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Learning Histories
Calling the Roll - Who's Absent? Since the 1970's, Memorial Hospital and Health System has grown from 900 to more than 3000 employees. Memorial's internal community, like the external one they serve, had always been made up of a diverse collection of individuals. As a method of ensuring they were hearing all of the voices, Memorial had made a practice of conducting Employee Satisfaction Surveys. While the surveys were anonymous, the results were stratified according to racial group. Over a period of years a consistent pattern of dissatisfaction among African Americans came to the surface. Continuously, from then until now, African Americans have made up the largest minority segment of Memorial's workforce. According to David Sage, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Memorial Health System, "When you conduct surveys and find that there is a disparity you need to be prepared to ask why. The organization has to be ready to deal with the issues that arise, it can't be done for show." There is a great danger, for any organization, to begin a serious investigation without a commitment to follow through. Not only does the original problem remain, but the method of gathering information will lose credibility. Employees will begin to wonder why they complete these surveys if nothing ever changes. In 1990, Memorial Vice President for Human Resources, Virginia Chism, along with David Sage (then Director of Human Resources) made the decision to bring in an outside party to delve into what was at the root of minority dissatisfaction. Memorial chose Bertha King, an independent consultant and expert in organizational development. Bertha was charged with the task of finding a basis from which Memorial could build positive cross-cultural communication in the workplace. For any organization to survive and thrive in the community they must be able to balance the cultures and backgrounds which people bring to work. While no one is able to eliminate or dictate what goes on in the back of an employee’s mind, it is vital to make clear that certain behaviors aren't acceptable in the workplace. How many conflicts arise from workers feeling that there is no common ground for discussion? Do your employees feel like a community or do they feel like a collection of small niches working without connection to one another? Do your employees feel equally appreciated and trusted? Memorial was hoping that Bertha King would be able to help them answer some of these questions. By 1992 Memorial made the decision to bring Bertha on-board as a full-time member of Memorial's Department of Organization and Development. Bertha began to see a large number of African Americans come to her with problems, concerns and complaints. "I became the unofficial spokesperson," said Bertha, "a change-agent from the minority standpoint." But why Bertha? Memorial Vice President Carl Ellison refers to her as "someone with the will and skill who won't be still." Bertha was not only an expert on the subject of organizational diversity but she had the personal passion and drive to find solutions. Any project or investigation like this needs someone who all employees, from management to support staff, trust based on the person's intelligence, ability and motivation. Until common ground is established this person must be the one to draw attention to those sitting in the back of the room. Bertha was also an African American employee within the Memorial system. From her new vantage point she too saw distinct gaps in the organization for people of color. As she began to do research she discovered that out of the 3300 employees working for Memorial Hospital and Health System there was only one African American in a manager's position, one director and one vice president. Conversations with other employees led her to discover that there had been more African Americans working in administrative positions but their positions had been downsized, they had been terminated, they had quit and so on. "I saw people being terminated from potential leadership positions, quitting out of frustration...there were a lot of people feeling that they weren’t being promoted, and that they were being treated unfairly. In some instances I knew this was true, but rather than place blame I wanted to see what I could do to make a difference," Bertha recalled. |
