Do black lives really matter in the workplace? Restorative justice as a means to reclaim humanity

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-07-2017-0149
• Published date: 20 November 2017
• Pages: 707-719
• Date: 20 November 2017
• Author: Tina Opie,Laura Morgan Roberts

Do black lives really matter in the

workplace? Restorative justice as

a means to reclaim humanity

Tina Opie

Management Division, Babson College, Babson Park, Massachusetts, USA, and

Laura Morgan Roberts

Department of Psychology, Antioch University, Yellow Springs, Ohio, USA

Abstract

Purpose –Overwhelming evidence suggests that black lives have not and do not matter in the American

workplace. In fact, disturbing themes of black labor dehumanization, exploitation and racial discrimination

appear throughout history into the present-day workplace. Yet, curiously, organizations and organizational

scholars largely ignore how racism and slavery have informed management practice (Cooke, 2003) and

contemporary workplaceracism. The authors address this gap,using the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement

as a platform.BLM is a socialjustice movementcreated in responseto the pervasiveracism experiencedby black

people. The purpose of this paperis to accomplish five goals,which are summarized inthe following sections.

Design/methodology/approach –First,the authors outline historicalthemes of blacklabor dehumanization,

exploitation and racial discrimination, providing specific examples to illustrate these themes and discussing

their contemporary workplace implications. Second, key challenges that may arise as organizations seek to

make black livesmatter in the workplace are discussed.Third, the authors provide examples of organizations

where black lives have mattered as an inspiration for how workplaces can affirm the humanity and

self-actualization of black people.

Findings –Fourth, the authors provide organizations with helpful tools to truly make black lives matter in

the workplace, using restorative justice as a framework to remedy workplace racism. Finally, while the paper

is largely focused on business organizations, as two management scholars, the authors felt compelled to

briefly articulate how academic scholarship might be influenced if black lives truly mattered in management

scholarship and management education.

Originality/value –This paper begins to articulate how black lives matter in the workplace. The goal is to

intervene and upend the exploitation of black workers so that they are finally recognized for their worth and

value and treated as such. The authors have provided historical context to illustrate that contemporary

workplace racism is rooted in the historical exploitation of black people from enslavement to contemporary

instances of labor exploitation. The authors offer a restorative justice framework as a mechanism to redress

workplace racism, being careful to outline key challenges with implementing the framework. The authors

concluded with steps that organizations may consider as they work to repair the harm of workplace racism

and rebuild trust amongst employees. Specifically, the authors discuss the benefits of organizational

interventions that provide intergroup contact with an emphasis on perspective taking, and present a case

example and suggested key indicators that black lives matter in today’s workplace.

Keywords Organizational culture, Workplace, African Americans, Black Lives Matter,

Restorative justice, Perspective taking

Paper type Viewpoint

Overwhelming evidence suggests that black lives do not matter in the American workplace.

Historically, individuals, private enterprises, prisons and corporations have enslaved,

illegally detained, coerced to work and underpaid (or not paid) black people. Today, black

employees are persistently paid less (Pew Research Center, 2015) than their white

counterparts and experience more wage theft (e.g. forcing overtime work but not paying for

it, violating minimum wage laws, etc.) (Bernhardt et al., 2009; UCLA Labor Center, n.d.).

Additionally, black people are underrepresented in senior leadership positions and on

corporate boards (Catalyst, 2016a, b; McGirt, 2016); are underrepresented relative to

Caucasian males in the highest paying jobs (Bertrand and Hallock, 2001; Oakley, 2000); and

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 36 No. 8, 2017

pp. 707-719

© Emerald PublishingLimited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-07-2017-0149

Received 17 January 2017

Revised 19 June 2017

30 August 2017

Accepted 12 September 2017

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

www.emeraldinsight.com/2040-7149.htm

707

Do black lives

really matter in

the workplace?