Diversity disconnect

Jesse Rodgers had been standing watch over LANs at paper products magnate James River Corp. for more than 11 years, so he knew his network skills were sharp. He was confident senior IT management would promote him from net supervisor to network manager, even considered it a formality. After all, he already was responsible for key e-mail, Internet connectivity, server administration and other network services. His only competition was a project manager who, although he had a year or two of seniority, lacked comparable network skills.

Rodgers' network world came crashing down when management handed the job to the other candidate. Rodgers was told he lacked management points, although the company never clarified that explanation.

Rodgers, pictured above, believes he was passed over because of race: He was the only African-American on the network staff. The other candidate was Caucasian. "I had the responsibilities of a network manager, but they wouldn't give me the title," he says.

A James River spokesman wouldn't comment on Rodgers' case, saying only that the company has a diversity program that is updated frequently.

What follows is the first of a two-part series on diversity in IS. You can read the complete article now or jump to specific sections:

Look around your office; or next time you're at a trade show, scan the faces in the crowd. Chances are you won't spot many women, African-Americans, Hispanics or other minorities. And if you do, the odds are even longer that they hold senior network management positions.

The fact is, women and minorities are vastly underrepresented in network departments. The majority of respondents to a survey of 200 Network World readers said minorities make up less than 5% of their network staffs, yet figures from the U.S. Bureau of the Census indicate African-Americans account for 12% of the population and Hispanics 9%.

Similarly, more than half of all respondents said women comprise less than 25% of their network IS staffs. Yet women account for 51% of the population and, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 46% of the labor pool nationwide.

It may be tempting to chalk up the imbalance to discrimination. It also would be largely inaccurate. Racial and gender discrimination in network IT does exist, but the reasons for imbalanced staffs are far more complicated than just discrimination, and no single group shoulders all the blame.

Contributing factors include age-old hiring practices; the exodus of many companies to suburbs where the job candidate pool is largely white; educational hurdles; limited access to technology; lack of role models; and even ostracism from peers for choosing a career path dominated by white males.

"For whatever reason, African-Americans are not showing up at the door," says George Williams, a consultant with Paternite & Associates, of Cleveland, and national president of the Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA), a 2,200-member national interest group for IS professionals of diverse ethnic backgrounds.

And those minorities who do manage to land positions within network departments are more likely than their Caucasian counterparts to stagnate in entry-level jobs or low-end managerial positions - often because they are not plugged into the informal network where they can learn about upcoming projects or build relationships with peers and important power players.

Whatever the reasons for the network staffing imbalance, it's clear there are sound reasons why you'd want to balance the racial and gender makeup ofyour network staff.

"You need diversity of thought," says Yvonne Sharpe, a 22-year Allstate Insurance Co. veteran who has risen through the ranks to systems director of Information Management Strategy and Architecture. "Women think differently, minorities think differently. Those differences can give you more information to solve problems."

A racially and gender-balanced network staff also can help fend off discrimination lawsuits or claims of unfair labor practices.

And there's a simpler reason. Given the intense competition for talented network professionals, you simply can't afford to ignore whole classes of candidates.

Numbers tell a story

But the Network World survey essentially shows that's exactly what's happening. One-third of the 200 respondents said they have never hired a woman in their network departments, while 37% have never hired a minority.

The survey, which targeted executives with hiring responsibility for a staff of at least 10 at companies with at least $10 million in annual revenue, shows there is a discrepancy between perception and reality in terms of minority representation in network IS departments.

Two out of every three respondents believe women and minorities are sufficiently represented on network staffs, while only 20% think they are underrepresented.

But two out of three respondents said on average African-Americans account for less than 5% of their network departments. The numbers are even worse for Hispanics - 78% of respondents said they comprise less than 5% of their network departments (see graphic, page 98).

Women fared somewhat better: Almost 44% of survey participants said women make up more than 25% of their net staffs, and 19.5% said they account for 10% to 24%. Just over 30% said women account for less than 5%.

