American Indian Women Managers

A critical review of race and ethnicity in the leadership literature: Surfacing context, power and the collective dimensions of leadership

“…Another theme across the groups is that non-white managers and leaders must be bi-culturally fluent (Bell, 1990), able to lead in ways that resonate with members of their own racial-ethnic group but also connect with the dominant ways of working in their white-majority contexts. Muller (1998) describes this bifurcation as "living in two worlds" in her study of Native American women managers. Focusing particularly on the Navajo, she describes the culture as consensus oriented, present-(rather than future-) oriented, environmentally aware and deeply committed to spirituality, contrasting these qualities with typical Anglo culture.…”

Challenging conventional wisdom about who quits: Revelations from corporate America.

“…A Catalyst survey in 30 Fortune 1000 corporations finds that female Asian Americans (like African and Hispanic Americans) endure impediments to career progress, such as fewer high visibility assignments and role models of their race (Giscombe & Mattis, 2002 less likely to graduate from college or find positions as professionals or managers, and, when they do, they usually earn the bottom of the pay scale (Reynolds, 2004). Native American female professionals and managers also undergo strain when balancing commitment to tribal culture with acculturation to corporate life (Muller, 1998). Because women of color often suffer greater discriminatory experiences (e.g., sexual and ethnic harassment, tokenism, short career ladders, low pay) that induce turnover , they should exit more than men of color and White Americans of both sexes.…”

Stories from the circle: Leadership lessons learned from aboriginal leaders

“…Recent scholarship has established that racio-ethnic leadership is a topic of importance in organizational theory and practice (Muller, 1998). While there are ongoing cross-cultural studies of leadership (c.f.…”