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ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
IS THE GLASS CEILING CRACKING?
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 06:09:50 PM)
sian Americans are nearly twice as likely as Whites (55% vs 29%) to graduate from college. For the past decade Asians have outnumbered Whites at UC Berkeley (40% vs 36%), UCLA (41% vs 37%), UC Irvine (56% vs 27%) and UC Riverside (55% vs 27%). Asians also collectively make up 28% of the enrollment at top 20 business schools. AA comprise 60% of Silicon Valley's professional and technical workforce.
The one area in which Asian Americans have traditionally been underrepresented is the corporate executive suite. Everyone has heard of Charles Wang, founder/chairman of Computer Associates, Jerry Yang, founder/co-chief Yahoo of Yahoo! and a half dozen other AA success stories. But they are the founders of the companies they head up.
Looking at the Fortune 1000, Asian Americans account for barely 1.5% of top executives, a third of our representation in the general population and far less than what one might expect from our success in college and professional schools. The only visible AA CEO of a top 50 corporation is Avon's Andrea Jung.
Undoutedly many factors contribute to Asian underrepresentation in the executive suites of American companies. The most frequently cited include the collective youth and inexperience of Asians in management positions, difficulty of fitting into the corporate cultures of old-line companies, propensity for leaving to work on startups, higher concentrations in technical fields and language deficiencies. Then of course there's the factor many suspect but few have been able to prove: racial stereotypes and prejudices.
Is the underrepresentation merely the product of benign sociological factors or is there still a glass celiing that keeps Asians from climbing above middle and lower management?
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Discussions posted during the past year remain available for browsing.
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WHAT YOU SAY
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be,
Start your own business. 5% of this country owns 90% of its wealth and they don't like to share it with just anybody. Promotions are made for the most arbitrary reasons and consist of variables that cannot always be controlled. Never expect a corporation to validate your passion and energy by rewarding you. It may happen but you should never expect it. The whole notion that someones hard work will always pay off is a naive point of view at best. You may go back to work soon and someday if you work hard and are lucky (and please do not underestimate luck) you may be promoted to middle or high middle management in your 30's or 40's ( possibly 50's). But is that your "dream"? If so then I feel you are not dreaming big enough. And as far as maintaining your integrity you must realize that to climb the golden ladder of corporate promotions, you must abandon the high moral ground. This does not mean that you must be immoral or evil but you will have to be amoral or in other words "free from moral implications and measurement" many times over. But if your post is any indication of the type of person you truely are, you may find yourself unsuccessful in your pursuit of "increasing your rank" because "conformity" is a much desired virtue in corporate America. No matter what the T.V. commercials tell you about being rewarded for "thinking outside the box" and that ABC company is founded on intergrity and inspiration. Thats just a slick marketing sugar coating to make the pill of profit motive go down a little easier. I would also like to point out that integrity may also be better measured by "who" you work for (McRain Forest or Enron the Impaler) then by how well you do it.
If you truely possess such energy, vigor and integrity then I would advise that it may be in your best interest to do it for yourself. You may be a collosal success or you may fail, but either way it will be the slate on which you can right your own agenda.
P.S. Considering that you are 24 and have been working for 2 years I assume you graduated from college at 22 and that you have a 4 year Bachelors degree. FYI unless you get an MBA no one in corporate America is going to take you very seriously (unless your a super duper sales rep). Its not fair but your education will be a limiting factor. So go back to school if you want to pursue your corporate aspirations.
Sea
Saturday, March 09, 2002 at 23:41:43 (PST)
"But have you made the proper political allies, so that if your supervisor is threatened by your work, you will be immune to an back-lash or back handed compliments."
yes...my supervisor and other colleagues witness the injustice and strongly oppose to it (at least they lead me to believe they did). in the past, my bosses have always been especially kind to me...some may have felt i received special treatment from them...i even got a promotion shortly after working there. i dont know what went wrong...i suspect i must have been a threat to certain colleagues..and perhaps they convinced my bosses of it as well. but then again, the company did have a history of discrimination..espeically towards the outspoken females, and the males who were not white..the pattern others tell me is..."initially, you are adored but after a period of time, you're old to them". its sad knowing that work performance is almost irrelevant to our job security as females.
"Racial/gender discrimation, or less inflamatory "bias," is a given in a corporate environment. Because $$$ is on the line." i highly doubt money was an issue b/c i wasnt a hinderance in this aspect...it was actually the opposite...i offered them more than what the job entailed. i believe pride was the issue in this case. is there anything that could be done to prevent this from reoccuring?
be
Saturday, March 09, 2002 at 19:34:14 (PST)
Some of the greatest and biggest and extremely competetive companies in the world (outside the US) were founded and managed by Asians .
Yet the majority of Americans continue to accept the myth that asians are only good for technical fields.
why is this so ?
keviv
Friday, March 08, 2002 at 13:31:54 (PST)
for those of you in the working world:
is there a polite or tactful way to just assert your right to a promotion or raise?
penelope
Friday, March 08, 2002 at 13:14:23 (PST)
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