When it comes to management positions, however, the numbers are dire. A whopping 93% of respondents said Hispanics account for less than 5% of management positions in network departments, while 86% said African-Americans comprise less than 5%.

With regard to women, 59% of the respondents said they make up less than 5% of the managerial ranks. Network World's annual salary survey, which targets management-level network IS professionals, backs up those figures. Of the more than 1,300 managers surveyed at random since 1995, nearly 89% have been male.

Data collected by the BLS shows the problem reaches well beyond network departments. The BLS says only 7.2% of all computer scientists are African-American and 2.6% are of Hispanic origin. The BLS does not track specific network positions.

The BLS statistics indicate that minorities fare better in low-level maintenance and entry-level computer science positions - 9.9% of all 1996 data processing equipment repairers were African-American and 7.9% were Hispanic.

Educational dilemma

Chris Williams is a network consultant at Perot Systems Corp. oversees a blockbuster network outsourcing deal in Basel, Switzerland, for Swiss Bank Corp. Williams still recalls the taunts hurled at him by African-American peers who chided his near-perfect English in high school. "I can't tell you how many girlfriends told me I talk like a white person," Williams says.

What's keeping minorities and women from seeking network IS careers? It starts with educational and social hurdles.

"A lot of it has to do with minority groups not exposing their kids to the technology," says Johnnie Hannah, director of IS at the United Way of Greater Toledo, Ohio.

Rudy Duke, a management consultant with The Hunter Group, Inc., a Baltimore-based firm that specializes in reengineering and information management services, agrees. There is a fear in the minority community of things related to math and science, he says, and "minority children are steered into other fields."

School systems aren't giving students enough access to computer and Internet technology, Hannah says. But there's a bigger issue, too - immersing minority students in basic and advanced math and science courses.

According to the National Science Foundation (NSF), black and Hispanic students in 1992 were still far less likely to have taken advanced math courses than whites. While about 60% of white and Asian students had taken Algebra II, less than half of all blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans had taken the course. And almost 13% of blacks, 15% of Hispanics and 10% of Native Americans had taken calculus vs. 22% for whites and 33% for Asians.

There are some signs of improvement, though. The percentages of black, Hispanic and Native American students taking many basic and advanced math courses doubled between 1982 and 1992. For example, 30% of black high school graduates in 1982 had taken geometry and 1% took calculus. A decade later, the percentages rose to 60% and 7%, respectively.

Another problem minorities face as they enter college is the dearth of minority mentors among the professorial ranks. Less than 4% of all business school professors are minorities, says Bernie Milano, executive director of the KPMG Foun-dation, which oversees The PhD Project, an effort to diversify business school faculty.

Last year, 1,200 business doctorates were awarded nationwide, Milano says. But at no time have more than 50 business doctorates been awarded in one year to African-Americans, Hispanics or Native Americans. In 1995, the most recent year for which data is available, 26 African-Americans and 12 Hispanics received business-related doctorates.

"These people serve as mentors for college students," Milano says.
"Without an ample supply of minority doctorates, students may not identify well with their counselors and lose interest in their education."

Minorities seem to be faring better when it comes to undergraduate degrees. In 1993, the most recent year for which statistics are available, a little more than 16,000 of all bachelor's degrees in computer science were awarded to Caucasian students vs. 2,213, about 11.5% of the total, to African-Americans, and 1,096, nearly 6%, to Hispanics. Given that African-Americans and Hispanics account for 12% and 9% of the population, respectively, those numbers, while not glowing, can be construed as pointing to progress.

Women, meanwhile, are fighting a similar numbers game. Women account for only 22% of the science and engineering workforce, according to the NSF. More important, NSF research shows the percentage of women earning bachelor's degrees in computer science decreased from 36% in 1983 to 28% in 1993. And less than 30% of all master's degrees in computer science were awarded to women in 1993.

That's one reason Cathy Marvel, assistant vice president in the IT department of Chubb & Son Company, Inc., is talking to her local high school. As part of Chubb's IT Womens Council, Marvel believes females in IT need to inspire other women to follow their lead.

