well asmyown efforts to find “balance” in a two-career family with two children under the age of 4, I illustrate (a) how the work/life discourse reflects the individualism, achievement orientation, and instrumental rationality that is fundamental to modern bureaucratic thought and action and (b) how such discourse may further entrench people in the work/life imbalance that they are trying to escape.

We critically examine three major assumptions of modernist organization science: rational agency, empirical knowledge, and language as representation. With these assumptions problematized, we are positioned for a postmodern turn in the discipline. From a postmodern standpoint, we are moved to replace rational agency with communal rationality, empirical knowledge with social construction, and language as representation with language as action. Outcomes for an organization science place special emphasis on reconstructing and enriching the aims and methods of research and on critical reflection, generative theorizing, and scholarly action within organizations.