The Development of Leadership Styles of African American Women Human Resources Administrators and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives

Abstract

African American women use their life experiences to influence, motivate, and impact change with their leadership styles. These experiences help them to navigate diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in their workplaces. The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand the growth of African American women in Human Resources, their leadership roles and their contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and programming within their organizations. For purposes of this study, African American women Human Resources leaders were identified as those women currently working as supervisors, managers, directors, or executives within their current organizations, tasked with leading diversity, equity, and inclusion planning for institutional change. Ten participants received the Path Goal Leadership Theory Questionnaire (PGLTQ) constructed by Robert House (1971) to understand what type of leadership style they identify with, and each participant was interviewed virtually regarding their lived experiences and how their leadership skills develop diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. The findings of this research indicated most of the participants identified with participative and directive leadership styles more than supportive and achievement oriented. Using a thematic analysis with inductive and deductive coding, themes of isolation, different race and gender mentorship, stereotypes, and leadership strategies for career development were all derived from the themes of the participants’ narratives. The findings are common obstacles minorities including African American women face within developing diversity initiatives and career development. This phenomenological study promotes the need to implement more mentorship initiatives to motivate minority leadership as organizations expand diversity programs.