"Our goal is to show them that women and minorities have a place in this industry," Marvel says. "The process has to start early, so those who choose an IT career make the right educational choices."

But the Federal Glass Ceiling Commission, a task force of the U.S. nDepartment of Labor, reported in 1995 "the climate in industry may be less favorable to women for a number of reasons, including recruitment and hiring practices, a corporate culture hostile to women, lack of opportunities for career development, failure to accommodate work-family issues, lack of mentoring and lack of access to informal networks of communication."

Getting hired

Otis Stone is vice president of Data Systems at Hudson Industries, Inc. of Troy, Ala. He says his company advertises network IS jobs in local papers, but doesn't pull any response from minorities. "The Africans [sic] don't want to apply," says Stone, who says minority candidates don't live in his community.

Doug Brown, network manager at Lockheed-Martin-Vought in Dallas, says he hires based on candidates' qualifications, not their skin color. "Our concern is: Can the person do the job?" he says. "It would be nice to have a wider, more diverse employee group." Brown regrets that the company doesn't make time to actively seek out minority candidates.

A major contributing factor to the unbalanced racial and gender makeup of network IS staffs is the fact that many companies do not make diversity a hiring priority.

While affirmative action programs are coming under fire at all levels of government, in the network IT sector the programs have already degenerated into mere window dressing, according to Earl Pace, cofounder of the BDPA and senior vice president of IT at Third Federal Savings Bank in Newtown, Pa.

Pace says some organizations send representatives to the BDPA's annual conference to indoctrinate members about their employers. However, he says the messengers often turn out to be powerless community relations personnel who "handle the PR fluff well, but can't offer any action of substance."
Moreover, between 100 and 125 students compete in computer competitions at the BDPA conference and try to hook up with major companies for internships. Of those, "maybe 30 students get that kind of access," Pace says.

"If there's true intent to create more diversity in network groups, upper management needs to send a clear message to managers below that they're committed," he says.

Network managers interviewed for this story say they are anxious to hire people with the required skills, but harried schedules leave them no time to take the extra steps required to find minority candidates.

"The reason they have trouble is they're looking for a network analyst or LAN administrator, but they have no means to identify which of them are minorities," says Tracey Minor, president of The Multicultural Advantage, a Philadelphia recruitment firm specializing in placement of minorities in IS.

"If a company invests the time to go to the [minority] schools, they will find candidates," says BDPA's Williams.

Companies often overlook traditional black schools such as Howard University, Hampton College, Morehouse College and others in favor of their largely white alma maters or schools recommended by senior managers.

"If you don't go to the schools where you can find minorities, you're not going to get them," says Allstate's Sharpe.

Many companies also have moved out of cities and into the suburbs, consequently recruiting from largely Caucasian schools. The exodus of corporate data centers from the inner cities to the outer suburbs also makes it difficult for some minorities to commute to jobs, Sharpe says.

The discrimination factor

Earl Pace recalls an incident in 1974 when he worked for a railroad company. Pace had been pro-moted to programming manager of a group of 15 Caucasian mainframe applications developers. He subsequently hired three African-Americans.

During a break in a managerial staff meeting, a board member approached Pace and asked him, "Is your plan to turn the entire programming staff into African-Americans?"

Discrimination still exists in network IS, although often on a subtle scale. Maybe it happens when a black man walks in the office door and senses a mood change, Pace says, or when a woman realizes she's being treated differently from other peers.

Minorities interviewed for this story talk about greater transgressions: promised pay raises that never materialize, lower pay scales for some minorities, promotions being held back and organizations that raise their technical standards for minorities.

"I'm not a poster boy for discrimination, but I've been discriminated against," says the Hunter Group's Duke.

Duke says he was passed over for partner while at Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC), a Washing-ton, D.C.-area network integration services firm. That happened even after he had earned his MBA, so "that excuse couldn't crop up any longer."

Hayward Fisk, CSC vice president and general counsel, says the company has "a diverse work force and takes pride in [its] affirmative action programs," but he declined to comment on Duke's case, citing a confidential separation agreement signed when Duke left the company in February.

There seems to be ample evidence that women, African-Americans, Hispanics and other minorities are discriminated against financially.

A September 1996 NSF report found the average salary in 1993 for women with doctorates in science and engineering was $50,200 compared with $63,600 for their male counterparts. That's a difference of $13,400, or 27%, the largest disparity between any two groups. Women with a master's degree in computer science or mathematics earned $37,400 on average compared with $40,000 for men with the same degree. Men held a $1,200 edge over women with comparable bachelor's degrees.

Network World's 1997 Salary Survey likewise illustrates the disparity. Male respondents reported an average 1997 salary of $78,759, while their female counterparts averaged only $68,877, a difference of $9,882, or 14%. The numbers also show that precious few females are cracking the top salary ranks, with less than 10% earning $90,000 or above, while more than 25% of male respondents make that much (see graphic below).

The salary differences for minorities who hold doctorate degrees is not as pronounced as the gender salary gap. However, the differences between white males and minority graduates with bachelor's degrees in science and engineering ranges from $4,100 for Asians to $7,100 for blacks.

Money problems aside, women in network IS have their own unique barriers to ascending the management ladder. Male managers are sometimes threatened by female staffers who push hard for their ideas and proposals, says Renee McClure, a systems designer at Long Island Lighting Co. "I've been told by many white males that I'm intimidating," says McClure. "As a black woman, I not only have to fight the racial problem, but I have to change a mind-set about the role of women."

Climbing the ladder

Early in his career at Electronic Data Systems Corp., account executive Curvie Burton passed up an opportunity at a social gathering to speak with the company's chief information officer, a white male in his mid-50s. "I didn't feel I had anything in common to talk about with him at the time," says Burton, who is African-American. "Afterwards, I thought about all the things I could have said, and I knew I blew it. You have to be ready."

One of the key reasons minorities and women languish in nonmanagerial network IS jobs is they are unable to break into the informal network where employees learn about high-profile projects and build relationships with company power brokers. Minorities hurt their career chances because "they often don't understand the unwritten rules," Allstate's Sharpe says.

Make no mistake, white males face the same challenge but often find it easier to network with friends and gain access to senior executives because they have more in common.

"The IT industry is still an all-boys club," says Anne York, a computer consultant with Computer Management Science, Inc. in Jacksonville, Fla. "If you don't play golf, participate in social events or even gossip at the coffee machine, it hinders your career. You're usually the last to know of information coming down the pike."

Few companies have formal programs to help women and minorities climb the management ladder. While nearly 70% of the respondents to Network World's reader survey said their companies had a policy that encourages the hiring of women and minorities, 80% admitted their companies offer no mentoring, leadership training or other programs tailored to help women and minorities nurture their careers.

Another reason why minorities are scarce in the network management ranks is that many give up trying to break the glass ceiling at private companies and move on to the consulting end of the business.

BDPA's Pace and Williams both landed in consultant roles after struggling to break barriers in IS shops - as did Rudy Duke and Jesse Rodgers.

"There's a feeling in consulting that you're a hired gun; you do your work, satisfy the client and get paid," Duke says.

Moreover, performance is tied to billable accounts and the amount of money a consultant accumulates, not skin color or gender.

Even in consulting, though, minorities encounter racial discrimination. Rodgers recalls, on one recent project, a client bought into his network design ideas via phone conversations, but during a subsequent face-to-face meeting, the client began questioning Rodgers' qualifications.

"That should happen up front, not during the sign-off stage of a project design," he says, adding that the client eventually handed the project to another consulting firm. "Consulting isn't a haven from discrimination."

Clearly, network IS management faces a diversity dilemma, one that leaves companies short when it comes to bringing the broadest range of thought into their organizations and at a disadvantage in terms of finding the best technical talent.

But there are ways to correct the problem. Next week, we'll fill you in on the innovative programs that companies such as Allstate, Chubb & Son and Federal Express Co. have come up with to reach out to minorities and women. We'll also relay tips from those who have successfully scaled the management ranks.